August 30th, 2018 
AstroNerdBoy Lupin the Third Part 5 – 16
Lupin III Part 5 16
ルパン三世 PART5
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Goemon and Jigen set out to find Lupin. Lupin disguises himself as Colonel Tseng and has Ami dress up to appear to be Princess Dolma. As such, they are able to make it through army checkpoints with ease. As the King makes an address to his people, Zenigata runs into Fujiko. Meanwhile, with things going south, the High Priest shows that his “traditional” temple has very high tech security, including a safe area for fast retreat, accessible via his eye scan.
Lupin and Ami come upon this security device, where Ami hacks it to give them access. Meanwhile, Dolma is angry with the High Priest, who’s decided to change plans and set up a government in the north of the country. Lupin and Ami show up, where Ami uses Lupin’s eye gadget to live-stream what is happening, now that the Internet access has been restored. Goemon and Jigen take out the High Priest’s guards, leading the High Priest to desperately attempt to make a deal with Lupin.
Because of the live-stream, the military turn against the High Priest. McGuire sacrifices himself in order to make sure Princess Dolma is not implicated in any of the coup mess. Dolma and Ami have a private chat about whom they love before parting company. Ami confesses to Lupin, saying it is the only logical explanation to what she’s experiencing. Ami informs him that when she becomes better than Fujiko, she’ll expect an answer. Lupin agrees to her terms. Elsewhere, Fujiko briefs Zenigata on her conversation with Lupin, including that he took the Bloody Teardrop.
Thoughts/Review:
Welp, Lupin the Third Part 5 – 16 wraps up an interesting story arc. Sadly, it didn’t go quite the way I wanted, but that didn’t prevent it from being pretty good.
The Coup Story
Were it not for the coup story, there would be no action at all as the purpose of this story arc is more character-based, both for Ami and for Fujiko. Still, for what it was, it provided suitable action elements to keep things going at a good pace without detracting from the actual main story.
That said, the hole Shake Hand element is left in limbo. They are up to no good, but what, who can say. Also, I still don’t know why the CIA backed the religious faction in this coup. Maybe this will be explored in the final arc.
Fujiko and Lupin
I was a bit disappointed at the “resolution” of the Fujiko x Lupin story. I was really hoping for them to have a conversation about the state of their relationship. And I REALLY wanted Fujiko to bring up the fact that Lupin is married to Rebecca. Instead, Lupin doesn’t say anything, other than save Fujiko’s life and take the Bloody Teardrop from her. But one can see he does care about Fujiko, and we know Fujiko still cares about Lupin, despite her claims to hate him.
While I didn’t hate it, I wasn’t that keen on us learning of their conversation via flashback as Fujiko told Zenigata the tale. I guess this was a way for the writers to let Zenigata have some tiny role in the story without much else. That aside, I realize that Fujiko and Lupin’s relationship is one of ups and downs, and will always be so. I guess I just really wanted Rebecca brought back into the mix since in the previous series, Fujiko was jealous of Rebecca.
Ami and Lupin
Much like Rebecca in the previous series, Ami has proven to be a very good character for the current Lupin the Third Part 5 series. I like how Ami’s time with Lupin and company have allowed her to mature. Also, I like how Ami has come to understand her feelings for Lupin, yet also understands that in order to beat Fujiko, Ami will need more time.
As to Lupin, I appreciated that he didn’t just turn down Ami’s love confession. Yeah, his heart is with Fujiko, but Ami has skills that could possibly win Lupin over, even more so than Rebecca had. Lupin may not have wanted Ami to be involved in his world, but in Lupin the Third Part 5 – 16, he acknowledges how someone with her skills would be great for his team. Plus, unlike Fujiko, Ami wouldn’t betray Lupin.
I hope that we see more of Ami, especially in future Lupin installments (assuming there are more).
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Since I am both hungry and tired as I write this, so let me wrap up my review of Lupin the Third Part 5 – 16.
- I previously mentioned that Zenigata only had a brief appearance in this episode. I would like to see him have a more substantial roll before this series is out.
- Again, Jigen and Goemon are relegated to cameos. Kind of a bummer, but understandable.
In the end, Lupin the Third Part 5 – 16 wraps up what has been the most interesting story arc of the series. While the romance element between Fujiko and Lupin may not have gone the way I wanted, the episode was still quite enjoyable.
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Didn’t Rebecca admit in the end of Part IV that she never submitted the paperwork to make their marriage official, then tore up the document and threw it away? I would have liked to see Rebecca back as well, but only if she had moved on and was happy with someone else because Lupin is always leaving women waiting for him. Just once, it’d be fresh and interesting to see a woman choose someone else over him.
About this episode, I think it’s my least favourite, except maybe for the Pablo collection one. But that one was just a mediocre one-off episode, this one left me feeling so disappointed that it kind of ruined the previous episodes for me, too, even though episode 15 was one of my favorites when it came out.
Well, she did, but that’s not how marriages work in Italy. I think the Japanese writers were injecting some Japanese marriage elements into it. (And Rebecca may have been bluffing as well.) But in Italy, if they had a marriage in a Catholic church, which did appear to be the case, the church handles getting the legal paperwork to the civil authorities. If not a Catholic church, Rebecca and Lupin would have had to officially get married in a civil ceremony first, then they can have a non-Catholic religious wedding. Either way, legally, they are married and there would have been no paperwork for Rebecca to send in.
I rewatched that final episode, and I was struck at how similar Rebecca is there to Ami. Both are in love with Lupin, yet both realize they aren’t at Lupin’s level and thus unworthy to be Mrs. Lupin. But Rebecca was making plans to introduce the world to Mrs. Lupin at the end of the episode.
Can you expound upon this further?
Well, regardless of how real life works, I don’t think the series considers them married, so even if Rebecca did show up again, I think she would be treated as an ex-wife at most.
One of my issues with Part V as a whole is that it keeps hinting at major plot and character elements but doesn’t resolve them and instead leaves them hanging. Now that there are only three episodes left, I worry the series just won’t have the time to deliver a satisfying conclusion to everything. The biggest such issue for me is the Lupin & Fujiko situation. In my opinion, the Padar arc really should have been the place to show what happened to put this wedge between them and for them to have a real on-screen resolution to it, whether it’s one where she returns to the gang, or one where they agree things just won’t work between them anymore. I miss the days when Fujiko was more involved with the whole gang rather than being this outsider whose only connection to the others is being Lupin’s lover. Jigen and Goemon talk about her like she’s just Lupin’s woman and not someone who’s been with them for years. Part V has felt really “boys’ club” to me because she’s never there when the guys plan a heist, not to help them or to steal the loot for herself, or even to just hang out with them. She did all of that in every other series so far. This whole issue between her and Lupin is starting to feel like a convenient excuse to keep her off screen, especially since we’re now up to episode 21 and they still haven’t done anything interesting with this new dynamic. I miss the way she was written in Part IV because she was a regular presence and interacted with not just Lupin but Jigen and Goemon, too, even though she and Lupin weren’t really together in that one either. I find it almost insulting how Part V seems to imply that if Fujiko isn’t Lupin’s lover, then there’s not much that be done with her character. She had great moments in the Padar arc, but in hindsight it feels that she only got so much focus so that Ami could reflect on her crush on Lupin and how she compares to Fujiko. As soon as they had enough material for that, Fujiko got pushed aside in episode 16.
When the Padar arc just brushed off that cliffhanger in episode 15, I felt that I was being yanked around like an idiot. And instead it chose to focus on Ami’s crush on Lupin, which I think is an unnecessary and uncomfortable plot point considering her backstory and the way Lupin’s rejection still leaves the door open for her to think that if she just grows into a great woman, she could have a chance. This dynamic where she latches onto the first man who shows her positive attention after so much abuse and isolation just creeps me out because so far the series is treating it as something cute and funny, whereas I’m sitting here in horror.
A few things:
She always has been the outsider to a degree. Fujiko often concocted her own schemes and more often than not, she ends up betraying the gang. At least that’s how it was in the older shows. Over the course of the last two series however, she is still independent from the group but she hasn’t betrayed Lupin or his friends.
There’s obviously a lot of friction between them hence her absence from many of the episodes. As for hanging out, I am sorry but dudes like hanging out with other dudes. That’s the natural order of things. ?
Ami maybe intelligent but intelligence is no substitute for life experience. She has lived a sheltered existence and suffered a great deal of abuse so naturally she would attach herself to the first guy that treated her decently. Her behavior is not the least bit shocking.
Yeah, that’s the element that made me really think Fujiko would try to shoot Lupin in that one episode. She hadn’t betrayed Lupin yet, so as part of the audience, I expected that to happen. But then it didn’t take long to see that she was part of the plan, but still, the writers played into the audience looking for that betrayal.
Yeah, I can see that happening. Also, I can see Rebecca showing off how much she’s grown in order to snag Lupin.
Regarding Fujiko x Lupin, I agree with you that I would have preferred more exploration of their relationship.
Jigen and Goemon don’t really like Fujiko. She’s stabbed Lupin (and them) in the back way too many times. To them, the only reason Lupin has her around is because he has a thing for her and they don’t understand why.
I never got that impression, though I admit, Fujiko has often been either just the love interest of Lupin, or someone who’s after the same treasure as Lupin and decides either to let him do most of the dirty work, or to otherwise work with him. I believe Fujiko has had more screen time in Part 5 than Zenigata has, but that’s an aside.
One of the reasons I want Rebecca to make an appearance is that I think that when Lupin married her, it really pissed Fujiko off. You can tell in the Part 4 series that she doesn’t like it. In my mind, Fujiko thought that Lupin was the only girl for him. As such, she never conceived of the idea that Lupin would go off and actually marry some rich heiress. To Fujiko, this is a slap in her face and makes her a failure. After all, Fujiko and Lupin have this unwritten contest between them — will Lupin be able to finally and completely steal Fujiko’s heart or not. Lupin has no trouble stealing the hearts of girls, but while Fujiko may care for Lupin, at the end of the day, the score almost always trumped Lupin.
Now that I think about it more, maybe you have a point. Outside of the “will they or won’t they become a proper couple” aspect between Fujiko and Lupin, what’s Fujiko’s role within Lupin’s gang? Goemon and Jigen have proper roles (though as Goemon noted, it is very possible that Lupin may not need them). Lupin can trust both of them. Unfortunately, Fujiko is not so trustworthy because she has betrayed them before.
I had a completely different take. Ami’s reactions to Lupin are pretty consistent with other women and girls whom Lupin has saved over the years. To me, Ami’s attraction to Lupin isn’t just that he genuinely cares about her, though that’s part of it. Ami also likes Lupin because he’s not looking at her as a sexual object. Ami’s biggest blush came from when Lupin praised her skills, conceding that she would be a perfect fit for his crew. (Remember, Ami’s skills caused her to be shunned at boarding school.)
Lupin isn’t the only man to show positive attention to Ami. Ami was in constant contact with Zenigata while Lupin didn’t appear to be in contact with Ami at all, after he dropped her off at the boarding school. Zenigata also treats Ami well, but she shows no signs of interest in him.
As to Ami’s horrific backstory, even people who have had the misfortune of going through such an experience can find love and happiness. One of the things I like about Ami is that she makes the best out of every situation she’s in. That makes her a strong character in my opinion, certainly better than me. I tend to bitch and moan all the live long day, if given a chance. ?
Still, I do wish that the Fujiko x Lupin story was done better.