Lupin the Third Part 6 – 10
Lupin III Part 6 10
ルパン三世 PART6

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fujiko examines a bird-dinosaur fossile in a natural museum. She leaves when the museum closes and is picked up in a limo by a wealthy man named Mihail. At his mansion, Mihail and Fujiko have a long discussion on fossil discoveries of the past and the potential for these being faked. In the end, whether fake or not, the man’s master has a job for Fujiko to steal the actual bird-like dinosaur fossil, which is secured. A replica is all the public is shown.

Fujiko meets up with Lupin and Jigen in the woods outside London. She wants Lupin and Jigen to uncover Mihail’s boss. Jigen turns down the job and leaves. Lupin investigates, but finds nothing on Mihail, as if he doesn’t exist. Further, the mansion Mihail took Fujiko to has been abandoned for years and is up for sale. This information shocks her, since the mansion was not in a state of abandoned decay when she visited.

Fujiko breaks into a data center and uploads something to a server. This activates a time loop. Fujiko breaks into the warehouse holding precious artifacts. Lupin surprises her by suddenly appearing. Fujiko finds the vault holding the fossils. However, Lupin says the two bird fossils in the room are fakes. He points out a small button on the wall and presses it.

The wall opens and inside a large, empty room, a giant fossil some 3-4 stories high hangs on the wall. She reacts in horror when she sees the top of the fossil. Lupin comes over her shoulder, quoting the Bible on the fall of Lucifer. Fujiko finds herself back at the replica Archaeopteryx in the museum before she took the job. She goes down to the limo and tells Michael she can’t take a job from God.

Thoughts/Review:

Great. Oshii-sensei does another Lupin III episode, this time in the form of Lupin the Third Part 6 – 10. And that means weird, subverting expectati0ns (in a non-political way), and boring the pants off me at times. But I won’t deny the twist was interesting.

Boring Exposition

The entire first half of Lupin the Third Part 6 – 10 was filled with boring, mostly meaningless exposition. The key part is that there were three dinosaur-bird fossils found (one just a feather), but no more. And that scientists turn their trade into a pseudo religion rather than deal with inconvenient facts.

Beyond that, the only other item of note was the condition of the mansion when Fujiko visited it.

Supernatural

Oshii-sensei loves to be confusing and subvert expectations. As such, in Lupin the Third Part 6 – 10, after we get this mind numbingly dull exposition out of the way, we head to the supernatural. For a start, there’s Fujiko’s hack into a server that literally causes time to loop. Heck, she doesn’t even question this. But as a viewer, initially we are thinking she’s hacked the security cameras so that she can sneak down halls and into rooms. But nope, she’s hacked time somehow. 🙄

Next if Lupin’s report. He cannot find evidence of Mihail even existing. Not only that, the mansion she went to had been abandoned for years. Now, the creepy, supernatural element really starts to rise.

Finally, we have Lupin’s sudden appearance during the heist. Fujiko is startled by his sudden appearance, but otherwise doesn’t really question it. As such, it is not until the end that she starts to seemingly sense the supernatural at work.

I don’t mind the supernatural being part of Lupin III. That element is part of the lore, though not touched on as much of late. However, I felt the supernatural elements could have been handled better.

Archangel Michael or Lucifer?

Oshii-sensei wants us to believe that in Lupin the Third Part 6 – 10, it is the Archangel Michael who wants to hire Fujiko to steal the Archaeopteryx fossil. This really made no sense to me on any level. Why would God have one of his angels steal a fossil, even considering the actual fossil is supposed to be Lucifer’s angelic body.

That aside, I think it was pretty clear by the end of the episode that the Lupin who joined Fujiko for the heist in the museum was in fact Lucifer. Not only did he know too much, but he quoted from the Bible about the fall of Lucifer once she saw the actual, giant fossil. But it doesn’t explain Michael.

Episode watcher Frankieluong pointed out that Lucifer disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is highly likely that it was Lucifer who was attempting to hire Fujiko in the guise of Michael. The “evil” grin on Michael’s face at the end kinda gives credence to this.

The problem is the time reset Fujiko got after learning that the Archaeopteryx fossil was in fact Lucifer. One could suppose that God let Fujiko see the results of the heist, should she accept the job. Since Lucifer apparently can’t steal his own body, it could be a safeguard from God. But in Oshii-sensei fashion, that’s for the viewer to decide.

That said, Fujiko may have believed Michael wanted the fossil stolen at God’s behest. But this makes no sense to me.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Lupin the Third Part 6 – 10 with some final thoughts, so I can go to bed.

• I was shocked to hear actual English spoken when the museum closed. Unfortunately, it was American English and not British English.
• Goemon is missing in this episode. Ditto Zenigata.
• Jigen only gets the brief cameo, whereupon he turns down the job. His reasons felt made up so that Oshii-sensei could make a Fujiko episode with Lupin as the side kick.

In the end, Lupin the Third Part 6 – 10 starts off as a tediously boring mess with only 2-3 bits of useful information. The second half is a bit more interesting as the supernatural is injected. And I do give Oshii-sensei credit for the interesting plot twist regarding the Archaeopteryx fossil. Had we cut to the chase, the episode would have been far better.