Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 08
ルパン三世
Lupin III Episode 08

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Lupin calls the wealthy Mr. Gold to inform him that Lupin will be sealing his lucky card deck, once owned by Napoleon. The time is set for midnight on Mr. Gold’s birthday. As such, Mr. Gold calls his police commissioner friend, who arranged for Zenigata to be on the case. Zenigata objects to Mr. Gold’s elaborate party, but is ignored. As midnight approaches, Mr. Gold is confident that Lupin cannot steal the cards. However, Lupin strikes, steals the cards, and gets away.

At Lupin’s hideout, Lupin gives the cards to Fujiko. She recounts how she knew she’d get the cards after a strange encounter with the joker figure from the card deck. A little girl delivers flowers to the hideout, but it it is a bomb from Mr. Gold. Jigen is injured and taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital is controlled by Mr. Gold, forcing the gang to flee.

They get Jigen out in a hearse, but Mr. Gold keeps tracking them and anonymously reporting them to Zenigata. After Goemon gets them out of a major trap, the group split up with plans to meet at an abandoned mansion. Fujiko and Jigen arrive first, where Fujiko discovers a tracker on one of the cards. Meanwhile, Mr. Gold uses his connections to take command of Zenigata’s police.

Elsewhere, Goemon feels Lupin is behaving dishonorably by not rushing to Jigen and Fujiko’s aide. As such, Goemon plows his way through, but ends up trapped with Jigen and Fujiko. Meanwhile, Lupin knocks Mr. Gold out and assumes his identity. As such, he’s able to get his three comrades to safety on a makeshift kite. The Joker card thanks Fujiko for freeing them from Mr. Gold and the cards fly away, as they once did to Napoleon.

Thoughts/Review

Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 08 marks the second episode where the story structure works pretty well. I wonder if this is from the influence of Miyazaki-sensei, who’d joined the production team in the previous episode.

A Fun Heist

There are a lot of firsts in Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 08. For a start, this is the first episode where all four members of Lupin’s gang are there. (As an aside, I was disappointed that Goemon didn’t have something negative to say about Fujiko.) Second, Zenigata is also in the episode, chasing the gang down. In addition, I think this is the first time that Fujiko isn’t trying to betray them.

I also think this is the first episode where Lupin notifies the target of his heist that he’s coming. Obviously, this raises the challenge level for Lupin in order to make things more fun. That aside, I liked how Lupin pulled off the heist, spooking Mr. Gold so that Mr. Gold ended up doing the hard work for Lupin.

The subsequent tracking and chase was the weakest part of the episode. The moment Lupin and his gang realized they were being tracked and intercepted by Mr. Gold’s people, they should have immediately suspected the cards at minimum. However, it wasn’t until near the end of the episode that Fujiko discovered the truth.

Finally, Goemon isn’t playing in these early episodes of the franchise. I’m so used to him shredding clothing and sending folks fleeing. Here, Goemon is slaughtering folks. To be honest, that’s how it should be.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 08 was the most enjoyable of the episodes to date in this initial TV series. The episode helps establish the formula that the Lupin III franchise becomes known for.