Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 11
ルパン三世
Lupin III Episode 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

A series of bridge bombing in a certain city are credited to Lupin. As such, Zenigata arrives in full force, suffering an injury in a blast. Meanwhile, Lupin and Jigen arrive in town. Lupin discusses robbing an armored truck and how the bridge bombings appear to be connected to get the truck somewhere else. Lupin figures out where the next bombing will be held. He and Jigen disguise themselves as fishermen with an old trawler. Jigen finds the bomb, so Lupin disarms it.

The next day, Lupin IDs an old fisherman as their bomber target. They track their target to a castle by the river in the city. However, upon infiltrating the castle, it’s owner, Volvo, springs a trap and snares them. He has kidnapped a young, blonde woman named Lisa and will kill her if Lupin and Jigen don’t carry out the armored truck heist for him. Volvo has an elaborate plan, but Lupin asks to do things his way.

Jigen and Lupin pull off the heist, and as expected, Volvo doesn’t release Lisa. Instead, he has arranged for Zenigata and his police force to descend to arrest Lupin. However, Lisa manages to shout out to Zenigata, giving Lupin what he needs to go after Volvo’s boat. Lupin kills Volvo and the boat comes ashore. However, before he can have a moment with Lisa, Zenigata and police arrive, forcing Lupin to flee, where Jigen picks him up.

Thoughts/Review

Maybe it is just my imagination, but I think I can see more of Miyazaki-sensei’s influence in Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 11.

Damsel in Distress

One of the things I like about Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 11 is how Lupin and Jigen get played. Clearly Volvo (who was not named in the episode, but the name was in secondary materials) had studied Lupin a long time. He gets Lupin’s attention (and Zenigata’s) by bombing bridges. Then he uses Lupin’s cleverness against him, knowing Lupin would eventually track down the real bomber.

Where I really felt Miyazaki-sensei’s influence was in the character of Lisa. She’s been kidnapped by Volvo in order to force Lupin and Jigen to pull the armored truck heist for him. Prior to this, Lupin’s actions seemed to be driven purely by his own self interest. And while there is an element of that in this episode, in that Lupin was attracted to Lisa, there was more.

This episode reminded me of the scene in Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, where Lupin paid a visit to the imprisoned Clarisse. Lupin is allowed to show some kindness to the captive Lisa and assures her that he will free her. Instead of a string of flags with a flower at the end, Lupin gives Lisa coffee. It was a nice moment that lets the audience know that from here on, Lupin is 100% committed to freeing Lisa.

Zenigata

While Fujiko and Goemon were not a part of Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 11, Zenigata was. Sadly, he comes off as somewhat of a buffoon. To me, Zenigata should be questioning why Lupin would be bombing bridges. After all, Lupin is a thief, not a bomber who just likes to see destruction. Instead, Zenigata is just out to try to protect the remaining bridges in this city and failing at that. He even gets injured in a blast.

Probably the weakest element in the episode happened when Volvo decides to take the bound Lisa with him rather than make the exchange. Somehow, she loses her gag and is able to confuse Zenigata by revealing the truth. Apparently, Zenigata seeing a bound woman in a boat with an old man trying to frame Lupin wasn’t enough to set off Zenigata’s BS detector.

Finally, we have Zenigata angry that Lupin got away. In an of itself, fine. But it would have been nice if he’d had something positive to say to Lisa, whom Lupin saved. Yeah, that would have been another Cagliostro thing, but it would have made Zenigata look better. As it is, this episode makes Zenigata pretty one dimensional.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, I enjoyed Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 11 on the whole. It is fun seeing Lupin get trapped, then making lemonade from his lemons. But I just wish Zenigata had been treated better.