Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 12
ルパン三世
Lupin III Episode 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

A criminal named Hayate has a local, village elder captive in an abandoned, mountain cabin. He’s there to steal two statues in small, wooden boxes. Fujiko manages to steal one, but is discovered before she can steal the second. Hayate has his henchmen give chase as Fujiko flees on a snowmobile. Eventually, they destroy her vehicle, but she manages to get away just the same. As such, Hayate executes the guy who lead the pursuit.

Meanwhile, Fujiko makes her way through the snow to a cave, where Lupin is waiting for her. While Lupin plays Fujiko, Hayate gets reinforcements to find Fujiko and the statues. They find the cave, but Lupin, Jigen, and the captive Fujiko flee. Lupin enacts his plan to get the second statue by offering to pay the village elder for it. Lupin spends all he has for it as Fujiko fumes over Lupin tricking her.

The following morning, it seems as if Fujiko has scarpered, so Lupin goes after her. However, Hayate has Fujiko and the village elder captive. Hayate believe Lupin to be dead when his boobytrapped snowmobile explodes. However, Lupin is alive and thanks to Jigen, has a mortar launcher and lots of shells to bombard Hayate’s location. After killing Hayate’s men, Lupin goes for the score. However, Hayate blows himself up, destroying the statues.

As Lupin and Jigen trudge through the snow, Fujiko shows up with a treasure map that the statues were supposed to reveal. Jigen and Lupin get a rope on Fujiko’s snowmobile and are dragged away. Meanwhile, the village elder has all of Lupin’s cash, having given Fujiko a fake treasure map.

Thoughts/Review

I gotta say, Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 12 falls into the “meh” category of Lupin stories.

Boring Snow Adventure

Starting an episode with unknown characters doing “something” isn’t a way to draw me in as a viewer. And yet that’s the route Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 12 took. The whole notion of some dude named Hayate taking a village elder prisoner as part of an attempt to steal a couple of statues in small, wooden boxes before Lupin could steal them, did nothing for me as a viewer.

Basically, nothing about this episode interested me. As a villain, Hayate is pretty dumb. I mean, he had the two statues, but in order to have a story, he has to blather so that Fujiko can literally saw a hole in the cabin Hayate is in and steal one of the statues. The only smart thing he did was get reinforcements, though they all got killed.

Lupin comes off as dumb. Sure, he had a plan, but then that fell apart. So he starts shelling the village with mortars? I’m thinking, “If there’s a village elder, and there are all these cabins, where are the villagers?” I guess the production team wanted “exciting” explosions. But it was boring, as was the gun fights. Seriously, I’m rolling my eyes when massive machine gun fire comes no where remotely close to Fujiko until the plot demands it. But her pistol fire is beyond accurate.

Finally, this episode takes place in a snowy, mountainous region. As such, they need snowmobiles and snow trucks to get around. And yet no one is dressed for snow. Fujiko has a coat of sorts on, but a mini skirt as well. But everyone else is dressed as normal, despite tons of snow everywhere and a blizzard at one point.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 12 was a boring, action-filled episode set in a snowy setting for which no one was appropriately dressed. Things happen and characters are stupid in my opinion. Oh well.