Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 15
ルパン三世
Lupin III Episode 15

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

The police commissioner wants to send Zenigata to Europe for an international police convention. Zenigata is reluctant since Lupin is planning to steal the gold bust of a wealthy man named Kinman. The commissioner gives Zenigata a night to capture Lupin. As such, Zenigata deploys police all over Kinman’s Japanese mansion. That night, Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko try to steal the bust. Jigen provides a distraction, but the others have no success penetrating the mansion.

Lupin’s gang barely escapes. Zenigata gets the commissioner to give him another day to capture Lupin. Lupin and Fujiko get aerial shots of the mansion, but Zenigata was prepared for that. Zenigata discovers the hole Lupin fell into and learns it was an old escape tunnel from the house. Lupin sees evidence of the tunnel in the photos, but decides to do further recon. He disguises himself as a drunk and gets thrown into jail, where he leaves a small case and escapes.

Lupin enacts his second plan. Jigen takes a delivery truck and purposefully gets stuck in the hole. That requires a lot of cops to push his truck clear. Fujiko kills power to the mansion while Lupin steals the bust. On his way out the escape tunnel, Zenigata springs his trap. Lupin is thrown into jail while Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko escape. Zenigata prepares for his trip while Lupin uses the escape kit he left in jail to get free.

While on the plane, taxiing down the runway, Zenigata spots Lupin. However, it is too late to get off the plane. Meanwhile, Lupin and crew disguise themselves as an armored truck crew to take the bust to a safe location. After retrieving it, the gang ditch the disguises with the loot.

Thoughts/Review

Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 15 was a fun episode, where Lupin’s knowledge of Zenigata allows Lupin to safely fall into a trap and escape.

Not a Total Buffoon

One of the things I’ve often hated about the portrayal of Zenigata is that he’s usually a total buffoon. However, in Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 15, he’s not a total buffoon, though he has some goofy moments. As such, Zenigata was totally prepared for Lupin’s initial attempt to steal the bust. Lupin only gets away because the plot requires him and his crew to.

As a concept, I do like the notion of Lupin and Zenigata engaged in a kind of chess match with each other. Unfortunately, the episode depicts this in kind of a silly fashion. However, when you put the goofy stuff aside, Zenigata’s preparation for Lupin was pretty cool. He looked ahead to figure out what Lupin would likely do. However, Lupin looked ahead one step further, using Zenigata’s smarts against him. It is just a shame that things are done in the silly, goofy way it was.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 15 with some final thoughts.

• I liked seeing all four members of Lupin’s crew working together for this heist. No betrayal by Fujiko, which was nice. Goemon had the least to do.
• Speaking of Goemon, I guess the writers forgot he has Zantetsuken, which can cut through anything. As such, Goemon should have been able to make it into Kinman’s mansion. But alas, plot demanded otherwise.
• I think this episode was the first time I saw Zenigata without a hat on.

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 15 was a fun episode, though not without its flaws.