Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 19
ルパン三世
Lupin III Episode 19

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

French Inspector Ganimard III arrives in Japan as part of France Fair celebrations. He his the grandson of Inspector Ganimard, an arch-nemesis of Arsène Lupin, Lupin III’s grandfather. Ganimard casually insults Zenigata for his failures and vows to nail Lupin III. Further, he has some of Arsène Lupin belongings as bait. Lupin is annoyed, but ready for the challenge of getting his family’s artifacts back.

An annoyed Zenigata meets with Ganimard, and is not impressed with the Frenchman’s plans. Further, Lupin has left a note on one of the treasure crates, announcing his intent to steal back the Lupin family items. Ganimard is unconcerned and shows Zenigata the insane amount of security on the items. Unbeknownst to Ganimard, Lupin has overheard everything. As such, he introduces himself to Ganimard and leaves.

The next day, Lupin disguises himself as Zenigata and says he has a report that Lupin stole the treasure. Jigen disguises himself as a treasure expert and announces everything to be fake. Ganimard is crushed by this. As such, he agrees to have the “fake” treasure taken away. Lupin and Jigen nearly get away, but Zenigata arrives, stopping them despite help from Fujiko.

Lupin seems uninterested in pursuing the matter, so Jigen and Fujiko make an attempt on the treasure. However, it is a trap and Lupin has to rescue them. The day of France Fair, security is at the max. Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko hire a hoard of folks to be disguised as Lupin and cause confusion. Some even appear as Ganimard. Lupin and Jigen arrives as cops to secure the treasure. They take only the Lupin family stuff and escape.

Thoughts/Review

I have to say, Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 19 was one of the more interesting episodes of this series. Really was a lot of fun to watch.

Rivalries

There were two, interesting rivalries in Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 19. Obviously, the first was between Lupin and Ganimard, who’s grandfathers were rivals. Ganimard comes off as a poor man’s Sherlock Holmes in his approach to catching Lupin. On one hand, I don’t think he was wrong when it came to overkill on security. Don’t make it easy for the things to be stolen.

On the other hand, Ganimard was easily taken in by Lupin’s impersonation of Zenigata. It was sheer luck that Lupin didn’t steal all of the treasure. As such, his claims of logic fall well short.

Then there’s Zenigata’s rivalry with Ganimard. His passive-aggressive way of insulting Zenigata got things started. Had they not had this rivalry over who would catch Lupin, they might have actually done it. Still, I rather enjoyed Zenigata having competition to arrest Lupin. This new element added the spice that I think made me enjoy the episode so much.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review with some final thoughts.

• Lupin and crew hiring a bunch of folks to wear a Lupin mask and dress as Lupin was fine by me, even if it stretched credibility. However, I didn’t like that all of the imposters sounded like Lupin as well. There was no need for that.
• Further to this, some of the amateur imposters also had Ganimard masks underneath the Lupin mask. Yes, it is humorous and to be expect. However, it takes me out of the story.
• Jigen and Fujiko act pretty stupid in the episode. They’ve known Lupin a long time now. Yet they never once thought that Lupin had a backup plan, and so got greedy.
• Shockingly, no Goemon in this episode.

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part 1 19 was a fun episode, establishing a further tie with the French origin of Lupin III.