Lupin the 3rd: Part III 08
Lupin III Part 3 08
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 08

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

A priest in Alaska riles up his masked, fanatic followers to get rid of the devil, Lupin III. In Miami, Lupin and Fujiko elude police pursuit after stealing an expensive necklace. However, the religious fanatics are there and kidnap Fujiko. They demand Lupin come to Alaska. As such, Lupin, Goemon, and Jigen head to the remote, Alaskan village and scout it out. Meanwhile, the priest hangs Fujiko on a cross and prepares to burn her as a witch.

Lupin and gang come in for the rescue. On their way out, Fujiko grabs the gold statue supposedly depicting Mary and child. The fanatics give chase. Lupin cannot elude them and has Goemon cut the idol, which was a fake with a tracker. However, the fanatics catch up with them. The priest, a thief named Yunkel, shoots Lupin. Fujiko declares Lupin dead and drops a grenade on his body. She, Goemon, and Jigen flee to an abandoned house, where the cultists have them trapped.

While they fend off the fanatics, Yunkel and his right hand man, Gordon, head to a cave to retrieve the real statue. Lupin, wearing a bear skin, reveals himself and his incredible method of escape. Lupin takes out Gordon, but as he reaches for the statue, he is electrocuted. Yunkel laughs, but Lupin manages to get him in the electric circuit until the fuse blows. Lupin escapes with the statue, then rescues his friends by blowing up a trail in the snow for them to use an old bathtub to slide away in.

Thoughts/Review

It has been ages since I watched Lupin III Part III, but I dusted off Lupin the 3rd: Part III 08 to give it a watch.

Weirdo Church

I get the feeling the writers of Lupin the 3rd: Part III 08 wanted to have a Castle of Cagliosto vibe to things. This came out in the way the cultists/fanatics dressed and acted while in uniform. However, once they were out of uniform, they just became generic, fanatics. At that point, about the only thing surprising about them is that Goemon and Jigen actually killed several of them (or so it appeared to me).

What I didn’t understand is how a group of the most violent criminals formed a village and became fanatical about worshiping a statue supposedly depicting Mary. This didn’t compute with me at all. Yunkel pretending to be a priest while conning the mugs did make sense. However, how do a bunch of hardened criminals get taken by some petty thief and his partner in crime? I think the episode would have played out better if they had just been normal people, worked into a frenzy.

As a result, the episode was just kinda “meh” to me. The only item of interest was that Fujiko was more like Lupin’s girlfriend than one might normally expect. I did like that element to be sure.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 08 is an episode with an odd group of opponents for Lupin, and nothing for Goemon and Jigen to do except fight. However, I did like the portrayal of Fujiko, but otherwise, it is a forgettable episode.