Lupin the 3rd: Part III 25
Lupin III Part 3 25
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 25

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

A priest summons Lupin to his church in Spoonland. After a recent civil war, they discovered that the church’s Dove’s Egg jewels were stolen and replaced with fakes. Lupin’s payment is artwork drawn by local kids. At Spoonland’s Prime Minister’s office, a disguised Fujiko witnesses Lupin announce his intention steal the jewels from her. As such, Prime Minister Hatcher summons Zenigata, promising him a knighthood if he twarts Lupin. Fujiko reluctantly agrees to work with Lupin.

Sometime later, Lupin arrives in disguise at the Prime Minister’s residence. He insists the jewels be returned. The Prime Minister agrees, providing the envoy can enter the safe. Lupin thinks he has outwitted her, thanks to Fujiko. Unfortunately, Fujiko didn’t have all the information. As such, the security system burns Lupin and injures him, forcing him to flee. Jigen has to elude the pursing Zenigata.

Later, Fujiko obtains additional information about the special treasure room. Lupin has Goemon make him a drill bit from the metal in Zantetsuken. After staging a loud, drunken party next to the Prime Minister’s residence to distract Zenigata, Lupin works on stealing the eggs. He and the gang manage to do so and return them to the church. The children celibate, but then the priest uses the eggs as a marketing gimmick to sell edible eggs.

Thoughts/Review

Well, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 25 is one of the dumb episodes in the franchise. From what I read, Prime Minister Hatcher is a rift on British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher. 🙄 For some reason, during a civil war, she somehow stole a couple of jewel eggs. I still don’t know how this was accomplished, or why. Not only that, she constantly blabbed to Fujiko so that Lupin could steal the eggs. Well, whatever.

Next on the stupidity list is that the local children cannot believe in God unless an idol statue has a couple of jewel eggs. I suppose one could argue it is a lie, considering the priest is a con artists of sorts. But even if it were a lie, the fact that Lupin believed it makes him stupid.

Then there was the stupidity of the second heist attempt. I get the writers were trying to be clever by forcing Lupin to do something difficult. But the fact that he needed a drill bit made from Zantetsuken killed that. The plot needs Goemon not cut open the wall from the start, so lets do dumb, unworkable stuff. Only then can Goemon do his thing. And don’t get me started on how Lupin manages to use a modified snake toy to attach magnets to the eggs so that Fujiko can get on skates on the floor below and use a magnet to drag them to the outer wall.

The only element of interest in this story came from Hatcher outwitting Lupin on his first attempt to nail the treasure. Lupin went through the trouble of replicating Hatcher’s hand, only to be foiled and exposed. I liked that. But that was the only thing I liked.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 25 is supposed to be an episode where Lupin and company do a good deed. Instead, it is a dumb story full of dumb things.