Lupin the 3rd: Part III 29
Lupin III Part 3 29
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 29

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Now that Lupin has stolen Marie Antoinette’s wedding dress and ring, he calls Fujiko with expectations of marriage. Further, he wants to honeymoon on the moon. He, Jigen, and Goemon head to a French castle to visit a rocket scientist named Gurlitt. However, Goemon bails when he learns Lupin wants to marry Fujiko. When they arrive, they find armed soldiers at the castle, lead by Clark Neumann (Noyman). Gurlitt foils them all and escapes, leaving Lupin and Jigen to “deal with the trash.”

Fujiko arrives at the castle with Goemon, who decides to train with a Daruma doll Fujiko gave him. Lupin plays with Gurlitt’s robot, Pepe. Then, Lupin gives Fujiko the elaborate dresses and jewelry. Lupin proposes, but when Gurlitt speaks through the robot, Fujiko realizes Lupin is serious. She escapes with the robot, observed by Zenigata.

At a palace, the president is troubled that Gurlitt hasn’t come to his birthday party. Pepe speaks for Gurlitt, asking for the cessation of the sales of missiles and fighter jets. However, the military force arrives to take the robot and kidnap Fujiko. They demand Gurlitt give them his rocket fuel formula. Pepe attacks as Jigen, Goemon, and Lupin join as well. Lupin discovers Gurlitt is hiding in a prison, so he has Zenigata arrest him and take him there.

In the prison, Lupin pays a visit to Gurlitt in his cell. Aided with a bottle of wine from Zenigata, Gurlitt expresses his fears about his fuel discovery. He also reveals that thanks to Pepe, he gets to see Fujiko undress and do sexual things for him. Lupin leaves and the drunk Gurlitt writes a tune for Pepe to play in the castle chapel. Lupin gets Fujiko to the rocket, but when Gurlitt forgets the ending of the piece, the rocket falls back to Earth.

Thoughts/Review

Good grief. Lupin the 3rd: Part III 29 was a complete and total waste of time. The only thing that made sense in the episode was that Gurlitt invented a special rocket fuel, meaning ICBM’s could be much smaller. Beyond that, everything is just utter, absurd nonsense.

• Why did this armed group let Lupin and Jigen into the castle at all?
• How did Gurlitt get himself a private cell in a large prison, complete with a mirror that acts as a TV monitor?
• Why would Zenigata give Lupin a bottle of wine once Lupin was in a cell? Heck, why allow Lupin to tell Zenigata which prison he wanted to be placed in?
• Why would Goemon bail out on Lupin over Fujiko, only to join her on a return trip? Further, considering how Goemon dislikes Fujiko, why would he accept a Daruma doll from her and try to “train” on it?
• How did the robot Pepe cause the Daruma doll to move? Why was Goemon so stupid as to want to be trained by a robot?
• It amazes me that Fujiko put on sex shows for Gurlitt via Pepe. Why? She had no motivation to do that. All of the expensive dresses and jewelry were already hers.
•  How did Lupin expect to honeymoon on the moon without proper gear?
• What lead Lupin to believe that music from the organ was the key to everything?
• How did Gurlitt control the rocket via music? For that matter, how did Pepe know what music Gurlitt scrawled on the floor of his cell in order to play it?

While Lupin’s motivations made sense, nothing else in this episode did.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 29 was an utterly, nonsensical episode.