Lupin the 3rd: Part III 33
Lupin III Part 3 33
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 33

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon are disguised as fishermen on the Hudson River while they case Macintosh Jewelry. Another boat races by with a kidnapped boy, pursued by Zenigata. Lupin accidentally gets caught up in the affair and rescues the boy. That evening on shore, they cook fish over a fire. The kid, Mikhail (Misha) Kazanov, recognizes Lupin and gang. He reveals that he’s a huge fan and wants to be a thief like Lupin.

Lupin takes Misha through the city to his hotel. Misha follows Lupin’s lead and hits on girls, who take it out on Lupin. At the hotel, the kid steals a lot of stuff. Fujiko shows up and kidnaps the kid. Lupin learns that the kid’s recently deceased father was a scientist with an invention to turn seawater into fresh water. The UN employs Zenigata to retrieve Misha. Elsewhere, Fujiko attempts to trade Misha to Macintosh, but the jewelry store owner betrays Fujiko.

Fujiko gets Misha to flee to Lupin with the news. Macintosh has a fake diamond airdropped to Lupin’s hotel with a message on trading Misha for Fujiko. At the swap location, Jigen and Goemon position themselves and wait for Lupin’s signal. However, Misha decides to protect Lupin and turns himself over to Macintosh. Goemon frees Fujiko while Lupin retrieves Misha’s electronic arm band, full of imagery from Lupin’s adventures.

Meanwhile, Macintosh attempts to probe Misha’s mind, only to find it filled with girls and Lupin’s gang. Using the implosion of a nearby building as cover, Lupin sets off other explosives, causing a fire in the Macintosh building. Despite his attempts to stop Lupin, Macintosh cannot prevent Lupin’s gang from stealing all of his jewelry. Later, the boy gives up the tech of his father to the UN, under Fujiko’s guidance.

Thoughts/Review

Well, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 33 was kind of a “meh” episode. I did enjoy the disguises Lupin’s gang had while fishing on the river. In addition, I also liked that Misha was a massive fan of Lupin. And finally, I liked seeing Zenigata chasing other criminals rather than just Lupin. However, that was about all I enjoyed of the episode.

That’s not to say it was a bad episode. The episode just didn’t do anything for me. It was a massive, plot contrivance that the owner of the jewelry store cased by Lupin happened to be the guy kidnapping Misha. Then there’s another, massive plot contrivance with the scheduled implosion of a building. Thus Lupin gets his window to get everything he wants via the Vacu-suck™.

Of course, we get the predictable betrayal by Fujiko. Seriously, this is so freaking boring. I laughed at how the tables were turned on her, forcing her to seek Lupin’s help. The writers do allow Fujiko to “girl boss” a bit to allow Misha to escape, which was also laughable.

Finally, there’s Zenigata, whom the writers forget. We last see him with a cold taking what reminded me of BC© Powder for some reason. I kept expecting him to turn up, but instead, we got a twist where Fujiko attached herself to Misha. Go figure.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 33 is just a “meh” episode. There were some items of interest for me, but for the most part, it was just average entertainment.