Lupin the 3rd: Part III 35
Lupin III Part 3 35
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 35

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko use a cave to break into the Fontaubert Bank in a small, European country. They discover the vault has a hologram of 5.5 tons of gold as someone already stole the actual gold. An alarm goes off, sending Lupin’s crew running as the police swarm in. The three escape on a boat, pursued by the police. However, the Navy is waiting for them, forcing Lupin to turn the boat into a paraglider.

The bank’s president, Spalding, recruits Zenigata to go after Lupin for the theft. Back at their hideout, Lupin and Fujiko conclude that a famous married couple named Mary and John were the only ones who could have pulled off the theft. They are master of disguise, so Lupin comes up with a plan. At the local ski slope, he takes the lift to the top of the mountain, pursued by Zenigata. However, the cold gets to Zenigata, forcing Lupin to save him.

Zenigata arrests Lupin, but a snow storm hits. As such, they take shelter in a cabin, occupied by an older couple. Lupin suspects they are John and Mary, but the couple don’t take his bait. Two gunmen, supposedly sent by Spalding, enter and shoot Lupin. Elsewhere, Spalding hijacks Fujiko to take him to the cabin. She plants the idea of John and Mary turning on Spalding.

Meanwhile, John is forced to reveal that the fireplace is made from the stolen gold. Spalding enters, and the resulting conflict gives Zenigata the info he needs to make an arrest. Lupin reveals he’s unharmed. The gunmen were Jigen and Goemon. Lupin has Goemon cut the house free. It slides down the mountain, where Lupin saws it in half. However, the gold into a snowy canyon.

Thoughts/Review

Outside of a few elements, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 35 comes off as a pretty interesting “unmask the real criminals” story. The first unreal element was the use of a hologram to show off a mountain of gold. I understand that this series is full of unreal elements. However, even today, there’s no technology that can do what was done here.

The second unreal element was Lupin’s getting shot. Obviously, when the gunmen came in, I knew Lupin couldn’t be shot. And in fact, I suspected the gunmen were actually Jigen and Goemon. But the lack of serious blood should have clued Zenigata in on the fact that nothing happened to Lupin. Frankly, that was unfortunate.

I won’t go into the incredibly dumb “sky a cabin down the mountain” element, nor the fact that Lupin sawed the house in half in real time. 🙄

Beyond that, I did enjoy seeing Lupin put his plan together to get revenge against John, Mary, and Spalding. It is always fun when Lupin gives Zenigata an easy win for a big arrest. Unfortunately, the writers kill this by having Zenigata chase Lupin rather than get the big arrest.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 35 is okay on the whole, but there are some elements that took me out of the story.