Lupin the 3rd: Part II 09
Lupin III Part 2 09
ルパン三世 – 新シリーズ Ep. 09
Lupin Sansei Shin Series
Lupin III New Series

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Fujiko hires an unpopular actor for a play she’s producing and directing, called Ukiyo-e Blues. Meanwhile, Lupin is flying to New York, when he notices his elderly seatmate going through a picture book of Ukiyo-e by an artist named Sharaku. The man has a heart condition, so Lupin gets him water so he can take his pills.

Due to the elderly man’s condition, Lupin escorts him to his apartment in New York. Lupin is impressed that the old man has a nearly complete collection of Sharaku Ukiyo-e prints. The old man claims they are the real thing. Fujiko arrives, having befriended the man, whom she identifies as Sharaku the Third. Sharaku III states that he’s replaced every bit of his ancestor’s art with perfect fakes. However, he only needs one more to complete the collection before he dies.

Lupin eventually agrees to take the job. He sends Jigen to stay with the ailing Sharaku while Lupin and Goemon scout out the Sharaku exhibition in New York. They are spotted by Zenigata, who’s running security. Zenigata nabs Lupin, but Goemon frees him. Lupin decides to send a disguised Fujiko to put a tracker on the piece.

The exhibition ends with Lupin not making his move. As Zenigata supervises the loading of the art onto a private plane, Fujiko and Lupin show up disguised as the pilot and stewardess. During the flight, Lupin sneaks back and swaps the paintings. However, the flight was staged, allowing Lupin’s crew to get away.

When they return to Sharaku III’s apartment, they find him dead. After the funeral, Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon reflect on things. It is then that Jigen notices the tracker on the art is moving. Lupin finds the old man alive and well, only it is the actor Fujiko hired. A disguised Lupin then cons Fujiko into thinking she has the real art and takes a $10,000 check from her. While she drives away, she notices a kite attached to her car. It has a note from Lupin, letting her know she’d pulled one on her.

Thoughts/Review

Wow. I gotta hand it to the writer of Lupin the 3rd: Part II 09. I got so sucked into the story, I actually forgot about the actor Fujiko hired at the start of the episode. Fujiko has a reputation for betraying Lupin and company. Further, she will con them when needed. However, writers normally portray this in a cliched, boring way. That’s what I expected.

Here, the writers still have Fujiko betray and con Lupin in a fresh way. As such, I thought that Fujiko’s target was the old man. I figured the actor would come into play as part of that con job. But then as I said, as the story progressed, I forgot about him. It wasn’t until after the funeral that I thought, “Wait! Wasn’t there that actor guy?” It was only then that I figured out what was happening.

I should have caught on right away as the clues are all there. However, the way the story was written really put me off my game, and I love it!

Still, there are two “rubbish” aspects to the episode. First is the fake flight. Even in a world of impossible things happening, no one is faking a flight and the occupants not know it. The writers should have come up with something more clever.

Second is the fake death. The actor, Alan, somehow fools everyone that he doesn’t have a pulse? Then how many people are involved with burying a man who’s in fact still alive? Rubbish.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, outside of a couple of rubbish bits, Lupin the 3rd: Part II 09 was quite fun and really enjoyable to watch with mostly good writing.