Lupin the 3rd: Part II 15
Lupin III Part 2 15
ルパン三世 – 新シリーズ Ep. 15
Lupin Sansei Shin Series
Lupin III New Series

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Graf (Count) Gabriel dispatches his hunchback butler to send a letter, challenging Lupin to steal the Dracula’s Tear gem. The caveat being that the theft has to occur on Gabriel’s airship, the Hendenburg. Further, Gabriel has invited Sherlock Holmes III, American private investigator Philip Archer, Japanese detective KINDANI Kosuke, and Inspector Zenigata. Lupin has until midnight of the inaugural trip of the airship to steam the gem.

After everyone is on board and briefed by Gabriel, everyone waits impatiently for midnight. Holmes plays his violin to pass the time. Just before midnight, a bunch of hot air balloons rise to meet the airship, bearing Lupin’s name. However, they are a distraction and after midnight, the lights go out. When they are turned back on, Gabriel is apparently dead and his butler missing.

They soon discover the Gabriel body is fake. The real Gabriel rotates back into the room from the floor. He plays a video, revealing that the detectives are Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon. Zenigata wants to arrest them, but Lupin points out that the butler is missing. Indeed, it was Fujiko in disguise who has Dracula’s Tear.

Gabriel escapes the airship and traps Lupin and company with Zenigata on a trip to Greenland. Lupin cannot gain control of the ship, so they free the captive detectives. When the airship lands, the FBI arrest the detectives, believing them to be Lupin’s gang in disguise. However, Zenigata breaks free, revealing that the FBI agents were Lupin’s gang in disguise, escorting the real detectives.

Thoughts/Review

I really haven’t complained about Amazon’s subtitles (no clue who originally did them). However, for Lupin the 3rd: Part II 15, the translator/adapter decided that the German character “Gabriel-hakushaku” should be called “Earl Gabriel”. For a start, the title “Earl” is not part of the German nobility. That’s strictly British. Second, if the translator were trying to be culturally accurate, they would have called him “Graf Gabriel”. Otherwise, he should have been called “Count Gabriel.”

That said, what a dumb episode. Good grief, this was nothing more than an excuse to try to elicit laughs from the actual Hindenburg incident, the movie Murder by Death, Sherlock Holmes, and fictional Japanese detective, KINDANI Kosuke. However, none of it was funny to me.

Regardless, the whole premise of the episode was dumb and the events, fairly predictable. I say “fairly” ’cause I thought Lupin would be the hunchback butler, not Fujiko.

Finally, we have another “Dracula” gem. Technically, the Dracula’s Tear is the first as the third series had the Dracula’s Heart.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, I found Lupin the 3rd: Part II 15 to be kinda tedious and dumb. Amazing that in Japan, this episode was thought highly enough to inspire Lupin the Third Part 5, Episode 17. Go figure.