Lupin the 3rd: Part II 18 (Pink Panther Parody #LupinIII)

June 5th, 2025

AstroNerdBoy

Lupin the 3rd: Part II 18
Lupin III Part 2 18
ルパン三世 – 新シリーズ Ep. 18
Lupin Sansei Shin Series
Lupin III New Series

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Lupin steals The Black Panther emerald from an art gallery, which has an image of a black panther in it when lit a certain way. Lupin puts it in the hand of a statue. Then he and Jigen, in disguise, pass an X-ray and are able to leave. The police chief welcomes Inspector Conaiseau to find the perpetrator and arrest them. Zenigata shows up and a rivalry starts.

Conaiseau and his aide Hageitoh horse around and break the head off Lupin’s statue. As such, Conaiseau demands Hageitoh fix it. Later when Lupin and Jigen arrive to retrieve the gem, they find it missing. Jigen investigates and discovers Hageitoh must have switched statues for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, Conaiseau confronts Hageitoh about the swap since the replacement is a fake.

Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon tail Conaiseau and Hageitoh to an island resort called Aegean Sea Club. Turns out it is a nudist place. Lupin has difficulties keeping his mind on the job. Eventually, he does steal the statue only to get trapped between Zenigata and Conaiseau. Goemon cuts the statue’s arm away, revealing the emerald. However, in the scuffle with Zenigata, the gem flies out of his hand and into the women’s pool.

That night, they cannot find the gem in the pool. Conaiseau shows up with the gem, only to reveal the black panther within is gone. Dejected, Lupin, Goemon, and Jigen return home. They throw Fujiko a birthday party. However, she cannot stay because she has a date with Conaiseau, who gave her the real Black Panther. However, Hageitoh “attacks”, causing the gem to again get away.

Thoughts/Review

One thing I never expected was for there to be a parody of The Pink Panther franchise. Nevertheless, that’s what we got with Lupin the 3rd: Part II 18. Inspector Conaiseau is a parody of Inspector Clouseau, and his companion Hageitoh is a parody of Cato. As such, this episode is somewhat different in nature.

For a start, there’s the parody attempts at the comedy of The Pink Panther movies. None of it made me laugh, but then again, I’ve never been a fan of The Pink Panther movies. Then there’s the rivalry between Conaiseau and Zenigata, which goes nowhere. Sadly, once again, Zenigata is there ’cause “reasons” and doesn’t really serve a purpose other than “Zenigata.”

Still, I will admit to finding amusement in the absurd actions of Conaiseau and Hageitoh confusing Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon. Of course this lead to the nudist resort, so there was a boatload of lightly drawn breasts and comedy fig leafs.

While the ending of the episode was completely predictable, I kinda liked it. The bumbling Conaiseau pulling one over on Lupin and scoring a date with Fujiko by giving her the real Black Panther emerald. There was just something fun about that.