Lupin the 3rd: Part II 19
Lupin III Part 2 19
ルパン三世 – 新シリーズ Ep. 19
Lupin Sansei Shin Series
Lupin III New Series

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

A wealthy young couple throw an elaborate party, where the wife shows off the ring-safe she wears on her finger. A drunk, fat woman guest refuses to leave at the end of the party, so they let her stay. It is Lupin, who not only breaks into the ring-safe made by the famous safe maker Marukin, but also breaks into every other Marukin safe in the mansion.

Meanwhile Zenigata returns to Japan where he learns of what Lupin did. The disgraced and bankrupted Marukin issues a public challenge for Lupin to break into his 10-year safe before it automatically opens in a few days. The head of the Bank of Mitsubishi, who owns said safe, angrily summons Marukin as a result. Zenigata also shows up. Marukin is confident that Lupin won’t break into the safe, but the bank man shows he already did.

After they leave, Lupin removes his disguise as the bank president. He and Jigen wait for the safe to open and steal its contents. Sometime later, the bald, teenage son of Marukin convinces Fujiko to let him meet Lupin as a fan. However, Jotaro actually wishes to challenge Lupin, eventually poisoning his beverage. If Lupin can crack his safe, he’ll get the antidote.

Jotaro guides them to a remote area where there’s an egg-shaped safe. The ill Lupin can make no sense of it. However, when Jotaro reveals it is opened by pass phrase, Lupin luckily guesses it. Fujiko tells the dejected Jotaro that he actually won. Later, Lupin concedes that without trickery, he would not have cracked the ten-year safe.

Thoughts/Review

We get another episode in Lupin the 3rd: Part II 19 where plot needs dictate how things go. For a start, who lets a supposed drunk guest continue to hang out in your mansion while the husband goes to do some office work and the wife goes to take a shower? (And then Lupin NTR’s the wife. Wow!)

Next is Lupin “breaking into” the ten-year safe. Granted, this goes in hand with Lupin disguising himself as the bank manager. That aside, how was it not obvious to Zenigata and Marukin that there was a fake safe door on top of the real safe door. And let’s not ask how they get an identical but damaged fake door on the real door.

Then there’s Jotaro. He had to stalk Fujiko in order to find her in the middle of nowhere. Yet she just brings him to Lupin’s current residence. As far as I know, the steam device Lupin used either wasn’t real. Either that or it was unique. You can get a steam bath, where you sit in a tiny cabinet with your head exposed. However, you SIT and can easily get out. Here, Lupin needed to be trapped.

Finally, there’s the ease with which Jotaru poisons Lupin. After holding Lupin hostage for a short time, Lupin just lets him do whatever. Then when they get to the safe, the plot dictates that Zantetsuken, which can cut through anything, cannot cut the egg-shaped safe. That means Jotaro gets dumb so Lupin can luck into the pass phrase to open the safe.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Lupin the 3rd: Part II 19 with some final thoughts.

• I didn’t check to see if “open sesame” was what Lupin actually said, using the Japanese version or not. Either way, we get the second, sexual gag when Lupin uses the words to try to get Fujiko to open her legs. 🙄
• Once again, Zenigata serves no purpose in the episode other than to just be there. To be fair, Goemon and Jigen don’t have a lot to do either. But they are part of Lupin’s gang.
• Loved the nod to Pong as Lupin and Fujiko played together.

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part II 19 is just standard fare where needs of the plot dictate all events that happen.