Lupin the 3rd: Part III 24
Lupin III Part 3 24
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 24

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Wealthy man TANIYAMA Gonzo puts the ancient, Chinese treasure Ree Foa Bunkitai on display at a party. After the event, the treasure gets crated and put on a ship. Zenigata arrives with a squad of police officers. He’s sure Lupin will steal the treasure. Taniyama frustrates Lupin with his dismissive attitude. Sure enough, Lupin causes a diversion with an exploding boat, while Goemon is air dropped to cut the crate free.

After Goemon jumps into the water to join Lupin, Taniyama orders his men to do nothing as he has the assassin Seiryu on the case. Upon bringing the treasure on board Jigen’s boat, Seiryu shows up. He and Goemon fight, but when Zenigata arrives, Seiryu bails, revealing the treasure is an explosive fake. Lupin ditches the bomb and eludes Zenigata. The real Bunkitai makes it to its destination under heavy security. Taniyama promises to help Seiryu find the murderers of his clan if he completes his mission.

Meanwhile, Fujiko uncovers that Taniyama had Seiryu’s clan killed for unknown reasons. Further, he’s planning to have Seiryu killed once his job is done. Goemon recalls training with Seiryu in their youth. At the next event showing off the treasure, Lupin and gang gas the place. However, Zenigata is prepared for them and traps Fujiko and Lupin. Goemon manages to get the treasure, but is intercepted by Seiryu.

While they fight, Lupin and Fujiko escape Zenigata’s custody. Jigen snags them and the injured Goemon. Taniyama revealed his true intentions when his men shot Seiryu. When Taniyama leaves, his limo is cut down by Goemon, killing the wealthy man.

Thoughts/Review

Whenever I hear TAKIGUCHI Junpei speak, I automatically know that he’s going to be the villain. 😂 And that certainly was true in Lupin the 3rd: Part III 24. In this case, he’s a somewhat different character. For inexplicable reasons, his Taniyama character slaughtered a whole clan of Japanese people (presumed warriors like Seiryu). And he’s going to kill Seiryu at some point, presumably because he doesn’t want Seiryu to learn the truth? Man, none of that made sense at all.

Outside that, Taniyama is a fairly “normal” wealthy person with a large, heavily armed bodyguard squad. He legitimately has a valuable Chinese treasure. As the owner of said treasure, he travels around to gala events, showing off said treasure. Naturally, Lupin wants to steal this treasure. So in reality, Taniyama is a victim targeted by Lupin even though he’s total scum. To be honest, I found this rather interesting and refreshing.

I also liked that Goemon got a chance to shine in the episode. Yeah, the Seiryu aspect felt contrived. However, Goemon’s part in the heist worked well. It is a shame that he and Jigen get the short end of the stick so often in these episodes.

Finally, I liked that Zenigata managed to nail Fujiko and Lupin. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last for long. It would have been more interesting if Fujiko and Lupin hadn’t been able to escape so quickly.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Lupin the 3rd: Part III 24 with some final thoughts.

• While the subtitles can’t reflect this ’cause “ignoring Japanese honorifics is a completely non-lazy adaptation choice”, I noticed that Lupin used a lot of honorifics in the episode. It is ultra rare that Lupin uses honorifics for his crew, sans Fujiko-chan. But in this episode, he addresses Goemon as “Goemon-chan” at times. And to butter Jigen up, it is “Jigen-san” at times.
• Funny how the treasure of the episode got lost in the story. Goemon gets revenge for Seiryu, but the treasure Lupin sought just disappears from the story.

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 24 is interesting on some levels, and dumb on others.