English Dub Review: Lupin the Third: Part V “Answer Me, Zantetsuken”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

There’s a lot going on in this episode as governments begin to crumble and technology ebbs closer to full Skynet mode. But this chapter of the story isn’t about all of that. It’s about one of the samurai’s fragile feelings.

We start with Goemon reconvening with the guys plus their added guest, Ami. Our pompadour-wearing Ronin is still steaming over being labeled as a “henchman,” despite trying to hide his ire. As the gang heads to the island of Maul, the home of ShakeHanz Headquarters, Ami attempts to take People-Log offline.

By the time they arrive, Ami has yet to crack the code, but the disruption has distracted the techies enough for them to slip into HQ undetected. Inside, Lupin asks Goemon nicely to hang back in case they’re being followed. This causes the samurai to blow up and accuse the master thief of mistreating him. Lupin whips out his phone to show Goemon that every bad comment about him online has a poor People-Log rating. After a long explanation of how the technology works, the samurai finally accepts that his and Lupin’s relationship is too complicated to categorize.

That works for about ten seconds. But then, Enzo shows up and manipulates Goemon into believing Lupin only sees him as another bauble in his collection. Shortly after, Jigen has Enzo’s partner at gunpoint, ordering him to close down all the elevators except Lupin’s. Suddenly, old, shifty Enzo appears on a screen to throw shade on Jigen, claiming he’s less of a partner and more a lowly sidekick.

Before learning how Jigen reacts, we cut to Zenigata whose partner is in the middle of tearing him a new one. The young, skinny-as-a-rail agent wants to know why Zenigata didn’t just arrest Lupin when he had the chance. Even though the inspector gives a reasonable answer, his partner continues to berate him, claiming the genius police officer has gotten soft ever since being assigned to the Lupin case. Damn, emotions are running wild in this episode.

Just as Lupin and Ami are about to release Fujiko from her bondage, Goemon bursts in. The samurai, gripping his drawn sword, challenges Lupin to a duel to the Pain. Our hero agrees and the two men have at it. Ami doesn’t want them to fight and nervously tries to stop them. Fujiko interjects, claiming that if she truly loves Lupin, she must accept his dangerous lifestyle. In for a penny…

The battle ends with Goemon slashing Lupin deep in the torso, nearly killing him. Luckily, Goemon always wears a metric-ton of bandages around his torso, because Lupin is going to need them to survive.

Oh yeah… and it turns out Ami is Enzo’s long lost daughter. So that’s interesting, no?

 

Our Take

My goodness, Lupin is not looking very well, and this might be the end. You know, just like that time he almost got shot in the head back in Bwanda. Or, remember when Albert filled his guts full of bullets on that Parisian bridge? And it’s kind of similar to when the Princess of Padar shot him with an arrow, leaving him to bleed out on her palace floor.

What I’m trying to say is, Lupin has almost died in every major arc this season. And that’s not including the interim moments where he faced off with the world’s deadliest sniper, matched wits with dozens of assassins, and got beaten with baseball bats by Jigen and Fujiko.

This show might have a problem with almost killing its protagonist. In fact, I think we need to set up an intervention for Lupin III: Part 5, because it’s downright addicted to bringing Lupin to the brink of death, only to revive him at the last minute. I’d say it’s a case of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” but that’s a little cliché. Instead, I’ll say “almost killing Lupin” is like Sergei Prokofiev’s symphony, Peter and the Wolf, and Goemon is definitely represented by the French horn.

Plus, there are two episodes left in the season, so they’re not going to get rid of Lupin that early. Not that they’d kill him off in the first place!

Not to brag, but I knew Ami was Bron’s daughter as soon as I heard about his tragic backstory. And I must say, such a bombshell would’ve been much more poignant if they’d taken the time to build up Enzo’s character. Prior to the last episode, the only time we saw him—as far as I can remember—was in a few throwaway scenes during the Padar arc. They had the chance to include him throughout the entire series—constantly in the background pulling the strings—but they blew it. This way, it feels like the realization was added at the last minute to give this final arc an added oomph.

Boy was I wrong about that henchman post being a one-off joke. Who knew it would be the driving force for an entire episode—the antepenultimate episode, at that. But it didn’t work for me. It came across as contrived with the sole purpose of creating unearned drama. I should have to say this, but there are other ways to create compelling television than almost killing a character. Why hasn’t Lupin III figured that out yet?