English Dub Review: Lupin the Third Part IV “With a Gun in My Hand”

Give me a gun and I’ll tell you all the secrets.

Spoilers Below

This episode of Lupin starts off with a young man named Mirko surrounded by a group of thugs with guns. They seem to point and shoot at the young man as the scene changes to Jigen sifting through a phonebook. I wonder what happened to the kid?

Jigen is suffering from a toothache and needs some painkillers. She agrees to see him in exchange for his gun, bt in the middle of fixing his cavity the nurse if called to another patient. Eventually, Jigen decides he doesn’t want the medicine and wants his gun back. He runs into Dr. Livia, who tells him about Eric the Unkiller, a sadist who shoots his victims repeatedly while making sure to avoid hitting the target in fatal locations. Damn this guy is a real nut job. Turns out he also has complete control over the firearms in the city. Just as the doctor finishes telling Jigen all of this, a shot rings out from the lobby. Eric has arrived, demanding to see the new gun-slinging stranger in town. His goons lay waste to the lobby as they search for the gun to no avail. They give up their search and leave the hospital after apologizing for the ruckus and head back to their hideout

Turns out an old man named Nino stole Jigen’s gun and tried to kill the Unkiller. Dr. Livia decides to take matters into her own hands but Jigen stops her. She explains Mirko and Nino’s relationship as she breaks down and places the blam for all of Eric’s victims upon herself. Her lamentation is interrupted by Nino as he stumbles in, bleeding profusely from his bullet wounds and apologizing for stealing Jigens Gun. Jigen convinces Dr. Livia to heal Nino as Jigen himself sets off to recover his trusty gun.

Jigen confronts Erik the Unkiller, asking for his gun back. In return, Eric has Jigen surrounded by his men ready to make swiss cheese out of the fedora wearing marksman. Jigen puts on an impressive show, dodging every shot that is fired at him as he is surrounded. Each shooter is taken out by a bullet from another shooter. Eric himself is taken care of by Jigen, who gives him a chance to give up his evil ways. Eric takes the offer but as soon as Jigen turns his back, Eric tries to kill Jigen. Jigen dodges behind cover and then shoots the chain supporting a massive chandelier. The chandelier falls directly on top of Erik, killing him.

Back at the hospital, Jigen manages to get some painkillers from Nino and leaves. Dr. Livia watches from the window as Jigen disappears into the distance.

This episode was more action packed than a few of the previous episodes, having most of the action centered around guns. It was very cool to see an entire episode dedicated to Jigen, and just how much of a badass he is when it comes to knowledge of fire arms.  Lupin himself didn’t even make an appearance until the end of the final scene. While Jigen has never been my favorite member of Lupin’s three-man-crew, seeing him in action here definitely gave him some bonus points. After all of the awesome things that Jigen did this episode, I was disappointed to watch him disappear without saying goodbye to Dr. Livia… but true to his form this is exactly how Jigen would have wanted it to go. Always the cool calm and collected, strong-silent type. I also think it’s pretty coo that Lupin has the ability to give other characters the spotlight as a series. This episode flew by, and I am already anticipating next weeks adventure. I hope Goemon gets a similar episode in the future.

SCORE
8/10