English Dub Review: Lupin the Third Part IV “Until the Full Moon Passes”

Good night, moon.

Spoilers Below

Detective Cesare obviously has a thing for Elena Gotti. After walking her home they stop and kiss outside of the gates to her mansion, yet she doesn’t invite him in afterwards. This isn’t the first time its happened either. It’s obvious to me that she’s playing him for a fool. As Elena relaxes on a sofa, Lupin appears. His motive: to steal her hidden fortune. Inspector Zenigata shows up and puts a stop to Lupin’s plot before it can begin. Already, it’s good to see the old man back at it, especially after not having any appearances in the last few episodes. Zenigata has been charged with the task of keeping Elena Gotti safe, as Lupin has vowed to “take everything from her by the light of the next full moon”. Hm….

The secret fortune that Lupin is after is rumored to be Elena’s inheritance from her recent marriage to Roberto Gotti, the Media Mogul, but she denies that such a fortune even exists. Zenigata takes Elena to her secret hideaway, hidden in the side of a cliff. Still, Zenigata has his doubts and proceeds to thoroughly investigate the place. A brief flashback shows Elena and Roberto’s history and how he saved her from working the streets as a young child. Watching the scenes between Elena and Zenigata, I get the sense that Elena is somewhat spoiled. Anyway, after a slight misunderstanding, Elena runs away from Zenigata, thinking that he is going to harm her. As the two run through the snowy terrain, eventually she slips and tumbles down a cliff. Zenigata tries his best to save her, but unfortunately, gravity wins. Luckily, Lupin arrives by helicopter and manages to save Ms. Gotti, who then surprises Zenigata (and me) by taking off her mask and revealing herself to be Fujiko! Whoa… ok, now I am confused. How the hell did this even happen? Fujiko blows up the helicopter that Zenigata traveled on to get to the getaway in the first place leaving him stranded.

Two hours earlier at the Gotti mansion, it turns out Elena had never left. Lupin, who is impersonating Zenigata, and Jigen are pressing the real Elena for information regarding the secret fortune. However, Detective Cesare busts in pointing the finger at Lupin and claiming he is not the real Zenigata. Luckily, Lupin got away. Back in the present, Zenigata managed to hitch a ride with on the outside of the helicopter and reveals how he was able to deduce that Fujiko was an imposter. He forces open the door and tries to arrest Lupin, simultaneously crashing in the control board of the helicopter. Sparks fly everywhere.

Cesare is getting desperate to save Elena, or rather, find out about the treasure, to the point that he points a gun at her, claiming to have played enough games already. Elena holds steadfast in her word, saying that there is no fortune. This time Zenigata busts in and the two hold each other at gunpoint. Cesare shoots at Zenigata, who dodges the bullet and then shoots the gun out of Cesare’s hand and arrests him. Elena also reveals the truth behind the story of the fortune. The entire fortune was a made up story by Roberto, after a night of Elena’s infidelity. There really is no fortune, just a pay-back scheme from a dead man. Zenigata comes up with an idea. He goes outside to the gathered media and confesses that Lupin has stolen the entire treasure. Miraculously, Lupin just happens to appear with a bag full of stuff and makes a quick getaway, claiming to have stolen Elena’s entire secret fortune. With the treasure gone, Elena no longer has to worry about her people coming after her after a fortune that doesn’t exist. BUT as it turns out… there really is a fortune. It’s a literal column, at least two stories high, of 24k gold bars. My gold-to-cash conversions aren’t the best but I’m pretty sure that this is a HUGE amount of money, nearly incalculable. She might have more gold than Fort Knox! And to no surprise, Lupin and the crew knew exactly that Elena would go check on her fortune after the “curse” was lifted. You can’t out-smart Lupin the Third! Even more surprising, however, is that Zenigata returns as well, and prevents Lupin from stealing the huge fortune. Lupin escapes with no treasure and leaves Zenigata with Elena.

Whew!!!!!!! What a crazy episode! This has to be one of the best episodes of Lupin to be included in this “Part IV” series. The switch-around, disguises, deception, and plot twists NEVER end! Any other show would have needed at least an hour to tell the same story. There was just so much happening in this episode. From early on we could see that there was more to Elena than met the eye, but perhaps couldn’t quite place what it was until near the end of the episode. Truly, her backstory was a lot deeper than once perceived, and the things she had endured in her life were terrible. Yet she also had a very cunning side that she kept well hidden. Also, we get to see that Zenigata has quite a great mind, and even though Lupin often gets the best of his adversary, Zenigata does have his moments as well. Speaking of Lupin, we see his genius yet again when he shows up for the fortune. At one point in this episode, I thought that Lupin knew that there was no fortune and was doing a good deed by pretending to steal a fortune that didn’t exist. In the end, though, it seemed that this episode was centered more around Zenigata than anyone else, and he was even able to do his job and save the day. Once again this has got to be one of the best episodes of this part of the series so far, I’m going to have to watch it again just because. Do yourself a favor and watch this intense episode of Lupin the Third yourself!