English Dub Review: Lupin the Third: Part V “A 7.62mm Mirage”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

While on a vacation after his last heist, Lupin finds himself a girl. He doesn’t date her, but instead opts to creep on her by patronizing the café in which she works as a waitress. Surprisingly, she’s kind of into it—or at least pretends to be because he’s a big tipper. But all that ends when she’s shot by a sniper. It’s nothing serious, and she’ll survive, but Lupin notices the bullet says “d4,” a common opening move in chess. He recognizes it as a message from an old megalomaniac named Mr. Silverstein.

The old man hired a famous sniper named Mirage, a woman who Jigen worked with a few times in the past. It doesn’t take much for Lupin to entice his buddy into tangling with the “world’s best” sniper. The two of them fire at each other while Lupin and Silverstein play a game of terribly undisciplined chess.

During the intense battle of wits, we learn Mirage hails from a war-torn country, and at a very young age she was forced to watch her family die. To adapt and survive, she learned to shoot and perfected her skills over the years. She even learned to use drones to better frame her shot, which displeases Jigen after she shoots him in the damn shoulder.

But wait!

Jigen remembers a time when Mirage retired. It was roughly twenty years ago, back when Jigen didn’t wear hats or have long hair and we could see his entire face. Apparently he and the beautiful lady sniper were a little bit closer than he led Lupin to believe. When he last saw her she had a belly full o’ baby and the pregnancy made it impossible for her to practice her profession. And so, she left all those war-torn countries behind and gave up shooting people for a living. She did, however, hold onto her rifle, just in case. It was left ambiguous as to whether Jigen was the father of her unborn baby—then again, Jigen was definitely the father. No question. End of discussion.

In present day, as their sniper-ific battle comes to a head, Mirage shoots down a pillar hoping to crush Jigen underneath. But before she can take out Lupin, a surprise bullet takes out her gun causing her shot to ricochet and kneecap the old man.

Expecting a tearful reunion, Jigen is aghast when he finds out Mirage isn’t Mirage at all, but rather her fully-grown daughter. Since Lupin technically won the bet (because they weren’t playing conventional chess but rather “sniper chess”) Lupin offers her the hefty prize if she agrees to give up the game and go back to her ailing mother. Jigen helps Mirage Jr. decide by discouraging her, saying she’ll never be as good as her mother. Of course, the old fool was lying, and as soon as she leaves, he admits that she probably could’ve been the best sniper of all time—because she’s 100% Jigen’s daughter.

 

Our Take

I can’t believe my eyes, ears, nose, and throat! We finally got ourselves a stand-alone Lupin episode that wasn’t about nonsense for the sake of nonsense involving a bunch of nonsense-makers walking around nonsensically. If not for a sinking suspicion that the next stand-alone will be utterly terrible, I’d give this episode a standing ovation.

How great was it to see more of Jigen’s complex backstory, not to mention the majority of his face? Since he’s a fan-favorite, it’s particularly noteworthy anytime we can catch a glimpse into the inner-workings of the mysterious thief. It’s interesting how he loves one of the best snipers, just like Lupin’s heart truly belongs to a thief whose prowess rivals his own. It’s as if these two men have a deep-seeded desire for themselves. It begs the question: does Lupin ever picture Fujiko wearing a teal blazer and sporting a pair of killer sideburns?

The weak point of this episode was the primary villain. Silverstein was yet another random old guy from Lupin’s past. Shooting that waitress to get the master thief’s attention was a bold move and showed off his sadist side, but after that he became quite pedestrian. The parallel between chess and sniping was acceptable—since they both require extensive concentration and strategy—but there are far more variables in the art of shooting. There’s no chess move equivalent for Mirage Jr. blowing away the entire base Jigen was standing on. Unless you count tossing the board across the room in anger a “chess move.”

Even though I doubt we’ll ever hear from her again, I’d be interested in learning more about Mirage. What horrible things befell her after retirement? How is her relationship with her daughter, and what does Junior know about her father? Is life as a sniper better than life without sniping?

Wow, that last question is pretty deep. I mean, if being a sniper is who you are and what you’ve been bred to do since your devastating childhood, isn’t it simply a part of your life? And can one truly take away a part of themselves without destroying their life entirely? Maybe some questions are best left unanswered.