English Dub Review: Lupin the Third: Part V “Fujiko’s Gift”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Lupin and the boys are hanging at the hideout, and are persnickety as always. And because they always eat dinner around the same time every day, their bowels seem to be on the same schedule. At least Jigen and Lupin seem to have to excuse themselves to the powder room at the same time while Goemon keeps his personal business a little closer to the vest.

Bad news! Lupin’s toilet breaks down just as everybody has to “take care of business”—especially Goemon despite his insistence otherwise. Even though they all hang out at Lupin’s place, Jigen has an apartment on the floor below. So, after Lupin rings and leaves a message for the handyman, they race downstairs in an attempt to hit Jigen’s porcelain paradise first.

Enter Fujiko, who claims Lupin let her in the night before when he was wasted, so he doesn’t remember. The boys become suspicious when she wanders into Lupin’s bathroom. The suspicion rises when they overhear her calling and canceling the plumber. Goemon gets an eyeful when Fuji catches him snooping and grabs him by the throat while she’s completely naked. The look of her soft, glistening, exposed body excites Goemon and Lupin, while it downright irks Jigen.

Later on, Goemon is on a quest to find Japanese food even though there are no authentic restaurants in the area. With only pizza and pizza-related items available at the joint downstairs, the samurai tries his hand at making soba noodles from scratch. However, it’s the miso soup he whips up that draws a little unwanted attention.

Inspector Zenigata just happens to be walking by as he catches a whiff of Goemon’s heavenly stock. And because the Interpol sleuth has no sense of shame, he invites himself in as soon as Lupin answers the door in his old man disguise. At this point, the story transforms into a really old episode of Three’s Company as the zaniness gets turned up a few dozen notches.

As Lupin play-acts with the inspector, Fujiko fumbles around in the bathroom and Goemon slaves over a hot stove. They come inches away from being caught on numerous occasions, causing the master thief to think fast. He keeps pops out of the bathroom by telling the truth and out of the kitchen by claiming his roommate is shy.

With the inspector finally sated and out of earshot, the boys relax only to realize Fujiko has left. The toilet is working normally again and she left whatever had been clogging up the works on Lupin’s coffee table. Apparently, he forgot about a special anniversary they were meant to celebrate that day. It’s a shame the dope’s too stupid to even recognize what the package is as he discards it in the trash.

 

Our Take

What can be said about this subpar episode? Umm…? It was a single-setting “bottle” episode which is unusual for Lupin III. Part of the show’s charm is to capture the beauty of the European and tropical landscapes the gang is forced to traipse through during their misadventures. On this occasion, however, we were stuck in Lupin’s janky hideout the entire time.

Now let’s talk about that toilet humor. I’m not a fan of scatological quips, to begin with, and this episode took lowbrow to new lows. They didn’t just crack jokes about the act of using the facilities, they cracked wise about the washroom itself. In fact, by episode’s end, Lupin’s toilet got more screen time than Jigen who was vastly underused.

I have a theory that the Lupin characters exist in the same universe as the toons from Who Framed Roger Rabbit and their animated actors behave similarly to the characters on the show. Stick with me; this is a little complex and unnecessary. But it must’ve been Jigen’s in-universe actor who didn’t want to partake in this silly episode. Because whenever he was on screen he looked depressed as if he didn’t want to be there.

We also saw a new side of Fujiko, which brings her total up to roughly seventeen. I can never discern this woman’s motivation because it’s always changing. Some days she’ll do whatever it takes to be by Lupin’s side, and on others, she wants nothing to do with the rogue. But now she wants him to remember an arbitrary anniversary? Why? Who even is this woman?

I’d like to call this outing a one-off, but there was a speck of continuity sprinkled atop the madness. The hideout and old men disguises were used during the first Ami arc. So we know this is a continuation of the “main” story, but for whatever reason, the plot didn’t go anywhere. And since we just finished the most recent Ami arc two weeks ago, it’s strange to see how much Fujiko has changed since their last meeting in Padar.

If this were a random one-off, where the characters tend to wear different outfits and a bunch of randomnesses happens, I’d expect Fuji to act strange, because all the characters act against type in those frivolous episodes. But since there was a connection to the “real” timeline, I expected a little more earnestness among our favorite group of thieves.