English Dub Review: Lupin the Third: Part V “The Man Who Abandoned Lupin”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

We start right where we left off. Albert shot Lupin twice in the gut and is about to abscond with the little black notebook. But he doesn’t get away like the last episode would’ve had you believe. Instead, he must dodge bullets from Jigen while Goemon rescues his fallen comrade. And once they’re gone, Albert is attacked by two rough-and-tumble ladies who work for the criminal, Jose. The less rough and less tumble of them—we’ll call her “Patchy” because she wears a patch over her eye—intercepts the notebook, while Chloe fights the classy villain.

While Lupin is clinging onto his life, he has a dream about the time Albert, his former partner, screwed him over. While working alongside Gaston, Albert replaced all of their gang’s stolen money with counterfeit bills before abandoning them and leaving his old petty thievery life behind. Angry and disoriented, Lupin awakes in the present to find himself in an underground hideout where he and his cohorts are forced to eat snakes Goemon harvested in the sewers.

Meanwhile, back in the white-collar world, Albert is waiting for Guilaume to act while his people search for Jose and his gang. Jose, on the other hand, has severed ties with Guilaume and is using the notebook to help a right-wing, anti-immigration candidate become the president of France. But instead of using it for bribery amid a civil campaign, Jose pressures Albert and the DGSE by blowing things up and killing civilians.

Still a loose end, Jose sends assassins to kill Lupin and the others. Revenant—the masked assassin from the previous episode—leads the attack and chases Lupin around France. Patchy and Chloe also pursue the injured Lupin, but the boys manage to shake them off.

Calvis, the right-wing candidate, gets a huge bump in the polls because the numerous “terrorist” attacks have frightened the populace. “Frightened citizens tend to lean to the right,” a pithy news presenter announces during a live broadcast. Jose is basically bulletproof since the politicians and law enforcement agencies are too afraid to make a move while the notebook is in play. This prompts Albert to go back to his thieving ways. After all, France belongs to him, DAMMIT!

Our Take

For two episodes they’ve built up the schism between Lupin and Albert only to have them teaming up by the end of episode three. What a fortuitous series of events. Lupin doesn’t appear angry over getting shot, nor does he appear to hold any ill will. But just to be safe, we’re going to be watching these two as they interrogate Guilaume and likely others.

The flashbacks between the two thieves were effective and yet seemed to unfold in the wrong order. Since they began with Albert double-crossing Lupin and Gaston, the flashbacks that followed didn’t have the oomph they should have. While Albert’s desire for French domination and his nature to always be a thief are important aspects of his character, they should have been used to build up to his betrayal of Lupin and not used as afterthoughts.

This is the second arc this season that includes a group of colorful assassins. This one, however, is a bit more personal and the characters are likable enough that we don’t necessarily want to see them killed right away. How does Chloe bite through metal, and how is Patchy so skilled with unconventional weaponry? These are questions I really want to know the answers to before the characters make their grand exits. And who knows, maybe they’ll reform. Such graceful redemptions have been known to happen from time to time.

The French election storyline, while coming out of nowhere, sadly reflects our modern times whether you live in the USA, UK, or another faltering empire that once promoted unity. While the candidate is much more personable than his real-life counterparts, I’m sure the world revolving around him will be just as volatile—if not more so. Because, hey, life imitates art, vice versa, and back again. So you might as well lie back and enjoy it.