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Gold: Lupin, Red: Fujiko, Purple: Goemon, Green: Zenigata, Blue: Jigen
Lupin III (Japanese: ルパン三世) is a direct descendant of the titular Gentleman Thief of Arsène Lupin, Villain Protagonist of a series of French novels by Maurice Leblanc. Like his famous grandfather, he's a cunning, dame-crazy master thief who's never been caught.

He is also the titular character of a Long Runner franchise from Japan. In 1965, a young manga artist named Kazuhiko Katō was offered a three-month manga contract, with the goal of telling stories to an adult male audience, by the editor of Playboy School. The "catch" was that Katō would use the pen name of "Monkey Punch". The series, Lupin III, made its debut on August 10th, 1967 in the magazine Weekly Manga Action. It went on to become an extremely popular and successful media franchise, spawning incarnations in pretty much every medium we cover here on TV Tropes. note 

Lupin the 3rd is frequently accompanied by ex-rivals Daisuke Jigen (The Gunslinger) and Goemon Ishikawa XIII (Rōnin). The trio form a Caper Crew, pulling off thefts or acting as a team of Adventurer Archaeologists. Fujiko Mine (a Femme Fatale and fellow thief) sometimes works for the group, and sometimes against them. The four are chased by Inspector Koichi Zenigata (Interpol Special Agent).

The stories are characterized by their zany plots and high-energy action scenes. The series balances crude humor, extreme action, and high-tempo heists with ease. The main appeal of the franchise is its versatility and consistency. Lupin and his crew have done a number of insane things during their time together, from stopping mysterious cults, to uncovering ancient civilizations, to fighting assassins, and so on. Often, Lupin will have to pull an Enemy Mine with Zenigata to fight against someone who is truly evil. This flexibility with plot and content means that Lupin can be put into any kind of story and do well. At the same time, Lupin and friends remain remarkably consistent across all the dozens of films, TV shows, and manga they star in, giving the series a level of accessibility few Long Runners can dream of. The audience can always count on Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko, and Zenigata to act like themselves, even when the topics diverge into hardcore drama or meta-commentary Mind Screw. All of this adds up to a franchise that can really be about anything, which is only fitting for a Gentleman Thief who sets out to steal whatever he wants.

One of the more interesting aspects of the franchise is Lupin's jacket colour (no, seriously). While Lupin is often depicted wearing a bright red suit, his look switches depending on the time period and part he's in. You can often tell when the particular Lupin story you're watching was made by the jacket colour he's wearing, and these colours indicate the general direction the story is going in. For instance, Lupin's green jacket is associated with his comedy slapstick origins in Part I, while his blue jacket is from his more adventurous time in Part V.

As this is a highly influential series, see the referenced by section to see characters who are related to this franchise.

Read more about the characters at Characters.Lupin III or read about their exploits on one of the following pages:

Works starring the cast of Lupin the Third:

Manga/Anime:

Live-Action:

Video Games:

Others:


Tropes common to all forms of Lupin the Third:

  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Goemon wields a katana called the Zantetsuken ("Iron-Cutting Sword") in the anime, and Nagareboshi ("Falling Star") in the manga. Exactly why the sword has such incredible cutting power varies, due to Broad Strokes continuity. If the sword is unable to cut something, it becomes a plot point.
    • Lupin III: Episode 0: First Contact and Lupin III: Dragon of Doom both explain that the Zantetsuken is made out of a mysterious alloy.
    • Lupin III: Part 1 explains that three swords forged by legendary Japanese swordsmiths of the past (Kotetsu, Yoshikane, and Masamune) were reforged into this one sword, and it is their fused spirit that makes it so powerful. From the translations, it's unclear if three swords were used, or three separate techniques were used to forge Zantetsuken.
    • In the manga, it's said to be made of a rare steel alloy produced from meteoric iron that is almost indestructible, though apparently the metal can cut itself.
    • The recap section has accidentally created a game of listing every time Goemon draws his sword.
  • Advance Notice Crime: Like his grandfather before him, the titular thief regularly sends out calling cards before his robberies, telling exactly what he plans on stealing. This usually gives Zenigata time to plan how to catch him.
  • Affectionate Parody: Of Arsène Lupin, obviously. The characters are often used to parody other stories, such as Mission: Impossible, The Pink Panther, and even Superman.
  • And the Adventure Continues: Any story in the franchise is unlikely to ever end in any other way, usually with Lupin and the gang getting chased into the sunset by Zenigata.
    • A lot of Lupin media ends like this. The very final chapter of the original manga ends with Lupin destroying his hideout and mentioning that he's hard at work on his next adventure.
    • The Castle of Cagliostro: The movie ends with Lupin driving off into the sunset, chased by Zenigata, showing that their ending is to continue doing this.
    • TabletopGame.Lupin III: explicitly states that the players are recreating a heist by Lupin; one of the many he has attempted.
  • Animated Adaptation: Lupin III began as a manga series, with stories that rarely lasted more than a single chapter. Within two years of the initial serials, a pilot cartoon was made in an attempt to garner interest for an adaptation as either a movie or TV series. Some of the chapters have enjoyed a fairly direct transition from Manga to Anime format.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Lupin the Third and Inspector Zenigata have Joker Immunity, but situations where one has a funeral or execution happens at least once every series.
    • Zenigata's obsessive pursuit of Lupin tends to make him very unsettled whenever Lupin is actually caught by other law enforcement, although this is always temporary. He becomes convinced that Lupin wanted to get caught and was trying to Get into Jail Free. (He's right, of course) One Chance to Breakout is an example from the Green Jacket series.
    • Similarly, Lupin is fond enough of Zenigata to mourn Zenigata's apparent death in the Made-for-TV Movie Lupin III: The Last Job.
    • Invoked in real-life: Gorō Naya (the voice of Zenigata) provided a short eulogy (in-character) at the funeral of Yasuo Yamada (the voice of Lupin): "Hey, Lupin, who the hell am I supposed to chase after now?” His angry voice shook with tears.
  • Assassin Outclassin': Comes in two flavors.
    • An Origins Episode for Goemon or Jigen may have them playing assassin to Lupin, and eventually allowing Defeat Means Friendship.
    • The Rival is introduced for one or more of the characters. Either brand-new, or from their past. The rivals clash two or three times before the final confrontation calls for our protagonists to win.
  • Attractive Bent-Gender: Cross-dressing is a staple of the Lupin III franchise, and usually played straight for spying, stealing, and escaping rather than as a gag... unless it's Zenigata dressing up, who is the manliest looking of the main five characters.
    • Anytime Lupin dresses as a woman, he has everyone completely fooled. The First Contact movie is a great example of him roleplaying to the fullest, not knocking the guy out until he's already pinned down on a bed. First time Jigen ever sees Lupin, he's wearing a body suit and lingerie.
    • In Lupin Zero the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Lupin the II was convincingly disguised as Shinobu, betrayed only by the fact that the real Shinobu only wore silk panties.
    • In the Red Jacket series, Zenigata and Lupin are trying to escape the Foreign Legion in Morocco and steal some clothes. Zenigata gets stuck as the wife for their disguise. Every man they pass takes one look at Zenigata and tries to buy "her" from Lupin.
  • Bag of Kidnapping:
    • This has happened to Fujiko on a few occasions. Lupin once did it to her to prevent her from escaping with a rare diamond in a blizzard.
    • Lupin III: Part II has an episode early on where Lupin and Zenigata are both independently abducted by a guerrilla group in Morocco to be fresh conscripts. Zenigata soon realizes that Lupin is next to him and tries to arrest him through the sack.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: The franchise goes back-and-forth with this trope.
    • Zig-zagged in the manga, where nipples are shown but genitalia is drawn as the male and female gender symbols.
    • Played straight in the Lupin III: Part II series, with very rare instances of Nipple and Dimed being averted. One example is in Episode 40, where Zenigata accidentally pulls Fujiko's shirt down while searching her for another Hidden Wire... but she hadn't bothered to wear anything under the shirt.
    • Lupin III: The Secret of Twilight Gemini: The uncensored version is one of the most fanservice laden entries in the series and shows everything shy of full-frontal nudity.
    • Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine averts this with nipples (the opening sequence even plainly shows them quite a lot) but still plays it straight with genitalia. Although it also borrows the gender symbols trick from the manga.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill: Lupin usually combines this with Latex Perfection to get the cops who were chasing him to go the wrong way.
  • Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Lupin and Jigen are commonly shown with the ability to do this. Usually with a bit of Quick Draw thrown in, and excellent examples in the TV specials.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: This trope is used due to the franchise's semipermeable Fourth Wall nature. It is usually Lupin speaking directly to the audience, but any of the characters can do it for a Rule of Funny.
    • Some of the Manga stories have turned Monkey Punch and/or the audience into a main character for the story. One story was Lupin showing off his hideout, and explaining everything he had in it.
    • In The Alcatraz Connection, one scene has Lupin explain to Fujiko, who is trapped in a submarine that's about to fail under the water pressure, that if she were to be crushed and die, millions of fans would be crying their hearts out.
    • In the Intercontinuity Crossover with Case Closed, Lupin thinks he's about to get lucky with Fujiko. He turns to the camera and announces "To you 80 million adult viewers: thank you for your patience!" and pounces on her. The same movie mixes this with Leaning on the Fourth Wall regarding the crossover nature of the story. Case Closed has previously established that Lupin III manga exists in their world. Zenigata thinks it's odd that Koguro (Moore in the English translation), a professional detective, doesn't know about Lupin. Koguro says that he always just thought that Lupin was a comic book character.
  • Bros Before Hoes: This is something Jigen and Goemon staunchly believe in that Lupin does not share. Red Jacket Lupin is especially averse to this, often being distracted by an attractive woman or Fujiko once again wanting him to do something.
  • The Caper: One of the best examples in media, as every piece of media in the franchise is about a heist in some way or form.
  • The Con: Lupin III is both a gentleman thief and a con man. Think of him as an eastern version of Bugs Bunny.
  • Cartwright Curse: Any love interest for Jigen, Goemon, or Zenigata will die or never be seen again. The same applies to any love interests Lupin and Fujiko have other than each other, which is also doomed to fail every time they aim for a relationship bump.
  • Catchphrase: Zenigata and Goemon each have a catchphrase that they are known for speaking at least Once an Episode.
    • Zenigata's catchphrase: "Lupin, you're under arrest!" (even if he's arresting someone else)
    • Goemon's statement is "Once again, I have cut a worthless object.", after performing some incredible feat of swordsmanship.
    • Lupin usually leaves a scene with a sarcastic "Catch ya lay-ter!" typically aimed at Zenigata or the baddie of the week.
  • Characterization Marches On: an enforced example of this trope.
    • When the first Manga started, Fujiko Mine was an arbitrary name given to the Girl of the Week. She could be an Action Girl one week, and a Damsel in Distress the next. When Monkey Punch decided to make her a consistent character, the idea that she worked with Lupin one week, and against him the next, retroactively gave her Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. This trait has been kept across the franchise.
    • The introduction of Goemon and Jigen: Both characters were added to the original manga series as rivals to Lupin. Adaptations with Origins Episodes make it a feature of their Character Development.
  • Chase Scene: Tons and tons. It's not a proper Lupin story without a chase scene with every possible means of transport.
  • Chronically Crashed Car: The Mercedes-Benz SSK seems to be a favored target for fire, bombs, bullets, missiles, swords, and demonic curses. Despite all the punishment it gets, the car always reappears in tip-top shape by the next episode. Presumably, Lupin is repairing his original car off-screen, as the SSK is one of the rarest cars in the world. Interestingly, his much less expensive Fiat 500 seems far less prone to being damaged in this fashion… although it's no stranger to having its windows blown out (like in Cagliostro).
  • Cigarette of Anxiety: Jigen inverts the idea. The cool gunman is only smoking when he's relaxed (he's nearly always relaxed). He only puts the cigarette out if the situation is getting tense or he's getting excited.
  • Clothes Make the Legend: Aside from Fujiko (who's always changing her overall look), the whole gang always has the same default outfit they've had since the original manga. Lupin always looks like he stepped out of the late 60s with his sideburns and suit, Jigen's hat is perpetually covering his eyes, Goemon's iconic kimono instantly informs the audience about his old-fashioned personality, and Zenigata's fedora and trench coat identifies him as an old-school detective. Each iteration of the franchise changes the color schemes of these outfits (most notably, the color of Lupin's jacket is used to refer to specific eras of the series), but the actual clothes themselves stay the same.
  • Comic-Book Time: These characters have been around since 1967 and haven't aged a day, which is fine since the franchise runs on Negative Continuity. However, Lupin's grandfather is still canonically Arsène Lupin, who was born in 1874. note 
    • Lupin and especially Fujiko sometimes like to play the long game in their heists, setting a plan in motion months or even years in advance. It's impossible for them to have realistically pulled off everything they have without several decades passing by.
    • Gets really complicated when they start referencing past events in spite of the negative continuity.
    • This was somewhat justified in Green vs. Red, by hinting that a "new" Lupin turns up every now and then and secretly beats the older one in a duel, becoming the new Lupin. How Goemon, Fujiko, Jigen, and Zenigata fit into this is not addressed, and probably not worth thinking about.
  • Contract on the Hitman:
    • This trope sometimes comes into play for a Jigen or Goemon Origins Episode, to shed light on their past.
    • In Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, it happens to all four, by various organizations.
    • Lupin once pays a hitman to take a contract out on himself, literally. Turns out the hitman has split personality issues.
  • Conveniently Cellmates: IF it isn't just Lupin in jail, the others are invariably either in the same cell, or adjacent cells.
  • Criminal Procedural: An action/comedy Franchise about a Gentleman Thief and his accomplices? Yes, most commonly pulling off a theft, but they've been shown as hardcore criminals and convicts as well.
  • Crossover:
  • Crying Wolf: Exploited by Lupin in a manga chapter and the Lupin III: Part 1 episode ('One Chance to Breakout') based on that chapter, in which Lupin intentionally causes this effect. While he's in prison, he keeps claiming that he isn't really Lupin, until everyone gets sick of it and stops listening. On the day of his execution, he switches places with a guard, who gets dragged off protesting that he isn't Lupin – and, of course, no one believes him.
  • Cryptid Episode: Happens several times in "Red Jacket". To wit – Fujiko's singing voice attracts the Loch Ness Monster, Lupin is tasked with collecting tears from a yeti, the entire gang goes after a mermaid's treasure...
  • Damsel in Distress: Clarisse, Murasaki, Fujiko (sometimes)... this trope was used in the manga, and is pretty much expected to occur. There's one in pretty much every Lupin movie or TV special, in fact.
  • Darker and Edgier: Lupin III experiences a lot of Tone Shift, especially when the directors change.
  • Decoy Backstory:
    • Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is the origin story for Fujiko Mine specifically, but the "little girl" she remembers being is actually someone else who tried to overwrite her memories. The careful and tragic backstory that was built up over the series is destroyed by the final episode when Fujiko announces that it doesn't matter what her origin is, only that she exists.
    • Lupin III: Episode 0: First Contact is Jigen telling a reporter the story of how Everyone Meets Everyone, especially Lupin, but the climax has Fujiko and Jigen appearing out of the shadows to complain that the story "Jigen" just told was a bunch of bullshit. But then they steal the MacGuffin from the "bullshit story"...
  • Delayed Causality: In Japan, that pause where nothing is happening between a cut/attack and the effect is called "Mu", something like "emptiness". It is used most famously (to the point of being parodied in countless other anime and manga) by Goemon Ishikawa XIII. The damage is usually shown after he returns the sword to its sheath with a modest click.
  • Denser and Wackier: The art style of the Lupin III: Part III series is this to the rest of the franchise. It says something when a character who is known for being just this side of possible evokes an "are they smoking something?" feel. While the plots are no weirder than in the past, the new 1980s style of drawing the characters makes a lot of fans give up before the character designs become more consistent later in the show.
  • Diagonal Cut: Goemon does this frequently. Things rarely fall apart until he has resheathed his sword, and at some point he will say, "Once again I have cut a worthless object."
  • Disguised in Drag:
    • Lupin is a Master of Disguise and does this often. Either disguising himself as a female ally (such as Femme Fatale Fujiko), someone the target knows to get close to the loot or to fool security at a venue he's about to hit. It has backfired on him on at least one occasion when the man he was planning on robbing fell in love and proposed to Lupin. The inevitable reveal of Lupin being a man after getting robbed did not dissuade him.
    • He also wore a Spy Catsuit resembling that of the resident "beta girl" of Lupin III: Island of Assassins in one scene.
    • Goemon, Jigen, and Fujiko (the latter as Lupin himself in at least one case) have also been in cross-gender disguises for jobs, usually most unwillingly. And one volume of the Lupin III Y manga had them all in drag to fool both Zenigata and their target.
    • Zenigata himself has also gotten into the action, in one episode disguising himself as Fujiko, and in Farewell to Nostradamus as a Brazilian carnival girl.
    • In Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine episode 6: Oscar disguises himself as the targeted schoolgirl to trick Fujiko and Lupin.
  • Double Entendre: Often. Especially in the English dub of the 2nd TV series. In one early episode, Fujiko was going undercover and noticed the type of carpet in the room.
    Fujiko: I just love a good shag.
    • Fujiko Mine's name is an example. The single character of her last name means "mountain peak" and the fuji of her given name means "unparalleled" and is also an archaic rendering of Mt Fuji. note 
  • Downer Ending: Happens sometimes. No, we're not talking about the (many) times where the gang fails to get anything from their heist – if that was the case, we'd be here all day – but rather that some stories will have a genuinely sympathetic character be killed off for the ending. Lupin III: Island of Assassins stands out as probably being the codifier for the fan opinion that if Lupin's wearing a black shirt under a Red Jacket, people are going to die.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Lupin is a Master of Disguise, so he engages in this often. His favorite disguise is apparently Zenigata.
    • There was one episode of the Lupin III: Part II series where Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon ALL dressed up as Zenigata.
    • Or the short Lupin Family All-Stars, where the gang gathered at Lupin's invitation, but Goemon was a mysterious man in a metal mask, "Goemon" was Jigen in disguise, "Jigen" was Fujiko, "Fujiko" was Lupin, and "Lupin" was really Zenigata who had orchestrated the whole thing as a trap.
    • Anyone in the cast might be expected to appear as a disguised version of someone else. Zenigata has even disguised himself as Lupin!
  • Drives Like Crazy: A running gag in the franchise is that the entire cast drives like a hive of bees got loose in the car. This is especially prominent in Green Jacket series & The Fuma Conspiracy movie.
  • Dub Pronunciation Change: Italian dubs of the franchise always pronounced Lupin as "Loo-pehn" instead of "Loo-pahn", and Goemon as "Ghe-mon". Fujiko's last name Mine has been pronounced for years as the English word, reverting to the Japanese pronunciation only from her own series onwards.
  • Due to the Dead: Shows both ends of this trope.
    • Good: When Zenigata is declared dead, he is always treated to full police honors, as if he made a Heroic Sacrifice For Great Justice. Lupin and his gang attend at a respectful distance. (If seen, the police would have to arrest them.)
    • Evil: Three examples:
      • Lupin himself is declared dead on occasion. Pops is obsessed enough not to believe it. He will assault the corpse to prove it isn't really Lupin. The rest of the gang mourns him in their respective ways. The service is very small, no family in attendance.
      • Lighter and Softer stories where the villains die have a Gory Discretion Shot, dying painfully and ignored.
      • Darker and Edgier stories have no discretion, but the gang may choose to honor their enemy by watching them die, or turn their backs on them.
  • Easy Come, Easy Go: The gang doesn't have to worry about Status Quo when it comes to their financial situation; they can be living in an expensive hotel one episode, and living in a trailer the next. But Lupin and his crew still have the uncanny tendency to lose a lot of big scores minutes after they get it or have it turn out to be something they're better off not getting their hands on. As Lupin is a kleptomaniac of titanic proportions, all he does is shrug it off and seek the next heist.
  • Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: A common enough trope in the anime. Always used as a villain. See the character pages. Notable examples are below:
  • Enemy Mine: Inspector Zenigata will form a grudging alliance with Lupin III whenever it involves taking down a more clearly evil criminal (which is surprisingly often). Depending on the Writer, this is implied to be main reason why he hasn't been fired for failing to catch Lupin so often.
    • In a Part 2 episode, Zenigata learns that a parody of the Nazis plans to kill Lupin and the gang without a fair trial. Zenigata is determined to get them back to Japan alive. Knowing that Zenigata's authority is not recognized by the local dictatorship and Zenigata will face a firing squad if he helps them or even attempts to catch them this time, Fujiko knocks Zenigata out cold, she and Lupin chuck him out the window into the moat with the rest of the soldiers to keep him out of trouble.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: The titular Lupin may be a thief but he's a Gentleman Thief, and he reminds anyone who asks that the people from whom he steals are people who can take the loss and that there are worse people than he in this world. He also shows a chivalrous streak that compels him to help those less fortunate than he is (especially attractive women). Furthermore, Lupin often takes it upon himself and his gang to stop criminals engaged in more violent crimes and leave them for the Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist (Inspector Zenigata) to arrest.
  • Everything's Better with Samurai: Monkey Punch wanted a more Japanese character for his ensemble. Enter Goemon Ishikawa XIII.
  • Fanservice:
    • Fujiko often has her tops or clothing ripped off.
    • At one point, Goemon, driving a truck, signalled Fujiko and Jigen (who were following in a helicopter) by taking off his red fundoshi and waving it out the window. This stunt managed to cause Fujiko to blush.
    • The movie Lupin III: The Secret of Twilight Gemini is notorious for having the most fanservice of any Lupin III-related media... at least until, well, see the bullet point below this one.
    • The series Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine has Fujiko naked at least once an episode (not counting the opening and ending, where she's also naked).
    • The movie Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen starts Fujiko off in some fetish costumes and has her running around in the nude for the rest of it.
    • Red Jacket series often features women in see-through negligees or nudists. Funny enough, it's completely inconsistent on whether or not there will be nipples.
    • All of the above is nothing compared to the original manga, where Fujiko is regularly naked for at least a part of a story (as is pretty much every other young woman who shows up), including one chapter where Fujiko spends the entire time without clothes. Lupin also spends a fair amount of time naked, though that can veer into Fan Disservice.
    • And for the ladies, Goemon likes to wear a fundoshi and not much else when swimming.
    • When Lupin is in his boxers, it's not always played for comedy. When all three of them are stripped down, it's never for comedy and Fujiko will usually not be in those episodes.
    • In Red Jacket series, Jigen was switched from boxers to briefs, and every time Jigen is seen stripped down, his briefs are smaller than they were last time.
    • The guys look pretty skinny fully clothed, but bulk up into a muscular build once the shirts come off.
    • For a seinen anime made in the '70s, there is a surprising amount of bromance; the kind preferred by women.
  • Forgotten Theme Tune Lyrics: The theme song actually has lyrics, but the version traditionally used is a Title Theme Tune. For a while, [adult swim] aired Red Jacket's season 2 opening that used the lyrics.
  • Franchise-Driven Retitling: In Japan, The Mystery of Mamo was originally titled Lupin III, but with two television series, a live-action film, and another movie on the way, they had to retitle it to distinguish what the movie was. It is now officially known as Lupin III: Lupin Vs the Clones.
  • Friendly Enemy: The titular Villain Protagonist treats Inspector Zenigata more as an affectionate rival than a threat. If a severe threat to world peace appears, they team up to take them down. Both are sad if the other appears to die, and Zenigata typically goes into a fit of grief. Also, any time he's taken off the Lupin case or when Lupin appears TRULY dead, one of his first reactions is usually to go visit the gang.
  • Friends with Benefits: This trope is possibly the best category for Lupin and Fujiko's relationship. Lupin believes they're soulmates (not that it prevents him from hitting on other women), and Fujiko prefers "Fuck Buddies" (though usually a different meaning of "fuck"). Which means they wind up here, somewhere in the middle.
    "We've been allies, and enemies, too. On occasion, we've even been lovers."
  • Full-Body Disguise: The cast, Lupin especially, uses these from time to time, often combining this with Latex Perfection. Characters will step out of complete body suits that made them completely identical to someone else
  • Get into Jail Free: Lupin knows he can do this at any time, due to the obsessive nature of his archrival, Detective Zenigata. As a Gentleman Thief, Zenigata has been trying to arrest him for years. All he has to do to go to jail is walk up and announce he's Lupin, coming to surrender.
  • Groin Attack:
    • The manga volumes include a chapter where Lupin "teaches" a young woman to defend herself from attack by slapping her hands together on top of the... male sex symbol. (The manga's replacement for genitalia)
    • In episode 10 of Lupin III: Part 1 series, when Flinch aims a second kick at Lupin, he catches it and kicks Flinch in the crotch.
    • In the Lupin III: Part II series, he has used this tactic to escape from a large police officer who had him in a hold.
    • In Lupin III: Dead or Alive Orienda stabs a would-be rapist in the crotch with the heel of her shoe.
  • Gun Stripping: Lupin and Jigen are occasionally shown to do this. One scene that shows the personalities of the cast is where Lupin is flipping through random TV channels while slouching, Jigen is cleaning his gun, and Goemon is polishing his blade, while Fujiko walks in wearing a new dress.
  • Henohenomoheji: Lupin commonly leaves little face drawings on fake-Lupin dummies and dummies for the police and victims to find. Whether he uses the hiragana characters is irregular, but the style is always the same round/peanut face and little stick arms. He isn't trying to be as anonymous as this trope usually indicates, which may explain why.
  • Hero of Another Story: The live-action Inspector Zenigata Spinoffs center on how badass Zenigata really is when he's not on Lupin's trail.
  • Hero, Rival, Baddie Team-Up:
    • Lupin III: Episode 0: First Contact: Lupin III is trying to steal the Clam of Hermes, and finds himself working at cross purposes, as usual, with his friend Brad. He meets Jigen working as a guard for the mob boss who possesses the treasure. Although initially thwarted by Jigen, Lupin was able to find Brad's necklace, and he presents the memento of Brad's death to his girlfriend, Fujiko. Fujiko working with the mob and Lupin wants to make out with the treasure herself and is willing to sell Lupin out for the chance to do so. After another failed attempt to steal the Clam of Hermes, Lupin, Fujiko, and Jigen are all imprisoned by the mob boss. When Goemon shows up to take the Clam of Hermes for himself, the three prisoners turn the tables on the mob and break out.
    • Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine: "Blood-Soaked Triangle" has Lupin III competing with Jigen to get this week's treasure. He's trying to get an alexandrite peacock to prove to Fujiko that he's worthy of her. Once they're both far enough into the pyramid, Fujiko sets them against each other in one of the traps, completely uncaring who dies (if both died, it wouldn't bother her). Once they get past the trap, though, they learn that removing the peacock leaves them completely trapped, and have to work together to escape.
    • The Castle of Cagliostro: Both Lupin III (with Jigen and Goemon) and Fujiko have gone to the titular castle to steal the counterfeiting plates of Count Cagliostro. Inspector Zenigata learns about Lupin's presence and enters the castle to arrest him. Both Lupin and Zenigata become temporarily trapped in the dungeon, so they work together to escape. Zenigata knows the Count is breaking international law, but his superiors inform him that the Count cannot be arrested because he has too many political connections. Later, Lupin convinces Fujiko to have Zenigata prepared to sneak into the castle, ready to chase after Lupin for stealing the Count's bride. In fact, Zenigata runs to the Count's counterfeiting operation with Fujiko following with a live worldwide broadcast to prove the Count's evildoing. At the end of the movie, Fujiko has stolen the counterfeiting plates, Lupin (with Jigen and Goemon) chases her to get a percentage of the heist, and Zenigata is chasing all of them to put them behind bars.
    • Lupin III fights along with Jigen and Goemon, both were former enemies that made the Heel–Face Turn and now they battle together. The difference is that Jigen is more a Friendly Rival for Lupin, while Goemon was more of an Anti-Villain who simply hasn't carried out his assassination yet.
  • High-Dive Escape: While they accidentally drive off cliffs all the time, they also do it intentionally several times to get away from cops or other crooks hot on their tail.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Any officer assigned to Zenigata to help stop Lupin must have gone to the marksmanship academy. Yes, Lupin is skilled, but he doesn't even have to try and dodge, he can just run in a straight line and they'll miss.
  • Impersonating an Officer: This happens to be one of Lupin's favorite tactics, often by disguising himself as Inspector Zenigata, usually at Zenigata's expense.
    • In The Castle of Cagliostro, Lupin infiltrates the titular castle by posing as Zenigata, claiming that the real one Gustav saw was an imposter. It works. Gustav falls for it and attacks Zenigata and his men, allowing Lupin to slip inside unnoticed.
    • Lupin also pulls this twice in Lupin III: The Secret of Twilight Gemini:
      • The first happens, near the beginning, when he disguises himself as one of Zenigata's men in an attempt to slip past the inspector (which Zenigata doesn't fall for).
      • The other happens about halfway through the film when he disguises himself as a police officer to infiltrate Morocco's police HQ to dig up information on Galoux, which leads to a run-in with Fujiko and a night of Sex with the Ex.
    • Lupin poses as Zenigata again, in the Lupin III: Part II episode "Albatross: Wings of Death", where he uses the disguise to try to get Prof. Lumbach to tell him about his bomb manufacturing plant. Lumbach stalls by pretending to fall for it, to buy time for the real Zenigata to show up!
    • Lupin poses as the Inspector again in the Red Jacket series finale "Aloha Lupin", to track down a group of imposters who were impersonating him and his gang.
  • Indy Ploy: The writers of Lupin use Unspoken Plan Guarantee so often that we, the audience, can't tell if Lupin's success is due to planning or luck.
    • In one of the episodes of the original Lupin III: Part 1 TV series, the Tokyo police department gets a supercomputer that is programmed to predict Lupin's every move. It does so extremely successfully until Lupin realizes the way to beat it is to throw out all his plans and act completely on a whim.
    • This plot was revisited in the Lupin III: Part II series, where an armchair detective (criminologist) programmed a computer to do the same thing. This time, Lupin's Indy Ploy was to rely on Zenigata's whim.
  • Infernal Retaliation: One of the story elements consistent across the franchise is Lupin's encounter with Goemon. The manga, the Green Jacket series, and Episode 0 all feature Lupin throwing a special chemical onto the samurai that bursts into flames when it comes into contact with the air. Not content to let Lupin get away with this, Goemon tosses a rope at Lupin, which carries the flames over to light him on fire as well. As it's Lupin, they recover.
  • Inverse Law of Sharpness and Accuracy: Zigzagged at all times.
  • Investigator Impersonation: Lupin III's favorite disguise is Inspector Zenigata. He goes up to his victim, explains that they're being targeted by Lupin, and asks them to allow him to increase the security. Everything that the real Zenigata would do, too. Pity for them it isn't, and they're about to lose their stuff.
  • Ignore the Fanservice: Jigen can usually be counted on to ignore flirting women. But any of them might ignore Fujiko.
    • "Auntie Ballistic": The episode has Lupin working for Fujiko's aunt Bujiko. After being incentivized to work by getting fanservice from a hologram of Fujiko, he starts to tune her out entirely. When the real Fujiko shows up, he completely ignores her as a result.
    • Lupin III: Episode 0: First Contact: Fujiko takes a shower in Jigen's apartment, comes out in just a towel, and tries to seduce him by leaning over to show her generous cleavage off, and then when he ignores that, starts to drop the towel. He uses the barrel of his magnum to hold it on her body while simultaneously threatening to shoot her if she tries that again. This is also a slightly defining moment for Jigen, as he is the only one consistently unaffected by Fujiko's appearance (even Goemon is affected; he just blushes and looks away when she's naked, though).
    • Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine: Jigen's Origins Episode has a similar scene where he at first pretends to be accepting her offer, then grabs the knife she was concealing and threatens her with it. He's also shown ignoring Ciccolina in his flashbacks.
  • Irregular Series: The Lupin III Yearly Specials are an irregularly scheduled series of anime made for TV movies, produced once a year.
  • It Must Be Mine!: Lupin doesn't count for this trope. He never wants it for the rarity, and has often taken something just to make sure someone else doesn't have it. On the other hand, Fujiko is also the cause of many of their capers, since she wants the item in question. This is to the point where Jigen will try to quit the job once he hears it was her idea.
  • Jesus Taboo: Lupin doesn't have a problem with naming aspects of any religion, although none of the cast are proselytizing members. Lupin has on more than one occasion (most famously in Castle of Cagliostro) disguised himself as a Catholic bishop.
  • Latex Perfection: As Lupin is a Master of Disguise, this trait has been included since the beginning, even by characters other than Lupin.
    • Lupin's favourite disguise is Zenigata (combining Dressing as the Enemy and Impersonating an Officer). His pointy chin is changed to the Lantern Jaw of Justice the cop has.
    • Lupin III: Crisis in Tokyo has Zenigata yanking on a security guard's face in the opening, just to see if it's Lupin in disguise. Later on, it turns out it was, but Lupin had switched to using a stronger glue to hold his masks on.
      Lupin: "You gotta tug harder!"
    • In The Castle of Cagliostro, Lupin doesn't even need a mask for his face to match latex perfection to Zenigata. Makeup and mask played straight for other disguises.
  • Little Brother Is Watching: An indication of a Lighter and Softer storyline is the introduction of a child as main character.
    • ''Lupin III: Part 1' has "Rescue the Tomboy", a story where Lupin steals a person from her uncle! Her father was in Lupin II's gang, and asked Lupin the Third to bring her back because her "uncle", the third man of their gang, is trying to blackmail him by threatening her life.
    • During The Castle of Cagliostro, for Clarisse's sake, Lupin tries to be a Thief In A Stylin' Suit. When Lupin tells Jigen and Goemon about being "wild and crazy" in his past, their silence suggests that Lupin may have been talking about last week. At the end of the movie, she hugs him tight and begs to become a thief and leave Cagliostro with him. Lupin visibly trembles before he pushes her away gently.
  • Long Runner: Began in 1967. Still going strong today.
    • While it might be easy for Western Audiences to just look at the original manga or '70s-era anime and just call this franchise "old", there's a lot more going on. In Japan, this franchise has effectively never ended. There are many people working in the anime industry who have never known a single day when Lupin wasn't around. Even if TMS were to stop making their Lupin products, the sheer number of people still referencing Lupin would keep the characters in Japanese Pop Culture for years.
  • Long-Runner Tech Marches On: No one in this series has aged, but the technology of any given Lupin series or movie will always reflects the decade it was made in. 2002's Episode 0: First Contact is supposed to take place before 1971's "Green Jacket" series, but features computers of the late '90s or early 2000s. Funny enough, younger viewers might see the Firebee drones and walkie-talkies in the late '70s Red Jacket series and mistake them for modern quadcopters and old cell phones.
    • Lupin Part V made a plot point out of pitting an old-school thief of the '60s against the ubiquitous nature of social media of the '20s.
    • Subverted slightly in the Inspector Zenigata series, where the technologically adverse Pops was using a 90's style flip phone in 2017 when everyone was using the modern day style.
  • Made of Indestructium: Goemon's sword was forged by a secret process and is essentially indestructible.
  • Magic from Technology: The villain Pycal, who was impervious to bullets and fire, could walk on air, and shoot fire from his fingertips. Lupin found a way to replicate these tricks. He walked on air via carefully placed glass panes, shot fire from his fingertips with a small, hidden flamethrower and was impervious thanks to a hard liquid chemical that shielded his body when covered by the liquid. When the villain was revisited in the OVA Return of the Magician, he received upgrades in power and was seeking a collection of crystals that were able to use vibrations/sounds to do whatever he wanted. Naturally, Lupin also has his eyes on them, and the two fight over who gets to collect all of them.
  • The Masochism Tango: Like Jigen, Lupin believes that women are all chronic backstabbers, but unlike Jigen, he thinks it's part of their charm, and that seems to be one of his biggest turn-ons when it comes to Fujiko Mine, who betrays him using an unpredictable variety of ways, including pretending to be a hostage while actually being the ringleader. Lupin should know better after the fifth or fiftieth betrayal, but he goes with her plans every time. He's not against stabbing her in the back once in a while either, and even while they were dating, they were both emotionally and physically unfaithful.
  • McNinja: Several of Lupin's adversaries have employed ninja-esque Mooks, usually wearing full-body black catsuits, although some wore more "traditional" garb.
    • The Castle of Cagliostro had people with armor underneath their black catsuits that protected them from small arms fire. But not against a rifle or Zantetsuken.
    • Lupin III: The Last Job inverted this trope. It declared the ninja clan Fuma (who had existed as antagonists to Lupin since the manga) came from Italy.
  • Meditating Under a Waterfall: Goemon Ishikawa XIII. He meditates under waterfalls, as well as cloudy mountain peaks, hot springs, and secluded canyons. Sometimes he does more than one at the same time!
  • Medium Awareness: This trope is used due to the franchise's Semipermeable Fourth Wall nature. It is usually Lupin interacting with whatever element of the work is on our side of the Fourth Wall, but any of the cast can do it for a Rule of Funny. (Monkey Punch has even turned part of a panel over to show how upset he was when Zenigata had a Leaning on the Fourth Wall line, claiming the current case was as simple as a comic book)
    • A Lupin III: Part II episode has Lupin stepping off of a plane and calling "Title!", to summon the episode's name.
    • The manga stories use many more Fourth Wall jokes than the anime stories do. In "Impression Impossible", Lupin has paid someone to roll a panel aside and declare that Lupin III is handsome.
  • Mercy Lead: Zenigata has done this several times throughout the history of the Lupin franchise. Usually tricked into it, as Zenigata has the choice between the world-class master thief, and the guy responsible for the recent plot. Either that or, once he's arrested the villain of the week, he has to keep watch over his prisoner until he can be taken to the nearest police station, which gives Lupin time to escape.
  • Monumental Theft: Lupin occasionally steals more than what is actually possible to steal. Sometimes, if the items he's trying to steal alone aren't oddball, the method he uses to grab them are.
    • For the second Lupin III: Part II episode, ("Guns, Buns, and Fun in the Sun") he steals cash by stashing it in the Christ The Redeemer statue just to remove the whole damn statue with a skycrane, bitch-slapping two helicopters with the statue in the process, only to fail because of a large crack on the bottom of the statue leaking said money.
    • During Lupin III: Bye-Bye Liberty Crisis!, he stole the Statue of Liberty. I kid you not.
    • Speaking of Lady Liberty, he's also removed the entire lower story of Tiffany's and used the entire stock to jazz up the statue for Christmas.
    • In the final episode of "Pink Jacket" and in Voyage to Danger, he stole a nuclear submarine.
    • And a Rocket.
    • And a satellite full of money.
    • One notable aversion was in The Castle of Cagliostro. The treasure of Cagliostro is an almost perfectly preserved lost Roman city submerged in the lake the castle rests in. Lupin admits that it's the greatest and most valuable thing he's ever come across, but it's simply too big for him to take.
  • Mood Whiplash: Lupin III experiences a lot of Tone Shift. Monkey Punch would intersperse an attempted rape scene Played for Laughs with a young woman begging that same character for protection. A fan of Bathos.
  • The Most Wanted: As the greatest known thief there is, Lupin usually has the title of the "most wanted man" for his great robberies all over the world. Lampshaded with 2004's Lupin III: World's Most Wanted manga series.
  • Mugged for Disguise: Extremely common for the franchise, given how much Lupin loves disguises.
    • An episode has Fujiko and Lupin tying up and gagging a pilot and stewardess so they can steal their outfits and replace them on a flight.
    • Fujiko does this to a female army officer in another episode. She leaves her tied up and gagged in a locked room while strutting about in the woman's uniform.
    • Lupin does this to the Director of the New York police department in Lupin III: Episode 0: First Contact.
    • Happens in the pilot episode of Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Fujiko subdues a cultist and swaps clothes with him, leaving him bound and gagged in her dress. The poor thug ends up getting executed while Fujiko escapes in his uniform.
  • Mundane Utility: Like all swords, Zantetsuken was created for the purpose of killing (Or in the hands of a talented swordsman like Goemon, causing a quick, clean, and painless death). Goemon instead uses it to cut other weapons, armor, objects, and even clothes. However, he is always the first to express his distaste for cutting a "worthless object" when he does so.
  • Named Weapon: Goemon has a legendary sword.
  • Negative Continuity: Only the essential elements of the story are ever kept. It's part of the reason why the series has worked for so long. The only lasting changes ever made to the story (the additions of Jigen and Goemon to the cast) occurred very early on in the franchise's history, during the original manga. Since then, the cast of characters has not moved forward an inch in 50 years.
    • Green vs. Red is either toying with us, or explaining why there's no continuity of events.
    • Part 5 is one of the few entries in the franchise to explicitly maintain some sense of continuity with past installments. The first episode shows pictures of characters from Part 4 like Rebecca, Nyx, and Holmes, as well as Clarisse from The Castle of Cagliostro.
    • Part 2 took this to extremes by basically not having any continuity between episodes, leading to an enormous amount of personality inconsistencies and characters not learning from recent past mistakes. Even the cars they destroyed in the previous episode would be back in prime condition in the next.
    • Some of the more modern incarnations (A Woman Called Fujiko Mine, Lupin III: The First) play with this a bit more, having the gang's adventures take place in the 60s or 70s.
    • To make things even more confusing, Lupin Zero has Lupin be a boy starting out as a thief in the 60s, while the next Lupin anime to be released, Lupin III vs Cat's Eye, which also takes place in the 60s, states that he got his start as a thief robbing the Nazis in WWII!
  • Oddly Small Organization: In the Manga and the Green Jacket series, there was implied to be a large number of additional people working for the Lupin family, and the film even says that they're an extremely large organization. Despite that, the "Lupin Empire" seems to contain only 3 or 4 people, depending upon Fujiko's interests, with the occasional hired help. The perpetual crew always outnumbers the "empire" characters, even when it would make sense to gather more help.
  • Origins Episode:
    • Lupin III: Part 1 was the first series adapted from the manga. It explains where the Zantetsuken comes from, as well as why Goemon joins the gang.
    • Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is the origin story for Fujiko Mine specifically, but also tells the story of how Lupin and Jigen meet. Inside the series is also an Origins Episode for Oscar, telling how Zenigata found him, and took care of him.
    • Lupin III: Episode 0: First Contact is yet another Origins episode, telling the story of how Everyone meets everyone, and how Goemon finds the 'Zantetsuken''.
    • Strange Psychokinetic Strategy is the tale of Jigen finding Lupin III after Lupin II died, and Lupin discovering the beautiful Fujiko.
  • Parody Episode: Frequently. The original Manga stories simply used the Arsène Lupin III character as a vehicle to drive a story, through whatever tale Monkey Punch wanted to tell.
  • Play-Along Prisoner: IF Lupin is caught, he treats the prison as this. Although sometimes the prison may show him it isn't that easy. This is even assuming he didn't plan this as a Get into Jail Free gambit. Similar to his ancestor, Arsène Lupin, if Lupin the Third is in prison, it's because he wants to be.
  • Prequel: Due to the franchise's Negative Continuity, the only way to determine if a story is a Sequel or Prequel is if it is also an Origins Episode. A given episode or chapter cannot even promise if it happened before or after the last episode or chapter.
  • Psycho for Hire: Several villains employ these. Probably used for Asshole Victim, as this level of evil is usually not present in the Lighter and Softer stories. Many of them seem to have a past with Jigen, for some reason.
  • Public Domain Canon Welding: The eponymous character of the franchise is explicitly a decedent of Arsène Lupin, who's continuing his legacy as a Gentleman Thief.
  • Rated M for Manly: Lupin wants you to believe he is the manliest guy you'd ever find. The Manga fits very well; it is full of Author Appeal for killing and seducing. Lighter and Softer stories still have an element of this in them but with Defeat by Modesty or Bloodless Carnage. The Lupin III: Part 1 series and Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine series, however, come closer to the mature tone of the manga.
  • Relationship Revolving Door: The "official couple" of Lupin and Fujiko, which is usually him chasing after her, but rare examples have Fujiko trying to get him to marry her, or the two of them actually united in purpose. Their on-again-off-again relationship is best summarized in The Castle of Cagliostro, as she explains to the Girl of the Week, "We've been allies, and enemies, too. On occasion, we've even been lovers."
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: Jigen uses all manner of firearms during his career, but seems to prefer a revolver as his sidearm of choice. The others, except for Goemon, carry semiautomatics.
  • Road Runner vs. Coyote: Lupin the Third will never be captured by Inspector Zenigata. Well… at least not unless Lupin is trying to mess with Zenigata's mind. Zenigata admits that he wouldn't know what to do if Lupin was actually caught permanently.
  • Safecracking: Not used often, Lupin prefers Social Engineering to open the safe, but he has proven the ability to do so several times in the franchise. The board game just assumes that if a character enters the building with the loot, they can automatically open it. They're just that good.
  • Series Franchise: Lupin III was much more successful than initially expected, to the point that some of the titles have been retroactively renamed to differentiate between them. It began as a Manga, but is much better known as an anime, even in Japan. The Lupin-verse is held in place through a combination of Broad Strokes, Negative Continuity, and Mythology Gag.
  • Scenery Porn: Important for setting the tone of the work, and showing us how well-off Lupin is doing at this time. He's varied from abandoned warehouses to ritzy hotels.
    • The Castle of Cagliostro stands out as an example because it was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and his Creator Thumbprint impacted the movies that followed.
    • Many of the specials have also indulged in this for establishing shots, though none play it up to nearly the extent Cagliostro does.
  • Sliding Scale of Fourth Wall Hardness: Semipermeable Fourth Wall. Clear Breaking the Fourth Wall happens, but at other times, everything works as if the characters are not aware of being fictional; the breakages are basically implied not to be Canon, even though they may happen in the middle of the normal action. The ''Lupin III'' manga may have a Nonexistent Fourth Wall, depending on the story.
  • Slipped the Ropes: Lupin can only be handcuffed for more than five seconds if he lets you handcuff him. During an early "Red Jacket" episode, Fujiko uses this trait to convince Zenigata Lupin is possessed: there's blood on the cuffs, which means he had to fight his way out of them, something Lupin normally wouldn't have to do.
  • Spin-Offspring: The premise of Lupin III mixes this trope with Crossover, featuring the titular character; the grandson of Arsène Lupin, Goemon XIII, and Inspector Zenigata of Zenigata Heiji Covers all of Edo.
    • Lupin III: Part II has featured Ganimard III. And Lawrence III of Arabia. And Sherlock Holmes III. And...
    • Lesser known is Lupin VIII, a 1982 series centering on Lupin III's descendant five generations down the line. Only a pilot was made, due to the estate of Maurice LeBlanc (creator of the original Arsène Lupin) wanting more money than the producers were willing to pay. Infamous for having replaced Zantetsuken with a lightsaber.
    • Equally obscure is Lupin, Jr., a short-lived manga about the son of Lupin and Fujiko.
    • The unrelated franchise Aria the Scarlet Ammo has secondary character Riko Mine Lupin IV, orphaned daughter of Lupin and Fujiko.
  • Spotting the Thread: The franchise has Lupin saying "Tottsan" ("Pops" or "Old Man" in English dubs). In the Lupin III vs. Detective Conan Made-for-TV Movie, Zenigata identifies the disguised Lupin when Lupin calls him by his nickname.
  • Steal the Surroundings: If Lupin the Third can't get the treasure itself, his elaborate scheme frequently becomes stealing what contains the treasure instead. In some variations, he will pretend to steal the container, and when the distracted target goes after him to get it back, it gives him time to double back and break into the real thing.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: All of the characters get into the Stealth Hi part. Lupin is the most frequent user of the Stealth Bye part, unfortunately for Inspector Zenigata.
  • Super Window Jump: When sneaking in and out is not an option, this is Lupin's favorite method of breaking into or out of buildings.
  • Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Inspector Zenigata is the former Trope Namer.
  • Title Theme Tune: Usually, the only words in the theme are the title (Lupin the Third), although there have been a couple of versions with lyrics added.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Lupin zig-zags this trope. One thing that has been consistent, however, is Lupin's refusal to kill innocents and children.
    • In the early comics, Lupin didn't have a problem killing. Even the early Anime has it happening in cruel or horrifying ways. Most adaptations, however, are Lighter and Softer, so Lupin and gang distance themselves from their enemies with this view.
    • This trope is especially noted towards Zenigata; both characters have mentioned that they have an understood "gentlemen's agreement" that neither will attempt to kill the other and have saved each other's lives (several times, in fact).
      • On very rare occasions, if Zenigata believes Lupin has broken their agreement and murdered an innocent, he will become dead serious and aim to kill. One instance was in a "Pink Jacket" episode where Zenigata thought he saw Lupin execute a young girl whom Zenigata had befriended.
    • It depends on the writer and the series sometimes, but this seems to be averted in the Red Jacket series.
      • Goemon tends to slice off the enemy's clothing instead of slicing them, but Green Jacket shows him as being trained as a ninja by a master with no qualms about killing.
      • Jigen tends to shoot people in the hand but also has the highest direct kill count in the franchise. He claims he doesn't shoot women… except when he does.
      • Fujiko has the second-highest direct kill count and her Green Jacket backstory has her as being part of an assassination gang before meeting Lupin.
      • Lupin says he's not a murderer, but he has indirectly killed many rivals, and won't think twice about killing in self-defense. One of his most common methods for killing enemies is to send their cars over cliffs and drown them, which Jigen has also done. Lupin filled Lavina's getaway bubble with hydrogen gas that could asphyxiate her or explode. People have burned or been crushed by buildings he's destroyed.
      • Lupin and Jigen shot at Madam X with intent to kill, but the bullets had no effect on her.
      • The guys put in a team effort to blow up the helicopter of a doctor & a South African president for getting Jigen's nun friend Angelica killed.
      • A composer named Kyoransky tried to get revenge against Lupin for killing his father in Italy. Lupin didn't deny he did it, only that he couldn't remember the man. He uses Kyoransky's own brainwashing technique to get Zenigata to kill him with a tank cannon.
      • Lupin & Silver derail a train off a bridge into a river. The conductor & any other staff never surface.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Zenigata is so obsessed with chasing Lupin, that while eating at a cafe, if he notices Lupin and the gang, he leaves his food behind to chase after them.
  • Tranquillizer Dart: A fairly often trope used when one of the main five characters are shot for real. Zenigata, as the "antagonist" to Lupin, is the frequent target. Usually wears off after his funeral.
    • Notably subverted in Lupin III vs. Detective Conan. Conan uses his watch-dart on Inspector Zenigata, who is so tough that it wears off in no time (though he still goes down quickly). Conan is pretty surprised when it wears off. Tottsan probably built up an immunity to it.
  • Trouser Space: Lupin likes to hide some of his backup gadgets in his boxers. Sometimes, his boxers are the backup gadget.
  • Universal-Adaptor Cast: Lupin and his crew (and you can add Zenigata, too) have found themselves facing pretty much anything that TMS Entertainment can come up with for them. From the 15th century to the 22nd century, they've found themselves in all sorts of situations.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Frequently. No matter how clever the bad guys are, Lupin always one-ups them at the last minute with a new gadget or a brilliant ruse – the audience knows he always has something up his sleeve, but we're almost never told what. The more thought and planning we see go into a caper, the less likely the gang will have any loot by the end.
    • This trope is subverted at the beginning of the Made-for-TV Movie Lupin III: Seven Days Rhapsody. The special starts with, as with every special, a successful heist (this time, taking the money off the hands of some rich men during a horse race), but it turns out to be a flashforward as part of Lupin explaining the plan to Jigen one week before the heist will take place. The "Seven Days" the two of them are waiting for. Then, at the end of the special, a Double Subversion takes place, as Lupin gets to the tracks, but the horse race was cancelled due to weather conditions.
    • It was an Averted Trope once: One of Monkey Punch's only rules for Lupin III: Dead or Alive was that Lupin and the gang had to get the treasure in the end.
  • Vehicular Sabotage: A favorite trick of Lupin's when he's being pursued. He'll either sabotage them himself or have Goemon slice them to ribbons beforehand.
  • Villainous Rescue: Zenigata has a hard head. He can take a good beating & get himself out of perilous situations. But once in a while, the Lupin Gang will stop being chased by him just long enough to rescue him.
  • Way Past the Expiration Date: In one Lupin III: Part II episode, Lupin steals a two-century-old bottle of rare French wine that was laid down by Napoleon, and was to be given as a gift to the President of the United States, swapping it out with a cheap bottle of store-bought wine. After a successful heist, Lupin watches the president drinking the cheap wine and calling it "remarkable" on TV. The gang then laugh to themselves, and try a glass of the real wine...but find that it hadn't been aged properly and turned to vinegar.
  • Weapons Breaking Weapons: Happens regularly whenever Goemon disarms enemies with Nagareboshi/Zantetsuken, ranging from other swords to guns to tanks.
  • What a Piece of Junk: Lupin owns a Fiat 500 (as famously seen in The Castle of Cagliostro). It seems to be a wimpy little subcompact car, but it's actually a heavily modified vehicle that can go seriously fast, run up near-vertical cliff faces, and survive grenade blasts.
  • White-and-Grey Morality: While the titular character and his gang are criminals, they wouldn't do anything really heinous, so even at their worst, the crew are Anti Villains. Their antagonist, Inspector Zenigata, is a Hero Antagonist, and their relationship can be described as an almost friendly rivalry, rather than a confrontation between criminals and law enforcement. Whenever a serious bad guy comes up, Lupin and Zenigata usually ally against him, though they always resume their antics when the alliance is no longer needed.
  • Will They or Won't They?: More than likely, they won't. Fujiko usually only uses Lupin's feelings for her to take advantage of him. Her feelings are clear, and she has occasionally confessed her love for him, but only when she thinks one or both of them are about to die, or she thinks he's already dead. However, she quickly hides those feelings again when she finds out otherwise.


 
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The Bad Guys - Car Grab

From Lupin to lupine, the regretful mid-chase car grab is always a fun gag

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