Referenced By / Lupin III

These are works that have made a Shout-Out to Lupin III in some form or another. Keep in mind that the work may be referencing Arsène Lupin or another work that Lupin the Third is parodying.

Examples

General

• The shot of Lupin running against spotlights has been referenced in so many Lupin titles and so many other animes that it is as much a staple of anime history as the giant rock chasing Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark is to film history.
• The Castleof Cagliostro has several, but no scene is more referenced than Lupin's dive off the clock tower to catch Clarisse.

Anime, Light Novels, and Manga

• Shinichiro Watanabe cites the Green Jacket show as a major influence on his work.
  • Cowboy Bebop, Watanabe's most famous work, shines with Lupin influences.
    • The art style (foot shapes, anyone?), jazzy intro, noir atmosphere, character personalities (from gruff, bearded voice of reason to the self-serving female protagonist), and long elaborate money-making-missions that (while successful) never really pay anything.
    • The characters are based on Lupin's gang: Spike is Lupin III, Jet is Jigen, Faye is Fujiko, and Vicious is Goemon gone bad.
    • In Episode 6, "Sympathy for the Devil", the little boy who plays the harmonica wears a green jacket, yellow tie, and black dress shirt. A clear Series 1 reference.
  • Samurai Champloo:
    • A female ninja named Yatsuha talks Mugen into doing whatever she wants, in exchange for sex that she constantly denies him afterwards.
    • Jin's mentor Mariya is voiced by Goemon's original voice actor Makio Inoue.
  • Space☆Dandy: Dandy bears a distinct resemblance to Lupin.
• Tatsuo Sato brought his unique mix of action, humor, and heart to several science-fiction anime sagas over the years, from Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars and Stellvia of the Universe to current favorites Bodacious Space Pirates and Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne. In honor of the Nadesico Complete Collection's release, he very graciously took some time out to answer YOUR questions about one of his most beloved works.
  Q. One of the key points of Nadesico is an old-fashioned anime that still has the power to draw people in and inspire them. What real-life shows, if any, have this quality for you?
  Director Sato: Probably because this show has one, consistent world. Even when the designs and direction get old, as long as the show has one, solid "world", it will always remain strong. A good example would be The Castle of Cagliostro Lupin III.
• Animation Runner Kuromi: Kuromi's inspiration to join the business, Louis Monde III is an obvious reference to (and Expy of) Lupin III
  • Among the clues is that Louis Mondo has a Walther p-38, Lupin's signature weapon.
• Aria the Scarlet Ammo has a character called Lupin. She is the great-granddaughter of the original Arsène Lupin. However, there are also indications we are supposed to think of Lupin III as well. She is called "IV" or "Lupin the IV". Her full (Western order) name is Riko Mine Lupin IV. So Fujiko Mine is clearly her mother.
• Azumanga Daioh has Tomo Takino whose personal idol is Fujiko Mine.
  • She's said she would join the ICPO after graduating. Zenigata works for the ICPO most of the time.
  • In episode 8, in her dream, Tomo does a pretty good imitation of Fujiko when she screams out Lupin's name for no reason.
  • And in episode 20, Tomo mentions Fujiko again when explains that she grew her hair out the previous year to look like her.
• Bakuman。 has a few references:
  • Volume 5, they talk about the need for the detective hero to have a rival like Zenigata.
  • Volume 11 mentions Lupin and Goemon.
• Big Windup!: In the Tosei game, one of the songs played by the Nishiura cheer squad/band is the theme song of Lupin III.
• Cat's Eye: Three Fujiko-style sisters all in catsuits!
  • In one episode of the anime, the girls face off against a rival thief named Lupin's Bride, voiced by none other than Eiko Masuyama.
• City Hunter: The protagonist Ryo Saeba is a composite of Lupin and Jigen (ace shooter), while Inspector Saeko Nogami is a composite of Zenigata and Fujiko (fanservice fatale).
  • More directly, there is a bad guy in the 18th episode (anime) who looks like Jigen.
• In an episode of Crayon Shin-chan, he appears as Lupin "IV" and his friend Kazama as Zenigata.
• Digimon: Decoding the DigiCode that appears on Oryxmon will reveal direct quotes from The Castle of Cagliostro.
• FLCL: Episode 5 – Kamon (Naota's dad) dresses as Lupin and rambles about jacket color, then spoofs the 2nd series opening (with Haruko as Fujiko). See page image. The 2nd series and Castle of Cagliostro are mentioned and Monkey Punch is referred to here as "Monkey-san". Also, the title card appears in typewriter style!
• During the live-action drama adaptation of Flunk Punk Rumble, Shingawa's friend Nerima is reading a Lupin III manga.
• Futakoi Alternative has the character Hariyama, who takes down a helicopter with a revolver, referencing Jigen in the first opening sequence in the Lupin III: Part II series.
• Brief moment from Ga-Rei -Zero- (5th episode): Character imitates Lupin's strip-and-dive from the second series opening.
• Genshiken, a series about otaku, naturally invites the creators to make a few references to long-running anime series in both its manga and anime continuities.
  • The Beach Episode had the two most otaku of the group building The Castle of Cagliostro out of sand, clock tower included. Madarame, Genshiken's leader, was discussing which Lupin movie he liked the most. One of the other guys there actually said he liked The Fuma Conspiracy the most. Also, Madarame goes into an explanation about a failed Lupin film that was supposed to be the third movie, but it got scrapped and 2 years later, Legend of the Gold of Babylon was made in 1986.
  • In the manga, this happened in volume 9.
  • Another reference (as well in French) to The Castle of Cagliostro: "He stole something quite precious – your heart."
• Giant Robo "Ginrei" special has several prominent references to Lupin III in it.
  • Ginrei doing the run-past-spotlights thing
  • Ginrei taking off a wetsuit to reveal a disguise, as Lupin did in Cagliostro (itself a James Bond reference).
  • Not surprising given that Ginrei's voice actress is none other than Clarice herself, Sumi Shimamoto.
• The anime Gintama, often makes very obvious references to other famous anime shows, and Lupin comes into that category:
  • In one arc, Katsura falls from the sky with his friend Gintoki. He deploys a parachute, and Gintoki asks him if he's Lupin.
  • One character is a detective named Kozenigata, and he debuts facing off with a thief called Fox.
  • One arc introduced a character who is an obvious Fujiko-esque character called Fumiko. It's so obvious that the main character calls her "Fujiko knockoff!" She still has not shown what she's capable of, except that she comes off as a bit slutty, which kinda comes off as hilarious in the show.
  • One episode involves barmaid and former thief Catherine meeting her old friends from her past. One of them is a Lupin-style figure named Kurikan, after Kanichi Kurita. The episode itself opens with a parody of the Green Jacket series intro.
• Girls und Panzer: In the Anzio Battle OVA, the chase between Duck team and Anzio's CV-33s matches up to the chase scene in Castle of Cagliostro.
• Great Teacher Onizuka: Anime episode 17 – to save a student, Onizuka does the wall-run-dive from The Castle of Cagliostro.
• Jonathan Clements's commentary track for The Professional: Golgo 13 gives a nod to Lupin. Both Lupin and Golgo are inspired by the character James Bond.
• Here is Greenwood: For the culture festival, Shun's class re-enacts the Caglisotro catch-and-dive, with Shun as Clarisse.
• Haruhi Suzumiya made reference to Lupin in "Endless Eight"; after being told about the endless recursion of time, Kyon utters something similar to Goemon's catchphrase.
• Hayate the Combat Butler - In episode 29, when Isumi is lost in Paris looking for the tournament, you can see one of the mooks from Giant Robo in the background, as well as Jigen from Lupin III.
• Hyakko has Nene get the facial expression and diction of Lupin in one of her most lecherous moments.
• In episode 21 of Sgt. Frog, thinly-disguised versions of Lupin III and Jigen get run off the road by the Hinata family car in a parody of the chase scene from The Castle of Cagliostro.
• Inubaka names the dog Lupin, and drives the point home by having him be the third generation.
• Is the Order a Rabbit? features an in-universe TV show called Phantom Thief Lapin ("lapin" is French for "rabbit").
• Kekko Kamen has a clear reference to the first episode of Lupin III: Part 1, where Fujiko is tortured with all of those tiny robotic hands with tiny cartoon gloves.
• Kiki's Delivery Service: The policeman who confronts Kiki for nearly causing a traffic accident when she first arrives in the city is a dead ringer for Lupin. Hayao Miyazaki's first major job was running Lupin III in teh 1970s, and of course, also made The Castle of Cagliostro.
• Kochikame has a blatant Jigen cameo, but he's wearing an eggshell instead of his fedora.
  • Has also had a crossover with the cast of Lupin III.
• Megazone23: Two cops that look suspiciously familiar... (Lupin and Jigen!)
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Episode 30 includes a cameo appearance by Lupin and Jigen as crewmen marshalling the White Base out of Jaburo. Later, in Episode 39, they appear again as part of a Federation brass band along with Goemon and Zenigata.
• In My Bride is a Mermaid, there's a girl called Mawari Zenigata who shares some of the personality traits (and last name) of Inspector Zenigata. In the manga and anime, Mawari is the daughter of the chief of police and has a crush on Nagasumi (the main character). She's also the leader of the Public Morals Committee, the police group of the high school she goes to.
• My-HiME's manga had a cameo of Zenigata arresting Shizuru.
• Otaku no Video is Reference Overdosed, so naturally Lupin gets a mention.
  • One scene where many cosplayers are chasing Ken. We see Arséne Lupin in a Green Jacket (Lupin III) and a glimpse of Jigen (Lupin III).
  • In their dorm room there's a Secret of Mamo poster!
• The Ghibli film Only Yesterday features a Jigen Expy named Machine Gun Dandy.
• Panda! Go Panda!: The Rainy-Day Circus, this is a cameo with Lupin and Jigen who are disguised as television journalists.
• Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt:
  • The garbage chute scene (sewer entrance?) in episode 3, gives a nod to The Castle of Cagliostro by having a statue take a polaroid of the Anarchy sisters going/falling down the hole.
  • The monkey lawyer in episode 8 shares design characteristics of Lupin III.
• Paradise Kiss has an Imagine Spot by Yukari, where Tokumori and Arashi are pictured as Goemon and Lupin in a [Love Triangle - Duel to the Death] over Miwako as a schoolgirl in Sailor Fuku. Yukari notes it's only natural Lupin won; after all, he had a gun.
• The Ping-Pong Club - Maeno and Izawa's somewhat disturbing Lupin and Fujiko game.
• Looker from Pokémon. An International police agent shows up in Sinnoh to try and arrest Team Galactic, wearing Zenigata's signature outfit.
  • Also, in the Sun and Moon anime, Kartana's Pokémon Speak is Goemon's catchphrase "Once again I have cut a worthless object", played backwards (both in Japanese and English). Double allusion in Japanese since Kartana is voiced by Goemon's current Japanese voice actor, Daisuke Namikawa
• Psychic Squad did a Shout-Out in Episode 5 of The Unlimited, using Lupin III in a police uniform, The Nostalgia Critic, and The Angry Video Game Nerd as random spectators. This didn't escape the notice of Doug Walker, or the notice of fellow Channel Awesome contributor JesuOtaku.
• The three-part OVA Re: Cutie Honey is full of references to other anime, and does not skimp on the Lupin ones.
  • Honey's boss dresses exactly like red-jacket Lupin.
  • Seiji wears a green jacket that is also familiar, instead of the brown jacket he wears on other versions. His personality in the OVA is also closer to Lupin's than his original personality in the manga.
• REDLINE gives two very recognizable Homages. Incidentally, the film's director, Takeshi Koike, would go on to do the character designs for The Woman Called Fujiko Miné.
  • When the newscasters are going over all of the racers in the upcoming Red Line competition, they get to a couple of guys known as the Mad Brothers: Lynchman and Jonnyboya.
  • Then we see a fake trailer for a Lynchman movie with the two running from a crazed, cybernetic army general. And we see that classic Lupin shot from the pilot of Lupin running along a brick wall with yellow spotlights on him.
• Release the Spyce: One of the heroines is a master swordswoman code named Goemon, last name Ishikawa.
• Sailor Moon - the first volume of the manga name-drops "the famous thief Lupin" though it could be a reference to the original Lupin.
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei:
  • The final episode of the first season had three of the main characters riding in a yellow fiat. That would be enough for a Lupin III reference, but one of the characters also dresses in a kimono and sits on top of the car.
  • In episode 12, the teacher, Itoshiki Nozomu, tells his students about "backwards flow", where people get involved in something in an unusual and/or unintended order, such as getting into a manga series after playing the pachinko game based off of it. He says that the greatest example of backwards flow is how Kanichi Kurita was originally a comedian who impersonated Lupin's voice and ended up becoming the actual voice actor for Lupin.
• Shinichi Watanabe likes to insert himself into a few of his anime as a character called "Nabeshin", who wears a long-sleeved blue button-up shirt, a yellow tie, and a pink jacket (most frequently in Excel♡Saga and Nerima Daikon Brothers, but he does show up in some other anime as well). And yes, the real Nabeshin is known to dress like this too.
  • Nabeshin (the character) is holding two rings, and realizes that putting them together will solve the puzzle: an (Homage to The Castle of Cagliostro).
  • In one episode, it shows Koshi Rikdo (the manga's original creator) chasing after Nabeshin, and Rikdo is dressed up just like Zenigata.
  • He also directed Lupin III: The Columbus Files, which included "Nazarov", a character who is not Nabeshin (the voice and name are totally different!) but is still Lupin in an Afro.
• In Sket Dance, the main characters consist of three people, and Kazuyoshi "Switch" Usui refers to himself as Goemon when discussing the trio's relationship. He points out that the other two hang out with each other more often like Lupin and Jigen do, while Switch himself is a bit reclusive like Goemon.
• Sonic X has a scene where the Butler, Tanaka, dresses up like Goemon. Sonic X was animated by TMS, who has also animated Lupin III.
• Spellbound! Magical Princess Lil'Pri: In episode six, Sei has hired for the girls a dance teacher named Michael, who sounds, acts, looks, and dances (a bit) like the beloved late pop star, but his body and what he is wearing are based on Lupin◊.
• Soul Eater has for non-music-related shout-out; Death the Kid's intro episode begins with the trio chasing a developing Kishin which Death refers to as Lupin. This may refer to Arsène Lupin, but more likely refers to Lupin III.
• In the first chapter of Strawberry Shake Sweet, Julia is stopped short of performing the infamous, trademarked Lupin-dive on Ran.
• Super Dimension Fortress Macross has a video game in episode 24, intended to be similar to the game "Cliff Hanger", which uses footage of the car-chase scene from The Castle of Cagliostro. The character playing the game seems to be in Lupin cosplay, complete with smoking cigarette.
  • Robotech, which is the Americanization of SDF Macross (and two additional anime), contains the same scene, also in its 24th episode.
• Thermae Romae: In episode 7 a sculptor from Ancient Rome is trying to scare thieves (Lupin and Jigen) away by making a statue with *cough* large male genitals.
• Time Stop Hero: Kuzuno Sekai disrupts a fradulent coronation ceremony in the line, "Objection! This coronation ceremony is profoundly tainted by greed!" This references the line, "Objection! These marriage rites are profoundly tainted by greed!" from The Castle of Cagliostro.
• Unlimited Psychic Squad has a cameo by Lupin, and a girl designed as a young expy of Fujiko.
• Upotte!!'s Sig borrows Goemon's Character Catchphrase: "Once again, I have shot a worthless object."
• The 1985 Vampire Hunter D film had a wedding scene very similar to the one in The Castle of Cagliostro.
• ×××HOLiC's Episode 6: Yuko writes "Zantetsuken" on a red baseball bat she then uses to slice a computer in half using a downward slash. (No damage to the table either!) She then says "Once again I've cut a worthless object." (Original Japanese only, not the American dub)
• Yakitate!! Japan: one of the breads they make is called "the Lu-pan bread".

Comic Books

• Dick Tracy had art thief Art Dekko (who looks an awful lot like Lupin III) in the early 1980s. An anime homage that far back is pretty cool.
• In one issue of The Punisher, the titular Anti-Hero guns down thinly-disguised counterparts of Lupin III and his gang.
• In the second issue of UDON's Street Fighter II Turbo comic series, a familiar face (and jacket) is seen in a crowd of people listening to Bison's message.
• In a backup story in an issue of X-Men Classics (earlier issues have a secondary story featuring "before they were X-Men" or "between the issues" tales), a story is recounted of an inadvertent meeting between Logan (while he was a roughneck on the run from the Weapon X program) and Banshee (while he was just a humble Interpol agent). Banshee is hot on the trail of three jewel thieves, one of whom is named Arsene, and who look like the Lupin Gang with a few cosmetic alterations. Guess who that makes Banshee, of course...
  • Chris Claremont has put LawyerFriendlyCameos of anime in quite a few of his stories.

Fan Fic

• Guardians of Pokémon: Crossover in chapter 81, with Case Closed at the same time.
• Pretty Cure Sidestories: In a Whole Costume Reference during the town festival, Yasu's hakama looks like that of Goemon, down to the silver and purple colors (she even says "Once again, I have cut a worthless object" when she uses Haruki's katana to slice Kamryou's shuriken early in the town festival fight scene.
• When Pandora's Box Is Opened: Inspector Zenigata shows up for a cup of coffee with Inspector Nakamori.
• Yin and Yang Series: Lupapa's name and thievery are based on Lupin the Third.

Films — Animated

• The Bad Guys (2022) is a caper film that makes various references to Lupin III. The lead character is a wolf ("Lupin" is French for "Wolf") who wears a slick suit and goes on heists.
• Cars 2: Visually, the Death Trap inside of Big Bently, and the way that Finn, Holly, and Mater escape from it is very similar to the climax of The Great Mouse Detective - itself inspired by the clock tower chase in The Castle of Cagliostro, a movie often cited for its great spy action and excellent car chase sequence.
• Catwoman: Hunted is influenced by Lupin III, with Selina being an Expy of Femme Fatale Fujiko Mine. The opening titles feature artwork and music styled on the Woman Called Fujiko Mine series.
• The Great Mouse Detective has several intentional similarities to Lupin III.
  • The climactic battle takes place in a clock tower, a reference to The Castle of Cagliostro.
• Superman vs. the Elite has villain "The Hat" whose beard, suit, and characteristic hat (obscuring his eyes) are designed as an expy of Jigen.

Films — Live-Action

• The 2010 live-action adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time features a poster from the '70s live-action Lupin movie (Strange Psychokinetic Strategy).
• The Goonies uses an actual "Cliff Hanger" video arcade game is in the movie in the opening sequence. No footage from the game is on screen, just the green box level number screen. But it's the right color blue, the controls are the same, and you can just make out the left side of the arcade decoration with Lupin in his red jacket, and that unknown female on the bottom left.
  • A scene from The Castle of Cagliostro is also referenced. The scene in question is where Lupin falls down that shaft in Clarisse's bedroom and stops himself from hitting the spikes by using his grappling hook. For The Goonies, it's Data who has a grappling hook in his belt buckle, made out of a pair of toy clacker teeth attached to a slinky. He falls down a shaft where the floor drops out of under him, and he stops himself with the clacker teeth before he hits some spikes. Either the reference is to the original film or the same scene in the "Cliff Hanger" game.
• The 1991 Bruce Willis film Hudson Hawk is considered to be influenced by the character and story style of Lupin.
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has an infamous scene where Indy survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge, the same way Lupin III does in the last episode of the Green Jacket series. This might also be a reference to the Urban Legend of Spielberg being a fan of the opening car chase sequence from Castle.
• Kate & Leopold has a girl wearing a Lupin the Third t-shirt!
• The 2006 Pink Panther movie had a "HAMBURGAH!" scene that is similar to Zenigata's in Episode 0: First Contact. Probably because Lupin the Third has made Shout Outs to their franchise in the past.
• This Means War (2012) features a car chase similar to the Cagliostro car chase, featuring a bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle, almost the same color as Lupin's late-'60s Fiat 500.

Music

• The Japanese-Canadian rock group Monkey Majik has created an animated music video in which the band members meet the Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko characters from Monkey Punch's Lupin III manga and anime franchise. The Oricon website is already streaming the full 187-second video on Wednesday. And here's a link to the video itself, on Oricon: http://tv.oricon.co.jp/pvj/090805_10.html Character designs look a little like a cross between Alcatraz Connection (in fact, the song covered is the Alcatraz Connection English-lyrics version of the theme song), Mamo, and Monkey Punch's manga art.
• Fujiko fans come up with a band in her honor, courtesy of AICN Anime. http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/JPop/Public/News1/Fujikochan_1553.aspx
• Ayumi Hamasaki - One to Lupin III in Countdown Live 2007-2008.
• Lupe Fiasco verse on Kanye West's song "Touch the Sky" features the line "Lupe steals like Lupin the Third."
• Japanese funk trio Bradio's video for "Frisbee" is one long tribute to Lupin. The animation style strongly mirrors Monkey Punch's art and involves a band as a gang of thieves stealing a gem, only to have it taken from them by a mysterious Femme Fatale.

Video Games

• In Jet Set Radio, Captain Onishima takes some traits from Inspector Zenigata. He takes extreme measures to arrest the rudies, he's relentless in his pursuits of them, and shouts all his lines.
  • The manual also explains that he's, 'obviously been watching too many cop shows from the 70's', which could be a reference to not just said cops shows, but also to Green Jacket (1971-1972), and Red Jacket (1977-1980).
• In Baten Kaitos, there is a thief character you meet called Pollo the 3rd. Pollo is Spanish for chicken and Lupine means wolf-like. The character didn't look like Lupin though, nor did he wear a red jacket or anything similar. Still, from the name alone, it was definitely an homage to Lupin.
• Gaia Online is quite fond of Halloween Cosplay. We've seen Ian as Jigen, at least.
• Homage or accident? Punch-Out!! has "the glass jaw of France", whose character design mimics one of Fujiko's suitors in the first red jacket episode.
• Catherine: a Green Jacket Lupin appears in the demo/intro with his familiar theme music.
• The SEGA Dreamcast game named SEGAGAGA. The game acts as one big parody of SEGA's situation in the console race around the launch of the PS2, with players taking the role of a new recruit to help take down the big evil 'Dogma' (Sony) corporation. As the game itself is one big parody, there are lots of little parodies of other titles and cartoons found in the game. The Lupin reference? Chopin the 3rd. (Hear the music)
• Castlevania: Dracula X, for the Super Nintendo, has a Word of God copy of the count's castle in The Castle of Cagliostro.
• Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten: The scene you get when you create a Gunner is a reference to a scene at the end of The Castle of Cagliostro (which is also referenced in the Flash animation for Marisa Stole The Precious Thing).
• In Nintendo Wars, the CO Grit is an Expy of Jigen.
• From Lightning Legend: Daigo no Daibouken, the bit character Rinpei Kisaragi is a Captain Ersatz of Lupin: Black hair (slightly afro'd), bright red jacket, BRIGHT yellow tie, and goes through women like clothes.
• Tales of Graces: Asbel references Goemon Ishikawa XIII in one of his victory quotes. ("Once again, I have cut a worthless object.")
• Mega Man Star Force has an expy of Zenigata named Bob Copper (Heiji Goyouda).
• Killer7 gives Lupin's suits to Dan.
• One of the special weapons from Metal Slug, the Iron Lizard (debuting in 2) is named directly after the remote-controlled exploding torpedo from the Lupin anime.
• The Protagonist of Persona 5 was inspired by Lupin III. His persona is named Arsene, to reference the original.
  • The Protagonist lives at Café Le Blanc (from the original author, Maurice Leblanc), and its owner Sojiro Sakura is a dead ringer for Jigen, even wearing a white version of his outfit and hat combination at one point. We cannot see much of his car, but it is or greatly resembles Lupin's yellow Fiat 500.
  • One of his close allies also got Goemon as a Persona.
  • In one of Ann's confidant events, she mentions that she grew up admiring a sexy Femme Fatale she saw in an anime, and she's more than likely talking about Fujiko.
• Rent A Hero has a police inspector named Zenikase. His appearance◊ in the remake makes it clear that he's definitely a reference to Inspector Zenigata.
• Like a Dragon: Ishin!: At one point, Aguri says "Once again, I have cut a worthless object".

Webcomics

• During the worldwide Millennium invasion in And Shine Heaven Now Lupin III teams up with Madeline to take down Rip van Winkle. He's stunned to find out Madeline's Older Than They Look, as she had also teamed up with his grandfather in the past. There had also been a planned storyline where Hellsing teams up with Zenigata to try to catch Lupin which ends in Lupin having a Friend-or-Idol Decision to save Zenigata's life at the cost of getting the treasure he was trying to steal.
• Narbonic has the rival mad scientist-thief Lupin Madblood.
• Sluggy Freelance: During a crowd scene in the middle of the "Punyverse" arc, there are several characters who are clear shout-outs to various anime and manga. Most pay homage to Rumiko Takahashi and her work, but one guy is very obviously Lupin III.

Western Animation

• There is a Jigen sighting in an early episode of Animaniacs (specifically the "Sir Yakksalot" episode) as a wagon driver bearing a very distinctive slouched fedora and pointed beard drives by the screen. Tokyo Movie Shinsha provided animation work for both the Lupin III franchise and Animaniacs.
• Batman: The Animated Series has a The Castle of Cagliostro homage with a battle in a clock tower with many similar shots. Like with Animaniacs above, TMS animated several episodes of this series.
• Episode five of Love Shuffle has three of the main characters trying to cheer up the other main character and they start going on about how bread (pan) is good for breakfast and they somehow end up firing off words that have 'pan' in them trying to make him laugh. Peter Pan, Rupan and it goes on.
• Ducktales 2017
  • The first episode features a cameo by Lupin's yellow Fiat, with a dogface version of Jigen sticking out of the roof window.
  • "Astro B.O.Y.D.!" has a dogface version of Lupin himself appear in the background. The episode also features a character named Inspector Tezuka, who dresses in a very similar way to Zenigata and she even has a similar habit of carrying a ludicrous amount of handcuffs inside her trench coat.
• Night Hood - This version of the original Arsène Lupin has several Shout Outs to various anime series, most obvious is that Lupin himself takes several visual and stylistic cues from Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask. Another reference is how the dynamic between Lupin and Grognard owes a lot to that between Lupin and Jigen.
• Samurai Jack:
  • In the episode "Jack and the Creature", the key to Jack's getting home is "The Crystal of Cagliostro".
  • "Jack and the Labyrinth" is a heist story that introduces a thief that's a composite of Lupin and Jigen (beard, fedora, suit). It's even more obvious with Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Jigen's longtime seiyū) voicing the thief in the Japanese dub. Jack himself in the episode takes the role of Goemon Ishikawa, in being a samurai who develops a vitriolic relationship with the thief.
• The Simpsons - Season eight episode "Bart After Dark", the one where Bart has to work at a burlesque house. There is a scene where Bart is falling down a roof that looks like The Castle of Cagliostro that even the people in the audio commentary mention it.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987): Word of God (David Wise) has admitted April's yellow jumpsuit and minicamcorder outfit was based on Fujiko Mine's outfit from the Japanese anime Lupin the Third.
• Teen Titans homages the famous hillside car chase of The Castle of Cagliostro in the episode "Car Trouble".

Real Life

• Former Princess Sayako of Japan (the current Emperor's daughter) liked Clarice's wedding dress from The Castle of Cagliostro so much that she had a real-world one made for her wedding dress.
• Due to Lupin's immense popularity in Italy, Lupin is liable to be referenced or shown in many Italian media and by Italian people. Most notable is the joke that, since the government is already full of thieves, they should make him premier as at least he's competent.

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