History Franchise / LupinIII

* DubPronunciationChange: Italian dubs of the franchise always pronounced Goemon as "Ghe-mon". Fujiko's last name Mine has been pronounced for years as the English word, reverting to the Japanese pronounce only from [[Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine her own series]] onwards.

** In Lupin Zero [[spoiler 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.]]

* RareVehicles: Lupin III drives a Mercedes-Benz SSK throughout the series – less than forty were made, and most found nowadays are replicas using components from the original vehicles. Hilariously, it often becomes a ChronicallyCrashedCar, which might explain why the other car usually associated with Lupin is a Fiat 500, one of the most common cars in the world.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIVsCatsEye'', a crossover with ''Anime/CatsEye'' set to premiere on Amazon Prime in 2023.

He is also the titular character of a LongRunner franchise from UsefulNotes/{{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, ''Manga/LupinIII'', 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 Wiki/TVTropes. [[note]] For the media we cover that Lupin doesn't yet exist in? Just wait; he'll be there soon![[/note]]

* ClothesMakeTheLegend: 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 CoolHat 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.

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 in 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 EnemyMine 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 and Fujiko to act like themselves, even when the topics diverge into hardcore drama or meta-commentary MindScrew. All of this adds up to a franchise that can really be about anything, which is only fitting for a GentlemanThief.

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 in 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 EnemyMine with Zenigata to fight against someone who is ''truly'' evil. At the same time, Lupin and friends remain remarkably consistent across all the dozens of films, TV shows and manga, giving the series a level of accessibility few Long Runners can dream of. The audience can always count on Lupin, Jigen, Goemon and Fujiko to act like themselves, even when the topics diverge into hardcore drama or meta-commentary MindScrew. All of this adds up to a franchise that can really be about anything, which is only fitting for a MasterThief.

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 in 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 EnemyMine with Zenigata to fight against someone who is ''truly'' evil. At the same time, Lupin and friends remain remarkably consistent across all the dozens of films, TV shows and manga, giving the series a level of accessibility few {{LongRunner}}s can dream of. If you've seen one ''Lupin III'' story, you know what you're getting into.

Lupin the 3rd is frequently accompanied by ex-rivals Daisuke Jigen (TheGunslinger) and Goemon Ishikawa XIII ({{Ronin}}). The trio form a CaperCrew, pulling off thefts or acting as a team of {{Adventurer Archaeologist}}s. Fujiko Mine (a FemmeFatale and fellow thief) sometimes works for the group, and sometimes against them. The four are chased by Inspector Koichi Zenigata (InterpolSpecialAgent).

*** Goemon was introduced as an {{assassin}} hired to kill Lupin. For awhile, ''he'' had TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou excuse for protecting Lupin from other enemies. Some form of this is kept whenever his OriginsEpisode is.

He is also the titular character of a LongRunner franchise from UsefulNotes/{{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, ''Manga/LupinIII'', 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 Wiki/TVTropes. [[note]] For the media we cover that Lupin doesn't yet exist in? Just wait; he'll be there soon![[/note]]

** Fujiko Mine's name is an example: "The twin peaks of Mt. Fuji." [[note]] There's a (possibly apocryphal) story that Punch named her this because, like the famous mountain, she featured "imposing peaks of great natural beauty".[[/note]]

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: This happens to be one of Lupin's favorite tactics, often by disguising himself as Inspector Zenigata; usually at Zenigata's expense.

* JesusTaboo: Lupin doesn't have a problem with naming aspects of any religion, although none of the cast are proselytizing members.

** While it might be easy for Western Audiences to just look at the first manga or 70's-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 that have never known a single day where 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''.
* LongRunnerTechMarchesOn: 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. First Contact is supposed to take place before Green Jacket series, but features computers of the late 90s or early 2000s. Green Jacket series is in the mid 1970s. Funny enough, younger viewers might see the Firebee drones and walkie-talkies in the late 70s Red Jacket series and mistake them for modern quadcoptors and old cell phones.

* MagicFromTechnology: 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: ([[spoiler: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.]]) It was never explicitly confirmed that Pycal really wasn't using magic in the manga version, though in the anime Lupin found Pycal's chemical formula. When the villain was revisited in the {{OVA}} ''Anime/ReturnOfTheMagician'', 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.

** For the second ''Anime/LupinIIIPartII'' episode, ([[Recap/LupinIIIS2E2 "Guns, Buns, and Fun in the Sun"]]) he steals cash by inserting 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.

** With ''Anime/LupinIIIVoyageToDanger'', he's also stolen a nuclear submarine.

* NegativeContinuity: Only the essential elements of the story are ever kept... It's part of the reason why the series has [[LongRunners 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.

* RareVehicles: Lupin III drives a Mercedes-Benz SSK throughout the series – less than forty were made, and most found nowadays are replicas using components from the original vehicles. Hilariously, it often becomes a ChronicallyCrashedCar, which might explain why the other car usually associated with Lupin is the far more common Fiat 500.

* RoadRunnerVsCoyote: 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.

* SlippedTheRopes: Lupin can only be handcuffed if he lets you handcuff him. During a ''Anime/LupinIIIPartII'' 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 the normal Lupin wouldn't have to do.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Lupin [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags this trope]].

** 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 life (several times, in fact).

*** 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.

** Notably subverted in ''Anime/LupinIIIVsDetectiveConan''. 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. Tots-san probably built up an immunity to it.

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: 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.

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: 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 Villain}}s. Their antagonist, Inspector Zenigata, is a HeroAntagonist, and their relationship can be described as an almost friendly rivalry, rather than 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.

** In the IntercontinuityCrossover with ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', 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 LeaningOnTheFourthWall regarding the crossover nature of the story. ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' 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.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIVsDetectiveConan'', a crossover movie with... you guessed it ''Manga/DetectiveConan''. Not only works, but also feels like a remake of ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro''. Go figure. Happens again with ''Anime/LupinIIIVsDetectiveConanTheMovie''.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' 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''.

** Played straight in the ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' series, with very rare instances of NippleAndDimed being averted. One example is in Episode 40, where Zenigata accidentally pulls Fujiko's shirt down while searching her for another HiddenWire... but she hadn't bothered to wear anything [[VaporWear under the shirt]].

* DenserAndWackier: The art style of the Anime/LupinIIIPinkJacket 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 1980's style of drawing the characters makes a lot of fans give up before the character designs become more consistent later in the show.

** There was one episode of the ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' series where Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon ALL dressed up as Zenigata.

** In the ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' series, he has used this tactic to escape from a large police officer who had him in a hold.

** Lupin poses as Zenigata again, in the ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' episode [[Recap/LupinIIIS2E145 "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!

** This plot was revisited in the ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' series, where an armchair detective (criminologist) programmed a computer to do the same thing. This time, Lupin's IndyPloy was to rely on Zenigata's whim.

** A ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' episode has Lupin stepping off of a plane and calling "Title!", to summon the episode's name.

** For the second ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' episode, ([[Recap/LupinIIIS2E2 "Guns, Buns, and Fun in the Sun"]]) he steals cash by inserting 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.

* SlippedTheRopes: Lupin can only be handcuffed if he lets you handcuff him. During a ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' 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 the normal Lupin wouldn't have to do.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' has featured Ganimard III. And Lawrence III of Arabia. And Sherlock Holmes III. And...

* WayPastTheExpirationDate: In one ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' 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.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' 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.

** The ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' series was cleaner (but still {{Seinen}}-oriented), and the Anime/LupinIIIYearlySpecials are much LighterAndSofter. But ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'' was made HotterAndSexier as well as DarkerAndEdgier, in order to align closer to the original manga style.

* CryingWolf: Exploited by Lupin in a manga chapter and the ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' episode ([[Recap/LupinIIIS1E4 "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.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'', while cutting out the {{Gorn}}, remained on the darker end of the scale, until a {{Retool}} halfway through the series.

** In episode 10 of ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' series, when Flinch aims a second kick at Lupin, he catches it and kicks Flinch in the crotch.

** In one of the episodes of the original ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' 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.

* InfernalRetaliation: One of the story elements consistent across the franchise is Lupin's encounter with Goemon. The [[Manga/LupinIII manga]], the [[Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket Green Jacket series]] and ''[[Anime/LupinIIIEpisode0FirstContact 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.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' has "Rescue the Tomboy", a story where Lupin steals a person from her uncle! [[spoiler: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.]]

** ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' was the first series adapted from the manga. It explains where the ''Zantetsuken'' comes from, as well as why Goemon joins the gang.

* RatedMForManly: Lupin wants you to believe he is the manliest guy you'd ever find. The Manga fits very well; it is full of AuthorAppeal for killing and seducing. LighterAndSofter stories still have an element of this in them, but with DefeatByModesty or BloodlessCarnage. The ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' series and ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'' series, however, comes closer to the mature tone of the manga.

As this is a highly influential series, see ReferencedBy.LupinIII to see characters are related to this franchise. %%See Series/{{Lupin}} for a similar work based on the work of [=LeBlanc=].

As a this is a highly influential series, see ReferencedBy.LupinIII to see characters are related to this franchise. %%See Series/{{Lupin}} for a similar work based on the work of [=LeBlanc=].

Lupin the 3rd is frequently accompanied by ex-rivals Daisuke Jigen (TheGunslinger) and Goemon Ishikawa XIII ({{Ronin}}). The trio form a CaperCrew, pulling off thefts or acting as a team of {{Adventurer Archaeologist}}s. Fujiko Mine (FemmeFatale) sometimes works for the group, and sometimes against them. The four are chased by Inspector Koichi Zenigata (InterpolSpecialAgent).