Lupin Becomes a Bridenote , with the English title Cruisin' in Drag. Released by Geneon in 2005 on Volume 8: Sweet Betrayals.
The journals announces that the millionair bachelor Onabes is going on a cruise around the world on his gigantic ship, the Venus, bringing all his treasures with him, not counting lots of beautiful girls of all kinds. However, as the Venus is about to leave, Lupin and Jigen are discovered as they try to steal the precious portraits from the vault. Outnumbered and outgunned, the two are forced to run away.
Saved by Goemon, Jigen asks Lupin why he didn't stole Onabes' paintings, and the unusually angry thief explains that some time ago, Onabes was a ruthless gangster, who eliminated his own partners after in order to keep all the money for himself, which he then used for buying all those wonderful portraits. While Goemon and Jigen decides to give up, Lupin is determinated to get back on the Venus somehow, and remembers that most of the guests are women...
Some time later, the Venus comes across a shipwreck victim. Upon learning that it's a woman, Onabes has her rescued. Said girl "Marie", the only survivor is actually Lupin in female disguise. However, as he's taken to the infirmary, he notices Zenigata in the crowd. Later in the infirmary, Lupin's visited by a nurse who's none other than Fujiko, who offers her help to Lupin. However, the thief refuse. During a dinner, Zenigata voices his worries about the safe where the paintings are kept to Onabes, who reassures him by explaining the defense mechanism: should the room come in contact with water, the whole vault containing the paintings will be ejected by the ship. In need of the toilet, Lupin accidentally enters the men's bathroom, and is discovered by mistake by Zenigata, who proceeds to chase him around the ship. Thanks to Fujiko's help, Lupin manages to escape him, but still refuses to accept her help in stealing Onabes' paintings. When Zenigata tries to tell the truth to Onabes (who's infatuated with "Marie"), gets kicked out of the ship.
That evening, Onabes is dining with "Marie" and hitting on "her". Lupin plans to slip a sleeping pill in the man's drink but Fujiko has other plans and unseen manages to sneak something in Onabes' glass. Soon, the old bachelor rather than getting sleepy becomes more and more active to the point that he declares his love to "Marie", going as far as jumping on him and kissing him on the lips, much to Lupin's horror and disgust. Later in the women's toilet, as Lupin's brushing his teeth Fujiko explains that she put a powerful aphrodisiac in Onabes' drink, which cancelled Lupin's drug effects and made him enamored with "Marie"/Lupin. Shortly thereafter, a lustful Onabes crash in the restroom and start pursuing Lupin across the ship, declaring his love while Lupin tries to dissuade him to no avail with tons of excuses, culminating in revealing his actual gender to Onabes, who's so in love that he doesn't care. Out of options, Lupin decides to try an alternate plan and accepts Onabes' marriage proposal.
The following day, the ceremony takes place in a church with Fujiko as Lupin's bridesmaid. She asks him what he plans to do about the paintings and the other precious treasures, but he simply scolds her for harboring such materialistic feelings in a church, and Fujiko, exasperated, leaves. Both Zenigata and Jigen are informed of Lupin's "Marriage", with Jigen mistaking the situation and calling him a pervert. However, Lupin manages to give some instructions to Jigen... Later that evening, Fujiko leaves the party and the ship, believing that Lupin has hit the rock bottom. However, the crossdressing thief gets rid of the guards outside the vault telling them that's their free day and waits. Soon, the water from the open taps around the ship floods the floor and sensing the water the chamber's defense system activate and the room is expelled from the ship. Outside, Jigen and Goemon ties the whole thing to their elicopter and the trio succesfully leaves in the sunset, with Onabes screaming at Lupin and Fujiko running after them, wanting her share of treasure.
This Episode Contains Examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Onabes for Crossdressing!Lupin.
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Alternate Character Interpretation: The English dub has Jigen saying to Lupin (after the marriage to Onabes has been revealed) "And if you were that kind of a guy you could have told a guy!" - Really, Jigen, the He-Man Woman Hater, are you upset he married a guy, or that the guy he married wasn't you? - Attractive Bent-Gender: Onabes becomes almost istantly infatuated with a disguised Lupin.
- Crashing Through the Harem: A Flash variation: Onabes chases Lupin through all the stalls in the women's restroom. After that, Fujiko finds out that all said stalls were occupied by now-shocked women.
- Dirty Old Man: Onabes: a personal cruise ship called Venus and filled to the brim with girls and women from all over the world should tell you everything.
- Disguised in Drag: Lupin, for most of the episode. Seems to be a full-bodied costume.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Lupin refuses to work with Fujiko. She puts an aphrodisiac in Onabes drink which causes him to madly fall in love with the disguised Lupin.
- Easy Sex Change: Mentioned (by accident?) in the Italian dub during The Reveal: after claiming that they could "fix" all of Marie's problems with plastic surgery and hearing that she's a man, Onabes simply says: "Well, surgery can fix that too!"
- Fat Bastard: Onabes. To drive the point home: if the shipwrecked person would have been a man, he would have left him to the sharks.
- Hurricane of Excuses: As Onabes' chasing Lupin up the mast, the latter comes out with tons of excuse, including "I'm ugly, I'm flat-chested, got horrible legs" and Onabes counters each excuse with the "surgery solution". Finally, Lupin is actually revealing his real gender to Onabes who immediately replies that everyone has flaws.
- Hypocritical Humor: During the marriage Lupin, notorius thief, scolds Fujiko for making "materialistic" comments in a church.
- It's Personal: Lupin's reason for stealing Onabes' paintings. Rather than stealing through skill, Onabes brutally murders anyone who gets between him and his loot in incredibly bloody heists that tend to have body counts a mile long.
- Love Potion: The aphrodisiac Fujiko used lasts at least a week and is very powerful.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Fujiko, after the wedding and apparently believing that Lupin had ran out of tricks.
- Shout-Out: The part where Lupin reveals his real gender and Onabes reaction may be a nod to the famous scene from Some Like It Hot.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Apparently both Zenigata and Jigen thought that Fujiko would have been the bride, not the bridesmaid.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: After running out of excuses and pursued by an amorous Onabes, Lupin plays his last card:Lupin: "I'm a man!! You see?"Onabes:"Everyone has their shortcomings!"
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Lupin is one for most of the episode. Jigen actually thinks he's a depraved Creepy Crossdresser when he hears he's become Onabes' bride.
- Would Hit a Girl: Lupin actually come close to beating Fujiko when she injects him in the butt with a syringe while disguised as a nurse.
