History Franchise / LupinIII

He is also the titular character of a LongRunner franchise from UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}. 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]]

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: 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 BroadStrokes continuity. If the sword is unable to cut something, it becomes a plot point.

* [[Manga/LupinIII Multiple Manga serials]]
* [[Anime/LupinIII Multiple Anime series and movies]]
* [[Film/LupinIII Multiple Live-Action Films]]

** It was an AvertedTrope once: One of Creator/MonkeyPunch's only rules for ''Anime/LupinIIIDeadOrAlive'' was that Lupin and the gang had to get the treasure in the end.

** Some of the Manga stories have turned Creator/MonkeyPunch 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.

* OffsetBlink: A common cause of goofy faces when pausing episodes or watching at reduced speeds to make screencaps, especially when accompanied by off-model animation.

*** 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.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: 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.

* TheMasochismTango: 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 is 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 awhile either, and even while they were dating, they were both emotionally and physically unfaithful.

* CartwrightCurse: Any love interest for Jigen, Goemon, or Zenigata will die or never be seen again. The same applies for any love interests Lupin & Fujiko have other than eachother, which is also doomed to fail every time they aim for a relationship bump.

** ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'': Both Lupin III (with Jigen & 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, [[EnemyMine 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 & Goemon) chases her to get a percentage of the heist, and Zenigata is chasing all of them to put them behind bars.

* 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 & walkie-talkies in the late 70s Red Jacket series & mistake them for modern quadcoptors & old cell phones.

* SuperWindowJump: When sneaking in & out is not an option, this is Lupin's favorite method of breaking into or out of buildings.

* TheMasochismTango: Like Jigen, Lupin believes that women are all chronic backstabbers, but unlike Jigen, he thinks it's part of their charm, & that seems to be one of his biggest turn-ons when it comes to Fujiko Mine, who betrays him is a variety of ways, including pretending to be a hostage while actually being the ringleader. Lupin should know better, but he goes with her plans every time. He's not against stabbing her in the back once in awhile either, & even while they were dating, they were both emotionally & physically unfaithful.

** It depends on the writer & the series sometimes, but this seems to be averted in the Red Jacket series.

*** Fujiko has the second highest direct kill count & 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, & 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 & 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 & Jigen shot at Madam X with intent to kill, but the bullets had no effect on her.

* ChaseScene: Tons and tons. Is not a ''Lupin'' story without a chase scene with every possible means of transport.
* ChronicallyCrashedCar: The Mercedes-Benz SSK seems to be a favored target for fire, bombs, bullets, missiles, swords, and demonic curses. It always reappears in tip-top shape by the next episode. Presumably, Lupin is repairing his original car, 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 ''[[Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro Cagliostro]]'').
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Jigen [[InvertedTrope inverts]] the idea. The cool gunman is only smoking when he's relaxed. (He's nearly always relaxed) Putting the cigarette out if the situation is getting tense/excited.
* ClothesMakeTheLegend: Aside from Fujiko (who's always changing her 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, Lupin's jacket), but the actual clothes themselves stay the same.

** Gets really complicated when they start [[MythologyGag referencing]] [[ContinuityNod past events]].

** This trope sometimes comes into play for a Jigen or Goemon OriginsEpisode.

* DamselInDistress: Clarisse, Murasaki, Fujiko ([[BadassInDistress 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.

** Lupin is a MasterOfDisguise and does this often. Either disguising himself as a female ally (such as FemmeFatale 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. The reveal did not dissuade him.

* EasyComeEasyGo: 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 every big score 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.

* EnemyMine: Inspector Zenigata will form a grudging alliance with Lupin III whenever it involves taking down a more clearly evil criminal (which is surprisingly often). DependingOnTheWriter, this is implied to be main reason why he hasn't been fired for failing to catch Lupin.
** In a Part 2 episode, Zenigata learns that a parody of the Nazis plans to kill Lupin & the gang without a fair trial. Zenigata is determined to get them back to Japan alive. Knowing that Zenigata will face a firing squad if he helps them, Fujiko knocks Zenigata out cold & she & Lupin chuck him out the window & into the moat with the rest of the soldiers to keep him out of trouble.

** The series ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'' has Fujiko naked at least once an episode (not counting the opening & ending, where she's also naked).
** The movie ''Anime/GravestoneOfDaisukeJigen'' Starts Fujiko off in some fetish costumes & has her running around in the nude for the rest of it.
** Red Jacket series often features women in see-though negligee, & nudists. Funny enough, it's completely inconsistent on whether or not there will be nipples.

** When Lupin in in his boxers, it's not always played for comedy. When all three of them are stripped down, it's never for comedy & Fujiko will usually not be in those episodes.
** In Red Jacket series, Jigen was switched from boxers to briefs, & every time Jigen is seen stripped down, his briefs are smaller than they were last time.

** For a seinen anime made in the 70s, there is a surprising amount of bromance; The kind preferred by women.

* FriendsWithBenefits: This trope is possibly the ''best'' category for ''Franchise/LupinIII'' and [[MsFanservice Fujiko]]. Lupin believes they're soulmates (not that it prevents him from [[HandsomeLech hitting on other women]]), and Fujiko prefers "Fuck Buddies" (though usually [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder a different meaning of "fuck"]]). Which means they wind up here, somewhere in the middle.

** 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 whim.

* InverseLawOfSharpnessAndAccuracy: zigzagged

* IgnoreTheFanservice: Jigen can usually be counted on to ignore the flirting women. But any of them ''might'' ignore Fujiko.
** [[Recap/LupinIIIS2E23 "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. When the ''real'' Fujiko shows up, he completely ignores her.

* ItMustBeMine: 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, ''[[FemmeFatale Fujiko]]'' is also the cause of many of their capers. To the point where Jigen will try to quit the job once he hears it was her idea.

** ''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 spirit that makes it so powerful. From the translations, it's unclear if three swords were used, or three techniques were used to forge Zantetsuken.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: Unlikely to ever end in any other way.

** Zenigata's obsessive pursuit of Lupin tends to make him very unsettled whenever Lupin is actually caught, although this is always temporary. He becomes convinced that Lupin ''wanted'' to get caught and was trying to GetIntoJailFree. (He's right, of course) [[Recap/LupinIIIS1E4 One Chance to Breakout]] is an example from the Green Jacket series.

* AttractiveBentGender: Cross dressing is a staple of the Lupin III franchise, & usually played straight for spying, stealing, & escaping rather than as a gag, unless it's Zenigata, who is the manliest looking of the main 5.
** 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 & lingerie.
** In the Red Jacket series, Zenigata & Lupin are trying to escape to Foreign Legion on Morocco & steal some clothes. Zenigata gets stuck as the wife. Every man they pass takes one look at Zenigata & tries to buy "her" from Lupin.

** ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' has an episode early on where Lupin and Zenigata are independently abducted by a guerrilla group in Morocco. Zenigata soon realizes that Lupin is next to him and tries to arrest him ''through the sack''.

** Played straight in the ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' series.
** ''Anime/LupinIIITheSecretOfTwilightGemini'': The uncensored version is one of the most {{fanservice}} [[HotterAndSexier ladden]] entries in the series and shows everything shy of full-frontal nudity.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: 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 RuleOfFunny.

* BrosBeforeHoes: This is something Jigen & Goemon staunchly believe in that Lupin does not share. Red Jacket Lupin is especially adverse to this.
* TheCaper: One of the best examples in media.

*** Lupin& Jigen shot at Madam X with intent to kill, but the bullets had no effect on her.

** It depends on the writer & 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 body count in the franchise. He claims he doesn't shoot women.... except when he does. Lupin says he's not a murderer, but 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, which Jigen has also done. Fujiko has the second highest bodycount & her Green Jacket backstory has her as being part of an assassination gang before meeting Lupin. The whole gang tried to kill Madam X without realizing she wasn't human.

** And for the ladies, Goemon likes to wear a {{fundoshi}} and not much else when swimming. Lupin, Jigen, and Zenigata have {{Shirtless Scene}}s aplenty themselves.

** It depends on the writer & the series sometimes. 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 body count in the franchise. He claims he doesn't shoot women.... except when he does. Lupin says he's not a murderer, but 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, which Jigen has also done. Fujiko has the second highest bodycount & her Green Jacket backstory has her as being part of an assassination gang before meeting Lupin.