For general tropes associated with the regular cast, you can find their page here: Lupin III.
open/close all folders
Mamo
Japanese: Ko Nishimura (1978), Kanji Obana (2014)
English: Mike Worman (Toho), Robert Axelrod (Streamline), Allan Wenger (Manga UK), Paul St. Peter (Geneon), Kirk Thornton (Bang Zoom)
Italian: Germano Longo (1979), Vittorio Di Prima (1986), Riccardo Peroni (1993), Ambrogio Colombo (2007), Luigi Rosa (2014)
French: Denis Boileau (1981), Jean-Claude Sachot (2005)
Mamo is an ancient being of immense knowledge and wealth, bent on discovering the secret of eternal life. He is the Big Bad of The Mystery of Mamo.
- Been There, Shaped History: Mamo claims to have been born in Babylon and has affected the course of history through his run-ins with various world leaders, notably Hitler and Napoléon.
- Brain in a Jar: Mamo eventually reveals that his real self is a gigantic disembodied brain, that controlled his clone bodies by implanted microchips.
- The Cameo: In Jigen's Gravestone. He makes a quick appearance towards the end, implying that he was the Greater-Scope Villain of this movie, Goemon's Bloodspray, and Fujiko Mine's Lie. Not so much appearing in Cliff Hanger, but the sixth stage has the car chase from this film, mixed into all the footage from the next film.
- Clone Degeneration: Mamo admits that he's suffering from this. In fact, one of his older clones tells this to Lupin before dying.Older Mamo Clone: [Geneon subtitles] The chromosomal data transfer is never 100 percent perfect, just as repeated copying makes the image blurry. Too much repetition of the cloning is distorting the cells. When I reached the 130th generation, I preserved myself as the original by putting myself in the Ringer's Solution. Since then, I've been a copy of a copy.Older Mamo Clone: [Toho dub] The transfer of chromosome information has not been exactly 100% complete. As you repeat the copying process, the image begins to fade… the endless clone chain reaction has been disturbing the cell system. For 130 generations, I have preserved my original body in all its exact detail by floating it in a special Ringer's Solution. Since then, my bodies have all been copies of a copy.Older Mamo Clone: [Streamline dub] The transfer of chromosomal data is never 100% complete. There are always imperfections, unnoticeable at first, but as the cloning is repeated age after age, these distortions become more pronounced. Despite all my efforts, once my original form began to decay, I had to make second generation clones, and then third, and then fourth. What you see is a copy of a copy of a copy.Older Mamo Clone: [Manga UK dub] The passing of chromosome information, I must acknowledge, has not been 100% complete. With each copy, the clarity fades slightly, almost imperceptibly. The endless clone chain reaction disturbs the cells. Over 130 generations, I produced copies and still more copies, and each time the result was lacking in some strand I'd achieved in the previous one... till I am what you see before you.Older Mamo Clone: [Geneon dub] The transfer of the chromosomal data is never accomplished with complete fidelity. There are... anomalies, infinitesimally small in each case, but the cumulative effect of such - chaotic - pollution... can be observed after only a dozen or so generations, and what you see before you is a 130th generation facsimile. I am but a faint, distorted echo of myself.
- Dub Name Change: His false identity has fluctuated between Howard Lockewood or Foward Fughes depending on the dub.
- Earthquake Machine: Mamo is able to set off earthquakes at will. Lupin figures out that Mamo used a nuclear power plant to do this, and decides to imitate the trick with nuclear warheads.
- Final Boss: Of Lupin the 3rd: The Shooting.
- Fossil Revival: Through cloning, he manages to revive a species of butterfly that went extinct millenia ago for Fujiko as a gift.
- Fun with Acronyms: As Jigen points out in the Streamline dub, "Mamo" is allegedly short for "Mega Amalgamated Multinational Operations."
- A God Am I: Mamo thinks of himself this way, and he goes to a lot of trouble to convince Lupin and his friends.
- God Test: After Lupin Does in the Wizard of the psychedelic vision Mamo showed him in Colombia, he rhetorically challenges Mamo to prove that he's a god by doing something like causing earthquakes instead of "parlor tricks". The response is enough explosives set off to measure on the Richter scale.
- Green-Eyed Monster: It is hinted that Mamo is jealous of Lupin, particularly after he sees Fujiko's affection for Lupin and then finds out that Lupin's mind is a void.Mamo: [Geneon dub] (after gazing into Lupin's subconscious and seeing he does not dream) It's the mental characteristic of either a complete idiot... or a God!
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mamo is killed by lasers he was trying to use in his last attempt on Lupin's life.
- Hurl It into the Sun: Mamo is finally destroyed by a bomb planted on the glass dome holding the giant brain as it is launched from orbit. The brain then drifts into the sun.
- Immortality Seeker: Wants to keep himself immortal, and offers it to Lupin. Lupin declines.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Both of his identities: Mameaux/Mamaux/Mamo; Haward/Howard/Hayward Lockewood/Lockwood; Foward Fughes/Foward Fuse
- Kill It with Fire: Lupin deals with Mamo in this fashion at the climax, incinerating him with his own lasers by reflecting them at him with the broken tip of Zantetsuken.
- Leitmotif: Two of them depending on the situation. A good number of his appearances are accompanied by "I Am Immortal," which he himself plays on a harp when Lupin first meets him. The other is the already existing "Illusionary Lupin" during a few of his more sinister scenes, including his death throes.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Mamo's "god" status, and indeed his whole character. While he is revealed to be a giant brain cybernetically controlling a set of degenerated clone bodies and is clearly of tremendous means, we are left taking him at his word about living for 10,000 years and manipulating human history.
- Mind Screw: Mamo arranges several of these for Lupin.
- Necromancer: He is able to bring numerous historical figures back to life as part of his plot.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Resembles Paul Williams when he portrayed Swan in Phantom of the Paradise.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Also known as Howard Lockewood/Foward Fughes, one of the richest men in the world.
- The Villain Knows Where You Live: Mamo skips the threat and simply has Flinch hit the gang's hideout with napalm to show them that he really means business when he sends hitmen after them for giving him a phony Philosopher's Stone.
- Villainous BSoD: The Mamo clone Lupin intercepts undergoes this in his last moments as he goes on about how clones degenerate over time. The not-original Mamo subverts this when he realizes the Philosopher's Stone doesn't help much, if at all. When Fujiko asks if eternal life is just a dream, he responds that there's another way and takes Fujiko to a launching pad to explain plan B - trigger World War III with his private ICBM arsenal so he and Fujiko will become a new Adam and Eve.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Mamo receives a Humiliation Conga at the climax. First his attempts at immortality go awry, then the government tracks him to his hideout (because he couldn't pass up a challenge from Lupin to perform a miracle), and then Lupin foils his attempt at bringing about the end of the world. That's enough for him to go bat-shit crazy and take Fujiko for himself, trying to roast Lupin with lasers whenever he tried to get near. He even sounds crazy yet truthful when he reveals that Lupin's death at the gallows had indeed been staged all along.
- Vocal Dissonance: During the first half of the film, Mamo is heard but not seen. He has a deep, masculine, mature voice that one expects of a rich, powerful man. This leads us to assume that he will be as impressive looking in person as he sounds. We then discover that he is actually a short, gnomish looking little man. And no, he wasn't using a voice modulator or an actor. It was his real voice. This effect is preserved in most of the dubs except the Streamline version where he has a gnomish voice throughout.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about who he is without mentioning that he is really a giant brain, as well as his role in Jigen's Gravestone, Goemon's Bloodspray, and Fujiko's Lie.
- You Monster!: Jigen describes Mamo as a monster, and Lupin echoes such sentiments to the original Mamo, a gigantic brain, at the climax.
- Zerg Rush: In The Shooting, his backup bodies serve as the primary enemies throughout the second to last stage.
Flinch
Japanese: Shozo Iizuka
English: Greg Starr (Toho), Jeff Winkless (Streamline), Jeff Harding (Manga UK), Bob Papenbrook (Geneon)
Italian: Elio Zamuto (1979), Maurizio Mattioli (1986), Luca Semeraro (1993), Sandro Sardone (2007)
French: Benoist Brione (2005)
Mamo's second in command and his frequent emissary when doing jobs for him outside of his island hideout.
- The Brute: Fujiko's description of him has Flinch mercilessly whip her for failing to get the Philosopher's Stone for his boss (and, though she may have been making these details up as part of her Wounded Gazelle Gambit for Lupin, he very roughly tosses her into the plane when he arrives to pick up herself and the unconscious Lupin thereafter). He also acts as one towards Goemon during their duel, mocking him for attempting to slash his armor.
- Dub Name Change: Similar to his boss, the katakana that is used to spell his name is officially given by TMS as "Frenchy", which is used in the Toho dub.
- The Quiet One: Almost never says a word up until his duel with Goemon.
Gordon
Japanese: Hidekatsu Shibata
English: Don Knode (Toho), Michael Forest (Streamline), William Roberts (Manga UK), Michael McConnohie (Geneon)
Italian: Vittorio Di Prima (1979), Mimmo Maugeri (1986), Ivo De Palma (1993), Saverio Indrio (2007)
French: Vincent Violette (1981)
One of the higher ups in the American Secret Service.
- Anti-Villain: He's not a villain so to speak, but he acts very antagonistically to Jigen and Goemon.
- Berserk Button: Do not question his intelligence.Gordon: [Geneon subtitles] Don't talk rubbish! There are many ways to torture you!
Gordon: [Toho dub] Stop kidding me! There are many ways that we can torture you!
Gordon: [Streamline dub] Listen! We have ways of getting you to talk!
Gordon: [Manga UK dub] Don't mess me around! Listen! We got ways of making you talk!
Gordon: [Geneon dub] Mess with me, and you're messing with America! - The Brute: Even moreso than Flinch, considering his harsh treatment towards Jigen and Goemon.
- Eagleland: The embodiment of Type II, which Jigen lampshades after the interrogation. In the Geneon dub, Jigen even asks him if the America he's working for is the bastion of blind arrogance.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: The bad cop to Starkey's good cop while interrogating Jigen and Goemon. Gordon acts in a more threatening manner than Starky, who simply gets to the point.
- Last-Name Basis: Referred to only by his surname.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: A more villainous Expy of G. Gordon Liddy, himself being involved in Watergate.
- We Have Ways of Making You Talk: In the Streamline and Manga UK dubs, rather than the expected Starkey, a fact that Jigen promptly lampshades in the Manga UK dub.Jigen: Come on, riff! Shouldn't that be [Starkey's] line?
Starkey
Japanese: Tōru Ōhira
English: Frank Rogers (Toho), Steve Kramer (Streamline), John Baddeley (Manga UK), Joey D'Auria (Geneon)
Italian: Gino Pagnani (1979), Sandro Sardone (1986), Sergio Romano (1993), Paolo Lombardi (2007)
French: Jean Barney (2005)
The director of the FBI.
- Anti-Villain: He's not a villain so to speak, and at the very least shows some respect towards Jigen and Goemon, compared to Gordon.
- Affably Evil: Lets Jigen and Goemon off the hook when he realizes that they don't know anything about Mamo or if Lupin is connected to him.
- Big Good: The closest thing this film has to one, as he is the one that informs Jigen and Goemon of Mamo's threats towards the President and the Russian dignitary.
- Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese version and the Geneon dub, he is known as Starkey. In the Toho, Manga UK, and Streamline dubs, he is instead known as Heinrich Gissinger.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: The good cop to Gordon's bad cop while interrogating Jigen and Goemon. Gordon acts in a more threatening manner than Starky, who simply gets to the point.
- Herr Doktor: In all dubs, he speaks with a German accent, making him seem like such.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His position as the director of the FBI makes him a stand-in for former US National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who had recently left the latter role following Gerald Ford's resignation as President. The Italian dub takes it a step further with its Dub Name Change by actually making him Kissinger.
