Fujiko Doesn't Look Good in a Bridal Gown note with the English title of The Bride came D.O.A..
In a sunny day, a wedding is taking place: Fujiko herself is marrying the handsome millionaire Huffner. As they leave the church, Lupin glares at them from a nearby roof… and suddenly pulls out a rifle, aims for Fujiko’s chest and shoots her down, as Huffner watches back. Cue to a flashback, showing Fujiko and Lupin driving in different cars side by side near the sea as they talk about Huffner, said to be incredibly rich and to own a fabulous collection of jewels. However he’s also infamous because he had many wives, all of whom died in mysterious circumstances, leaving him even more rich. Lupin tries to dissuade Fujiko from marrying the millionaire, but is soon put out of commission by Huffner’s men who are following Fujiko around, while she states that everything will go smoothly.
Back to the present, in the chaos following the shot, Zenigata angrily charges at Lupin, calling him on the cold-blooded murder, while Jigen and Goemon arrive on a copter, trying to rescue their friend before Zenigata catches him. However, Fujiko’s murder seems to have taken his toll on the thief, who claims to have lost any will to live and that he’s going to join Fujiko soon, revealing bombs strapped to his chest. As Zenigata flees, smoke engulfs Lupin, who then runs on the rooftop and jumps from the edge, disappearing in the following explosion as Huffner calls him a fool for killing himself for a woman. Later, in Huffner’s mansion, the portraits of his 99 wives are shown as Huffner adds Fujiko’s one to the lot and her corpse is carried in: the butler informs him that she’ll be sterilized and preserved as usual and then added to the “Eternal Harem”, with Huffner expressing his regret for being unable to kill her himself. He then decides to pay a visit to the Eternal Harem, revealing a secret passage in the pool which can be opened by pulling the leg of a Pegasus statue: the Harem is a lavish underground vault containing the preserved corpses of Huffner’s 99 deceased brides, free from the ravages of time and the lust of other men as the deranged millionaire can enjoy their company forever, and soon Fujiko will join their ranks.
However, we hear Fujiko’s corpse receiving a call… a call from Lupin, still alive in his hideout with his friends!Turns out, the two were in cahoots since the beginning: in order to deceive the cautious Huffner, Lupin had to go through a rather complex plan, shooting Fujiko with a drug that simulates death while faking his suicide using a smokescreen and a rubber dummy. Now that Huffner’s guard is lowered they can strike at him and take his treasure. The following day, Fujiko’s funeral is held and the coffin is taken to Huffner’s villa, which supposedly has a private graveyard there, while Zenigata is still looking for Lupin’s remains, wondering if he’s really gone this time. Meanwhile, the thief and his gang are outside Huffner’s villa and proceed to wake Fujiko from the sleep, communicating with her with a hidden device in her ring. The girl awakens in a bare room where, however, she’s knocked unconscious by the gas used for the process; Lupin decides to look for her immediately, revealing that her ring also acts as a tracking device, but Huffner finds the jewel too crude for his tastes and removes it from Fujiko’s finger as she’s taken to the Harem.
While Lupin desperately search the mansion for her, Jigen and Goemon decide to jump into action and are attacked by the bodyguards in the garden, with Jigen’s hat falling in the fountain in the process. Meanwhile, Fujiko is taken to the Eternal Harem, but regain consciousness as Huffner holds her in his arms, shocking him; at first she tries to act as nothing happened, but the situation becomes clear to her soon enough and Huffner is elated at the chance of killing his bride himself as he pulls out a bullwhip. Meanwhile Lupin reunites with Jigen and Goemon in the poolroom, where the butler is hiding after closing the passage; Jigen notices his hat in the pool and realize that it must be connected to the fountain outside. As the butler tries to shoot them, Goemon slices the Pegasus statue in half, crushing the old man and opening the way to the Harem, where Huffner is torturing Fujiko.
Lupin promptly shoots the whip, and the millionaire proposes one last challenge to overcome, since he dislikes killing men: one of his “brides” is actually a killer marionette, ready to shoot them in the back when they least expect it. Soon, the trap is activated, but Lupin dodges at the last second and shoots back at the mannequin, causing it to turn around and fatally wound Huffner, who claims that no one will have his collection and activates a trap that buries the Eternal Harem with him. Having escaped with their lives, Lupin proposes to Fujiko, since she’s wearing a bridal gown, but she replies that even without the collection of jewels (which were worn by the taxidermized brides, and were lost when Huffner destroyed the Eternal Harem) she can still get her hands on Huffner’s riches, being the widow, and leaves for the mansion, while Jigen sarcastically tells him that the only way to own Fujiko is to preserve her like Huffner did with his brides.
This Episode contains examples of:
- Antagonist in Mourning: Zenigata spends the episode tearfully looking for Lupin's body after his apparent suicide so he can give it a proper funeral.
- Ax-Crazy: Huffner. He's actually elated when he finds out that Fujiko is still alive because that means he'll be able to murder her personally.
- Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: In an extremely dark variation, Huffner has his deceased wives prepared and preserved so that he can expose them as puppets in his Eternal Harem.
- The Bluebeard: Huffner is a modern and rich variation who has killed 99 wives before and doesn't mean to stop anytime soon. The "forbidden room" in this case is the underground "Eternal Harem" where he put the preserved corpses of his brides, and he seemingly does it for sheer psychopathy. He's eerily nonchalant about it in the English dub, highlighting how nuts he really is.Fujiko: Wait, you're saying you married and then murdered them all and now I'm next?!Huffner: Yes, 'fraid so.
- Damsel in Distress: Fujiko, and this time for a good reason too.
- Faking the Dead: Fujiko fakes her death when Lupin shoots her in the chest, while Lupin does the same pretending to blowing himself up, using a decoy balloon dummy.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Huffner is karmically killed by his own trap puppet he set on Lupin.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Huffner paints himself as one and lives in a lavishly villa. Little it does to diminish the fact that he's an insane killer.
- Oh, Crap!: Lupin has one when Fujiko's signal stops in the middle of nowhere, while Fujiko has one upon seeing the Eternal Harem up close.
- Serial Killer: Huffner really gets off by murdering women, but only women. When Lupin and his friends face him, he'd rather have a trap dispose of them.
- Taking You with Me: Mortally wounded, Huffner pulls a cord to destroy his Eternal Harem rather than let anyone have it.
- Whip of Dominance: Huffner prepares to torture Fujiko with a bullwhip.
