| Outline |
Rupan Sansei (Lupin the Third)Lupin the Third is grandson of Arsène Lupin, the phantom thief that appears in a French adventure detective novel. His is a family of phantom thieves, called petty thieves by the powerful. Following the footsteps of his namesake grandfather, Lupin goes around the world as a great thief who appears out of nowhere and always steals what he wants. That is why his talents are recognized in the underworld. Although he is very charming and hard to hate, his sole weakness is that he is easily seduced by voluptuous women.Other characters include Daisuke Jigen, a cool-headed marksman who never misses a target with his magnum revolver, the contemporary samurai Goemon Ishikawa XIII who wields the “Zantetsuken”, a sword which was forged using a secret kind of steel passed down in the Ishikawa family and which can slice through anything, and the mysterious beauty Fujiko Mine, who always appears before Lupin and deceives him before taking his spoils. These four characters make up the “Lupin Family”, and they get involved in various incidents.Inspector Zenigata of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Interpol, a shrewd detective who has made it his life’s work to arrest Lupin, encounters the thief on numerous occasions and gets embroiled in various incidents with him.Taking on tough villains of the underworld and criminal organizations, such as Pycal and Kyosuke Mamo, Lupin goes around the world to steal secret treasures in his elegant style.The animation series started in 1971 and was a great hit. Since then, four more series have been produced, as well as movie versions, spin-offs, and television specials, and new stories are produced regularly even today. |
