Lupin III – The Killers Gather in the Wasteland

Who the hell is this?! What is this guy's deal?!

Summary: Lupin turns the tables on the assassins. Ami reveals secrets. Fujiko joins the game.

Lupin the Third Part 4 (AKA The Italian Adventure) cherrypicked the best elements from the long history of the Lupin III franchise, giving us alternately Green Jacket crime stories, Red Jacket hijinks, Pink Jacket meta-commentary, and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine levels of characterization. They even did an out-and-out Miyazaki homage in the humorous yet melancholy episode “Welcome to the Haunted Hotel!” I’d have to rewatch the whole series, but the only element I can’t remember seeing in Part 4 was truly Monkey Punch-style gallows humor.

That is not true of “The Killers Gather in the Wasteland,” which might be the most Monkey Punch episode I’ve seen in any series—even the ones that directly adapted manga stories.

I’m still not sold on the serialized aspect of this series, but this week’s episode is still fan-freakin’-tastic. Admittedly, it’s also really dark, with a level of (largely implied) lethality completely opposite in tone to The Castle of Cagliostro, so one’s mileage will definitely vary.

As a middle-aged cishet white male named after Sean Connery and for whom the men’s adventure paperback revival of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s forms an indelible link to my late father, I loved the hell out of it. The reformed male, progressive part of my being recoils somewhat from the horrifying backstory revealed for Ami in this episode, but it makes an ugly sort of sense. The rest of “The Killers Gather in the Wasteland” is just badass action backed up with bizarre character designs taken right from the manga.

And, honestly, it’s hard to object to Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon killing their way through an army of foes when those foes are top-flight assassins. I just find myself wishing we’d gotten entire episodes dedicated to Captain Bone, Union Mama, Ichigo the fisherman, Akagi and his invisible gun, the Rat Gang, and whoever the hell that weirdo with the dog is supposed to be.

And then Fujiko Mine finally joins the storyline by doing that thing you knew she was going to do but kept hoping she wouldn’t.

Dammit.

A side of hands served with a sick burn courtesy of Goemon Ishikawa XIII.