S3E5 - The Pink Jacket Adventures: Lupin the 3rd Part III Review & Analysis

“Nobody said I’m not in. We’re just out of cognac.”

With Lupin the 3rd Part III, Lupin officially the enters the 1980s and he’s got a new attitude, a new look, and a new jacket – a pink one! The Pink Jacket Adventures, as this series has come to be known, is one of the weirder and wilder chapters in Lupin history, with Yuzo Aoki leading a talented team of animators to create a take on Lupin that’s both uniquely stylish and highly varied, with character designs shifting from episode to episode and sometimes scene to scene, and the series’ second half employing a particularly cartoon-y, Looney Tunes-esque approach to motion and mayhem. Meanwhile, iconic Japanese New Wave director Seijun Suzuki wrote one of the boldest and most bonkers Lupin episodes of all time, and co-directed The Legend of the Gold of Babylon, the Part III film released in 1985, which we also discuss on today’s show alongside 20 episodes from Part III (see the full list below). It’s one of the most memorable periods for Lupin the 3rd, and also one of the most rewarding.

Enjoy, and come back next week as we look at a transitionary period in the history of Lupin with a selection of films and specials from 1987 to 1995 – The Fuma Conspiracy, Bye-Bye Lady Liberty, Voyage to Danger, and Farewell to Nostradamus!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20

Intro & History: 0:01:20 – 0:10:44

Lupin VIII: 0:10:44 – 0:22:46

History Continued: 0:22:46 – 0:50:06

Eyecatch Break 1: 0:50:06 – 0:50:38

Episode-by-episode Review: 0:50:38 – 3:01:47

Eyecatch Break 2: 3:01:47 – 3:02:14

The Legend of the Gold of Babylon: 3:02:14 – 3:52:09

End Credits: 3:52:09 – 3:53:24

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Full list of episodes watched:

1 - "The Gold Is Beckoning Lupin"

3 - Greetings to Hell’s Angel

7 - The Man Called Death Gurve

11 - The Ruby Sheds Bloody Tears

13 - Variations on Getting Carried Away

18 - Showtime Reeks of Death

23 - Operation: Beirut Mobile Bank Robbery

24 - Sleep Peacefully, Friend

27 - Codename: Star of Alaska

28 - The Star of Alaska is a One-way Ticket to Hell

30 - A Cocktail Named Revenge

31 - A Turnabout, a Comeback, and a Reversal

34 - "Manhattan Crisis"

37 - "Pops Boils over with Rage"

38 - Leticia who Loved Lupin

40 - A Lotto Ticket to Riot

44 - "Our Papa’s a Thief"

46 - Soaring on Scrap Wings

49 - The Day Pops Got Adopted

50 - "Orders to Destroy the Atomic Sub Ivanov"