Lupin III/History

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Young Lupin
Profile
Japanese Name:	少年ルパン
Romanized Name:	Shōnen Rupan
First Appearance:	Lupin Zero Episode 1
Gender:	Male
Age:	13
Status:	Alive
Japanese VA:	Tasuku Hatanaka

Lupin Zero

As Lupin Zero is set in the 1960's and is supposed to be an imagining of Lupin III's childhood, the 2022 ONA introduces a young Lupin III, who up until Lupin Zero Episode 5 only called himself Lupin.

History

Prior to the events of the ONA, Lupin was taught to steal very early on, before he even learned to write his own name. At one point, his father Lupin II "stole" him from his grandfather Arsène Lupin, and gave him strict orders to never be with his grandfather again. He was barred from entering a life of crime, always told to "walk straight and narrow" in life. His housekeeper Shinobu from then on always kept a close eye on him.

Sometime after that, he entered school and started cheating his way to a lot of things, from small things like winning a tiny bet with some of his peers to even bigger things like getting the highest scores among everyone else. He also began living lavishly as a result of his family's wealth, at one point even inviting a group of his peers to a nightclub.

His life would eventually change when he meets both young Daisuke Jigen and Yoko. He would eventually form relationships with the two of them, especially the former, who slowly went from looking down on Lupin for being a rich kid and telling him to go home, to actively helping him on all sorts of schemes like building a base in the school and connecting an illegal whiskey line to it. As he spent more time with Jigen, Lupin would slowly get conflicted between obeying his father's orders to stay away from a life of crime and being a thief like his grandfather wants.

In Episode 5, he's forced to pick between staying with Jigen or with Shinobu, Lupin finally declares that he wants to be a thief, but one that only stole what he wanted to steal and not someone who was under his grandfather's influence. From that point onward he now called himself Lupin III. He shortly began his first heist, where he planned to steal Yoko and stop the nuclear weapon that Yoko's boyfriend Gaucho and his revolutionary army was going to use to blackmail the Japanese government. He did eventually stop the weapon and the army by sinking the ship holding them all together, but he was unable to steal Yoko away, who chose to kill herself by jumping off into where her dead boyfriend lay as the ship sank.

Now officially the third generation Lupin, he's last seen skipping class with Jigen on top of the school, ready to begin another heist at the slightest opportunity.

Personality

Young Lupin III does not differ too much from his adult self, though his inexperience and childish nature among other things are much more pronounced. He's more prone to crazy pursuits, playing games and having fun, while also loudly hating being forced to be one thing or another. Born as a rich child to a family of thieves, he sometimes uses his power and wits to live a lavish life and committing to his schemes like building a secret base in the school, much to the annoyance of young Jigen, who once described him as being half a matured adult and being half an idiot.

While not constantly lustful, Lupin is still a pervert; he was able to tell Lupin II disguising as Shinobu by noting that the latter wears silk panties, not the frilled drawers his father was using for the disguise. It a young age he's noticeably more attracted towards adult women rather than girls of his own age, shown by how he is more attracted towards a nightclub singer named Yoko and how he brushes off creep pictures of other girls in his school that young Jigen was tasked to sell. He also honors women, saying that to "always stand up for a lady" is a family motto he has.

Being the grandson of an infamous master thief, Lupin himself is very skilled at the art of thievery because of his grandfather. He even claims at one point that he was taught how to steal before he even knew how to write his own name. While he clearly honors both his grandfather and father, young Lupin still somewhat hates them both, having described the former as an insane lunatic and having despised the latter for being an absentee.

Young Lupin in his green jacket.

Appearance

Young Lupin is always dressed in a blue 1960's Japanese school uniform for boys. He doesn't don his signature sideburns and widow's peak like what his adult self is always seen with. Rarely was he ever seen in a different outfit in the whole ONA.

For most of Episode 6 he wears his green jacket while screwing with the plans of Gaucho's revolutionary army, but after that he defaults back to his blue school uniform.

Notes

• Why Lupin uses a Walther P-38 is given an explanation in Episode 6, it being inherited from his father after beating him in a sort of race around the Lupin mansion.