Lupin III Chapter 1 is titled "The Dashing Entrance of Lupin III".
Synopsis[]
Two men sit in the backseat of a car: one young and bespectacled, the other old and graying. Casually, the young man offers to tell the old one a story, promising a happy ending.
The story concerns Teitou University's Dr. Ouki, a world-renowned inventor and father of two hard-partying daughters. During the latest such party, their estate is commandeered by police inspector Zenigata, who insists that the infamous thief Lupin III is mixed among the guests, preparing for a heist.
Meanwhile, one of the bolder guests begins seducing Dr. Ouki's younger daughter, Michi, much to the amusement of her older sister. The reports of the Lupin investigation mildly interest all three, but only attract Dr. Ouki's uncooperative scorn—until Zenigata's men discover the brutally-tortured corpse of his secretary. This is soon followed by an attack on Michi, which leaves her severely lacerated but (barely) alive.
These discoveries force Dr. Ouki to admit that Lupin had in fact sent him notice of the heist; his target is the schematics of Dr. Ouki's latest invention, an item of much interest to foreign powers. Simultaneously, Michi's seducer begins pursuing the older daughter, who humors him just long enough to overpower him and hold him at gunpoint, correctly deducing that he had committed both attacks.
In truth, Dr. Ouki had shredded the original schematics, and surgically implanted the only microfilm copy into one of his daughters; having tortured this secret out of his secretary, and found nothing in Michi's flesh, the thief now knows Michi's sister must hold it. In a desperate movement, he manages to disarm her with a throwing-knife, and promptly carves the microfilm out of her—only to be shot dead by another man.
The gunshots attract Dr. Ouki and the police, who find the day has been saved by none other than the party's weediest, meekest-looking guest. To their surprise, he refuses to return the microfilm; this is cleared up by the sudden arrival of Zenigata's senior inspector Akechi, who reveals this guest (whom Zenigata himself had sarcastically accused earlier in the night) is none other than Lupin.
Cornered, Lupin calmly accepts his arrest—after throwing the microfilm to a trained pigeon, which carries it out of the estate to a distant hideout. Even in defeat, his heist has succeeded; and all the violence of the night is attributed to the other thief, a foreign spy.
Thus concludes the story with its "happy ending"—as narrated by Lupin (the young man) to Akechi (the old one), mere minutes after the arrest.
Characters[]
New characters:
- Lupin III
- Koichi Zenigata
- Kogorō Akechi
- Dr. Ouki
- Michi
- Michi's Sister (Art of the Entrance)
- Unnamed Thief/Spy
- Monkey Punch (cameo)
Translation Notes[]
The Greatest Heists translation had redone all of the lettering of the sound effects while it was left alone in the Tokoypop translation. Tokyopop was unable to change the lettering and added subtitles.
Michi had become Michelle in the Tokyopop translation however her name was only mentioned once. Greatest Heists translated her name as Michie.
Notes[]
- Though not a direct adaptation, the plot of this chapter draws several elements from Maurice Leblanc's first Lupin story, "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin" (French: "L'Arrestation d'Arsène Lupin"):
- Both introduce Lupin by reputation first, only revealing his identity at the very end—with his arrest.
- Both retroactively establish Lupin as the story's narrator.
- Both have Lupin being uncovered by a detective (Ganimard in the original, Akechi here) who is absent for most of the story, appearing only at the very end.
- Finally, the original features Lupin hiding stolen jewels inside a camera; this story's focus on a microfilm may be an oblique homage.
- The character design of Lupin III is completely different than future chapters since Lupin wears glasses, has a large chin and has a different hair style. While the next chapters Lupin has a larger chin, this was dropped by Snowfall on Sisters.
- Page 24 is in worse quality than the other pages on the chapter in reprints. There is a notice that appeared at the bottom of the page explaining that the original was lost however this notice does not appear in the Tokyopop English translation.
- When this chapter was originally published on Weekly Manga Action, it was originally nameless. When it was collected on Power Comics, it had given the name The Dashing Entrance of Lupin III.[1]
- The chapter was originally in color. It became grayscale for the Chuokoron-Shinsha publication that was used for the English Tokyopop translation. For Lupin III Masterpiece Collection and Greatest Heists, the chapter had become black and white. Due to adjusting from color to grayscale to black and white, some of the details were either changed for clarity or removed.
Gallery[]
See Also[]
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| Lupin III |
| Chapters | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72 • 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 • 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87 • 88 • 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 |
| Volumes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Comics | Hyakuten Land Comics | Action Comics | Futaba Bunko Masterpiece | Aizou Ban | Chuokoron-Shinsha | Tokyopop (US) |
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 | 1 • 2 • 3 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |