Name

Monkey Punch did not gain permission to use the Arsène Lupin name and, at the time, Japan did not enforce trade copyrights. By the time Leblanc's estate launched legal action in Japan, the name was considered to have entered into common use.^[3] However, this was not the case in North America and Europe, and several foreign releases of Lupin III media were obliged to drop the Lupin III title; the character himself was renamed to "Wolf" or "Rupan". In France, the series was known as Edgar, Detective Cambrioleur (Edgar, Detective Burglar) with Lupin himself renamed "Edgar de la Cambriole" (Edgar of Burglary).^[8] In 2012, Leblanc's original Arsène Lupin entered the public domain in France due to 70 years passing since his death in 1941, and is in the public domain for any country that enforces the rule of the shorter term.^[9]

In Japanese media, the character is referred to by the mononym "Lupin III", excluding a first name even when other characters are given their full names. Translation notes for The Castle of Cagliostro offer that Japan does not use western generational "Jr." or "III" naming conventions that necessitate sharing the first name, asserting that "official [Japanese] animation dialogue and comic text never explicitly call him 'Arsène Lupin the Third.'"^{[2][lower-alpha 2]} The name "Arsène Lupin III" continues to occasionally appear in English localizations.^[11]

Appearance

Lupin as seen in Episode 0: The First Contact.

Lupin III has black (or occasionally dark brown) hair with what is variously depicted as cut short with a widow's peak or plastered flat with a V-shaped bang. His trademark sideburns extend from ear to nearly the chin.

Lupin typically dresses fashionably, wearing a button-down shirt, squared-off necktie fastened with a clip, chinos, and a brightly colored sports jacket. Though exclusively red in the manga, in animation his jackets are various colors which are often used to color-code the TV series (green for Part I, red for Part II, pink for Part III, blue for Parts IV and V, etc.).^[12]

Personality

In Monkey Punch's original manga, Lupin is cocky, quite crude, and for the most part remorseless. He is very much the ladies' man, often using them for his own gains, and is not beyond forcing himself upon women who resist his advances. Mike Toole of Anime News Network referred to the character as a "rough, drunken, lecherous crook."^[8] This is in stark contrast to his better-known anime self, who although a skilled thief, occasionally comes off as a chivalrous goofball who enjoys helping those less fortunate than he. Furthermore, Lupin often takes it upon himself and his gang to stop criminals engaged in more violent crimes and leave them for Zenigata to arrest. In the anime, while he fancies himself a Casanova, his actual success with women is erratic, appearing to fluctuate with the writer.

Even though his gang's loyalty has been an issue, with Fujiko willing to betray and cohort Goemon promising to eventually kill him, Lupin will still drop everything to come to their aid in a helpless moment; further the team would rather face torture than to betray Lupin (or he betray them) to a third party. This rule of loyalty curiously extends as well to Inspector Zenigata, whom Lupin considers a respected friend and opposition. The Inspector reciprocates this regard and out of gratitude has vowed never to attempt to kill Lupin. Lupin's vendetta against the Tarantula Gang in In Memory of the Walther P-38 was partly settling of past betrayal and mostly vengeful payback for their shooting and nearly killing Zenigata.

It seems Lupin loves to steal more than actually having the treasure he sought. Lupin relishes more in the challenge of stealing and, as long as he succeeds in the heist, is usually not that upset when he ends up empty-handed; there have been times he has lost the object or intentionally thrown it away.^[13] There have also been times when Lupin stole an object only to give it to someone else, such as if it rightfully belonged to them or they needed it more than he did.

When not involved in criminal activities, Lupin usually spends his time dating beautiful girls, fishing, race car driving, attending formal dinners, playing pool, casino gambling, and participating in café society. His favorite foods seem to be mostly French cuisine, sushi, and seafood; when on a job he may settle with ramen noodles. In Lupin the Third Part V, he is shown with an affection for galettes. He also smokes cigarettes and occasionally cigars and kreteks; in the manga, he's seen smoking a briar pipe. His preferred cigarette is the famous French brand Gitanes. Lupin is a celebrated race car driver, competing in several international events when time allows. He's also a skilled sleight of hand artist who loves to befuddle his opponents with various gimmicks: i.e., a cigarette which explodes into confetti, a gun with a spring-loaded boxing glove that clobbers the shooter, and bubble gum that becomes plastique after brief chewing.

Skills

Physically, Lupin is a man of average strength, but he can throw a surprisingly good punch. He is incredibly flexible and fast, and his manual dexterity is cat-like in precision and quickness. His talent in the art of disguise borders on the superhuman, with him able to flawlessly impersonate any man or woman in face, voice and costume after minimal observation. This skill is so complete that he can even fool close friends and family members of the subject. His skinny body enables him to easily impersonate larger individuals by use of oversized outfits, with attack paraphernalia usually making up the disguise's bulk. His favorite disguise has always been that of Inspector Zenigata, which incenses his adversary to no end. Lupin possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of various topics, such as history, the different sciences, fluency in multiple languages, etc. He shows amazing intuition and quick awareness of his surroundings.

Lupin favors the long outdated Walther P38 as his principal firearm. He is shown to be an excellent marksman, having on at least one occasion fired directly into the barrel of another gun, although not quite on a par with Jigen.

Despite the criminal nature of his activities, Lupin has a strict code that he follows in order to not taint his reputation. Lupin dislikes killing and takes care to use non lethal means to achieve his goals. When Lupin believes he has an illness causing him to become a compulsive killer he asks Jigen to kill him to save the lives of any potential victims. While killing is against his nature, he is willing to fire upon any enemy who threatens his friends or allies.

Lupin is a talented driver, motorcyclist and pilot. His favorite automobiles seem to be either the Mercedes-Benz SSK or a souped up 1965 Fiat 500 F, most famously seen in Castle of Cagliostro. Also worth mentioning is the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750. In the case of the SSK, one of the rarest cars in the world, one problem or another seems to cause the car's destruction in virtually every episode it's featured. Lupin either has several SSK models in possession, owns a selection of counterfeit models, or is talented to the extreme at auto repair and reconstruction.

Lupin is a formidable escape artist, capable of cracking any safe or escaping from shackles in moments. He can even use his restraints to entrap his would-be captor before making his departure.^[14] Seemingly prepared for all contingencies, he can break free of confinement even when surrounded.

In spite of his facade of reckless childlike antics, i.e., taunts, silly faces, and leaving notes of his next caper, Lupin's brilliance for tactics and originality belies any underestimations his behavior may have implied. In the Lupin III vs Detective Conan special, not only did he figure out Conan was far more intelligent than he appeared, but had also discerned his identity as Shinichi Kudo.

Background

Lupin's ethnic origins have been occasionally specified as half-Japanese and half-French,^[15][16] befitting his claimed heritage as grandson of Frenchman Arsène Lupin. In the first TV series, episode 13 ("Beware the Time Machine!"), Lupin impersonates a feudal Japanese ancestor of his, claiming he would like to marry a girl by the name of Mylene Lupin from France someday.

In the 2008 OVA Green Vs. Red, a dossier held by Zenigata indicates his place of birth as "unknown". Recent productions, such as Part V, occasionally cast doubt as to whether he truly is related to the original Arsène Lupin or if "Lupin" is simply a title or false alias. However, numerous Part 1 and Part 2 episodes make it clear that the famed French thief is indeed his grandfather, with some stories having flashbacks to the top-hatted ancestor having been somehow involved in Lupin's current heists. As well, Lupin often speaks of both his grandfather and his father, both of whom were thieves. He occasionally quotes his grandfather's advice and has attempted to complete or repeat heists attempted by his ancestors with good or bad luck.

Animation

Live-action

Lupin was portrayed by Yūki Meguro in the 1974 film and by Shun Oguri in the 2014 film. In the 2015 musical adaptation of Lupin III performed by the all-female troupe Takarazuka Revue, Lupin was portrayed by Seina Sagiri.^[28]