Lupin III: Missed by a Dollar

One of my favorite Lupins because of the cold ending. (Not ruined here.) The art in this episode isn't very good, and you have to suffer Goeman in his underwear, but the gun jokes with Jigen more than compensate. It's a reasonable story, and it honors tradition. Goeman innocently falls for a religious woman, as he is want to do. Jigen is deeply loyal to Lupin, his partner. And Lupin is a rogue who plays at being silly, but who is in fact very smart and not half the friend he lets people outside of his gang think he is.

If you watch a lot of Lupin you will note that Nabikov is drawn exactly the same way all of the evil sidekicks of the big baddies always are in Lupin movies. Same hair, same clothes, same preference for dual guns.

What's unique about this episode, aside from the great cold ending, is the Fujiko/Lupin relationship. I like the way that Fujiko responds when Lupin rescues the gang in the hearse and reveals his identity. The Fujiko/Lupin relationship is complex and rarely really addressed in the movies, but here you get to see a flicker of real emotion on Fujiko's part there, and then when Cynthia and Lupin deal oil in the office of Lupin's fake company you get to see the way Lupin and Fujiko tolerate and even encourage third wheels.