"I'm Going to Get You, Lupin"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Rebecca Rosellini is determined to steal Lupin III! Challenging Lupin, she springs trap after trap to capture and claim our sideburned stealer. Lupin is nonplussed by the matter, as he has his own mission, and is breaking into a secession of tanks to obtain a certain bill. However, Rebecca's snares become increasingly elaborate, and Lupin may actually be caught! Will Rebecca collect the ultimate prize? Hail to the thief in this competition where even a safe isn't very safe!
Comments:
Rebecca Rosellini could have easily been just another "Lupin girl", a one-off female character with a troubled past that meets the Lupin gang, takes part in some chaos that surrounds them for a while, maybe has a connection to the villain of the main plot, but is a superficial and flat character with nothing to contribute to the chemistry of the feature in question, nevermind the franchise as a whole. I mean, look, she shares some of those characteristis as it is, and the first episode was about her being Lupin's bride and secretly an aspiring thief. The premise of the character practically screams of the kind of character you see in a TV special. And most of those ladies are just awful.
Instead, she falls more into the category of the "Lupin girl" you wanted to see more of. And I'd say she owes the most to Becky from the TV Special "Stolen Lupin" from 2004. Plucky Becky, looking to be a great thief, wanting to compete with Lupin, and possibly Lupin's daughter. Rebecca also loves the thrill of the job, but it may be a mistake to believe it's all just for the thrill (not that there's anything wrong with that), as Fujiko points out. Or at least, perhaps not just a passing thrill. Maybe we'll never know for certain just exactly why Rebecca aspires to thievery, but it's not important. She's proven here that she's not just a kid playing a game, but actually has both nerve and skills. Not on the level of the Lupin gang, perhaps, but she's full of surprises.
I think what we see in this episode about Rebecca is that she isn't just satisfied with thieving as a passing fancy, like so many other interests of hers. She's really willing to make a commitment to it, even if it means endangering her reputation (maybe she should take up a secret identity). And more than just a way of getting close to Lupin, she wants it for herself, too. However, as we also see, she still has a lot of learning to do if she's looking at all to compete on the level Lupin plays on.
For instance, Lupin's willing to break into every bank in town just to settle a bet with Jigen, as if doing so is no big deal for him. We see him in the midst of this task, just reading about the challenge in the newspaper. This is the first time we see him in this episode, just casually breaking into a bank vault, trying to find the dollar bill with the picture on it so that Jigen is forced to take up cleaning duties for a year. Doing such a difficult task as to break into several banks, many with high tech security, just to settle a bet, not even to profit monetarily or obtain a rare item. Lupin's on a whole different level, which is why he can usually shrug off his failures. He eats these sorts of jobs for breakfast.
That's why I love Lupin's line about it not being possible to steal him. "Who do you think I am?" He's Lupin III, damn it, you can't steal him, you can't capture him (for long), you can't own him. He'll do the thieving. He'll take what he wants. Yeah, Rebecca caught him off guard a few times in the past (the first episode, for instance), but it'll be a while before she's truly a match for him. But hey, it could happen, even though Fujiko is hardly threatened by her bid.
Another solid episode, a second episode in a row with a comparable high quality. I hope they can get the hat trick with the conclusion, though to be fair, it's a two-parter.
Overall Score:
4 out of 5