Review: Part 6 “Episode 24 ~ What Crooks Love”
Welcome to our episode review of Lupin III: Part 6!
Our review is from the perspective of a “hardcore” Lupin III fan, who has seen every episode, film, and special the series has had to offer since its animated inception in 1969. The author's perspective on modern anime however, is lacking. When it comes to anime, we exclusively watch Lupin III, so cannot compare it to other shows on the market. Instead, we can only compare it with Lupin media of the past.
Be aware that there are SPOILERS ahead.
Please only read on if you either have seen the episode already, or do not mind learning about important character interactions and pivotal plot points in advance.
“Episode 24 ~ What Crooks Love” is the final episode of Lupin III: Part 6.
We did it. We have reached the end of Part 6. What a wild ride it has been!
Despite the ups and downs, I went into this final episode with hopes held high—mostly thanks to last week’s fantastic episode. The set-up that came with it was solid. It felt as if it was building up to some big reveals, a battle with Lupin and Mattea, and some further deep character interactions between the gang, all to air during the final episode.
Sadly, while still offering a rather pleasant finale that ties up many loose ends, What Crooks Love is an average affair. It steps the story of the second act firmly into “mediocre television special” territory, something that Lupin fans will be no doubt be familiar with. While this may be enough for some—it did not fulfil my appetite, and left me hungry, wishing for something more.
My disappointment mostly came from the “big reveals” that I had hoped to see during the final episode not quite hitting, despite their build-up in episode twenty-three.
Everything felt a bit too predictable. I had hoped we would have seen something a little more wild, and “out there”. Instead, it all wraps up in typical Lupin fashion, for better and for worse. We’re a long way from the likes of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, clearly.
Lupin reveals that, while Tomoe’s spell had worked on him initially, he had in fact been putting on a bit of a show since finding his way back to the family mansion.
After taking a bullet from Mattea, Lupin spoke with Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko, who were all approaching the mansion in hope of bringing their friend back to his senses. Thankfully, there was no need for this. All the memories Tomoe had been attempting to reawaken inside our thief's head were instead reminding him of time spent with his friends—and this was enough to snap him out of things.
Who said there’s no such thing as honour amongst thieves?
It makes for a couple of rather sweet scenes, with Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko all confronting Lupin whilst inside of his mind. I think any fan of the series could have seen this resolution coming from a mile off, though, and it was not delivered in an interesting manner.
Tomoe, however, disagrees. She is impressed that Lupin broke out of her spell. A little too much, perhaps. She clearly takes delight in knowing her “son” is smarter and more capable than even she expected, and this only encourages her to try again. To make Lupin her own.
Lupin remembers now, that it was actually he who infiltrated the family vault all of those years ago. Likely under his tutors control, he skipped through his grandfathers traps, and stole both a small wooden box and the large red jewel, first shown earlier in act two of this season. Tomoe is a psychopathic hypnotist, taking advantage of her most “promising students” and those around her, either for her own personal gain, or for that of others.
Things escalate, resulting in Mattea attempting to take down Tomoe - only for Lupin to beat her to the punch. Or, should I say, bullet. Shot through the chest, Tomoe falls over backwards and passes away.
I felt that Tomoe was certainly an intriguing villain, and I did not expect her to put up much of a fight. The conflict and resolution leading up to her death in this episode, however, felt dry. It was, again, a lot of characters standing around and explaining things. Their motivations, what they have done, et cetera.
I expected more here.
Thankfully, with Tomoe out of the picture, the second half of the episode picks up some steam.
Lupin battles with Mattea on the rooftop of the mansion, as even outside of Tomoe’s control, Mattea is not able to fight the urge to kill. The battle is an exciting one, and it is rather unusual to see Lupin fist-fighting with a woman, punching her in the face, slamming her to the ground. The battle rages on for a good couple of minutes, before eventually, the two are interrupted by Inspector Zenigata. Pop’s means business, and although he reveals his lieutenant Ari is doing just fine, he promises Mattea a fair sentence behind bars.
After a quick pep talk from Lupin on morals, our young assassin gives in, and heads away in cuffs. Zenigata leaves, his target detained, and tells Lupin that next time—it'll be him behind bars. This felt like a nice display of competent cop Zenigata, but again, it was not very interesting. Zenigata walks on screen, grabs Mattea, then walks off-screen. That’s his appearance in this final episode, aside from the after-credits scene, done.
They have done you dirty this season, my beloved Inspector. We need a spin-off about you. A film, a series, something! Takeshi Koike, are you reading this? Do you hear me?! shakes fist
In the final moments of the episode, it felt as if the writing staff suddenly remembered what Lupin is all about.
The gang decide to go on one last heist, and infiltrate the Lupin family vault—to steal the treasure that Tomoe mentioned contains our heroes roots. A brief scene shows the gang fighting through some rather generic looking traps, before being presented with an empty vault. It seems Tomoe may have taken everything, and the box was actually in her possession all along.
This scene was a rather fun reminder of what Lupin can be, although it was all over far too quickly. I was disappointed in the original Lupin familes traps, which consisted of lasers, spinning blades, and the usual stuff. Could we not have seen something a tiny bit more formidable and cunning, here? This is Arsène Lupin’s vault, after all!
Lupin and the gang, standing beside a burning mansion of Lupin I, open up the small wooden box. After only a moment, our hero quickly shuts it, and tosses it into the fire.
For Lupin, his past does not matter. All he needs is the present. The friends by his side, the adventures they embark upon, the chase between him and Inspector Zenigata. It felt like a decent, although anticlimactic, end for both our thief and this season of Lupin III.
What Crooks Love felt like a fitting end for Part 6. While containing some brief flashes of excitement and humour, ultimately, it felt flat.
An after-credits scene shows a furious Inspector Zenigata chasing the gang through the streets as they evade his capture, but I could not help feel it came across as forced. It lacks the spectacle and energy of similar moments from previous works, and all felt like the chase existed just for the sake of it.
And that is Part 6 in general, for me. Existing for the sake of it. We saw some promising build-up to the conclusion with episode twenty-three, but it failed to impress me in its final moments. There have certainly been a couple of strong episodes, but the negatives have outweighed the positives.
Maybe things will fare better for Part 7—but we shall have to wait and see. In the meantime, like we often say in good ol’ England, it is tatty-bye for now!
