Arsène Lupin III

Infobox animanga character
name = Arsène Lupin III
series = Lupin III


caption = Lupin in New York City
first =
last =
creator = Monkey Punch
voiced by = Yasutomo Nozawa (1969)
Yasuo Yamada (1971-1985; 1989-1995)
Toshio Furukawa (1987)
Kanichi Kurita (1995-)
English dub
Bob Bergen (Streamline)
Robin Robertson (AnimEigo)
William Dufris (Manga UK)
David Hayter (Manga)
Sonny Strait (FUNimation)
Tony Oliver (Geneon)
alias = Wolf (in Streamline dub)
Rupan III (in AnimEigo dub)
age = unknown
born =
nationality = French-Japanese
occupation = Gentleman thief
relatives =
preferredcigarette = Gitanes Caporal
aux1 name = Weapon
aux1 = Walther P-38

nihongo|Arsène Lupin III|ルパン三世|Rupan Sansei is a fictional character introduced by Monkey Punch in "Weekly Manga Action" on August 10, 1967. According to its creator, Lupin is the grandson of Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin. He is also known as Wolf or Rupan III in English dub.

Character Description

Lupin is the world's number one thief. Often in his adventures, he will take it upon himself and his gang to foil other criminals engaged in more violent crimes. He often appears incompetent, but this is mostly a charade to throw his opponents off-guard. While he has been arrested and thrown in jail on a number of occasions, he has always managed to escape. He has a fondness for fancy gadgets from time to time. His infatuation with Fujiko Mine is perhaps his most significant weakness, as it lands him in undesirable situations most of the time.

Lupin's ethnic origins haven't been specified; he admits to being French, but apparantly lives in Japan. It's hinted his father, Lupin II, was French and his mother possibly Japanese. Inspector Zenigata often calls him Japanese and Lupin himself once called himself "half-Japanese, half-French" (2nd series, episode 118).

As in most manga/anime, the character is drawn with European features, leaving his nationality a mystery. Physically, Lupin is a man of average strength, but can throw a surprisingly good punch. He is incredibly flexible and fast, however, and his manual dexterity is cat-like in precision and quickness, honed from years of stealth and subterfuge. He also possesses incredible skill in the art of disguise, able to impersonate nearly anyone, even women. His skinny body enables him to easily impersonate heavier subjects by padding disguises, usually filling them with gadgets and surprises in the process. He can even perfectly imitate voices. His favorite disguise has always been Inspector Zenigata, which incenses Zenigata to no end. Another of Lupin's abilities is his encyclopedic knowledge of various topics, like history (both general and the hidden history of crime), the different sciences, languages (he is fluent in virtually every major language), etc. He also shows amazing intuition and awareness of his surroundings. Lupin favors the Walther P-38. He is shown to be an excellent marksman (although not as good of a shot as Daisuke Jigen).

Personal Beliefs

While Lupin is a scoundrel, he's a scoundrel with a heart, and and will go to great lengths to right injustice. While he sees nothing wrong with his chosen profession, he reminds anyone who asks that the people from whom he steals are people who can take the loss, and that there are worse people than he in this world. He also shows a chivalrous streak that compels him to help those less fortunate than he (especially attractive women). 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. He fancies himself a ladies' man, although his actual success with women is erratic. In Monkey Punch's original manga, Lupin is very much the ladies' man, though Fujiko is frequently beyond his grasp. His abilities with the opposite sex tend to fluctuate with the writer.

His preferred cigarette are Gitanes.

External links

* [http://www.lupinencyclopedia.com/profiles/characters/arsene_lupin_iii Lupin III Encyclopedia]