This episode starts with, frankly, one of my favorite Lupin and Jigen moments. As Goemon Ishikawa XIII practices his swordplay, these two idiots in their flawless non-disguises watch and applaud. Lupin attempts to pass himself off as a talent scout, and Jigen as an American gunslinger. Shockingly, though, Goemon sees through their ruse. Can't imagine how.

As it turns out, Sandayu Momochi — Goemon's mentor and the world's most prolific assassin — has tasked Goemon with killing Lupin. Oh, and Fujiko is there, and Goemon introduces her as his girlfriend. The initial battle between Lupin and Goemon is short-lived: the former douses the latter in fast-burning fuel, but ends up burning himself in the process.

Not long after, Fujiko finds Lupin and laments the horrors of Goemon and his lascivious ways. Lupin, always ready to white knight for his girl, immediately goes out to kill the heck out of this guy... and I'm sure you can guess what's going on. In an absolutely wild and totally unexpected turn of events, Fujiko has told Goemon that Lupin is the pervert she needs saving from. They realize they've been had just in time for Momochi to open fire on them.

Fujiko gets her reward for helping Momochi, but victory is short-lived. Goemon and Lupin (naturally) both survived. When Goemon demands an explanation, Momochi spins a wild story about being brainwashed by a powerful group with advanced computers. This would be a completely legit Lupin origin story, in fairness; but for now, it's not. By Goemon's reckoning, the whole thing is a lot more simple: Momochi is past it and can't handle Goemon, the wielder of the world's strongest sword, showing him up.

Momochi escapes in a hot air balloon, taunting Goemon the whole way. You see, this is the difference between Goemon and Lupin — Lupin would've just killed Momochi. Meanwhile, on a nearby rooftop, Lupin is like "Too right" and lights Momochi's balloon up. Goemon and Lupin have one more battle in traffic, with Fujiko catching the resulting traffic accident and selling it to the local news for a tidy sum.

Goemon was a presence in the manga, but this is our first time encountering him (outside the opening) in the anime. A few aspects of his whole scene have changed over the years. For example, his mighty sword Zantetsuken is said in more contemporary adaptations to be forged from a meteorite. In this episode, he says it's forged from the three greatest swords ever made... making it the triple-best, I guess.

While the ridiculousness of Goemon's sword comes into play much more as time goes on, we focus primarily on his actual skills and training. We see the finesse with which he uses Zantetsuken: the episode's final shot, for example, shows him slicing through a tree, leaving the butterfly on the other side unharmed to flutter away. We also see just how hardcore traditional he is. When asked why he's so different from other Japanese people, Goemon argues that he's the one who has it right.

Most of all, though, we get to see Lupin and Goemon's real reason for hanging out. Goemon is determined to kill him — a motivation that evolves over time into Goemon considering himself the only person who gets to kill Lupin. Lupin, meanwhile, takes a liking to the guy. We'll see this reexamined (as we do every relationship in the show) in Part 5.

For now, though, what the heck is a Goemon?

Like Lupin and Inspector Zenigata, Goemon has his origins in literature and legend. The original Goemon Ishikawa allegedly lived in the late 16th century, a Robin Hood-esque outlaw. Over the centuries, accounts of his life have morphed and changed hugely. There are allegations of him attempting to assassinate a feudal warlord (which one depends on who you ask), and even the story of his execution by being boiled alive varies from telling to telling.

The original Goemon has become a popular kabuki character and tends to be depicted, like Arséne Lupin, as a sort of Gentleman Thief character. And, like Lupin, back in the day he apparently had some frankly beautiful words about his chosen profession:

"Like sand in a river, thieves will forever be countless and not wash away."

These were allegedly his final words, written as a poem. It's no wonder Monkey Punch threw Goemon's descendant into the mix.

When I first got into Lupin the Third, I was completely disconnected from its literary and historical connections. Digging into all its inspirations really changes the vibe of the whole piece.

In college, I was in a production of Pseudolus for the Classics Club. The era was non-specific — or rather, it was many eras at once, meant to show how long-lived the "clever servant" trope is. Examining Lupin the Third with an eye to all the different eras and cultures of its characters is fascinating... and the arrival of Maurice Leblanc's work in Japan in the early 20th century is probably worth a deep dive of its own. For now, it's a reminder of just how much thief and detective fiction has been imported and exported.

I've been off track with my posts as I started a new gig recently, and I managed to start at the busiest time of year. But I've got my feet under me, and I'm back to it. Next week (on our usual Wednesday), it's episode 6: with at least one (1) each of corpses and diamonds!