The Lupin the Third franchise created by Monkey Punch follows the crimes of thief Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin. He often teams up with the skilled marksman Daisuke Jigen, the beautiful female thief Fujiko Mine, and the modern-day samurai Goemon Ishikawa XIII, while typically pursued across the globe by Inspector Koichi Zenigata.
Monkey Punch's original manga differs significantly in both characterization and content compared to most anime adaptations. While the manga features explicit depictions of sex and violence, anime iterations tend to be more family-friendly.
Main characters Lupin III
is the grandson of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. He is the world's most wanted thief and a genius criminal mastermind. He is an expert in making schemes and plots to steal precious objects that are heavily guarded and seemingly impossible to be stolen. He sometimes appears incompetent, but mostly as a charade to catch his opponents off guard. While he has been arrested and thrown in jail on a number of occasions, he has always managed to break out. He also has a fondness for fancy gadgets from time to time. His infatuation with women, and Fujiko Mine in particular, is perhaps his biggest weakness, as it often lands him in undesirable situations.
Daisuke Jigen
is Lupin's marksman. He can perform a 0.3-second quick-draw and shoots with amazing accuracy. He is often seen having a used cigarette clenched in between his teeth. His weapons of choice are revolvers and pistols, but he is also proficient in the use of other firearms, such as machine guns, sniper rifles, and anti-tank rifles. In the opening of the PlayStation 2 video game, Treasure of the Sorcerer King, Jigen assembles his handgun from composite parts and fires a shot through a door with 100% accuracy before an enemy can finish turning the doorknob.
Fujiko Mine
is an intelligent and crafty thief who will use her feminine charms to get what she wants from any man. She is also an expert when it comes to firearms and even rivals Lupin when it comes to her burglary and disguise skills. Fujiko is sometimes an associate in his schemes, sometimes a rival, knowing full well that his infatuation with her will mean that he will forgive her for double-crossing him at times. She will also routinely make deals with Zenigata or Lupin's current enemy in an attempt to gain her freedom or to hopefully gain a piece of the loot he is after.
Goemon Ishikawa XIII
is a thirteenth generation descendant of the renegade samurai Ishikawa Goemon. He has a sword called , known in the anime as , which can cut through almost anything. The Zantetsuken is usually used to cut inanimate objects, which Goemon considers unworthy of his blade. Objects cut by Zantetsuken will fall apart a couple of seconds after he sweeps through them with his blade. He is usually quiet and participates in Lupin's exploits less frequently than Jigen.
Inspector Koichi Zenigata
, full name , is a police inspector working for the ICPO. He has made it his mission in life to arrest Lupin. Zenigata is based on a famous Japanese crime fighting character named Zenigata Heiji. While usually portrayed as competent but slow at deductions in the various anime, Zenigata's character in the manga is a very clever and crafty adversary to Lupin. In addition, despite trying to kill each other in the manga on numerous occasions, Lupin and Zenigata never take these opportunities in the anime, even saving each other's life on more than one occasion.
Main Japanese cast timeline The following shows the timeline of current actors for each character, either live or animated.
Current cast Kanichi Kurita – Lupin III (1995–present) Akio Ōtsuka – Daisuke Jigen (2021–present) Miyuki Sawashiro – Fujiko Mine (2011–present) Daisuke Namikawa – Goemon Ishikawa (2011–present) Kōichi Yamadera – Inspector Zenigata (2011–present)
Former cast members Taichirō Hirokawa – Lupin III (c.1969; died 2008) Kiyoshi Kobayashi – Daisuke Jigen (c.1969–2021; died 2022) Eiko Masuyama – Fujiko Mine (c.1969, c.1971, 1977–2011, 2012; died 2024) Gorō Naya – Goemon Ishikawa (c.1969); Inspector Zenigata (1971–2011, 2012; died 2013) Shinsuke Chikaishi – Inspector Zenigata (c.1969) Nachi Nozawa – Lupin III (c.1971; died 2010) Yukiko Nikaido – Fujiko Mine (1971–1972; died 2026) Osamu Kobayashi – Goemon Ishikawa (c.1971; died 2011) Chikao Ohtsuka – Inspector Zenigata (c.1971); Goemon Ishikawa (1971–72; died 2015) Yasuo Yamada – Lupin III (1972–95; died 1995) Makio Inoue – Goemon Ishikawa (1977–2011, 2012; died 2019)
The Fuma Conspiracy cast Toshio Furukawa – Lupin III (1987) Banjou Ginga – Daisuke Jigen (1987) Mami Koyama – Fujiko Mine (1987) Kaneto Shiozawa – Goemon Ishikawa (1987; died 2000) Seizou Katou – Inspector Zenigata (1987; died 2014)
D2 Manga cast Keiichi Nanba – Lupin III (1998) Daisuke Gōri – Daisuke Jigen (1998; died 2010) Chisa Yokoyama – Fujiko Mine (1998) Shingo Horii – Goemon Ishikawa (1998) Yukimasa Kishino – Detective Zenigata (1998)
Lupin Zero cast Tasuku Hatanaka – Lupin III (2022–23) Shunsuke Takeuchi – Daisuke Jigen (2022–23)
Live action cast
Strange Psychokinetic Strategy cast Yūki Meguro – Lupin III (1974) Kunie Tanaka – Daisuke Jigen (1974; died 2021) Eizo Ezaki – Fujiko Mine (1974) Shirō Itō – Inspector Zenigata (1974)
Lupin the 3rd cast Shun Oguri – Lupin III (2014) Tetsuji Tamayama – Daisuke Jigen (2014–2023) Meisa Kuroki – Fujiko Mine (2014) Gō Ayano – Goemon Ishikawa (2014) Tadanobu Asano – Inspector Zenigata (2014)
Inspector Zenigata cast Ryohei Suzuki – Inspector Zenigata (2017)
Stage play cast
I'm Lupin Lou Oshiba – Lupin III (1998) Hoshino Kenji – Daisuke Jigen (1998) Saori Sara – Fujiko Mine (1998) Hironobu Kageyama – Goemon Ishikawa (1998) Edo Yamaguchi – Inspector Zenigata (1998)
Search for the Queen's Necklace! Seina Sagiri – Lupin III (2015) Sakina Ayakaze – Daisuke Jigen (2015) Seshiru Daigo – Fujiko Mine (2015) Shō Ayanagi – Goemon Ishikawa (2015) Seika Yumeno – Inspector Zenigata (2015)
Kabuki play Kataoka Ainosuke VI – Lupin III (2023) Saburō Ichikawa – Daisuke Jigen (2023) Emiya Ichikawa – Fujiko Mine (2023) Onoe Matsuya II – Goemon Ishikawa (2023) Chūsha Ichikawa – Inspector Zenigata (2023)
Note: Two versions of the pilot were produced circa 1969 and 1971 but widely released only decades later.
Supporting characters Melon Cop , usually referred to as , is Zenigata's assistant in the manga series Shin Lupin III (known in English as Lupin III: World's Most Wanted). His skills include decryption and handcuff-tossing. Unlike Zenigata, Melon prefers using deadly force to stop Lupin and his gang. By the end of the series he is largely reduced to secondary character status, appearing only rarely, and simply to help Zenigata fight Lupin. Melon also seems to be capable of facing Lupin without Zenigata's help, fully defeating him on several occasions, only to have Lupin escape with the help of Jigen or Fujiko. Episode 28 of the second anime series adapts Melon Cop's first appearance, albeit with key differences. Zenigata goes to France to capture Lupin where he is assigned a partner, , a female detective and the granddaughter of Inspector Ganimard, rival of the original Arsène Lupin. She also appears in episode 23 of Part 5.
Clarisse d'Cagliostro is the last princess of the small grand duchy of Cagliostro in the anime film The Castle of Cagliostro. She is a good friend to Lupin, for whom she first encountered during his thieving career when she was a child. Her parents, the previous Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Cagliostro, were killed in a fire which destroyed her original home the grand ducal palace. The last surviving member of the country's ruling family, Clarisse is a rightful heiress to the throne but has been forced by the country's regent, Count Lazare d'Calgiostro, to marry him. During the car chase, she meets up with Lupin who discovers that her signet ring is the key to the legendary lost treasure of Cagliostro, which is the only reason the count wants to take her as his wife with his own ring. While uncovering the secret of the Goat bills, Lupin has to expose the count's evil plan and rescue Clarisse from his clutches. Clarisse also makes a brief cameo in the first episode of Part 5.
She is named after Clarisse d'Etigues, the daughter of Baron Godefroy d'Etigues and the wife of the original Arsène Lupin who died in 1899 after giving birth to their son Jean in The Countess of Cagliostro. She is voiced by Sumi Shimamoto in Japanese and by Joan-Carol Henning and Barbara Goodson in the Streamline English dub, Bridget Hoffman in the Manga dub, and Cherami Leigh Kuehn in the Discotek dub.
Lieutenant Oscar is Zenigata's young assistant in The Woman Called Fujiko Mine anime series. Born in France, Oscar has an androgynous appearance drawing comparisons to the character of the same name from the shōjo manga The Rose of Versailles. He is not only extremely loyal to Zenigata, but fosters romantic feelings for him as well.
Rebecca Rossellini , also known as Rebecca Lupin, is a major protagonist in the Part IV anime series. She is a wealthy Sammarinese businesswoman, heiress, model, actress, and athlete from San Marino who marries Lupin after meeting him at a party. She secretly leads a double life as a thief, committing daring heists for the sheer adrenaline rush. The marriage is revealed to be a mere ruse, with Rebecca tricking Lupin in order to use him as a distraction while she steals a valuable crown for her own thrill and entertainment. Later in the series she starts to actually fall in love with him and asks to keep the Mrs. Lupin name as a secret code between them. Rebecca also appears in the final episode of Part 5, helping Lupin against the shady IT conglomerate Shake Handz. She is voiced by Yukiyo Fujii in Japanese and by Cassandra Lee Morris in English.
Ami Enan is a young computer expert and a major protagonist in the Part 5 anime series. Her main gadget is a cybernetic computer link-up system called "Underworld" which she wears in place of earrings. Ami was kidnapped at the age of 6 by child pornographers; but after they discovered her tech skills when she created a computer game by herself, they realized that using those skills would be more lucrative than pornography for them. She created the payment system for the darknet market site Marco Polo, but at the age of 14 escaped and hid in the Twin Towers, a complex with one tower above ground and one deep below water.
She is recruited initially by Lupin to steal digital currency from Marco Polo, but her computer and hacking skills become useful to his team when Marco Polo initiates a vicious online manhunt for Lupin in revenge. After they survive the manhunt, Lupin and Zenigata have Ami enroll in an all girls' school to restart her life where she befriends Dolma, the crown princess of an East Asian country called Padar. Ami remains close to Zenigata, who can be considered a father figure who continues to care for her well-being despite her affiliation with Lupin.