Lupin III/Recap/S2 E64

"Christmas is in the Hands of the Goddess", with the English title "Christmas at Tiffany's". Released in 2005 by Geneon on Volume 12: The Flying Sword.

Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko are kicking around New York, specifically the storefront of the famous Tiffany & Company's jewelry store. While admiring the baubles on display, they also comment on the security of the building and how tricky it would be to break into. A distinguished woman standing behind them encourages their ideas, and to their ever growing confusion unlocks the building and lets them in to take a closer look. She turns out to be Margritte "Maggie" Tiffany, the current owner of the store and local New York newscaster. After bragging about how Tiffany's has never been broken into successfully, she issues a challenge: she wants Lupin's gang to attempt to break in on Christmas Eve for her news show and publicity for her store.

Maggie's boss, Inspector Zenigata, and Lupin's gang are all a bit flustered by the challenge. In the end, however, the former two can do nothing legally, as Maggie is the store owner and is willing to put her property at risk. Zenigata decides to participate to give him a shot at Lupin. Lupin, however, refuses the offer, even after Maggie attempts to bribe him with a posh hotel suite, $100,000 in spending money, and a blank check that Lupin can fill in with whatever he wants if he succeeds; all he wants is a quiet, fun holiday without risk of jail time. He and Jigen promptly leave for a fishing trip in Panama.

In Panama, Lupin comes extremely close to catching a massive swordfish, only for his line to break. The captain of the fishing boat, Gebopee, turns out to be a failed scientist who demonstrates his own invention, an electric laser rope, which he attempts to use on the swordfish himself before it overheats and explodes. Later, as they relax in a bar, Lupin receives a telegram from Fujiko. After a catty putdown from Maggie and disappointed herself in Lupin's refusal to participate, Fujiko decided to class herself up with a shopping spree, including a large diamond at Tiffany's, a fur coat, a new Rolls-Royce, and many other things she really couldn't afford. She (purposefully) wrote checks for all of them, they bounced, and now the bank is howling for their money to the tune of a million dollars! However, she has a solution: Maggie has given her another blank check. All she needs is Lupin's help to finish the job at Tiffany's!

The theft is on, after all. Zenigata gleefully shows off the store's security features to Lupin: an extensive laser network and super-sensitive floor that will both trigger alarms at the slightest sign. Lupin, however, begins to piece together a plan. That evening, he starts with a quick trip into the subway system before he and the gang assemble on the roof of one of the high-rises next door to Tiffany's. Goemon is dropped down on a line to make a series of cuts along the sides of the building. Just as he finishes, a subway train rolls underneath the store and catches a magnet attached to a steel line run through a series of pullies to the store's front. The force of the train combined with Goemon's careful slashes pulls the store itself away from the rest of the building, coincidentally trapping Zenigata's car and keeping him from interfering. With the power gone and the lasers and alarms disabled, it is a simple matter for the rest of the gang to use Gebopee's laser rope to open the cases and yank the gems right from the jewelry boxes. Tiffany's is completely cleaned out in a matter of minutes.

As Maggie stands dumbfounded in the ruined store, she spies a Christmas card from Lupin in one of the empty cases: "The jewels are in the hands of the Goddess of Liberty." As Zenigata, finally free from the rubble, snatches the note from Maggie's hand and rushes off after the thief yet again, it is revealed that Lupin has used the stolen jewels to decorate the Statue of Liberty like a Christmas tree. As the gang flies past it in a plane leaving New York, they toast and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

This episode features examples of:

 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Need to cut through an iron-walled building? Why not use an iron-cutting sword?
 * Alpha Bitch: Maggie, especially towards Fujiko. In the Japanese version, she says Fujiko might be mistaken for a maid. In English, it's a hooker. Rrwr!
 * Chekhov's Laser Rope: Used in the final heist.
 * Christmas Episode: Second and final one for Shin Lupin III.
 * Enemy Mine: Zenigata thinks Maggie is a fool, but nonetheless plays along for a shot at Lupin.
 * Everything's Better with Sparkles: For example, bling on the Statue of Liberty?
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Used to cut through the jewelry cases and snatch the gems during the final heist.
 * Gentleman Thief: Lupin steals the gems, but he pretty much gives them back at the end...in style! It helps that he never really wanted them in the first place.
 * Laser Blade: Gebopee claims to have invented this...he just forgot to patent it, too.
 * Laser Hallway: Played with; the grid is actually far too tight for much of anything to get through, so Lupin must find a way to deactivate it instead.
 * Nostalgia Filter: Jigen has one regarding the "Great Hotel" Lupin's gang initially stays at. Apparently, it was much nicer when he was younger.
 * Princess for a Day: Pretty much what Fujiko does to herself after Lupin says no to Maggie's offer.
 * Ratings Stunt: Maggie wants to use Lupin robbing Tiffany's as one.
 * Rube Goldberg Device: The samurai cuts through the iron walls of the building that is hooked up to cable attached to a magnet that is pulled by a subway car that yanks the building front out that both traps the cop and breaks the laser net, which allows the thief to snatch the jewels. We will not start on the You Fail Physics Forever aspects of things.
 * Retail Therapy: Fujiko does this to class herself up after Maggie's catty remarks, but also to spend all of the money so Lupin has to come back and help her.
 * Shout-Out: The English episode title, to Breakfast at Tiffany's.
 * Title Drop: Partially on the note Lupin leaves for Maggie at the end of the episode.