Lupin III/Recap/S2 E50

"Lupin, Whom I Loved - Part I", released in English as "The Second Time Around - Part One". Released in 2005 by Geneon on Volume 10: Enchanted Lupin.

A young man and woman flee from a group of soldiers in a graveyard. When the woman, Cornelia, fails to step away from the man, she is shot. The man, a young Lupin, cries out...

In the present day, Lupin stands at Cornelia's grave, roses in hand. Suddenly noticing something is very wrong, he proceeds to dig up the grave. When he opens the coffin, he finds it empty, except for a single, fresh red rose.

Earlier on, in Palm Beach, Florida, Lupin is spending the evening at a charity action at the Hotel Pantheon. As he laments a lack of Fujiko with him, the action switches from one for charity to one that deals in black market art. Lupin, of course, is not buying any priceless works of art, but stealing them instead. Meanwhile, as Zenigata moans about the lack of dedication in finding out the location of said action, he receives an anonymous tip on the phone telling him where Lupin currently is; said tip is from none other than Fujiko herself, up to her own plan.

While Zenigata orders the hotel surrounded, Jigen watches the hotel from across the street, sniper rifle in hand and watching the glass elevators running outside the structure. When Jigen spies a hearse pull up outside, Lupin puts his plan into action, interrupting the auction and announcing his presence. As the crowd panics, he and Goemon head for the elevators going down, just as the other elevator with the target treasure is coming up. An elaborate scheme allows the gang to switch elevators and knock out the guards before making off with the coffin that is Lupin's mark. Sure enough, the coffin has been filled with all of the treasures on sale at the auction that evening. As Lupin loads it back into the hearse, Goemon notes that the blade of Zantetsuken has become shadowed. Lupin laughs it off, but the two are taken by surprise by the new driver of the hearse: Fujiko. Lupin runs after her when she takes off with the treasure, only to be stopped by the searchlights of the police waiting outside. He and Goemon make for the roof, Zenigata and the cops in pursuit.

Meanwhile, the beautiful masked auctioneer is stunned by this turn of fortune. Vowing revenge, she calls on the "Brotherhood of Death". Two zombies, hidden in the other coffins in the hearse, spring out and take Fujiko by surprise; she looses control of the hearse and ends up crashing into a ravine. Back at the hotel, the auctioneer confronts Lupin and Goemon on the roof. When she removes her mask, Lupin steps forward, stunned; she is the girl from his past, Cornelia. When she tries to remember him, she feels a massive pain in her head. Frightened, she backs away, warning him not to come any closer. She flees back into the hotel as Lupin grapples with the fact that the last time he saw her, she was most definitely dead.

Back at the gang's hideout, Lupin fills his comrades in on the details: Cornelia was the daughter of Helmut Zel, a former SS officer and mad scientist who committed horrific experiments on the human body. At the end of the war, he went into hiding in Venezuela, taking with him a fortune in stolen art pieces, which he planned to sell and smuggle to fund his own cruel research and eventually the reformation of the Nazis. Years later, the young Lupin sneaks into Zel's compound to steal the art collection when comes across Cornelia. He helps her after she stumbles, and the two youths fall in love with each other. The lovestruck Lupin is quickly captured by Zel, however. Cornelia manages to free him from his dungeon cell and the two make a break for it, leading into the scene from the beginning of the episode. He decides to make a trip to her grave to find out the truth.

In the graveyard's underground compound, Cornelia ponders the man she just met and why he seems so familiar, but every time she tries to remember him, she gets a sharp headache. She begs the family servant, Sergio, to tell her the truth. Sergio can only confirm that she and Lupin had met before when they are interrupted by Zel calling for his daughter. She goes to him, where he sits on a chair, encased in glass. He lied to Cornelia, telling her that Lupin tried to take her hostage after he was discovered in the compound, and when he couldn't escape with her, he shot her when she tried to run into her father's arms. Zel, however, managed to use his studies to return Cornelia from death, where he eventually plans to have her take revenge against Lupin. Her eyes flashing with fury, she calls forth an army of zombies from the graveyard, ready to do her bidding.

Above, Jigen and Goemon fly in a small helicopter, scouting for more information on Zel. They infiltrate his compound, but while looking around the graveyard are attacked by Cornelia's zombies. They zap Jigen with a supernatural flame that doesn't burn him, but prevents him from breathing. The gunman and the samurai put up a valiant effort, but when they realize they can't destroy the zombies, they make a hasty, slightly ignoble retreat.

Fujiko is revealed to have been captured after her crash and imprisoned in Zel's dungeon. Outside, Cornelia gloats; she plans to use Fujiko as bait to make Lupin come to her. And sure enough, the master thief drives to the graveyard, ready to rescue Fujiko and find out the truth about his one-time love.

To Be Continued...

This episode features examples of:

 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Zantetsuken can cut through elevator walls and elevator cables, but oddly not through crazed zombies.
 * Dramatic Unmask: Cornelia on the hotel roof.
 * Engrish: The "Hotel Pan Tion" on the awning outside.
 * Everything's Deader with Zombies: Cornelia's supernatural powers.
 * Flash Back: To Lupin and Cornelia's past.
 * Girly Run: Goemon does a hilarious "lifting his skirts" maneuver as he flees from the zombies.
 * In the Back: How Lupin "shot" Cornelia, according to Zel's lie.
 * Love At First Sight: Lupin for Cornelia.
 * Medium Awareness: A snarky comment from Jigen results in the young Lupin shooting a dirty look directly into the camera.
 * Pinch Me: In an amusing variant after seeing the zombies, Jigen kicks Goemon to the ground to see if the samurai feels pain. Goemon returns the favor by whacking Jigen on the head with his sword's sheath to assure him they aren't dreaming.
 * Spider Sense: The Zantetsuken's shadow of death appears at the beginning of the episode.
 * To Be Continued: One of the two two-part episodes of Shin Lupin III.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Cornelia.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair: In a series where most character have far more "normal" colors, Cornelia's light purple hair stands out.