Lupin III/Recap/S2 E3

"Hitler's Legacy", with the English title "To Be or Nazi Be". Released in 2003 by Geneon on Volume 5: Mission Irresistible.

On a peaceful cruise on the Rhine River, Lupin is enjoying fishing, especially when he pulls the towel off of an unsuspecting nude sunbather. After receiving a karmic swim for his perverted ways, he heads into the hold with the rest of the gang to go over his latest plan. Lupin has located Cloitzen Genhalter, secret assistant to Adolf Hitler, and the only surviving person who knows the location of Hitler's hidden treasure. There's just one problem: Genhalter is living in East Berlin, which is difficult to enter and leave at the best of times. Naturally, Lupin wants to bring the old Nazi over to the western side to ask him what he remembers.

The next day, Zenigata, on a tip, is in Berlin himself, looking for Lupin while engaging in a bit of sightseeing. His assistant, sent from Japan, insists that Zenigata get the local police's permission. The detective therefore barely misses the master thief and his gang on a nearby tower, scouting out the no-man's land in-between the east and west sides of Berlin. While planning, Lupin spies some birds flying by, giving him an idea.

The gang sets out to the East side. At the checkpoint, a search reveals pipes and cloth in the trunk, which Lupin dismisses as Fujiko's exercise equipment. The guards are distracted by Zenigata, on a bus following the gang through the checkpoint, as he tries to take pictures of the East Berlin side. Zenigata then spots Lupin, but can do nothing to arrest him, since he must stay on the bus until the checkpoint inspection is done. The gang takes the opportunity to flee.

They quickly locate Genhalter; Jigen and Goemon drug and capture the old man, while Fujiko and Lupin head for a hill overlooking the Berlin Wall. There, the gang assembles hang gliders from the pipes and cloth. Genhalter is strapped in with Lupin as the gang sets off, quietly gliding across the no-man's land. However, a gust of wind and the old man's dead weight send Lupin into a nosedive; although he pulls up in time, his cries also alert the guards to his presence. Jigen manages to shoot the searchlights out, but Lupin's low flying puts him right in range of the guards' machine gun fire, which tears into his glider. Barely hanging above the ground (and the land mines underneath), Lupin is about to run into the wall when Goemon throws Zantetsuken into it. Lupin uses the sword as a foothold to propel himself up and over. He crash lands in a tree on the other side. The gang collects their things and their target and high-tails it out of there.

Back at the hideout, Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon set about interrogating Genhalter, but the old man claims he has no memory of Hitler. Fujiko suggests taking him to a club for an expensive meal and to look at some beautiful women, but Genhalter rants that he cannot be corrupted because he is German (or because he is communist, in the original Japanese). The gang gives up and heads back to the hideout, but en route they are spotted by Zenigata, confirming his tip on their presence. He quietly follows them back to their hideout; meanwhile, his assistant identifies the old man in the car with them as Genhalter. Zenigata quickly realizes that the gang is after Hitler's loot. In the hideout, the gang has come to the conclusion that Genhalter has genuinely lost his memory. Jigen gives Lupin an idea on how they can recover it, though...the thief declares they are going to make a movie!

At a German film studio, Genhalter awakens, dressed in a Nazi uniform. Another solider enters the room he is in and informs him the Russian army has invaded and will soon be upon their location; they need to get to the air-raid shelter. When he enters the shelter, he finds other Nazi officers, one of who urges him to go into the office and say goodbye to the Fuehrer. Genhalter enters the room to see Hitler and Eva Braun waiting for him; Hitler greets him as his most trusted friend and asks for the location of his legacy. Genhalter's memory returns, and he reminds Hitler that the treasure is 40 miles off of Logos Island in the Mediterranean. Hitler then laughs, dances, and calls the action to a close. The room collapses to reveal the movie studio.

Lupin is puzzled, however, when the set is surrounded by tanks. He tries to tell them the movie is over, but one tank opens to reveal Zenigata inside. Zenigata reveals all of the extras Lupin hired were actually policemen, who are now ready to capture the master thief and his gang. Alas, Zenigata and the police did not account for the pyrotechnics Lupin arranged for, nor the aerial shots plane, which the gang quickly flees to and hijacks. The tanks go to block the airplane, but Lupin manages to jump the aircraft onto a section of the Autobahn adjacent to the studio. Barely missing a truck, the plane takes off. Zenigata attempts to bring the plane down with one last shot from his tank, but Lupin has rigged it to fire a string of flags instead. The gang gets away, leaving an angry Pops behind.

The gang heads for the spot Genhalter informed them of. Fujiko and Lupin bring up a briefcase stowed in a sunken Nazi ship; Lupin pops the lock on the case, but the gang is not greeted by money or gold. Instead, the briefcase is full of Hitler's old report cards, school papers, and drawings. Lupin is out of luck yet again.

This episode features examples of:

 * Abridged Series: One of the episodes featured in the short-lived Lupin III Abridged.
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Goemon cuts the moon in half! Wait, just kidding...
 * All That Glitters: Rather than money or gold, Hitler's legacy is stuff from his childhood.
 * "BANG!" Flag Gun: A large version on Zenigata's tank.
 * Bikini Bar: The gang takes Genhalter to one to coerce him to tell his secrets.
 * Face Fault: The gang's reaction when Lupin suggests they get over the wall by "flapping their wings."
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: Goemon cuts Genhalter's clothes off of him during the gang's interrogation without leaving a scratch.
 * Latex Perfection: Lupin as Hitler, apparently.
 * Missing Episode: Due to the humor involving Hitler and the Nazis, Adult Swim refused to air this episode. It was also left off of the first DVD volume, despite the fact it was the third episode of the series. It finally got released with Volume 5.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Well, come on... look at the title of the episode!
 * Tickle Torture: Used on Genhalter by Lupin.
 * Unintentional Period Piece: The eventual fall of the Berlin Wall dates this episode a bit.
 * We Didn't Start the Fuhrer: Averted; apparently, Hitler was just a really badly behaved, poorly performing student.