Lupin III/Recap/S2/E24

"The Great Thief Nezumi-Koozoo Makes His Appearance", with the English title "Rats To You". Released in 2004 by Geneon on Volume 5: Mission Irresistible.

At the ancestral Ishikawa home in Japan, Goemon is rather annoyed when Jirokichi "Rat-Boy" Nezumi IV makes an apperance to deliver a note: at midnight of the next day, he will steal the treasured family chamberpot. After consulting with his friends, Lupin makes a friendly offer to take care of Rat-Boy for Goemon; taking it as a sign of dishonor, Goemon leaves, determined to take care of the threat himself. He returns home to find Rat-Boy comfortably ensconced in the family bathtub. Furious, Goemon goes after him, but Nezumi urges the samurai to calm down; the note was actually an excuse to meet Goemon and offer a chance to team up with him. Confused and curious, Goemon decides to listen to Nezumi.

Rat-Boy explains that over a hundred years ago, his great-grandfather, the original Nezumi, and Goemon's great-grandfather, Goemon X, teamed up to represent Japan for the world's First International Robbery Championship, which was held in southern Japan. They almost won, but were thwarted at the last minute by a dark horse in the contest, a certain Arsène Lupin, naturally grandfather of the current Lupin III. Dishonored, Rat-Boy's father asked him to restore the Nezumi name by stealing the document the original failed to acquire. Rat-Boy wants Goemon's help, and to prove a connection between the two families, he presents Goemon with the eleventh Ishikawa's treasured pillbox. Goemon agrees to help Rat-Boy, for the honor of both clans.

The next day, a harried Inspector Zenigata arrives at the Sakuradamon Police Station, searching out the chief. Rat-Boy has sent a note, notifying the detective of the contest between Nezumi IV and Lupin III to re-steal the original prize from the contest, a set of documents holding high security secrets that is being held in the research room at the police station. Realizing the opportunity to catch both renowned thieves, the chief orders Zenigata to heighten security around the building. At their hideout, Jigen awakens Lupin to give him a note from Rat-Boy, detailing the original challenge, outlining the new one, and informing Lupin that Goemon will be assisting Rat-Boy instead. Recalling his grandfather telling him a similar tale, Lupin decides to investigate further.

At the police station, Zenigata and the chief are discussing the security situation in the chief's office when a rat appears on the chief's desk; the panicking man orders Zenigata to get rid of the vermin, and Zenigata tries to smash the rodent, completely trashing the office and breaking a window in the process. The rat gets away, and Zenigata calls for someone to come repair the broken window. Goemon intercepts the call and signals for Rat-Boy, pretending to be a repairman, to go on with the next part of the plan. Rat-Boy arrives in the office and fixes the window, but then develops pressing need to use the restroom. While in a stall, he rigs a bomb on the back of one of the toilets before departing. Meanwhile, from a window across the street from the police station, Lupin admires Nezumi's plan so far. He then decides to go on a date with Fujiko rather than try and steal the prize, ordering Jigen to keep watch while he's gone.

That night, a drunk comes in, arrested for fighting on the street. Annoyed at having to deal with such a minor thing, Zenigata orders the man locked in a jail cell. There, the drunk sits quietly on the cot within and waits...

The next morning, Jigen wakes up after dozing off on his watch just as Lupin arrives. It's 11 o'clock, and there's only one hour before Nezumi's noon deadline to steal the prize. Lupin tells the apologetic gunman to relax, as he has things under control. Around the same time, Rat-Boy's toilet bomb goes off, flooding the restroom and threatening the research room that happens to be directly under it. Zenigata orders officers to surround the room, but only remove the documents on his orders. He then rushes upstairs to the restroom just in time to see Rat-Boy, now disguised as a plumber, finish his repairs. As Zenigata rushes back to check on the other room, Rat-Boy unzips a bag and pulls out a rat, Liza, and Zantetsuken. He ties the sword to the rat and sends both down a nearby vent. Liza successfully delivers Zantetsuken to the cell holding the drunk, who is, of course, a disguised Goemon.

Ripping off his mask, Goemon cuts open the cell and runs out, tearing through the halls of the police station and causing chaos. Zenigata, upon hearing Goemon is present, assumes Lupin is around as well and gets excited, temporarily forgetting about Rat-Boy. He sends the guards around the research room to assist, staying behind to guard the documents himself. Suddenly, the plumber calls for help from upstairs, and Zenigata enters the restroom, only to be clubbed by Rat-Boy. Taking Zenigata's key, Rat-Boy runs down to the research room, opens the lock, and removes the prize from within. As he exits down a hallway, though, Zenigata, apparently recovered from his blow to the head, blocks the way. The two struggle, and in the process, Rat-Boy drops the prize. Forced to flee, he leaps through a nearby window. Zenigata picks up the prize and removes his mask to reveal none other than Lupin himself.

Goemon and Rat-Boy discuss their failed caper, but Rat-Boy gloats at least Lupin didn't get the document either; Goemon warns him to not be so sure. Naturally, Lupin and Jigen appear, documents in hand and gloating over their victor. It turns out the prize was a book detailing every single security detail of Japan circa 1808; what would have then been a quite valuable prize is now nothing more than a historical curiosity. As the four thieves share a chuckle, Zenigata appears from nowhere; they flee, Rat-Boy dropping the book. The detective, however, scoops it up, revealed to have retrieved the precious artifact.

This episode features examples of:

 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: A pool table and prison bars fall prey to Goemon's sword.
 * Air Vent Passageway: Nezumi uses one and his pet mouse Liza to deliver Zantetsuken to the imprisoned Goemon.
 * Clipboard of Authority: Well, replacement glass and plunger of authority, anyway.
 * Defeat by Modesty: Goemon cuts Nezumi's clothes off of him after being challenged.
 * The Door Slams You: Zenigata does this to the police chief, twice.
 * Dramatic Unmask: Goemon in his prison cell.
 * Eek! A Mouse!: The police chief does not like rats.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: See Defeat By Modesty.
 * Latex Perfection: Lupin for Zenigata, as usual.
 * Legacy Character: Goemon, of course, but also Nezumi, who was based on another famous Japanese folk-robber, Nezumi Jirokichi.
 * Mythology Gag: There is an actual style of bathtub in Japan called a goemon-buro, which refers to how the original Goemon Ishikawa was executed by being boiled in oil.
 * The Rat (or Nezumi) Clan were reoccurring antagonists of Lupin in the manga.
 * The Thing That Goes Doink: Naturally, Goemon has one outside his family home.
 * Verbal Tic: Rat-Boy's rodent-like noises whenever he gets excited or laughs.