Lupin the Third Part III: the pink jacket series
Fifty episodes of Lupin as a cartoon character in the fullest, strangest sense.
Part III ran on YTV from March 3, 1984 to November 6, 1985, 50 episodes, and dressed Lupin in a bright pink jacket that made the era instantly identifiable and permanently divisive. Where Part II balanced crime and comedy, Part III tips into pure cartoon physics; late in the run the designs themselves drift into a pop, gag-heavy style. English-speaking fans simply call it “the Pink Jacket series.”
Its feature film is Legend of the Gold of Babylon (July 13, 1985), the only theatrical outing for the pink jacket until the 2023 crossover Lupin the 3rd vs. Cat’s Eye brought the look back. Part III is the franchise’s cult era: rarely the favorite, impossible to mistake, and lovingly quoted by Part 5, whose sixth episode is an open homage to it.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Lupin VIIIThe series that died over a name
Before Part III, TMS and France’s DiC planned Lupin VIII, a space-set series about the gang’s descendants, directed by Rintaro with designs by Shingo Araki. One episode was fully animated, but the Leblanc estate demanded a large fee for the Lupin name in France, and the project was cancelled. The episode surfaced in the 2012 Master File box set.
Pink by default
With VIII dead, production pivoted to Part III, and the red jacket was retired in favor of pink: a deliberate break with the red era that fans still argue about forty years on.