Koichi Zenigata
Encyclopedia
, usually called , is a fictional character
in Monkey Punch
's anime
and manga
series Lupin III
.
Zenigata has made it his mission in life to arrest Lupin. The other members of Lupin's gang are targeted for apprehension as well, but Zenigata is really after the mastermind himself. Lupin and Zenigata appear to be the worst of enemies, but they are, in a manner of speaking, friends; something Lupin shows openly (often by greeting Zenigata with mock affection), but it is an idea Zenigata is extremely reluctant to entertain. Similarly, he is often awed by Lupin's genius, but refuses to show it. Also, when he believes Lupin to be dead, he will drop to his knees crying at the fact he couldn't arrest him before his death, and often go into isolation until someone reveals that Lupin is still very much alive.
In the movie Mystery of Mamo
, it is mentioned that Zenigata has a daughter named Toshiko, but this isn't developed any further. He's unable to settle down because of his eternal pursuit, and although he sometimes longs for female company he has no luck with women - in no small part due to his inability to commit himself to anything but chasing Lupin. The Manga series reveals that he has a grandson, a student at Todai University, who fiercely opposes Lupin's attendance, though by the end of the arc, he has largely given up on having Lupin expelled outright.
The anime Zenigata is a quite sensitive person and often cries in emotional situations, particularly when he thinks Lupin has done something out of consideration for him, or when finding out Lupin is OK after worrying about him. On occasions when Lupin appears to be dead, he mourns him more expressively than anyone else; partly from genuine grief, partly because he no longer has a goal in life. In The Plot of the Fuma Clan
Zenigata actually retires from police work when he believes Lupin has died and becomes a monk, believing that if he prays enough Lupin will be a law-abiding man in his next life. Because of this singular ambition, he is never particularly displeased when Lupin manages to escape his custody, since that means the hunt will go on. In one instance in the manga, Zenigata even goes so far as to cryogenically freeze himself so that he can continue to chase Lupin in the future, though both his and Lupin's cryopods malfunction and they are stuck in the present.
The unadmitted friendship has been proven in deed as well as word by Lupin and his gang. Many times Zenigata would have died had the group not intervened on his behalf; when a woman the Inspector loved was killed by a criminal gang, Lupin and company aided in avenging her demise. On another occasion when an old enemy of Lupin shot Zenigata point blank, Lupin began a wild motorcycle chase to apprehend the killer, partly to conclude affairs with an adversary, and partly to avenge the (supposed) death of the Inspector.
His quirks include holding with both arms over his head the handcuffs he intends to put on the criminal he is running after, and his arched-back tip-toeing that he usually does out of excitement when setting a trap that is sure to catch Lupin.
, Zenigata is apparently the only official to realize the heavily guarded castle has an access by way of an ignored aqueduct; converging on the area, the inspector was a moment's away from capture of Lupin before being called away at the worst possible time.
There are occasions Zenigata can see through Lupin's disguises. Zenigata himself can actually pull a trick on Lupin, incarcerating the criminal at last. In most cases, Lupin regroups and escapes, often turning the detective's own trick against him. While he has rarely been successful in capturing Lupin, this is more because of Lupin's resourcefulness than Zenigata's incompetence.
The inspector's excellent detective work always manages to lead him to Lupin's current location, anywhere in the world it may be. While his presence and intervention sometimes foils Lupin's thievery, he still comes up short on capture of his nemesis.
Still, Zenigata has a remarkable success rate in other police endeavors; he's brought numerous dangerous criminals to justice, particularly after Lupin has defeated them. This degree of success that enables him to still lead the investigation towards Lupin's capture even after so many failed attempts. A highly decorated and respected professional, Lupin is the only stain on his otherwise perfect record. By the time of the Goodbye Liberty Crisis he has apparently 'Tried and failed to arrest Lupin 738 times'.
His greatest weakness is his single-mindedness; he is so intent upon catching Lupin, that he usually ignores (or fails to discover) any obstacles - even insurmountable ones - inevitably resulting in Lupin getting away. He is, however, extremely skilled - few people stand a chance when Zenigata goes after them (including the rest of Lupin's gang, but they are usually ignored if Lupin is present), so his obsession with Lupin may stem from the fact that he's the only one who presents a challenge for Zenigata's talents.
Lupin is genuinely impressed with Zenigata's doggedness and skills, and has implied that he thinks it a shame he has to be a cop - under different circumstances they might have been great partners. Partly out of respect, partly out of the excitement each brings to the other, the Inspector and Lupin share an unwritten rule...neither will deliberately attempt to kill the other in their cat-and-mouse chase. Further if the Inspector is in need of help that only Lupin and gang can provide, the bunch leaps to his help without hesitation. When they share a common goal, they all work extremely well together.
Zenigata is also aware that while Lupin may be a scoundrel, there are worse evils in the world, and he's willing to team up with Lupin's gang to bring down a more dangerous threat. However, this is always with the mutual understanding that he intends to arrest Lupin upon neutralization of the common foe with his distinctive cry of "LUPIN!! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!!" He says it so often that when he arrested another person he yelled that, only for Lupin to be offended that Zenigata mistook him for someone else.
and Karate
, able to dispatch multiple attackers with minimal effort. He's also capable with a jitte
, the traditional Japanese police weapon designed to counter attacks with a sword
. He is also quite the accurate shot with his gun, a Colt .45 pistol (although nowhere near Jigen
's skill level), and an almost inhuman skill with handcuffs, which he likes to throw in a bola-like manner at his prey. However, his diet leaves a lot to be desired, consisting mostly of water-boiled ramen noodles and black coffee; in moments where he has time to spare, he's seen eating gigantic amounts of food, i.e., 20 hamburgers at one setting, usually in anticipation of or to make up for moments of doing without.
Zenigata's subconscious, however, appears to be in full control of his body. During chases he can perform superhuman physical feats without thinking, simply because of his preoccupation with Lupin. For example, in "Island of Assassins", the mere mention of Lupin's name is enough to wake him from a critical coma, even as he is about to succumb to a near-fatal bullet wound.
When accidentally knocked out by the stun-gun wristwatch used by Conan Edogawa
, he was only out for a few seconds when according to Conan, it would render an elephant unconscious for 30 minutes.
), and they respect and admire him greatly, almost to the point of fanaticism. They are willing to place themselves in considerable harm's way to help him, and they are even willing to disobey orders from higher ups to support his hunches. However, Zenigata is frequently confronting Lupin alone, simply because he has outrun his backup or is the only one able to catch up with the thief. Zenigata and his backup tend to be humiliated as a group (e.g. all of them being washed away in a wine cellar) and then eluded. They alternate between full Military Police
outfits, and normal police attire for the respective nation that Lupin is located in. Despite this, the higher ups usually see him as merely a nuisance, where they often try to give the Lupin case to someone else, only for said person to be defeated horribly.
It appears Zenigata also has many connections to various police forces around the world. In the Lupin the 3rd/Detective Conan crossover special, he was said to be an associate of Inspector Meguire. During the time of the special, Richard Moore was temporary made Zenigata's assistant because Richard required his help to get into a country Rachel had been forcibly taken to.
Lupin seems to have met Melon before he met Zenigata. This is evidenced by Zenigata having no memory of at least one incident involving the two; Melon shot a boy Lupin had been teaching at the time. Zenigata should remember this if it occurred any time after 1967 (the year Zenigata was assigned to apprehend the thief).
. Zenigata's ability to handcuff criminals at a distance also comes from Zenigata Heiji, who threw coins with great force and accuracy and used them as weapons to disable criminals. In Japanese, the title of inspector is keibu (警部), although an early dub of Castle of Cagliostro erroneously stated Keibu as Zenigata's first name.
In the Italian
version he's often nicknamed Zazà or Papà Zenigata (Daddy Zenigata) by Lupin. The German
version often calls him Zazza. The French
version calls him Inspecteur Lacogne. In the Philippine dub, he is often called "Defective" Zenigata (mostly as a taunt because of his constant inability to capture Lupin). In the new Spanish dub, Lupin often calls him "Papaíto" ("daddy").
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in Monkey Punch
Monkey Punch
Monkey Punch is the pen name of Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō , creator of the successful Japanese manga series Lupin III...
's anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Lupin III
Lupin III
, also known as Lupin the 3rd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Kato under the pen name of Monkey Punch. The story follows the adventures of a gang of thieves led by Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of...
.
Personality
Inspector Zenigata hails from Japan, city of origin unknown. According to Lupin III: Episode Zero - First Contact, his original title was Tokyo Police Inspector whose original interest was the capture of Fujiko Mine and her then partner. His pursuit took him to New York where he met Arsene Lupin III for the first time. The master thief's cocky attitude and talents left the inspector infuriated to the point where he left the Japanese Police Force in favor of enlisting in ICPO/Interpol for the sake of specifically bringing Lupin to justice.Zenigata has made it his mission in life to arrest Lupin. The other members of Lupin's gang are targeted for apprehension as well, but Zenigata is really after the mastermind himself. Lupin and Zenigata appear to be the worst of enemies, but they are, in a manner of speaking, friends; something Lupin shows openly (often by greeting Zenigata with mock affection), but it is an idea Zenigata is extremely reluctant to entertain. Similarly, he is often awed by Lupin's genius, but refuses to show it. Also, when he believes Lupin to be dead, he will drop to his knees crying at the fact he couldn't arrest him before his death, and often go into isolation until someone reveals that Lupin is still very much alive.
In the movie Mystery of Mamo
Mystery of Mamo
The Secret of Mamo, or The Mystery of Mamo, is the most common English name for the 1978 first animated feature film based on the Lupin III character created by Monkey Punch, originally released in Japan as simply and now known there as in order to differentiate it from the four others that...
, it is mentioned that Zenigata has a daughter named Toshiko, but this isn't developed any further. He's unable to settle down because of his eternal pursuit, and although he sometimes longs for female company he has no luck with women - in no small part due to his inability to commit himself to anything but chasing Lupin. The Manga series reveals that he has a grandson, a student at Todai University, who fiercely opposes Lupin's attendance, though by the end of the arc, he has largely given up on having Lupin expelled outright.
The anime Zenigata is a quite sensitive person and often cries in emotional situations, particularly when he thinks Lupin has done something out of consideration for him, or when finding out Lupin is OK after worrying about him. On occasions when Lupin appears to be dead, he mourns him more expressively than anyone else; partly from genuine grief, partly because he no longer has a goal in life. In The Plot of the Fuma Clan
The Plot of the Fuma Clan
, released in North America as Rupan III: The Fuma Conspiracy, is Arsène Lupin III's first direct-to-video adventure, and the first Lupin adventure since the pilot to not feature Yasuo Yamada as Lupin. Instead, Lupin's voice is provided by Toshio Furukawa...
Zenigata actually retires from police work when he believes Lupin has died and becomes a monk, believing that if he prays enough Lupin will be a law-abiding man in his next life. Because of this singular ambition, he is never particularly displeased when Lupin manages to escape his custody, since that means the hunt will go on. In one instance in the manga, Zenigata even goes so far as to cryogenically freeze himself so that he can continue to chase Lupin in the future, though both his and Lupin's cryopods malfunction and they are stuck in the present.
The unadmitted friendship has been proven in deed as well as word by Lupin and his gang. Many times Zenigata would have died had the group not intervened on his behalf; when a woman the Inspector loved was killed by a criminal gang, Lupin and company aided in avenging her demise. On another occasion when an old enemy of Lupin shot Zenigata point blank, Lupin began a wild motorcycle chase to apprehend the killer, partly to conclude affairs with an adversary, and partly to avenge the (supposed) death of the Inspector.
His quirks include holding with both arms over his head the handcuffs he intends to put on the criminal he is running after, and his arched-back tip-toeing that he usually does out of excitement when setting a trap that is sure to catch Lupin.
Capability
While sometimes portrayed as a bumbler, Zenigata is a very clever and crafty adversary to Lupin. For instance in The Castle of CagliostroThe Castle of Cagliostro
is a 1979 Japanese animated film co-written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is one of the films featuring master thief Arsène Lupin III.The second animated Lupin III movie and arguably the best known, Castle of Cagliostro was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who also co-directed the first...
, Zenigata is apparently the only official to realize the heavily guarded castle has an access by way of an ignored aqueduct; converging on the area, the inspector was a moment's away from capture of Lupin before being called away at the worst possible time.
There are occasions Zenigata can see through Lupin's disguises. Zenigata himself can actually pull a trick on Lupin, incarcerating the criminal at last. In most cases, Lupin regroups and escapes, often turning the detective's own trick against him. While he has rarely been successful in capturing Lupin, this is more because of Lupin's resourcefulness than Zenigata's incompetence.
The inspector's excellent detective work always manages to lead him to Lupin's current location, anywhere in the world it may be. While his presence and intervention sometimes foils Lupin's thievery, he still comes up short on capture of his nemesis.
Still, Zenigata has a remarkable success rate in other police endeavors; he's brought numerous dangerous criminals to justice, particularly after Lupin has defeated them. This degree of success that enables him to still lead the investigation towards Lupin's capture even after so many failed attempts. A highly decorated and respected professional, Lupin is the only stain on his otherwise perfect record. By the time of the Goodbye Liberty Crisis he has apparently 'Tried and failed to arrest Lupin 738 times'.
His greatest weakness is his single-mindedness; he is so intent upon catching Lupin, that he usually ignores (or fails to discover) any obstacles - even insurmountable ones - inevitably resulting in Lupin getting away. He is, however, extremely skilled - few people stand a chance when Zenigata goes after them (including the rest of Lupin's gang, but they are usually ignored if Lupin is present), so his obsession with Lupin may stem from the fact that he's the only one who presents a challenge for Zenigata's talents.
Lupin is genuinely impressed with Zenigata's doggedness and skills, and has implied that he thinks it a shame he has to be a cop - under different circumstances they might have been great partners. Partly out of respect, partly out of the excitement each brings to the other, the Inspector and Lupin share an unwritten rule...neither will deliberately attempt to kill the other in their cat-and-mouse chase. Further if the Inspector is in need of help that only Lupin and gang can provide, the bunch leaps to his help without hesitation. When they share a common goal, they all work extremely well together.
Zenigata is also aware that while Lupin may be a scoundrel, there are worse evils in the world, and he's willing to team up with Lupin's gang to bring down a more dangerous threat. However, this is always with the mutual understanding that he intends to arrest Lupin upon neutralization of the common foe with his distinctive cry of "LUPIN!! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!!" He says it so often that when he arrested another person he yelled that, only for Lupin to be offended that Zenigata mistook him for someone else.
Physical skills
Zenigata is in phenomenal physical shape for a man his age (estimated to be the mid 40s), and has shown proficiency in JudoJudo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
and Karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
, able to dispatch multiple attackers with minimal effort. He's also capable with a jitte
Jitte (weapon)
The , literally meaning "ten-hand" , is a specialized weapon.In Edo period Japan the jutte was a substitute for a badge and represented someone on official business and was carried by all levels of police officers including high ranking samurai police officials and low-rank samurai law enforcement...
, the traditional Japanese police weapon designed to counter attacks with a sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
. He is also quite the accurate shot with his gun, a Colt .45 pistol (although nowhere near Jigen
Daisuke Jigen
is a fictional character in Monkey Punch's Lupin III series.-Abilities:Jigen is master thief Arsène Lupin III's marksman. He can perform a 0.3-second quick-draw and has an accuracy that borders on superhuman; he can shoot skeet with a handgun, explode a missile before it hits by targeting the...
's skill level), and an almost inhuman skill with handcuffs, which he likes to throw in a bola-like manner at his prey. However, his diet leaves a lot to be desired, consisting mostly of water-boiled ramen noodles and black coffee; in moments where he has time to spare, he's seen eating gigantic amounts of food, i.e., 20 hamburgers at one setting, usually in anticipation of or to make up for moments of doing without.
Zenigata's subconscious, however, appears to be in full control of his body. During chases he can perform superhuman physical feats without thinking, simply because of his preoccupation with Lupin. For example, in "Island of Assassins", the mere mention of Lupin's name is enough to wake him from a critical coma, even as he is about to succumb to a near-fatal bullet wound.
When accidentally knocked out by the stun-gun wristwatch used by Conan Edogawa
Jimmy Kudo
Jimmy Kudo, also known as in Japan, is the protagonist of Gosho Aoyama's series Case Closed, which is known in Japan as . A High-school Detective, he is forced to in ingest the lethal poison APTX 4869 after his encounter with Gin and Vodka. Due to a rare side effect, the poison shrinks him into a...
, he was only out for a few seconds when according to Conan, it would render an elephant unconscious for 30 minutes.
Subordinates
Zenigata has a squad of policemen under his command (no matter where he is, since he is from INTERPOLInterpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
), and they respect and admire him greatly, almost to the point of fanaticism. They are willing to place themselves in considerable harm's way to help him, and they are even willing to disobey orders from higher ups to support his hunches. However, Zenigata is frequently confronting Lupin alone, simply because he has outrun his backup or is the only one able to catch up with the thief. Zenigata and his backup tend to be humiliated as a group (e.g. all of them being washed away in a wine cellar) and then eluded. They alternate between full Military Police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
outfits, and normal police attire for the respective nation that Lupin is located in. Despite this, the higher ups usually see him as merely a nuisance, where they often try to give the Lupin case to someone else, only for said person to be defeated horribly.
It appears Zenigata also has many connections to various police forces around the world. In the Lupin the 3rd/Detective Conan crossover special, he was said to be an associate of Inspector Meguire. During the time of the special, Richard Moore was temporary made Zenigata's assistant because Richard required his help to get into a country Rachel had been forcibly taken to.
Melon Cop
In the second Manga series, World's Most Wanted, Zenigata has a deadly assistant (named Mellon Kiichi in the American version) whom he usually refers to as "Melon Cop". While generally inferior in experience and ability to Zenigata himself, Melon Cop has certain key differences and talents. These include better aim, the unheard of ability to defeat Zenigata in handcuff-tossing, and a better grip of technology than Zenigata. Also, unlike Zenigata, Melon seems to prefer using assassination methods to stop Lupin and his gang. However, by the end of the second series, he had largely been reduced to secondary character status. From then on, he appears only rarely, and simply to help Zenigata fight Lupin. Melon also seems to be capable of facing Lupin without Zenigata's help, fully defeating him on several occasions, only to have Lupin escape with the help of Jigen or Fujiko. On one notable occasion, Fujiko was captured by Melon with the help of a civilian inventor, and only Lupin and Fujiko working together were able to stop Melon.Lupin seems to have met Melon before he met Zenigata. This is evidenced by Zenigata having no memory of at least one incident involving the two; Melon shot a boy Lupin had been teaching at the time. Zenigata should remember this if it occurred any time after 1967 (the year Zenigata was assigned to apprehend the thief).
Nicknames
Lupin often refers to Zenigata as tottsan (とっつぁん), a form of address that is usually translated as "Old Man" or "Pops" (with "Pops" used most frequently in the English dub). He is named after a famous fictional Japanese detective, Zenigata HeijiZenigata Heiji
is Japanese fictional character, the hero of a series of Japanese novels, films and TV programmes set in the Edo period of Japanese history. He is a policeman who catches criminals by throwing coins, the zeni of the title, thus Zenigata Heiji. The hero was created by novelist Kodō Nomura in 1937...
. Zenigata's ability to handcuff criminals at a distance also comes from Zenigata Heiji, who threw coins with great force and accuracy and used them as weapons to disable criminals. In Japanese, the title of inspector is keibu (警部), although an early dub of Castle of Cagliostro erroneously stated Keibu as Zenigata's first name.
In the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
version he's often nicknamed Zazà or Papà Zenigata (Daddy Zenigata) by Lupin. The German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
version often calls him Zazza. The French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
version calls him Inspecteur Lacogne. In the Philippine dub, he is often called "Defective" Zenigata (mostly as a taunt because of his constant inability to capture Lupin). In the new Spanish dub, Lupin often calls him "Papaíto" ("daddy").