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Daisuke Jigen (次元 大介 Jigen Daisuke) is a fictional character in Monkey Punch's Lupin III series.
[edit] AbilitiesJigen is Lupin's marksman. He can perform a 0.3-second quick-draw and is amazingly accurate. He prefers to conceal his eyes using his hat, as it gives him a more enigmatic appearance; when one or both of his eyes are seen, it is occasionally used to demonstrate surprise. In the second anime series, it is revealed that he uses a notch of the hat to aim. However, due to the nature of the series, no single episode could be considered canon; Jigen has been seen shooting excellently without his hat, even in the very series this is mentioned in, he is seen making shots from angles where his hat's notch would be useless and even during times he is not wearing his hat at all. He is also proficient in many different firearms, such as machine guns, sniper rifles, and even a PTRS Anti-Tank Rifle. His preferred weapon, however, is a Smith and Wesson M19 Combat revolver, based on the pistol's stopping power and its dependability against mechanical misfire. He keeps the weapon in a fabric holster specially constructed in the back beltline of his pants. He also feels quite naked without a gun: during an enemy attack in The Fuma Conspiracy, Jigen didn't have his Magnum on him and still instinctively reached for it, humorously shooting nothing into the air before realizing it was missing. Even Lupin has mentioned he should "buy it a ring and marry it already". Jigen also carries a few rounds of special ammunition such as armor piercing ammunition to use as circumstances dictate. As he frequently travels by air, it's not been made clear how he successfully gets his weapon through airline checkpoints. [edit] PersonalityIn the anime series, Jigen is extremely loyal to Lupin and almost always partners up with him for a given mission. (This is not true in early chapters of the manga; later chapters more closely mirror the anime portrayal.) Like Lupin, he has a sharp sense of humor and genuinely enjoys participating in each caper. He is, by far, the more pragmatic of the pair, with a cynical streak founded in failed romances (his luck with women runs from bad to worse, with love interests often betraying him or dying). He especially distrusts Fujiko and becomes irritated when Lupin goes along with one of her plans. Among Lupin's group, Jigen is the least apprehensive at taking human life. While he considers killing women and children taboo, he is willing to put down any man who offers a threat. Jigen is also a heavy smoker, smoking about 60 cigarettes a day according to the The Mystery of Mamo DVD booklet. A running joke in the series is that his cigarettes always end up bent out of shape. His favorite cigarettes seem to be either Marlboro boxed (as in Kooky Kabuki) or Pall Mall Long (Mystery of Mamo); he's also occasionally seen smoking a briar pipe. Another recurring theme is Jigen's fear of going to the dentist. In Tokyo Crisis, he actually loses his ability to shoot straight (temporarily) from being distracted by an aching cavity he refuses to have fixed. Jigen is the "big brother" of the group, and often serves as the voice of reason to Lupin's impulsiveness, as he must because of his friendship with Lupin as well as out of sheer professionalism. However, he has long since resigned himself to having to go along with the craziest of schemes. The Tokyopop reissues of the original Lupin comics note in their preface that Jigen's appearance and temperament are based on the actor James Coburn, especially Coburn's role in The Magnificent Seven.[citation needed] [edit] Backstory
Despite having a Japanese name, Jigen's nationality, origin and even his name are uncertain. In some adaptations, he was a Chicago mobster who eventually escaped to Japan and changed his name[citation needed]. The 2002 television special "First Contact" describes Jigen as a mobster in New York who joined Lupin after failing his mission to assassinate the thief. His weapon of choice, the M19, is popular with the South Australian police, and he was seen by himself in Australia in an early episode of Shin Lupin before reuniting with the others. Other traits, such as his crossing himself in Catholic fashion during Shinto/Buddhist prayer and his favor for American foods and products, imply he's from some other country (and perhaps a different ethnicity) than his Japanese cohorts. Jigen (Japanese for "dimension") may be either his first or last name; in Kooky Kabuki he introduces himself as Daisuke Jigen; in police rosters, he is referred to as Jigen Daisuke. There's reason to believe the name is a nom de guerre. In the film The Mystery of Mamo, he says both he and Goemon follow Lupin around because they've both vowed to kill him. As Monkey Punch never really gave any of the characters a backstory, different film makers have their own take on it. In the manga volumes, Jigen is first portrayed rather abruptly in the first volume, appearing out of nowhere as a major character in one plot arc, though his name is spelled "Gigen." Jigen reappeares extensively in the third volume, showing up in nearly every single chapter of the manga, though he has not settled in to his persona as an enigmatic killer. His eyes are often visible, and he rarely uses a gun. He teams up with Lupin opportunistically in several capers, opposing Lupin as often as not. By the end of the first series, however, he has firmly settled into place as Lupin's most trusted ally. [edit] References[edit] External links
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