Koichi Zenigata | |
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Lupin III character | |
Zenigata drawn by Monkey Punch
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First appearance | Lupin III chapter 1: "Dashing Appearance of Lupin III" |
Created by | Monkey Punch |
Voiced by | See Voice actors |
Portrayed by | Shirō Itō (1974) Tadanobu Asano (2014) Ryohei Suzuki (2017) |
Profile | |
Nickname(s) |
Japanese: Tottsan English: Old Man Pops Gramps |
Aliases | Heiji Zenigata VII (early manga and anime iterations) Detective Ed Scott (Toho/Frontier dub of The Mystery of Mamo) Detective Ed Cott (TMS subtitled print of The Castle of Cagliostro) Keibu Zenigata (Streamline dub of The Castle of Cagliostro) Detective Zenigata (Streamline/Manga UK dubs of The Mystery of Mamo, FUNimation dubs of TV specials) |
Title | Inspector |
Relatives | Zenigata Heiji (ancestor) |
Nationality | Japanese |
Affiliations |
Interpol Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department |
Koichi Zenigata (Japanese: 銭形 幸一 Hepburn: Zenigata Kōichi?), usually called Inspector Zenigata (銭形警部 Zenigata-keibu), is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. He is named after the famous fictional Japanese detective Zenigata Heiji, whose descendant he is implied to be.
Inspector Zenigata was conceived as Lupin's arch rival to create a "human Tom and Jerry".
Monkey Punch has said that he believes the Lupin III story can never end but that if he had to, both Zenigata and Lupin would have to end as equals. They would either both fail, both win or both get very old.
Inspector Zenigata hails from Japan, city of origin unknown. According to Episode 0: 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. He left the Japanese Police Force in favor of enlisting in ICPO (Interpol) for the sake of specifically bringing Lupin to justice. For a brief period between the first and second TV series, Zenigata was demoted to a beat cop in an unknown location of Japan.