Koichi Zenigata - Personality

Personality

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. 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 life's mission to arrest Lupin. The other members of Lupin's gang are targeted for apprehension as well, but Zenigata usually ignores them when Lupin himself is present. Lupin and Zenigata appear to be the worst of enemies, but in the anime 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.

The original manga series reveals that Zenigata has a grandson, a student at Todai University, who fiercely opposes Lupin's attendance, though by the end of the episode he has largely given up on having Lupin expelled outright. In Secret of Mamo (originally titled simply Lupin III), 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 anime version of 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 1987 OVA The Fuma Conspiracy, 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 citizen 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.

Zenigata's and Lupin's unacknowledged friendship has been shown numerous times, with Zenigata having 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's shot Zenigata point blank, Lupin began a wild motorcycle chase to apprehend the killer, partly to conclude affairs with the adversary, and partly to avenge the (supposed) death of the Inspector.