Daisuke Jigen

About

Age: Late 20s - early 30s
Birthday: 29 November (The Castle of Cagliostro)
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 70 kg

He is a smooth gunman who is most seen accompanying Lupin in his endeavors and heists. Despite Jigen disliking Lupin's lust for women, to the end he remains Lupin's loyal and reliable marksman.

He can perform a 0.3-second quick-draw and shoots with amazing accuracy. He prefers to conceal his eyes using his hat, as it gives him a more enigmatic appearance. His hat is also an important element to his dead shot accuracy because he uses it for aiming and target acquisition. He is also proficient in the use of many different firearms, such as machine guns, sniper rifles, and even a PTRS anti-tank rifle. Daisuke is also a skilled driver and pilot.

In the original manga series, Jigen is not always at Lupin's side but lurking in the background until needed. The anime series, however, shows Jigen as extremely loyal to Lupin and willing to partner up anytime for a given heist.

Jigen is noted for his quick temper; enemy and friend alike have been victim to his need to repay violence for insult. Both Lupin and Goemon have been on the receiving end of his blows in his response to their frank or comical criticism.

Despite Jigen's gruff facade, he has an ironic sense of humor and genuinely enjoys participating in each caper with his partners. He is, by far, the more pragmatic of the group, 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 is always distrustful of Fujiko Mine 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 age or gender who offers a life threat, such as Linda in Part 2 Episode 26.

Where Lupin and Goemon Ishikawa XIII both have unique sartorial tastes, Jigen is pure basics. His typical wardrobe is a dark grey, dark green or black business suit, along with a white or light blue colored dress shirt, a black tie, and his ever-present dark grey or black broad-brimmed fedora; the hat ranks as his most prized possession outside of his weaponry. During the third anime series, Jigen's outfit is more light colored and his hatband has a cross-hatched or grid pattern design (similar to the original manga interpretation of the character); however the black look is most applied for OVA productions and TV specials. Jigen's thick hair is typically collar-length and unevenly cut. His chin curtain beard varies from an inch to three inches long and is also unruly. A few episodes of the anime use an occasional gimmick where the character has his hat pulled forward so that only the lower half of his face is visible or, if he's without his hat, his hair will be covering his upper face and eyes. However such episodes are rare; and Jigen's face is plainly shown with or without his hat in most animated depictions.

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. Jigen, like the rest of the Lupin gang, is adept with disguises and can pilot virtually any motorized vehicle, including planes and tanks. He has even controlled a NASA Space Shuttle. He is also a tough hand-to-hand opponent, capable of knocking out an attacker with one blow.

While his racial origins may be in question, Jigen was at one time a famed bodyguard and assassin for many American criminal mobs. Of several stories regarding his past, the most popular has him an American mobster who moved to Japan on the lam; there he adopted a Japanese identity and name ("Jigen" is the conventional Japanese word for "dimension", not a name). According to Lupin, Jigen's hobbies are limited due to his stay-at-home preference. When he does go out, he usually attends target practice, visits a favorite bar, plays poker, enjoys a boxing match or eats at a chop house-style restaurant. He also has a weakness for Spaghetti Westerns, lounging, classical music (except in Episodes 79 and 89 of Part 2), and hearty American food.

Jigen's most obvious pastime is smoking; there is hardly a time when he not seen with a cigarette, usually one bent in a number of directions. His preferred brands have been Pall Mall Filter Longs or Marlboro Red. He is also seen occasionally smoking a briar pipe. As well, Jigen enjoys drinking scotch, bourbon, vodka, beer and occasionally fine wines; he has a "heavyweight's" resistance to intoxication.

The Tokyo Pop releases of the original Lupin manga note in their preface that Jigen's appearance and temperament are based on the actor James Coburn, especially Coburn's role, Britt, in The Magnificent Seven. This has been confirmed by Monkey Punch during a 2003 Dallas, Texas anime convention interview. In a television documentary celebrating the manga's history, Monkey Punch stated he based the Jigen/Lupin relationship on Alain Delon and Charles Bronson's teaming in the 1968 film Adieu l'ami.

(Source: Wikipedia, Lupin III)