Monkey Punch
Monkey Punch combined elements of Arsène Lupin with James Bond to develop the character of Lupin III and made him a "carefree fellow". Lupin was given a red color jacket which Monkey Punch believes is a flashy, sexy color. As the series was to be published in a magazine targeted at adults, Fujiko Mine was created to add a female presence and to fulfill a "Bond girl" role. Her name was inspired by a picture of Mount Fuji, Monkey Punch added the -ko female suffix to create her first name, and chose "Mine" for her family name because of its meaning as "summit". At the beginning of the series, many of the women Lupin encounters are all named Fujiko, but are treated as different characters from chapter to chapter. Creating a new female each week was too difficult for Monkey Punch so she evolved into a single character who changes style frequently. Jigen was based on James Coburn, especially his role in "The Magnificent Seven", and his name was chosen to reflect his unconventional personality. Goemon was created to give an oriental element into an otherwise western series. Despite Lupin and Goemon originally being enemies, Monkey Punch decided that they were on the same wavelength. While Lupin, Fujiko, Jigen and Goemon frequently operate together for their own goals, the author considers them not to be a true group as they have their own individual interests. Inspector Zenigata was conceived as Lupin's archrival to create a "human Tom and Jerry".