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.

In instances where Zenigata has been injured in the field or believed dead, Lupin avenges the Inspector by hunting down his attacker.

This is a major reason why ICPO tolerates his repeated failures to capture Lupin: the "collateral damage" from his lifelong quest has made him a highly rewarded and respected officer of the law.

He was corrupt, opportunistic, self-serving, dangerous, obsessive and violent, and was only redeemed by his grudging respect for Lupin, who he still didn't hesitate to shoot at whenever the thief pulled off a heist.

[5] He's unable to settle down because of his eternal pursuit, and although he sometimes longs for female company (such as a reporter Maria in Crisis in Tokyo, who compares him to her father) his single-minded attitude regarding the capture of Lupin leaves no personal time available.

The Pioneer dub of the second anime series portrays Zenigata as having an unhealthy dependence towards his mother and continually making references to her.

In Seven Days Rhapsody, Zenigata captures Lupin in a rough hug after he leaps from a helicopter, nuzzles him with his face and declares that they were destined to be together.

In the post credits scene, Lupin is standing out in the rain and Zenigata kindly offers that they eat katsudon together in a warm interrogation room.

These examples are a reference to a running joke where other characters accuse him of having a secret crush on Lupin, something he denies repeatedly, despite signs that he might actually have feelings for the thief.

Zenigata appears to be in good physical shape for his age; his proficiency in Judo and Karate have been revealed many times, with him able to dispatch multiple attackers with minimal effort.

During chases he can perform outlandish physical feats such as jumping over huge obstacles and beating down a dozen attackers without thinking, simply because of his preoccupation with Lupin.

For example, in 1997's In Memory of the Walther P-38, the mere mention of Lupin's name is enough to wake him from a coma, even as he is about to succumb to a near-fatal bullet wound.

The Inspector's appearance has stayed consistent through both the manga and anime series; around 6 feet, Pops has a long face ending in a bulky chin.

Zenigata is usually presented in the anime as clumsy and drawing hasty conclusions, but equally he is depicted with extremely efficient detective skills.

In the Filipino dub of the series, Lupin refers to Zenigata as "depektib", a play on the words "detective" and "defective".

[9] The only exception to Naya's run as the character was for the 1987 original video animation The Fuma Conspiracy; due to budget concerns, TMS decided not to employ the regular voice cast.

The 2011 TV special Blood Seal - Eternal Mermaid marked the first appearance of Kōichi Yamadera as the character, and he continues to voice Inspector Zenigata to this day.

[12] Greg Starr voiced Inspector Zenigata (renamed "Detective Ed Scott") in the 1979 Frontier English dub of The Mystery of Mamo.

Marc Matney provided Zenigata's voice in the 1995 Coastal Carolina Sound Studios dub of The Fuma Conspiracy.

The show follows the character as a brilliant, doggedly capable ICPO officer successfully chasing down an assortment of criminals.