Lupin III

, also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the endeavors of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of the book series by Maurice Leblanc.

The ''Lupin III'' manga, which first appeared in ''Weekly Manga Action'' on August 10, 1967, spawned a media franchise that includes numerous manga, two versions of an animated pilot film, six animated television series, one spin-off animated television series, eleven theatrically released animated films, two live-action films, five OVA works, twenty-seven animated television specials, two musicals, many music CDs, and several video games. Many different companies have owned the English-language distribution rights to various ''Lupin III'' properties at various times. Tokyopop acquired the license to the original manga in 2002, and later the second series in 2004. Funimation Entertainment dubbed and released several of the television specials and films from 2002 to 2006, and the fourth television series in 2013. Between 2003 and 2007, Geneon licensed and dubbed the first 79 episodes of the second television series, 26 of which were broadcast in the United States on Adult Swim in 2003 and 52 in Canada on G4techTV in 2007. Discotek Media licensed the first six television series in the franchise and the first live-action film; they also own the rights to numerous other ''Lupin'' titles, including several previously released by other companies.

Over fifty years after its creation, ''Lupin III'' remains popular, with a seventh anime series airing in 2021. Critical reception of the franchise has been largely positive across its various incarnations, with the appeal of the lead characters being noted as the primary factor of the series' success. The voice acting (in both Japanese and English versions) and soundtracks (especially those composed by Yuji Ohno) of the anime adaptations have also received similar compliments; however, several of the franchise's installments, most specifically the television specials, have been criticized for being formulaic. The manga has also been noted by fans and critics for its darker tone compared to the anime, with its explicit depictions of sex and violence, as well as its black, fourth wall-breaking sense of humor, contrasting with the mostly family-friendly animated versions. For several years, issues relating to the copyright of Maurice Leblanc's intellectual property meant that the Lupin name was removed from its releases outside Japan, usually changed to "Rupan" or "Wolf". However, the copyright has since expired, allowing foreign releases to use the Lupin name.

Premise

Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of the fictional gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin, is considered the world's greatest thief, known for announcing his intentions to steal valuable objects by sending a calling card to their owners. His right-hand man and best friend is Daisuke Jigen, an expert marksman who can accurately shoot a target in 0.3 second. Although Lupin and Jigen frequently work as a two-man team, they are often joined by Goemon Ishikawa XIII, a master swordsman whose sword can cut anything, and Fujiko Mine, a femme fatale and Lupin's love interest. Although Fujiko usually works together with the others, she occasionally exploits Lupin's interest in her to steal the treasure for herself. Lupin and his gang are constantly chased by Inspector Koichi Zenigata of Interpol, who has made it his life's work to arrest them, pursuing Lupin across the globe.

Production

The series was created in 1965 by Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō under the pen name Monkey Punch. His inspiration for the series was the fictional French gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc. Before creating the series he read 15 of Leblanc's stories. The aim of the ''Lupin III'' series was to produce a comedy adventure series that reflected the traits of Leblanc's character. Originally the intention was to keep the blood ties between the two fictional characters secret, however, he was convinced by others not to do so.

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 believed was 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 character 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 East Asian 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 considered them not to be a true group as they have their own individual interests. In the manga they operated individually, but in the anime adaptations the group tend to work together.

Inspector Zenigata was conceived as Lupin's archrival to create a "human Tom and Jerry".

When Monkey Punch began ''Lupin III'', he was already working on another series, ''Pinky Punky''. Monkey Punch enjoyed writing outlaw characters, and both ''Lupin III'' and ''Pinky Punky'' made use of outlaws as central characters. According to him, this made it easy for him to write two series without much pressure. Monkey Punch enjoyed puzzles and mysteries such as ''Columbo'' and Agatha Christie novels, and was also inspired by ''The Three Musketeers'' and the movies of Alfred Hitchcock. He believed the characters of Lupin and Fujiko were similar to the characters of D'Artagnan and Milady de Winter, and described them as "Not necessarily lovers, not necessarily husband and wife, but more just having fun as man and woman with each other". Another influence on the manga was '' Mad'' magazine. Monkey Punch said the appeal of drawing Lupin comes from the character being able to go anywhere without obstacles and being able to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. However, this is contrasted by the appeal of Zenigata's strict personality. Originally the series was only expected to last three months, but due to its popularity, Monkey Punch continued to draw it. However, despite his happiness at its success, he expressed confusion over its popularity.

Monkey Punch said that he believed the story could never end but that if it had to, both Zenigata and Lupin would have to end as equals. They would either both fail, both win, or both get very old.

Copyright issues

Monkey Punch did not ask permission to use the Arsène Lupin name and at the time Japan did not enforce trade copyrights. By the time Leblanc's estate launched legal action in Japan, the name was considered to have entered into common use. However, this was not the case in North America and Europe, and several foreign releases of ''Lupin III'' media dropped the ''Lupin III'' title and the character himself was renamed to "Rupan" or "Wolf". In France, the series was known as ''Edgar, Detective Cambrioleur'' (Edgar, Detective Burglar) with Lupin himself renamed "Edgar de la Cambriole" (Edgar of Burglary). Monkey Punch stated that using the same character design, behavior, and face would be illegal, but using a name alone is not illegal. In 2012, Leblanc's original Arsène Lupin entered the public domain in France due to 70 years passing since his death in 1941, and is in the public domain for any country that enforces the rule of the shorter term.

Media

Manga

''Lupin III'' was written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It was serialized by Futabasha in ''Weekly Manga Action'' in 94 chapters from August 10, 1967. Additional chapters known as ''Lupin III New Adventures'' were released from August 12, 1971. Tokyopop licensed the series for North America, and released all 14 volumes between December 10, 2002, and July 6, 2004. The Tokyopop edition is adapted from the Chuokoron Shinsha edition from 1989.

Monkey Punch began publishing the second Lupin manga, ''Shin Lupin III'' in ''Weekly Manga Action'' on June 23, 1977, until 1981. Three chapters were published in the British magazine ''Manga Mania'' between May and July 1996. Tokyopop licensed the second series, and released the first nine volumes as ''Lupin III: World's Most Wanted'' between September 7, 2004, and July 10, 2007. Tokyopop later cancelled the series due to low sales. Like the first series, the Tokyopop release was based on the Chuokoron Shinsha edition from 1990.

Since 1997 a number of manga series have been created by several artists and released in several Futabasha magazines. On August 27, 2004, Futabasha launched ''Lupin III Official Magazine'', a quarterly publication of ''Lupin III'' manga by various authors.

Yutaka Abe and Jirō Maruden produced a three chapter adaptation of the ''Lupin III vs. Detective Conan'' TV special. From August 25, they also created a manga adaptation of ''Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie'' for Shogakukans ''Shonen Super Sunday'' magazine.

An isekai spin-off manga, ''Lupin III: Neighbor World Princess'', written by Yōsuke Saeki and illustrated by Keyaki Uchi-Uchi began serialization in Akita Shoten's ''Weekly Shōnen Champion'' on August 26, 2021.

Anime series

''Part I: The Classic Adventures''

On October 24, 1971, YTV began airing the first ''Lupin III'' television series. The series was broadcast for 23 episodes, with the last one airing on March 26, 1972. The series was initially directed by Masaaki Ōsumi, who was then replaced by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Discotek Media licensed and released the first series on DVD in North America on June 26, 2012.

''Part II''

The second ''Lupin III'' television series began airing on NTV on October 3, 1977. This series was broadcast for 155 episodes, with the last one airing on October 6, 1980. Episodes 145 and 155 received American distribution and an English dub from Streamline Pictures, who released the episodes to VHS individually in 1994 as ''Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf'' and together as ''Lupin III's Greatest Capers'' in 1995. Pioneer Entertainment began distributing the first 79 episodes of the series in North America with an English dub on January 28, 2003. The first 79 episodes were released on 15 DVDs and 26 episodes (the first 27, excluding the third episode) aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Voice director Richard Epcar stated in 2014 that the remainder of the series was not distributed by Pioneer because they lost the license. In 2015, Discotek Media announced they had licensed the series for North America and released all 155 episodes across four DVDs from 2017 to 2020. The Discotek release utilized the existing Pioneer dub for the first 79 episodes and the Streamline dub for episodes 145 and 155; a new English dub was not created for the remaining episodes.

''Lupin VIII''

In 1982, an animated television series called ''Lupin VIII'' was planned as a French-Japanese co-production, featuring the descendants of Lupin, Goemon, Jigen, and Zenigata, but was never completed. Created by DiC Audiovisuel, with Rintaro directing, and character designs by Shingo Araki; two scripts were written, and one episode was fully animated with a music and sound effects track, but the voice-overs were never recorded. The project was cancelled due to Leblanc's estate wanting a large amount of money for use of the Arsène Lupin name in France. ''Lupin VIIIs single episode was later included in the 2012 ''Lupin III Master File'' box set.

''Part III: The Pink Jacket Adventures''

The third ''Lupin III'' television series, called ''Lupin the 3rd Part III'', began airing on YTV on March 3, 1984. This series was broadcast for 50 episodes and ended on November 6, 1985. In 2009, the Southern California-based United Television Broadcasting network began airing subtitled episodes from all three series on their UTBHollywood channel.

''The Woman Called Fujiko Mine''

The fourth series, titled ''Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine'', aired on NTV for 13 episodes between April 4, 2012 and June 27, 2012. Funimation Entertainment simulcast the series on their website and Nico Nico with English subtitles, before releasing it on Blu-ray/DVD on August 20, 2013 with an English-language dub. Manga Entertainment released a similar set in the United Kingdom on September 16, while Hanabee released the series in a two-part combo set in Australasia, the first on October 16 and the second on November 20.

''Part IV: The Italian Adventure''

The fifth series, ''Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure'', was created by Telecom Animation Film and is set in Italy and San Marino. It aired in Italy for 26 episodes on the Italia 1 channel between August 30, 2015 and November 30, 2015, while in Japan it aired for 24 episodes on NTV between October 1, 2015 and March 17, 2016. The series has been licensed by Anime Limited for the UK market and by Discotek for the US. It aired in the US on the Toonami block of Adult Swim starting in June 2017.

''Part V: Misadventures in France''

The sixth anime television series, ''Lupin the 3rd Part V: Misadventures in France'', aired in 2018. It is set in France, the home of the main character's grandfather and namesake, and aired on NTV from April 4 to September 18, 2018. Like ''Part 4'', the English dub was aired by Toonami.

''Part 6''

The seventh series, ''Lupin the 3rd Part 6'', premiered on October 10, 2021, coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebration of the anime.

Other animations

Animated films

Adapting the manga into animation was first suggested by animator Gisaburō Sugii to Yutaka Fujioka, the founder of Tokyo Movie Shinsha. This led to the creation of a CinemaScope '' Lupin the Third: Pilot Film'', consisting of introductions to the manga's five lead characters, intended to generate interest in the project and secure funding. The ''Pilot Film'' was created by Sugii, Yasuo Otsuka, Tsutomu Shibayama

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