Lupin The Third Part I

Lupin III Part I

North American DVD set, by Discotek Media
ルパン三世
(Rupan Sansei)
Genre Adventure, Comedy-drama, Crime, Kaitō
Anime television series
Directed by Masaaki Ōsumi
Hayao Miyazaki
Isao Takahata
Written by Atsushi Yamatoya
Seiji Matsuoka
Yuki Miyata
Tooru Sawaki
Noriaki Yamazaki
Shunichiroo Koyama
Kado Shichijoo
Tatsuo Tamura
Kazuichi Tsurumi
Music by Takeo Yamashita
Studio Tokyo Movie
Licensed by
Network Yomiuri TV
Original run October 24, 1971 – March 26, 1972
Episodes 23

Lupin The Third Part I is the first animated television adaptation of the Lupin III (ルパン三世 Rupan Sansei) manga series written by Monkey Punch. The series was originally broadcast as Lupin III between October 24, 1971 and March 26, 1972.

Plot

Arsène Lupin III (Yasuo Yamada), grandson of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, is an internationally wanted thief. His right-hand man is Daisuke Jigen (Kiyoshi Kobayashi), an expert marksmen who can shoot a target within 0.3 seconds. They are joined by Fujiko Mine (Yukiko Nikaido), Lupin's primary love interest who often manipulates situations to her advantage. After several encounters with the samurai and expert swordsmen Goemon Ishikawa XIII (Chikao Ōtsuka), he becomes part of the group. They are constantly pursued by Inspector Heiji Zenigata VII (Gorō Naya), an expert on Lupin from the Tokyo MPD (led by its commissioner, voiced by Ichirō Nagai), who has made the capture and arrest of Lupin and his collaborators his life goal.

Production

Adapting the manga into animation was first suggested by animator Gisaburō Sugii to Yutaka Fujioka, the founder of Tokyo Movie Shinsha. While Fujioka was interested in the idea, the project needed to be funded. This led to the creation of a theatrical pilot film intended to create interest in the project and secure funding. The pilot film was created by four people, Sugii, Yasuo Otsuka, Tsutomu Shibayama and Osamu Kobayashi with supervision by Masaaki Ōsumi.[1] Yasuo Otsuka had left Toei Animation to join A Productions in order to work on the Lupin adaptation as working on Lupin would allow him to use his knowledge and lifelong interest in guns and transport in his animation. Otsuka studied Monkey Punch's artwork and the influence of American comic artist Mort Drucker on the series. The team studied Monkey Punch's style in detail and analysed the characters from all angles. They were initially assisted by Monkey Punch until he felt the project was too much for him.[2][3] After a year, the project was still unsold and the pilot film was adapted to television format. In 1971, Yomiuri Television funded the series.[4] By this time only Otsuka and Ōsumi were still at TMS. Ōsumi was assigned as Director, and Otsuka became the character designer with Kobayashi providing Key animation on several episodes. The series was originally planned for 26 episodes, with synopsis created for each one.[5]

After the broadcast of the second episode, Osumi was asked to make changes to the series. After he refused to do so, he was fired as director.[6] Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata had recently moved from Toei to A Productions in order to begin pre production on an adaption of Pippi Longstocking.[7] However that work was cancelled and they were chosen as replacements for Osumi by Otsuka, who had worked with them previously at Toei. Production was credited as "A Production" rather than assigning Directorial credit.[8] Due to the production schedule of the series, many episodes are a mix of influences between Osumi, Takahata and Miyazaki and several episodes do not credit a director.[9] Episode 9 was the final episode that Osumi had full creative control.[10] Miayazaki and Takahata were asked to make several changes to the series and also made other changes based on their own views. They immediately set out to remove a sense of apathy from the series which they felt was also evident in society. To achieve this they gave the characters a more positive outlook. Lupin would become "happy-go-lucky" and "upbeat" while Jigen would be "a friendly, cheery fellow". They also removed Fujiko's "cheap eroticism". The changes during production lead to a lack of unity in the visuals and a "duality".[11]

The series was the first animated series created in Japan to target an adult audience with an emphasis on complex characters and storylines as well as a focus on realism. Previously all animated series were family friendly.[6]

The series paid a lot of attention to details of vehicles, weapons and consumer items which were only approximated in the manga.[11]

Release

The series was broadcast on Yomiuri TV between October 24, 1971 and March 26, 1972.[12] The opening credits for the series made use of footage from the pilot film to introduce the characters and the concept to the audience.[9]

Numerous home releases have been published in Japan. Emotion and VAP both published VHS releases of the series. For the 25th anniversary of the original manga, VAP released a six volume edition from March 1993.[13][14] A four volume edition was released on July 23, 1999.[15] The series was released in Japan in a DVD box set by VAP on July 4, 2001. The set was limited to 30,000 copies.[16] A Blu-ray box set of four discs was released on December 21, 2008, and on four individual discs on January 21, 2009.[17][18][19] Kodansha launched Lupin III DVD Collection, a bi-weekly magazine on January 27, 2015. Scheduled to run for 45 issues, the magazine will includes a DVD containing episodes from the first two Lupin III TV series.[20]

Discotek Media licensed and released the series on DVD in North America as Lupin the 3rd: The First TV Series Complete Collection on June 26, 2012.[21] The release includes audio commentaries on several episodes, essays and liner notes as well as both versions of the pilot film.[22] The series is also available in North America via the Hulu streaming service as Lupin the Third Part I.[23]

Several releases have been made of the music from the series. Two singles were released on December 10, 1971 and January 20, 1972.[24] The Original BGM Collection was released as an LP by Nippon Columbia on March 25, 1980.[24] This was later reissued on CD on March 14, 2007 for the 40th anniversary of the original Manga.[25][26] Music from the series was also released on the album Lupin III The 1st Series Music Anthology, published by Nippon Columbia on March 21, 2003.[24] Due to a loss of the original master tape for the background music, the music from the series was recreated by Takeo Yamashita and released as Rebirth From '71 Series on January 21, 2003.[27]

Reception

Shinichirō Watanabe, director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo has spoken of being heavily influenced by the work of director Masaaki Ōsumi on the series.[28]

The Agency for Cultural Affairs placed the series in 50th place on a list of the best anime.[29]

Chris Beveridge of The Fandom Post praised the extras and production of Discotek's DVD release. He described the series as "a ton of fun".[22] Mike Dent, writing for Otaku USA called the series "fantastic" but highlighted the first 12 episodes as the "true gems of the show".[30] In Anime Classics Zettai!, Brian Clamp and Julie Davies observed the series had a serious "crime film feel" and darker tone compared to other animated adaptions of the series due to violence as well as the sexualisation of Fujiko. They also noted the attention to background detail and animation.[31]

References

  1. ↑ Reed Nelson. Lupin The 3rd The Complete First Tv Series (Disc 1) (DVD). Discotek Media.
  2. ↑ 大塚康生の動かす喜び [Yasuo Otsuka's Joy in Motion] (DVD) (in Japanese). Japan: Studio Ghibli. 2003. 50 minutes in.
  3. ↑ 大塚康生の動かす喜び [Yasuo Otsuka's Joy in Motion] (DVD) (in Japanese). Japan: Studio Ghibli. 2003. 53:40 minutes in.
  4. ↑ Reed Nelson. Lupin The 3rd The Complete First Tv Series (Disc 1) (DVD). Discotek Media.
  5. ↑ Reed Nelson. Lupin The 3rd The Complete First Tv Series (Disc 1) (DVD). Discotek Media.
  6. 1 2 Daniel Thomas MacInnes. Lupin The 3rd The Complete First Tv Series (Disc 2) (DVD). Discotek Media.
  7. ↑ Miyazaki, Hayao. Starting Point 1979~1996. Viz Media. p. 439. ISBN 978-1-4215-0594-7.
  8. ↑ Reed Nelson. Lupin The 3rd The Complete First Tv Series (Disc 4) (DVD). Discotek Media.
  9. 1 2 Nelson Reed. Lupin The 3rd The Complete First Tv Series (Disc 1) (DVD). Discotek Media.
  10. ↑ Reed Nelson. Lupin The 3rd The Complete First Tv Series (Disc 2) (DVD). Discotek Media.
  11. 1 2 Miyazaki, Hayao. Starting Point 1979~1996. Viz Media. pp. 277–282. ISBN 978-1-4215-0594-7.
  12. ↑ ルパン三世アニメ全歴史完全版. Futabasha. April 1, 2012. pp. 153–155. ISBN 978-4-575-30406-0.
  13. ↑ The ルパン三世 Files. Kinema Junpo Sha. July 24, 1998. pp. 64–65.
  14. ↑ ルパン三世 The First TV Series (1) (VHS). VAP. March 1993.
  15. ↑ "THE FIRST TV SERIES ルパン三世(1)〜(4)" (VHS). VAP. Archived from the original on January 19, 2001.
  16. ↑ "ルパン三世 The First Tv Series". VAP. Archived from the original on June 8, 2001.
  17. ↑ "ルパン三世　first-TV BD-Box". VAP. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  18. ↑ "ルパン三世　first-TV BD-1". VAP. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  19. ↑ "ルパン三世　first-TV BD-4". VAP. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Lupin III Gets Japanese DVD Release in Magazine Installments". Anime News Network. December 8, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  21. ↑ "North American Anime, Manga Releases, June 24–30". Anime News Network. June 26, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  22. 1 2 Beveridge, Chris (July 6, 2012). "Lupin the 3rd: First TV Series Complete Collection Anime DVD Review". The Fandom Post. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Watch Lupin the Third Part 1 Online". Hulu. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  24. 1 2 3 "ルパン三世DVDコレクション" (2). February 24, 2015: 32.
  25. ↑ The ルパン三世 Files. Kinema Junpo Sha. July 24, 1998. pp. 170–175.
  26. ↑ "テレビオリジナルBGMコレクション・ルパン三世 ～山下毅雄　オリジナルスコアによる「ルパン三世」の世界～". Nippon Columbia. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Lupin the Third Takeo Yamasita". VAP. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  28. ↑ "おおすみ正秋×渡辺信一郎 TAKE IT EASY!" [Masaaki Osumi × Shinichiro Watanabe TAKE IT EASY!]. Newtype (in Japanese) (Kadokawa Publishing Co., Ltd.): 16. November 1999.
  29. ↑ "Top Anime Rankings". Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on December 18, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  30. ↑ Dent, Mike. "Otaku USA" 5 (6). Sovereign Media: 18–19. ISSN 1939-3318.
  31. ↑ Clamp, Brian; Davies, Julie. Anime Classics Zettai. Stone Bridge Press. pp. 192–195. ISBN 978-1-933330-22-8.

External links

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