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    Lupin III

    Character » Lupin III appears in 175 issues.

    He's the King of Hearts, the Ace of Diamonds and the Joker all wrapped into one suave package. While he may not be as debonair as his infamous grandfather, our eponymous hero knows how to get the job done and proves time and time again that he is without question the world's greatest thief.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Lupin III last edited by KillerZ on 08/27/22 09:52AM View full history

    Origin

    Many of the details of Lupin’s childhood remain a mystery, though it is widely believed that his mother passed sometime during or after his birth. With his father, Lupin the Second incarcerated for various crimes at the time, young Lupin was placed into an orphanage. His grandfather, getting word of these events, adopted the child and raised him in his secluded estate. As the young Lupin grew older, Lupin senior developed an apprentice type relationship with his grandson and taught him many tricks of the family trade. Unfortunately, sometime during his early teens, Lupin’s grandfather grew deathly ill and passed away.

    In his will he stipulated that his estate be divided equally between his grandson and the help through a lottery. The young Lupin received the family mansion and a book on thievery as his inheritance, a tool he used immediately to swindle the others out of the billions they received in the drawing. Sometime soon after these events, Lupin the Second escaped from prison and tracked his son down believing him to be an impostor. After a tension filled meeting and daring escape from the police, Lupin the Second accepted the young thief as his own flesh and blood. After a very abrupt parting with his father, Lupin went off on his own to build and establish his own thieving empire.

    Creation

    Lupin III first appeared as the titular character of his own feature in Futabasha’s Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. He was created by the then budding manga artist and writer Kazuhiko Kato under the alias Monkey Punch, a title that has stuck with him to this day. Kato was inspired to create the character after reading many of Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin novels in his youth. After what started as an affectionate parody of Leblanc’s original series, Lupin III soon developed into a very distinct creation and as his popularity with the public soared, so did the mediums Lupin would soon find himself appearing in.

    Other Media

    Film

    Lupin has had a very long running and successful history in film. It began in 1969 with an unreleased animated film by TMS and the Toho Company. After the budgeting disaster experienced from producing the first, Toho decided to shoot the next film in live-action. A few years later another animated film, Lupin Vs. The Clone was produced and successfully made it to the big screen. This seemed to be the push the series needed and as a result, Lupin films have slowly become a permanent staple in the Japanese film industry. Though theatrical releases have become far and in-between, the annual television specials which started airing in 1989 are still going strong and have never missed a release.

    List of Lupin III films

    Television

    Lupin III

    From the first series opening.
    From the first series opening.

    The first Lupin series began airing in 1972 and ran for a shaky twenty-three

    episodes. It featured a very gritty and mature style matching the early issues of the comic it was based on. It was made very clear that Lupin was an anti-hero in this show and often depicted him casually murdering his foes if they were too much of a detriment to his plans. Lupin was only in the thieving game for himself and often saw his plans through to completion, no matter what obstacle lay in his path. This series is sometimes referred to as the Green Jacket series.

    New Lupin III

    From the second series opening.
    From the second series opening.

    The second Lupin series began airing in 1977 and ran for a very successful one hundred fifty-five episodes. Much more humorous and lighthearted in tone,

    this series saw Lupin as more of a lovable scamp than an outright anti-hero. His heists were now more sensational and often saw him failing in comedic ways. Though this series obviously leaned away from the dark timbre of the first series and comics, its huge success continues to inspire the standard and tone for most of the Lupin stories today. This series is sometimes referred to as the Red Jacket series.

    Lupin III

    The third Lupin series began airing in 1984 and ran for a mediocre fifty episodes. Coming fresh off the heels of the highly popular second series, this incarnation of Lupin saw little success. While it featured plenty of humor none of the writing seemed to have the same flare as the previous outing and soon humorously absurd heists simply felt absurd. This in combination with the wildly different character designs left Lupin feeling like a shadow of his former self. This series is sometimes referred to as the Pink Jacket series.

    Lupin

    A live-action series from the Philippines that began airing in 2007 and ran for ninety-five episodes. It took inspiration from both Lupin III and the original Leblanc stories. This unique take on the main character featured André Lupin, a career thief who is looking to get out of the thieving game and marry the love of his life. His father and mentor, not liking the idea of losing his golden goose, sets up an assassination plot against Lupin’s fiancé on their wedding day. The plan goes off without a hitch and a grief stricken Lupin vows to find his brides killer and get revenge, no matter the cost.

    Lupin VIII

    Lupin VIII (also known as Arsène and Company) was to be a collaborative effort between Japanese and French animators to introduce Lupin to western audiences. As cartoons are mainly geared towards children in the west, certain changes had to be made in order to make it appropriate for younger European and American viewers; the largest being Lupin's switch in profession from thief to detective. Although this series focusing on Lupin the Third's ancestor made it far into production, continuous copyright issues ground work on it to a halt and eventually the project fell to ruins. All that remains today are a few animation cells, design sheets and a nearly completed episode containing all but a voice track.

    Lupin III: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine

    The fourth animated series began airing on April 4th, 2012 and is currently planned to run for thirteen episodes.

    Video Games

    SD Lupin III

    Box Art
    Box Art

    A puzzle game released for the Game Boy in 1990. In this title players guided Lupin through a series of stages filled with enemies and traps in an

    effort to reach the safe hidden within. It featured multiple levels based around some of the series most notable foes including; Inspector Zenigata, Mamo, The Count of Cagliostro, Ramuda & Shiguma and Pycal. To counter these enemies and their henchmen Lupin could make use of a radio to call in Jigen or Goemon to dispatch any enemies they came across.

    Treasure of the Sorcerer King

    US Box Art
    US Box Art

    Released for the PS2 in 2002 (and 2004 in the US). This action adventure game puts you in the role of Lupin in the midst of a daring heist in Germany to steal King

    Randolph the Second's treasure. The first half of the game focuses heavily on puzzle solving and stealth based gameplay while the later half is purely action. In the early segments you will have a variety of disguises at your disposal to fool enemies into letting you by. You may also find creative places to hide or an assortment of usually non-lethal weapons to be more appropriate tools in certain instances. Jigen and Goemon are also playable at certain times within the story.

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