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[Dragoon En Regalia]

Main website here (NSFW due to side-boob and nipple—but it's Fujiko Mine, so...)

First announcement (Anime News Network, 03/01/12)

TOHO Cinemas' announcement for a 40th anniversary Lupin III anime event lists a promotional video for a "new television series premiering in April." According to the announcement, TOHO Cinemas Roppongi Hills theater will also screen the new "Lupin Ikka Seizoroi" (Lupin Family Lineup) short from this month's Lupin III Master File Blu-ray Disc/DVD release, as well as the top-ranked episode from each of the first three Lupin III television series. Lupin III manga creator Monkey Punch and "surprise guests" are scheduled to attend the March 18 event.

Second announcement (ANN, 03/09/12)

A new Lupin III television anime series will air starting in April for the first time in 27 years. The new series, titled Lupin the Third - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna (Lupin III - The Woman Called Fujiko Mine), will air on NTV starting on April 4 at 1:29 a.m.

Sayo Yamamoto (Michiko to Hatchin) will direct the 13 episode series, making her the first female director on the Lupin III series. Redline director Takeshi Koike will serve as animation director and character designer, and AnoHana's Mari Okada will handle the series composition (ed: series organizer/writer, not music composer/arranger). Kanichi Kurita will play Lupin, Kiyoshi Kobayashi will play Daisuke Jigen, Daisuke Namikawa will play Goemon Ishikawa, Miyuki Sawashiro will play Fujiko Mine, and Kouichi Yamadera will play Inspector Zenigata.

Last October, the voice cast for the Lupin III anime franchise changed for the first time in 16 years. The voice cast for Lupin the Third - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna is reflecting that change.

Very new stuff, and a brilliant way to celebrate one of the most recognizable anime franchises in Japan. And there's a lot of new blood and stylization being injected into the franchise with a new director, new seiyuus, new animation, and even a new perspective!

The series revolves around the character of Fujiko Mine, depicting her and the rest of the Lupin III cast during their younger days. The series will reportedly capture the "sensuality" present in Monkey Punch's original Lupin III manga in its "daring interpretation" of the franchise.

A premise all men can agree on. There is also some promo art included in the second article, but I can't use imgur on my iPad right now. Feel free to send me an upload link or post it yourself.

Now—discuss.

 

[Noirulus]

It's worrying what Okada will do to the humor of the series, but otherwise this looks so good. Can't wait.

 

[distantmantra]

Koichi Yamadera as Zenigatta will be awesome.

 

[Dresden]

Folks in the anime thread were waiting for more info, or something.

Anyways, hype.

 

[relaxor]

This is awesome.

 

[Instro]

Folks in the anime thread were waiting for more info, or something.

Anyways, hype.

Poor 7th, or duckroll, or whoever was making the thread.

But w.e, fucking KoikeLupin yo.

 

[Jex]

Based on the information we have so far I'd say there's every reason to be excited for this upcoming title.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Duckroll or whoever can make a more polished OT—I just found out about this and decided to break the news. News thread doesn't hurt.

Either way, I'm very excited about this. Good director (who's worked on Lupin-ish stuff before), the fan-favorite character designer, and a whole bunch of character development that we haven't gotten yet. Knowing more about Fujiko's past with characters like Pycal could be very interesting, and it looks like this'll be the most stylized Lupin yet. Probably not on a Monkey Punch level, but the website alone shows that they're going to try and push their limits with this.

 

[Krev]

Pretty exciting team working on it, outside of Okada.

 

[Lafiel]

This is going be the AOTY. Koike and Yamamoto don't fail me!

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Hoping it lives up to the original manga, though a lot of people with nostalgia for the red jacket series might find it strange.

 

[spindashing]

Yesssss! Hype.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Hoping it lives up to the original manga, though a lot of people with nostalgia for the red jacket series might find it strange.

It already looks like an ode to the first season (Green Jacket), with less overt silly-ness and more stylized action and thriller shit. And by and by is that an awesome thought.

 

[DarkKyo]

Looks awesome! My only real exposure to Lupin was when they aired the series on Adult Swim. I enjoyed what I saw quite a bit. Still need to see the movies though...

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

It already looks like an ode to the first season (Green Jacket), with less overt silly-ness and more stylized action and thriller shit. And by and by is that an awesome thought.

The green jacket episodes are by far my favorite. I can't wait.

 

[El Sloth]

I've never been exposed to the Lupin series. Where's the best place to start? I see there are a lot of movies, any in particular worth watching?

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Finally, Fujiko as the titular character!

 

[LeleSocho]

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

I've never been exposed to the Lupin series. Where's the best place to start? I see there are a lot of movies, any in particular worth watching?

Lupin is to Japan as Doctor Who is to Britain (aside from genre differences). There are several different eras of Lupin anime productions (Green, Red, and Pink Jackets, now TV specials and Fujiko), manga (Monkey Punch originals and newer stuff), and other various products and corss-overs et al. Green Jacket is more focused on complex intertwining plots, while Red and Pink Jacket eras are more about comedic action and insanity. Either way, it's the original Japanese quasi-spy anime, albeit with theivery and sensuality beyond all belief. You'll like it—hopefully.

Green isn't my favorite era, but it's definitely very close to topping off Red for that position.

Lele, that .gif placement is great.

 

[Instro]

I've never been exposed to the Lupin series. Where's the best place to start? I see there are a lot of movies, any in particular worth watching?

I've only seen Castle of Cagliostro myself. That's the most popular and well liked entry in the series afaik.

 

[spindashing]

Finally, Fujiko as the titular character!

.

 

[jett]

I don't know about the whole young angle, but I'll give it a chance. I love Lupin. Between this and Saint Seiya I think reviving my old favorites is the only way to make me interested in anime again.

 

[El Sloth]

I've only seen Castle of Cagliostro myself. That's the most popular and well liked entry in the series afaik.

I guess I'll start with this then.

Lupin is to Japan as Doctor Who is to Britain (aside from genre differences). There are several different eras of Lupin anime productions (Green, Red, and Pink Jackets, now TV specials and Fujiko), manga (Monkey Punch originals and newer stuff), and other various products and corss-overs et al. Green Jacket is more focused on complex intertwining plots, while Red and Pink Jacket eras are more about comedic action and insanity. Either way, it's the original Japanese quasi-spy anime, albeit with theivery and sensuality beyond all belief. You'll like it—hopefully.

Green isn't my favorite era, but it's definitely very close to topping off Red for that position.

Lele, that .gif placement is great.

I see, I'll look into the Green Jacket stuff after the movie and check the other stuff out if I end up liking the series. Thanks!

 

[Noirulus]

I've never been exposed to the Lupin series. Where's the best place to start? I see there are a lot of movies, any in particular worth watching?

We need some ranking lists up in here. I've only watched Tokyo Crisis and Castle of Cagliostro, both were pretty awesome. Thinking of picking up Twilight Gemini which is also good according to my friend.

edit: Jesus, the DVDs are fucking expensive.

 

[wenis]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

 

[Snaku]

This is so long overdue. Fucking finally.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Castle of Cagliostro is good Lupin, but it's not typical Lupin. It was done by Hayao Miyazaki, who took over part of the way through the Green Jacket series and added more comedy and light-heartedness into the show to combat faltering interest and ratings (which is unfortunate, though the new direction for this series looks more promising for GJ fans). So, generally-speaking, CoC is less about the heist and more about fighting the despicable noble and saving the princess. No surprise there. Productions like The Last Job, Fuma, and etc. are more standard and reflect the majority of the Lupin franchise's various stylistic quirks and conventions.

For the record: Lupin has never been a dead franchise. It's got enough legacy status and good funding to have a yearly TV special, and small-scale TV productions like A Woman Named Fujiko Mine are possibly going to become more and more frequent with new staff and opportunities to market.

 

[Geneijin]

Mari Okada huh? duckroll's surely ecstatic.

 

[wenis]

I'd love to have this background art on the site as a poster...amazing.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Not familiar with her work, but it sounds like she's not too good at all. Here's hoping they can play the Monkey Punch-styled stuff safe enough to avoid any of her stylings and focus everything on great directing and visual style. Then, everything would hopefully fall into place.

—And this better get subbed relatively quickly, because I have the sinking suspicion that no big publisher will want to tackle something like this.

Some folks on the LupintheIII forum(s) have cropped out a full image. It would be a kick-ass poster to have on my closet door.

 

[zoku88]

So hyped for this. Loved (Red Jacket) Lupin and the Castle movie.


Never watched any of the Green Jacket, I believe.

 

[TheKaeptain]

I'm in.

 

[Reknoc]

Pretty excited for this. The only Lupin I've seen is a few episodes of series 3, Castle of Cagliostro and Secret of Mamo, which I loved.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

*snip*

Sorry about that. Keep talking.

 

[Enron]

dun dun dunnnn

 

[cajunator]

You guys are fucking ruthless.

 

[Tizoc]

Heh didn't someone post in the new Saint Seiya anime thread about wanting a new Lupin series?
Will give this a watch, hope it's good.

 

[Lafiel]

Heh didn't someone post in the new Saint Seiya anime thread about wanting a new Lupin series?
Will give this a watch, hope it's good.

Pretty sure he was referring to this. As the series has been announced for a number of days.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Any news about this has been buried either in the Saint-Seiya thread or in the general Winter Anime thread. At any rate, the news needs to be separated and given maximum coverage.

Here's hoping for a new music composer/arranger. I think Yoko Kanno's too busy with Apollon to do any work for Lupin, but Yuji Ohno's not going to live forever, and his modern style won't jive too well with the direction of this production.

 

[2th]

yay

 

[blind51de]

I'm pleased that they've finally recast the gang (except Jigen for some reason). The original voices were getting way too old. I know there are a lot of seiyuu-otaku who probably want to hear the same voices get dragged back to the studio

 

[MetatronM]

That's some pretty interesting staff. Will definitely check this out.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

For anyone curious about Lupin, Hulu has two movies available for free.

The Castle Of Cagliostro (directed by Hayao Miyazaki!)

The Secret of Mamo

 

[Urban Scholar]

Oh word?!

 

[The Boat]

Oh yeaah! Looking forward to it!

 

[RedSwirl]

Sayo Yamamoto (Michiko to Hatchin) will direct the 13 episode series

Awww yeah.

I only saw the Adult Swim episodes though. How much of it was that?

 

[GuitarAtomik]

LOVE the promo art. Can't wait to see some footage.

 

[MetatronM]

Awww yeah.

I only saw the Adult Swim episodes though. How much of it was that?

Adult Swim only aired 26 episodes from the 155 episode Red Jacket series (which is the second of the three Lupin TV series).

 

[Azure J]

Anime GAF and now greater OT GAF have me very hyped for this as does curiosities stemming from my AS exposure to the red jacket series. Can't wait.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Adult Swim only aired 26 episodes from the 155 episode Red Jacket series (which is the second of the three Lupin TV series).

Correct. They were airing some great dubs by some Canadian studio—Geneon-published, and I loved Lupin's voice in it. Red Jacket is definitely the middle-of-the-road choice for those interested in the anime, between the stylized brutality and subtlety of Green Jacket eps and the stylized comedy antics of the Pink Jacket eps. Also has the best music, though I liked Takeo Yamashita's slow, "cool" jazz and fusion stylings.