!!This is a Import of a Existing piece of work I submitted as a college final in the woes of this year. This is meant to be read with no prior knowledge of Lupin III so it does explain the premise if you have experience with this media before I understand if you skip the first half !!
If I got anything wrong please contact me so I can ammend it as I am not a perfect source for all of this as I primarily focus on VHS history than wide scope topics.
Lupin III and it's Cultural Impact
Lupin the third is likely something you haven’t heard much about or nothing at all. The underlying influences of this show ripple out to the day though. Lupin the third is a Manga by an artist who goes under the name Monkey Punch the first manga chapter releasing August 10th 1967. Lupin the third is a manga about the grandson of the fictional thief Arsene Lupin, though the thing about this is that Monkey Punch did not hold the rights to the name at all at the time. Japan did not enforce trade copyrights at the time making this entirely legal in the country itself but prone to issues when localized. This series is over 50 years old which is impressively long lasting and still ongoing.
Lupin III as a franchise revolves around five main characters. The title character Lupin III is a successful thief that’s crass and childish but utterly successful of a thief pulling off impossible heists. Lupin is often seen in a jacket and tie with a black dress shirt and pants the color of the tie and the jacket itself changes depending on which series it is. Often because of this Lupin III series are referred to by Lupin’s jacket color. The first series of Lupin is called “Green Jacket” because of his green jacket. All of the character’s colors change depending on the series but their designs are consistently the same or similar.
Lupin’s iconic and loyal partner is known as Jigen Daisuke, a sharpshooter with a hat covering his eyes but he never misses. Jigen is often dressed in dark colors and sports a gruff and standoff-ish personality he does not hesitate to call into question the gang’s antics. Jigen is based heavily on American gangsters and is seen in the series doing hired dirty work for others.
The cast has a iconic woman of the group called Fujiko mine often either seen as only a love interest to Lupin to sometimes being Lupin’s girlfriend. Fujiko is also occasionally known to be the girlfriend of another cast member known as Goemon. Fujiko is known for being a manipulative and sharp woman often being the one to get away with the treasure and block Lupin’s advances. Fujiko can be seen getting friendly with the enemy or as a valuable asset to the gang depending on episode, series or movie.
The fourth addition to the cast is a samurai Goemon Ishikawa XIII descendant of the original Ishikawa Goemon, a historical outlaw figure. He is a more occasional addition and is a more quiet and centered individual. Originally Goemon intended on killing Lupin as he intended on stealing from him but seeing the thief’s skill after his failed attempts at killing him wishes to learn from him instead.
The final part of the cast is Koichi Zenigata but is often only referred too as Inspector Zenigata of Interpol while this character was considered to be a descendant of a fictional detective known as Heiji Zenigata this was never fully committed to and is more loosely based. He has both been portrayed as a very confident rival to Lupin to simply being a bumbling police officer no matter what if Lupin is up to something Zenigata is always on the case.
Lupin III’s Journey to the US How Lupin got to the west is a tale of thievery or well known as piracy. In the 80s the only way to watch what we know as modern anime was through fansubbing which was often done by illegally copying tapes and subtitling their audio. Distributing these tapes was often done entirely through mail and email oftentimes many would run their sites to distribute on the hosting platform geocities. Many times people would send their money and blank tape of choice by mail to let this fansubber copy it and send it back. The first Lupin tape is thought to be an unlicensed C/FO tape of LUPIN III THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO.
LUPIN III THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is one of the most well known Lupin III movies it is specifically a movie created by Hayao Miyazaki. This movie was this director’s first movie. Hayao Miyazaki worked on the majority of Lupin’s first TV adaptation as co-director this being his first big career break. He would then subsequently direct LUPIN III THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO. This movie has been referenced countless times and Hayao Miyazaki’s choices in the first adaptation of TV Lupin reflect on later versions of Lupin such as Fujiko either being captured or double crossing the cast or the cast taking on more sinister groups than themselves. Hayao Miyazaki is an incredibly influential director going on to help form Studio Ghibli some of the aspects he incorporated into Lupin continuing on in his own work and the franchise itself without him.
While the first ever licensed dub to occur is the LUPIN III MYSTERY OF MAMO from 1979 not many have ever seen this dub as it was a theatrical release with no home release to ever exist. There are both evidence of both CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO and MYSTERY OF MAMO theatrical releases but so little is known about them its hard to give them credit for introducing Lupin to fans.
The first ever easily obtainable VHS release of a Lupin III tape was RUPAN III THE FUMA CONSPIRACY from 1994 licensed under the small north carolina company AnimEigo. AnimEigo was a rather small company it’s only difference between most fansubbers and them were their ability to obtain subbing rights from Japan as their set up was very rudimentary and done originally by two college students. Though the act of piracy is what kept these titles accessible to the everyday person. Fansubs fueled the initial popularity of Lupin III especially because Japan was not interested in the western distribution market in the 1980s. Examples as to why was often traced back to how heavily edited official releases of eastern media were for example Studio Ghibli's early english release Nausicaa being edited into a more child friendly “Warriors of the wind”. This made piracy the playground for anime though today we have modern streaming services to remedy.
Despite the name Lupin III not always setting off many bells it has caught the eyes of many such as Steven Spielberg being one of them. Specifically during the Cannes Film festival offhandedly calling the car chase scene in the movie LUPIN III CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO one of the greatest ever filmed. This car chase itself is referenced in other forms of media such as the Teen Titans TV show.
Lupin’s Impact on Media
Lupin’s own influence lingers in its own country especially which makes sense given its the media’s home country. Lupin can be seen referenced in shows like FLCL in which two characters are seen roleplaying as the characters Fujiko mine and Lupin III for a one off scene. Cowboy bebop is the most obvious most of its main characters are based off of Lupin’s main four thief characters. Along with that it takes inspiration from the very jazz heavy and noir atmosphere. Pokemon is even seen taking some inspiration having their interpol character Looker sport Zenigata’s iconic outfit in his design.
Lupin’s inspiration can be seen in a more recent western work called The Bad Guys by Dreamworks in a interview with the director LUPIN III THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is quoted to be a direct inspiration towards the film. This film is also inspired by FLCL and Cowboy Bebop two shows who share some references and inspiration from the titular Lupin III. The Bad Guys feel more evident than most examples because of its well dressed Wolf protagonist. Lupin III is often translated into Wolf in english as that is what his name is based in itself these two thieves share a lot in common.
Lupin III is no stranger to crossing over with other iconic shows in Japan as well. Lupin III had its first crossover in 2009 with LUPIN III VS DETECTIVE CONAN, a crossover television special. This being followed up by a movie simply titled LUPIN III VS DETECTIVE CONAN: THE MOVIE which came out 4 years later in 2013. It borrows similar elements from the first having Detective Conan try and capture Lupin III. LUPIN III VS CATS EYE is the newest crossover to date though coming out January of 2023. This movie is about these groups of thieves facing off for a mutual target of 3 paintings.
Lupin In Italy
Italy is one of the few countries that has made Lupin fully it’s second home. Lupin III came to Italy in 1987 when Mediaset bought the rights to air the show. Mediaset lacks teh rights to home releases therefore in 1992 is when Lupin III started having consistent home releases in Italy. Lupin III unlike in the US Lupin has not faded into the background of public conscious as it has taken up prime time television slots since the 80s it’s airing rights being owned by Mediaset. Mediaset is the largest commercial broadcaster in Italy at one point airing on its flagship channel Carnale 5 but is currently on its channel Italia 1.
Lupin is considered rather culturally influential in the country of Itally having street art often of the character Jigen Daisuke pasted among many cigarette shops around the country. Italy having intentionally put up murals and paintings of these iconic characters on their building as for the love of the show. Such as Leggenda della Grande Onda which was created with the support of ERASMUS + and The Torino di Sangro Community.
Italy has a very sweet spot in its heart for Lupin even having its own officially licensed comic series that’s exclusive to Italy. LUPIN III MILLENNIUM is a comic series by Kappa Edizioni little is fully known of the plot of this series but about 4-5 chapters of the series have been translated into english about this said series. The comic features a wide array of art styles and can focus on various different characters of our well known cast. There is no other instance of countries outside of Japan getting their own exclusive comics.
Lupin III has had a varied reach in various countries from our own western country of America, to its own influences and crossovers to its own country of Japan and finally with it’s vast influence in Italy. This show has had a wide cultural reach for its 50 year and still ongoing run as a TV show with movies and special releases. While it does have a bigger influence in other countries. Lupin III has had recent steps forward to more US releases with the first dub of Lupin III Green jacket or known as Part I releasing in 2021 putting it more forward to public consciousness with a young adult audience 50 years after its original release.
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