Lupin the 3rd anyone?

[Erik_Twice]

For some reason I kind of want to read/watch something in this series. I've only read an old volume of the manga with several printing errors many years ago and I don't think it's the way to do it.

Any recommendations in particular?

[marurun]

I haven't read any of the manga, and I had trouble getting into the TV series when it finally got brought over, but a couple of the movies are just great. Castle of Cagliostro was one with which Miyazaki was involved, and is a fantastic movie. The Fuuma Conspiracy is entertaining as well.

[Erik_Twice]

I just saw The Castle of Cagliostro and man, it's a reaaaaally fun movie. It's like a Bond movie with all the boring stuff replaced by cartoon fun and a silly protagonist. Really loved it.

I'll check out the other one you mention

[Nemoide]

I love Lupin III in most incarnations of the character! I read a few volumes of the original manga and wasn't so wild about it... I have a LOT of Lupin in my collection. I even have laserdiscs of The Legend of the Gold of Babylon (not a good movie) and the episodes of the second series directed by Miyazaki (they're fun but not his best).

I really loved the original TV series with the green-jacket Lupin. The early episodes have a "for adults" feel that got toned down later on and the later episodes are directed by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and have a similar vibe to Castle of Cagliostro.

There was also a TV series made a few years ago called "The Woman Called Fujiko Mine" (or Mine Fujiko if you're using the Japanese name-order). Lupin is actually more of a secondary character and Fujiko takes the spotlight. It does some really interesting things with the characters and has a twist ending that I absolutely love.

As far as movies go, Secret of Mamo (aka Mystery of Mamo) is probably my favorite but it's also a really weird one. Castle of Cagliostro is great too and is a lot less divisive!

The second TV series with the red-jacket Lupin is probably the most iconic version of the character. Episodes are fairly lighthearted and are always self-contained cases. There are no weird "Lupin being a rapist" scenes but he's still totally lecherous around Fujiko. It aired on TV when I was in high school which is how I learned of the character; I think it's a lot of fun!

...man, now I want to rewatch some Lupin.

[Tanooki]

Castle of Cagliostro is a great one if you're interested as it's easy to find and find cheap. The movies though have a different production quality to them than the old 70s/80s 30min tv cartoons but they're cool too. Funimation had their hands in almost all of it coming out for a long time and they put out these 10 movies individually and then in a pair of now grossly overpriced boxed sets (of which I have 1 of the 2 annoyingly.) The manga is and isn't like the movies, it's more dark, skanky a bit as Lupin is a pervy sex fiend even more in that, but it's amazing. They're out of print, and I've got the entire set of manga, but I do not have the smaller 9 book 'Most Wanted' follow up set of manga books (that Tokyopop put out both of in the 90s.) I really should get back Cagliostro and just bite the bullet on the box set other half.

Lupin is one my long standing still lasting interests in anime which is pretty much gone other than Disney Miyazaki releases and I let those go too but Lupin hangs on. If it's of any interest to you there's a basic fun action/puzzler game for the original GB and a really amazing platforming Super Famicom release worth messing with as well as I had owned both of those in the past. I still have a plush stick on(glass) Lupin hanging around here too.

And with that now the lupin theme is rattling around in my head -- thanks.

[fastbilly1]

Red jacket all the way.

[Erik_Twice]

I've been checking out your suggestions, so it took me a long time to answer, sorry.

The franchise as a whole really gives me a good vibe, better or worse it seems each interpretation is fun and doesn't make me regret putting time into them. I have no idea on what has been released here in Spain or in the UK or the States so I decided to first look around before making any kind of purcharse.

I've recognized the first chapter of the manga as the stuff I read several years ago. It's very dirty and punk. I wonder when it grows the beard, because the initial chapter is very rough.

The Green Jacket series is surprisingly interesting despite its age. The print I've found has great coloring and I thought some of the poses and faces were very fun. Sadly, the budget is incredibly low and the animators are forced to cheat practically every other shot which relegates it to curiosity status. EDIT: Not at all, I've seen two other chapters and they are got me hooked.

The Red Jacket starts with the same problems as the Green one, but the budget increases over time and some of the latter chapters are not really much worse than a modern anime in the two-frame mouth department. Sadly, the prints I've found are faded and it looks very poorly.

The Pink Jacket series' animation is kind of kitsch and deranged which is always divisive. I don't like that style much and the low budget and ugly pastel colours will probably relegate it to the unwatched pile.

I haven't seen any of the other movies or special or anything like that but I'm told The Mystery of Mamo is a good one so I'll watch it next.

[Tanooki]

Mystery of Mamo is good, many will say that Castle of Cagliostro is the best, but it's probably half way due to the fact that Miyazaki (later to form/head Studio Ghibli aka the Disney of Japan) just a few years later.

If you're sticking to the US, those 2 came out movie wise, but after that there were 10 others compiled after the fact in two box sets. They're retired for awhile now and sadly NOT cheap unless you hit a lucky break (which if someone doesn't dead beat on me I will have too this week.)

Lupin the 3rd Movie Pack - First Haul

Voyage to Danger, Dragon of Doom, The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure, Dead or Alive and The Secret of Twilight Gemini

Lupin the 3rd Movie Pack - Final Haul

Island of Assassins, Farewell to Nostradamus, Crisis in Toykyo, The Columbus Files and Missed By a Dollar

You can read up on the movies all over the place, there really isn't a sub-par or bad one in the lot as I guess Funimation was a bit picky with their releases or something?

I have far less experience with the TV series, but one of them did hit the US, Cartoon Network ran it for some years on TV and many more through their Toonami website. They ran the 1977-1980 series of the show dubbed which the imdb rating hits an 8.1/10 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159192/ This series is the red jacket Lupin you spoke of.

Green jacket Lupin is darker by far, close to the grit of the manga I have here on my shelf but I had to say I've never seen the cartoon. The pink series was very short and was inconsistent and crap in production values lost between trying to be both the previous and fouling it up, never seen that either but read up on it and don't care to most likely.

Look if you really want to dig into it, this is a good resource here that's easy to navigate: http://lupin.wikia.com/wiki/Lupin_III_Wiki

It even has the manga listings that made it into english, the video games, and other odd stuff. It's no no way complete on the screwy merchandising stuff, but the basics for the rest are a good reference.


By the way if you want to see some of the TV series, they appear to be up on HULU but I have no idea how much of it is.
http://www.hulu.com/lupin-the-third-part-1
http://www.hulu.com/lupin-the-third-part-2

[ninjainspandex]

Jesus those DVD packs are rediculously expensive, ahh well off to the Piratebay i go(it's back you know )
I used to love this show, I remember it was on late at night on Cartoon network back in the late 90's early 2000s, I also used to watch Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin the wandering samurai and Cowboy Bebop. Man I miss Toonami

[Tanooki]

You got that right.

I had the First Haul from years back, many, paid not much for it online. The I've always had the final Haul elude me, but I bagged one from an online site at the end of last week but I'm waiting to see a tracking # on it. I paid not much for it, so I trust nothing until I see that at least.

I want to get Secret of Mamo and Castle of Cagiostro back in my hands too, beyond that, not so sure. There are some so-so ovas from the 2000s I could probably live without.