In Japan, the character of Arsène Lupin III is like Batman, Doctor Who, or James Bond—he’s been around forever and continues to be popular. After premiering in Manga series by Monkey Punch beginning in 1976, the Lupin III franchise spawned a second Manga, three anime series, an anime miniseries, seven feature films, 20 video games (!), and yearly Christmas specials. All that for a roguish, violent thief who womanized and exploited people. Everybody loves an anti-hero, right?
Well, the adventures of the dapper bandit and his equally Robin-Hoodish pals are set to continue this fall in a brand new series of Lupin the Third adventures. A trailer (above) has been released in Japan and from the animation style, you can see the creators are very much keeping the visual style the same or similar to the way it was in the 1970s, with visible pencil marks, even though, surely, the 2D art was all drawn digitally as most shows nowadays are. If you’re at all familiar with the shows or films, this trailer captures the spirit of everything that makes Lupin III such a fun character.
The whole gang is back: besides Lupin, we have his trusty right-hand man, Daisuke Jigen; the stoic samurai who owes Lupin his life, Goemon Ishikawa XIII; the classic femme fatale who is both ally and rival, Fujiko Mine; and Lupin’s doofus of an arch nemesis, Inspector Zenigata. However, added to this series is a new character—Lupin’s wife Rebecca Rossellini. That’s bound to change up Lupin’s devil-may-care lifestyle.
Several of the Lupin the 3rd series and films are available to watch on Hulu. One of those films was The Castle of Cagliostro directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which isn’t the most faithful version as Lupin is rather more nice than he is nasty, but still worth looking at.
The new series of Lupin III, which is said to blend both the humorous and dangerous aspects of the character, will begin airing in Italy on August 29th and Japan on October 1st.
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HT: Daily Dot
Image: TMS Entertainment
Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!
