Lupin the 3rd Part I

Lupin the 3rd Part I is a Japanese anime television series produced by Tokyo Movie. Part of the Lupin III franchise, it is the first anime television adaptation of the Lupin III manga series created by Monkey Punch. The series was originally broadcast as simply Lupin III (ルパン三世) on Yomiuri TV, Nippon Television and other stations between October 24, 1971 and March 26, 1972. Among English-speaking fans, this series was commonly known as the "Green Jacket" series in reference to Lupin's outfit, but more recently it is now known as "the first Green Jacket" series because of the outfit's return in Part 6.

Production of the show began after the pilot film was approved by the committee, and was originally intended to be released as a stand-alone animated film. Notable industry veterans, including future Ghibli co-founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, were among the show's staff, with the show's animation being handled by A Production (now Shin-Ei Animation). Nevertheless, the show received scrutiny during its run due to its mature themes, leading director Masaaki Osumi's firing and replacement by Miyazaki and Takahata, and was eventually cancelled around 23 out of the planned 26 episodes due to low ratings.

Eventually, the show received positive critical reevaluation as reruns followed to higher ratings and is now considered to be one of the greatest anime ever made. Critics have highlighted the show's place in the animation medium, which was at its darkest age during the late 60s and early 80s, as well as influencing public perception of animation in Japan as catering to a general audience.

Production

Pilot Film

Adapting Monkey Punch's manga into animation was first suggested by animator Gisaburō Sugii to Yutaka Fujioka, the founder of Tokyo Movie Shinsha (then known as Tokyo Movie). Although Fujioka was interested in the idea, Tokyo Movie lacked the financial resources to produce such a project on its own. This led to the creation of a CinemaScope Pilot Film, which was intended to generate interest in the project and secure funding from potential producers. The Pilot Film, consisting of narrated introductions to the five lead characters of the manga, was scripted and animated by Sugii, Yasuo Otsuka, Tsutomu Shibayama and Osamu Kobayashi, with supervision by Masaaki Ōsumi and background art by Reiji Koyama.[1] The music soundtrack was composed by Norio Meida, while the narration dialogue was written by Jiro Saito and Toshiaki Imaizumi.[2] Yasuo Otsuka had left Toei Animation to join Tokyo Movie, as working on Lupin would allow him to use his knowledge and lifelong interest in guns and transport in his animation. The team studied Monkey Punch's style in detail, including the influence of American cartoonist Mort Drucker on the manga, and analysed the characters from all angles; they were initially assisted by Monkey Punch himself until he felt the project was too much for him.[3][4] Scripts and treatments were also written for a feature film adaptation, one of which depicted Lupin before the start of his thieving career as a hippie in Shinjuku, and explained how he came to be pursued by the police and other criminals.[1]

Although the animation quality of the Pilot Film was high for the time in which it was made, few financial backers were interested in the project due to its adult themes of violence and sexuality. After a year, the project was still unsold, and the Pilot Film was adapted for television. The animation of the TV version was mostly identical to the CinemaScope version, but featured a largely different voice cast—the only voices who were retained for both versions were those of Kiyoshi Kobayashi (as Jigen) and Eiko Masuyama (as Fujiko).[2] In 1971, Yomiuri TV agreed to produce a TV adaptation of the manga.[1] By this time, only Otsuka and Ōsumi were still at Tokyo Movie. Ōsumi was assigned as director, and Otsuka became the character designer; Kobayashi provided key animation on several episodes. The series was originally planned for 26 episodes, with synopsis created for each one.[1] Kiyoshi Kobayashi was retained as Jigen for the TV series (and continued to voice the role until 2021), while Gorō Naya and Chikao Ōtsuka, who voiced Goemon in the CinemaScope version of the Pilot Film and Zenigata in the TV version respectively, were assigned the opposite of each other's roles for the series. Yasuo Yamada and Yukiko Nikaido, neither of whom were involved in the Pilot Film, were cast as Lupin and Fujiko. Yamada, known for his dubbing

Production and broadcast

The series was broadcast on Yomiuri TV between October 24, 1971 and March 26, 1972.[6] Early ratings for the series were poor; after the broadcast of the second episode, Ōsumi was asked to make changes to the series in the hopes of broadening its appeal; after refusing to do so, he was fired from his directorial duties. Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata had recently moved from Toei Animation to Tokyo Movie in order to begin pre-production on an adaptation of Pippi Longstocking.[7] When that work was cancelled, they were chosen as replacements for Ōsumi by Otsuka, who had previously worked with them at Toei. Episodes produced following Ōsumi's departure either did not provide a directorial credit, or were credited to "A Production's Team of Directors" in place of Miyazaki and Takahata.[2] Due to the production schedule of the series, many episodes are a mix of influences between Ōsumi, Takahata and Miyazaki.[1]

Release

Numerous home releases have been published in Japan. Emotion and VAP both published VHS releases of the series. For the 25th anniversary of the original manga, VAP released a six volume edition from March 1993.[12][13] A four volume edition was released on July 23, 1999.[14] The series was released in Japan in a DVD box set by VAP on July 4, 2001. The set was limited to 30,000 copies.[15] A Blu-ray box set of four discs was released on December 21, 2008, and on four individual discs on January 21, 2009.[16][17][18] Kodansha launched Lupin III DVD Collection, a bi-weekly magazine on January 27, 2015. Scheduled to run for 45 issues, the magazine includes a DVD containing episodes from the first two Lupin III TV series.[19]

Discotek Media licensed and released the series on DVD in North America as Lupin the 3rd: The First TV Series Complete Collection on June 26, 2012.[20] The release includes audio commentaries on several episodes, essays and liner notes as well as both versions of the Pilot Film.[21]

Several releases have been made of the music from the series. Two singles were released on December 10, 1971 and January 20, 1972.[22] The Original BGM Collection was released as an LP by Nippon Columbia on March 25, 1980.[22] This was later reissued on CD on March 14, 2007 for the 40th anniversary of the original Manga.[23][24] Music from the series was also released on two albums, Lupin III 71' Me Tracks published by VAP on February 21, 1999[25] and Lupin III The 1st Series Music Anthology, published by Nippon Columbia on March 21, 2003.[26] The songs and background music on both albums were using tapes that had sound effects layered on-top of the music. Due to a loss of the original master tape for the background music, the music from the series was recreated by Takeo Yamashita and released as Rebirth From '71 Series on January 21, 2003.

In North America, a locally-produced dub of the series known as The Viper aired in the mid-1970s.[29][30] In 2021, in honor of Lupin III's 50th anniversary, an English dub of the first episode of Part I was announced by Lex Lang with the help of Sentai Filmworks.[31] The English voice cast of prior Lupin III dubs from Part II and Doug Erholtz of Part IV onward will reprise their roles for the project with Richard Epcar serving as director and providing a 9-minute video introduction.[32] The dubbed episode received a limited theater release alongside the first two episodes of Part VI.[33] A YouTube release was originally planned by TMS

On December 13, 2021, Discotek Media announced Part I would be released on Blu-ray with all 23 episodes restored from their original 35 mm film sources along with a restored soundtrack and sound effects from the original master tapes.[36] It also contains liner notes, rare production art, and a new English dub of the entire series.[37] It was released on May 31, 2022.

native name	ルパン三世
based on	Lupin the 3rd by Monkey Punch
director	Masaaki Ōsumi A Production Director Group
executive producer	Yutaka Fujioka (Tokyo Movie) Juichi Sano (Yomiuri TV)
music	Charlie Kosei Takeo Yamashita
company	Yomiuri TV Tokyo Movie
network	YTV, NTV
country	Japan
language	Japanese
first aired	October 24, 1971
last aired	March 26, 1972
num episodes	23
list episodes	List of Lupin the 3rd Part I episodes

Lupin the 3rd Part I

Premise

Cast

Production

Pilot Film

Production and broadcast

Release

Reception

External links

References