Lupin III Blue Jacket next spring

[Spark Of Spirit]

I've read pieces of the original Lupin manga.

Don't really like it. The anime series are far more enjoyable as a whole.

[Foggle]

I've read pieces of the original Lupin manga.

Don't really like it. The anime series are far more enjoyable as a whole.

It's easily the weakest take on the character and universe, but it can be fairly enjoyable when it isn't overly skeezy.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Late on this, but great write-up Foggle! I enjoyed Jigen's Gravestone quite a bit myself, and it has gotten me even more excited for the new series than I already was (especially with that reveal at the end), which is saying something considering how pumped for it I've been. I also agree all those scenes with Fujiko were rather uncomfortable and unnecessary would hope such stuff won't show up in the new series. One thing I disagree with is that this is closer to the original manga tone-wise, because it felt much more serious than a Monkey Punch story would be, but in terms of aesthetics and the kind of story it was, I could see it have been something Monkey Punch would have come up with, though the ending the would probably have been a more ironic/comedic payoff.

On that subject, I can't say I agree with you guys that the manga is the weakest take on the characters and universe, myself. I'm not sure how much you guys have read of it, but I personally have read the entire first series and most of the World's Most Wanted volumes that were released in english, and I like 'em a lot. I think it's great 1960's MAD magazine-esque inspired humor interspersed with a interesting satirical stories, outlandish stories, and a few weird sort of dark and surreal stories - whatever it seemed Monkey Punch felt like drawing that particular week/month/however often it was serialized. While not always hilarious, there's always this energy and flow to it that makes it fun to read for me. While some parts might be unpleasant in some way, I wouldn't say it's ever all that serious. In fact, I don't think anything about or in the manga is ever really meant to be taken seriously. Even the "serious" stories usually end in a way that's more supposed to come off as a comedic payoff, or at least some kind of dark humor. I do agree, though, that I was never much for the skeezy parts, but I never felt they were too prevalent or overly offensive either, at least not to the extent they turned me off reading a story and putting the manga down. While I do like some of the anime adaptions more on the whole (mostly the Red Jacket series and TWCFM), the manga still ranks among my favorites, and I think there's a lot of good in it that you don't see many people give it credit for either because 1. the anime versions are more to most people's tastes or 2. no one has read it because it's out of print and some volumes are hard to find and extremely pricey to buy, which I think is a real shame.

[Foggle]

To clarify, saying that Gravestone was close in tone to the Monkey Punch manga was bad wording on my part. I think it captured his style of character interactions and the darker/more bizarre aspects of the series particularly well, but yeah, it wasn't quite silly enough to be super reminiscent of the original work. Still, I think it's the closest film adaptation out there besides Mystery of Mamo.

I don't think the manga is bad by any means, and I probably need to read more of it before I can say definitively, but I think Lupin III just loses a lot of its appeal for me without the voice acting and music.

[LumRanmaYasha]

That's understandable. Like I said, I do prefer the best Lupin anime media to the manga, and much of their appeal to me are in it's excellent voice acting and music. That said, though the manga lacks those things, I still find it highly entertaining in it's own right.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Discotek has licensed Jigen's Gravestone. They will be giving it an english dub as well.

Huh. I thought FUNi would get it. Well, hopefully Discotek will still give it a good dub.

[LumRanmaYasha]

So, the spring season has started and we still haven't heard anything about when the new Lupin anime will air. Today I found this post by a Lupin tumblr that claims that the series is well in production and should still come out this season, either late this month or early May, but a release date just hasn't been set yet. Apparently there has been regular updates coming out about the series that's been made known in Japan, and there was a panel for it at Anime Japan that showed off new visuals and teasers, but it seems most anime news sites on our side just haven't been making note of any of this, for some reason. Here are some production pics, screenshots, and links I found on their tumblr:

Animation Clip

[gunswordfist]

  I have so much catching up to do. Lupin is going to kill all my free time.

[goody2shoes]

You don't need to catch up to Lupin.

[gunswordfist]

I meant with other anime series. I said something similar to CX before so he knew what I meant.

Anyway, I love that art!

[LumRanmaYasha]

The anime is now slated for a Fall release. Yuji Ohno has also been confirmed to return as the series composer.

[gunswordfist]

I..I  :shakeshakeshake:ok, now my patience is gone. I want this now!

[LumRanmaYasha]

NEW PV! 

I am so hyped right now. This show cannot come out soon enough! 

[Foggle]

MY HYPE

Please wonderful Italian ladies/gentlemen, please give us English subtitles in May. Amen.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I am interested.