Toonami

[Peanutbutter]

Ugh, that would be my guess. I don't get why casuals won't even give Lupin a try.

I love the Lupin series, but I think it may have a lot to do with casual viewers not wanting to get into a series where the main cast are criminals. Unless I'm mistaken, Death Note never did anything special on Toonami when it was on. Shows like Cowboy Bebop or Stand Alone Complex did better (though not at DB level), and they were about bounty hunters and cops. Most American pop culture fans want to see traditional heroes when it comes to animation. A lot of people may be burnt out on all the anti-heroes that have prominent on-and-off since the nineties.


It could also be aesthetics. I can see Lupin and Jigen being considered too ugly to people, and they might not be impressed by the art style. Its unfortunate, but some people just won't get past things like that on the surface. I can't help wondering if Lupin would succeed if there was a faithful American live action series.



Then again, there is also the timeslot always being late at night. Adult Swim could put Toonami at the early hours on Saturday with Lupin sandwiched between Dragon Ball Super and any other ratings-grabber, but the same could be said for about any other show on Toonami.

[Avaitor]

You're right about Death Note not doing well on [as], but I think most things not Bleach or FMA just didn't do that hot back then- the series did end up doing very well stateside elsewhere.

Maybe aesthetics has some part in it, but I think Lupin would have been a tough sale anywhere on the block. The thing of note is that a lot of people dropped off after HXH, and a handful came back for Naruto.

[Lord Dalek]

There were also things like trying to capitalize on the popularity of Cowboy Bebop and how it connected (superficially) to Lupin. And TMS Entertainment's habit of enforcing stupid localization changes to their properties that in many ways damaged the creator's original intent (although this effected Detective Conan more than Lupin around that time). Its ultimately just another case of "Once a failure always a failure", kinda like One Piece.

[Peanutbutter]

I remember some cringey random pop culture references in Lupin's first run, but I don't think the original version would have done more than maybe a tad better.

[gunswordfist]

I remember some cringey random pop culture references in Lupin's first run, but I don't think the original version would have done more than maybe a tad better.

That's just in the dub..

[Avaitor]

I tried watching the dub for Part 2, and while the voice acting is fine, the references are just cringey. Why did Fujiko namedrop The Simpsons when it wouldn't exist for over a decade after this show was made?

[LumRanmaYasha]

Guess I'm an outlier, because I love the part 2 dub, references and all.  That cast are the voices I associate most with those characters, which is why I'm so happy they came back for Part IV.

[Peanutbutter]

I remember some cringey random pop culture references in Lupin's first run, but I don't think the original version would have done more than maybe a tad better.

That's just in the dub..

Yes, because we're talking about Toonami.

[Foggle]

My first exposure to Lupin III was in my high school Japanese class when the teacher showed us Castle of Cagliostro with the original audio, after which I proceeded to watch the original TV series which has never been dubbed, so I'm more attached to the Japanese voices myself.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I was introduced to Lupin through the Part 2 dub, which is why I'm so partial to it. Most of the shows I prefer dubbed are because I saw them that way first.

[Foggle]

I was introduced to Lupin through the Part 2 dub, which is why I'm so partial to it. Most of the shows I prefer dubbed are because I saw them that way first.

Same for me, and likewise when it comes to the original voice acting. The only series I watched first in Japanese but ended up preferring in English was Black Lagoon.

[Avaitor]

My first exposure to Lupin was the dub for Part 2 as well, but I didn't really like the show when it aired on [as] way back when. I did like Castle of Caligostro when I got to it a little while later, but it's only been in the past few years that I've really grown an appreciation for the franchise.

But I still don't have a lot of love for the dub.

[Daikun]

Gundam: IBO season 2 replaces Tokyo Ghoul in October.

[LumRanmaYasha]

And Stardust Crusaders is replacing AoT at 12:30am starting July 29th!

[Dreamer2]

Gundam IBO season 2:

Jojo Stardust Crusaders: 

Yeah, I'm probably not watching Stardust Crusaders. I didn't even finish Battle Tendency. Really disappointed Toonami's airing it. But, I guess it's good for it's fans.

Poor My Hero Academia. It would honestly amaze me if it never shows up, but who knows its possible.