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[lupinmanga]

Was looking up some stuff on Lupin the Third video games, and came across this:

Released in 1998, this PlayStation game is essentially a series of motion comics for a handful of stories from the second manga series, with minimal animation and dubbed dialogue (meaning that Melon Cop is voiced for the first time, since he never really appeared in the anime).

What’s really interesting is that it has full English text and audio!

I recommend checking it out! The four stories included are all fun tales, and Monkey Punch’s art still manages to look good, despite being reduced to 32-bit sprites.

[lupinmanga]

So, those killers in tonight’s episode of Part 5 on Toonami...?

Yep, they pretty much all come from the original two manga series!

This is basically a copy/paste of a thread I did on Twitter, but here we go!

Mama runs a Union of assassins that Fujiko works for. She's eventually killed by Lupin, who disguised himself as Fujiko, and destroyed her hideout with bombs. The manga story was adapted previously in an episode of 1984's "Lupin the Third Part III”.

Ichiro is a killer in Mama's Union. Only appears in one page of the manga.

The Rat Clan is a group that shows up fairly often in the original manga series. I can't recall off-hand if the leader here appeared in the manga, however.

Ginkaku and Kinkaku. Brothers who were trying to keep their ill-gotten gains hidden from Lupin. Kinkaku's girlfriends knew where it was buried, but couldn't tell unless they reach orgasm, thanks to his hypnosis. As you could imagine, retrieving this information was a caper Lupin particularly enjoyed.

Akaki Chishio. An assassin working for King Kin Dai, he'd mastered the art of making things invisible, including his weapons. He went after Lupin, who had kidnapped the king's daughter (at her request).

In the manga, this assassin is actually an undercover agent of Interpol, part of a task force assembled to take out Lupin III and his gang.

Another of the Interpol task force, this little fella was revealed to be Zenigata in disguise. For obvious reasons, I don't think that's the case in the anime.

Sherdock. I...don't know too much about this guy. Nor his sidekick. Though Sherdock made his debut by disguising himself as Monkey Punch, which was pretty funny.

Dr. Franken (or Dr. Frank N. Stein in the English release of the manga). A criminal whose M.O. is to hypnotize people, kill them, then command their reanimated corpse. One of my favorite Lupin villains, and it's a shame that this cameo is the closest we've ever come to seeing his story adapted.

King. A mob boss who killed Lupin II, and attempted to kill our hero by blowing up a train. He also kidnapped Jigen's (unseen) little sister, forcing his allegiance. Eventually killed by Lupin strapping a bomb to his bed as he was having sex with the femme fatale of the week.

These guys were criminals that Lupin once confronted in a log cabin they were stationed in. Turned out to be beautiful women in disguise.

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The alien spaceship.

(Man, the second series gets downright weird sometimes)

Series 2, “Yap Land”

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@shin-red-dear offers an explanation for the previous post. Makes a lot of sense, honestly (well, relatively speaking. It’s still pretty odd to see extraterrestrials in Lupin the Third). It certainly explains the giant spaceship that Lupin(?) and Zenigata find.

[lupinmanga]

I don’t know what these little guys are called, but they REALLY like Fujiko.

And while it may be an uncomfortable situation to read, I can’t help but laugh at her launching one of them with the elastic waistband of her underwear.

Series 2, “Yap Land”

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Lupin and Zenigata confirming that, yes, they both saw a very tiny person.

Series 2, “Yap Land”

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Jigen vs Goemon

Series 2, “Yap Land”

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As a fellow comic artist, I feel like Monkey Punch as he draws himself on this page is the most relatable character in the series.

Series 2, Chapter 142

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(While this isn’t technically Lupin-related, I think it still fits the theme of this blog.)

In 1979, the Hong Kong martial arts film, “The Fearless Hyena”, starring Jackie Chan was released. When the movie hit Japanese theaters, it got an animated opening directed by none other than Monkey Punch.

I keep rewatching this because despite the low-quality video (if anyone knows where to find a higher-quality version, that’d rock), it’s probably the most faithful translation of MP’s style to animation that I’ve ever seen (”Alice” was too stiff, and “Mankatsu” was close, it tended to go for “typical” anime stylization a lot of times). Jackie attacking the leaves is hilarious, and the “cartoony” sound effects just add to it.

The Japanese Wikipedia mentions that Jackie, the woman, and the other guy greatly resemble Lupin, Fujiko, and Jigen. While I concede on the first two, the other guy more resembles this guy from a story arc I think is called “Sherdock and Watson”:

Who also looks nearly identical to Don Jirochi’s sidekick in Monkey Punch’s “Alice”:

(I guess MP just has a default “sidekick” character design. Maybe Jigen is a modified form of that. I don’t know.)

Nevertheless, the video is really cool, with MP’s fingerprints all over it, with the slapstick, crime, and sex that goes with the territory...and really makes me wish that there was a Lupin anime in that style.

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I can’t read Japanese, so going through the “San Francisco” story arc from the second series just confuses me. No less than three people lose their left eye throughout the story, including Lupin III himself. (I think X-Ray Vision is also involved?)

But while he does lose an eye, he gains a really cool-looking eyepatch, as shown in this really rad-looking panel (there’s a lot of great art in this arc).

TL;DR I don’t know what’s going on in this story or why so people are losing their left eye. But Lupin looks cool with a skull eyepatch.

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Volume 18 of the Italian release of Series 2.

Such a bizarre image. Why is Mamo there? Why is he so tall? Why is the art style so...unsettling? So many questions.

Source: Fumetto Online

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And more!

Found on the Lupin Maniac Facebook page.Originally posted by SIYN on Twitter.

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Round two!

Found on the Lupin Maniac Facebook page.Originally posted by SIYN on Twitter.

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The collected editions of the manga often featured silly slapstick gags on the covers, with the setup on the front, and the punchline on the back.

Found on the Lupin Maniac Facebook page.Originally posted by SIYN on Twitter.

[lupinmanga]

Man, the way Robo-Lupin moves cracks me up. And you gotta love how MP draws the phone that a very pissy Lupin is calling Fujiko on.

Series 2, Chapter 86

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Sure, Monkey Punch’s version of Lupin may be a lot harder-edged than his anime counterpart...but he’s apparently good with kids, and will happily fight a building full of assassins in order to protect one.

Series 2, Chapter 82

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Series 2, chapter 75