Lupin III

AUTHOR: Monkey Punch (pseudonym of Kazuhiko Kato)

ARTIST: Monkey Punch (pseudonym of Kazuhiko Kato, illustrator); Monalisa De Asis (letterer); Patrick Hook (cover artist)

PUBLISHER: Futabasha (Japanese); TOKYOPOP (English)

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION:Rupan sansei, 1967-1972

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1974-1975 (English translation, 2002-2004)

Publication History

Lupin III, with stories and artwork entirely by Monkey Punch (Kazuhiko Kato), debuted in serialized form in August, 1967, in Weekly Manga Action, published by Futabasha. The series ran in ninety-four installments, until May, 1969, and in thirty-six chapters (as The New Adventures) in 1971-1972. Futabasha periodically collected chapters of the series in tankobon. Power Comics published the series in fourteen Japanese-language volumes in 1974-1975, and Futabasha’s Action Comics reprinted Lupin III in eleven volumes in 1984-1985. An additional twenty-four-page story was originally published in March, 1970, as Lupin the Third Gaiden.

In 1977, Monkey Punch began writing and illustrating a second series, Lupin III: World’s Most Wanted (known as Lupin III: Most Wanted in English). This ran until 1981 in 188 installments (plus two extra chapters) in Weekly Manga Action and was reprinted by Action Comics in sixteen volumes.The series was renewed in 1997 as Lupin III S, written by Satozumi Takaguchi, illustrated by Shusay, under the creative control of Monkey Punch. Weekly Manga Action and 2 Action magazines published five complete Lupin III S stories, which Action Comics and Futabasha reprinted in a single volume in 1988 and 2001, respectively.

Lupin III Y, with multipart stories from Monkey Punch and art by Manatsuki Yamakami, appeared in Weekly Manga Action between 1998 and 2003. Futabasha reproduced the entire Lupin III Y series in twenty volumes between 1999 and 2004 and completed a second printing of the series with new covers from 2001 to 2005; Action Comics began a new printing, featuring a third set of covers, in 2010.

Lupin III M, with longer, self-contained stories by Monkey Punch and illustrations by Yukio Miyama, has appeared since 2005 in Lupin the Third Official Magazine. Action Comics began reprinting these stories in volumes form in 2005; Futaba Bunko has done so since 2009. A sixth series, with illustrations by Naoya Hayakawa, Lupin III H, began in 2010.

English-language versions of the first Lupin III series have been available since 2002, when TOKYOPOP released the first of fourteen black-and-white paperbound volumes in “unflipped” format. Toshi Yokoyama did translations, and Matt Yamashita handled English adaptations. TOKYOPOP also published English versions of the first nine volumes of Lupin III: World’s Most Wanted, between 2004 and 2007, before the translations were discontinued. Italian-, Spanish-, and German-language versions of various Lupin III imprints are also available.

Both Action Comics and Comic Bunko have released several Best of Lupin the Third compilations since 2004. A spin-off, called Lupin III Millennium, produced in Italy and with the approval of Monkey Punch, featuring many different artists and styles, has appeared since the mid-1990’s. Kappa Edizioni has reprinted the Italian version in ten volumes, beginning in 2001.

Plot

Lupin III does not present a unified plot but individual, nonsequential chapters that are frenetic, often difficult to follow, and seldom logical. The series as a whole consists of brief, convoluted stories that serve to illustrate the cleverness and resourcefulness of the central character in executing thefts, scams, or other illegal schemes and in escaping detection, death, or capture. A typical Lupin tale involves the theft of a precious stone, the recovery of a hidden microfilm, the search for treasure, or an assassination or prevention thereof. There are usually multiple complications before Lupin can achieve his goal. No matter the catalyst for the story, a woman is invariably connected with the plot, and Lupin usually winds up in bed with her, often to his detriment.

Relationships are important throughout the series, not only between Lupin and his accomplices or love interests but also with his antagonists. Lupin seldom reveals his full plans, even to henchmen Jigen or Ishikawa, and they must trust him to do what is right for the team. Lupin’s lascivious nature frequently derails his schemes, because women, especially Fujiko, often betray him.

Humor plays a significant part in the series, in which crimes are treated in a light-hearted, matter-of-fact manner. Some of the gags are accessible to Western readers, while other jokes referring to cultural differences are subtler, and perhaps best understood by a Japanese audience.

Volumes

This section includes volumes published in English by TOKYOPOP.

• Lupin III, Volume 1 (2002). Collects issues 1-10. Arsène Lupin III, his grandfather, Inspector Zenigata, Fujiko Mine, and Daisuke Jigen are introduced over the course of several capers.

• Lupin III, Volume 2 (2003). Collects issues 11-19. Lupin combats a competing thief.

• Lupin III, Volume 3 (2003). Collects issues 20-31. Goemon Ishikawa XIII is introduced.

• Lupin III, Volume 4 (2003). Collects issues 32-43. Features Lupin III’s childhood and training for a life of crime.

• Lupin III, Volume 5 (2003), Collects issues 44-51. Focuses on both the relationship between Lupin III and his father and how Lupin III and Goemon met.

• Lupin III, Volume 6 (2003). Collects issues 52-61. Highlights Lupin’s history, concentrating on the time when he actually held a job.

• Lupin III, Volume 7 (2003). Collects issues 62-71. Lupin cons his way into college.

• Lupin III, Volume 8 (2003). Collects issues 73-80. Charts more Lupin capers, including a chapter told in first person.

• Lupin III, Volume 9 (2003). Collects issues 81-89. Features surrealistic sequences in which Lupin III time travels.

• Lupin III, Volume 10 (2003). Collects issues 90-98. Charts more Lupin capers, focusing on the interactions among Zenigata, Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon.

• Lupin III, Volume 11 (2003). Collects issues 99-106. Highlights Lupin’s efforts to escape imprisonment.

• Lupin III, Volume 12 (2003). Collects issues 107-114. Showcases Lupin’s vendetta against a publication that is writing an exposé about him.

• Lupin III, Volume 13 (2003). Collects issues 115-122. Highlights Lupin’s battle against a worthy opponent named Rasputin.

• Lupin III, Volume 14 (2003). Collects issues 123-130. Includes a variety of Lupin adventures, including the hero’s apparent death.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 1 (2004). Collects chapters 1-10. Lupin and his gang reunite for fresh capers, involving secret weapons and diamonds. New antagonist Melon Cop is introduced.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 2 (2004). Collects chapters 11-20. Lupin avoids an assassination attempt.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 3 (2005). Collects chapters 21-31. Lupin escapes prison and plans to steal a monarch’s jewels.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 4 (2005). Collects chapters 32-42. Includes more trickery from Lupin.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 5 (2005). Collects chapters 43-54. A fortune-teller sees Lupin stealing a piece of valuable art.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 6 (2005). Collects chapters 55-66. Lupin and Goemon foil a filmmaker’s deadly trap.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 7 (2006). Collects chapters 67-78. Lupin outdoes himself with a plot to execute five crimes at once.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 8 (2007). Collects chapters 79-90. Focuses on Lupin’s capabilities with disguises.

• Lupin III: Most Wanted, Volume 9 (2007). Collects chapters 91-102. Inspector Zenigata tests a disguise-penetrating machine against Lupin.

Characters

• Arsène Lupin III is the grandson of Arsène Lupin, a fictional creation of French author Maurice Leblanc that first appeared in 1905. Like his grandfather, Lupin is a sophisticated “superthief,” spy, and rogue who usually wears a coat and tie and uses Japan as his base of operations. Dark-haired, handsome, slender, and in his thirties, he typically sports long sideburns. A womanizer, a wit, and a meticulous planner of capers, he is known for his audacity, his ability as a ventriloquist, and his many disguises.

• Daisuke Jigen is Lupin’s best friend and frequent partner in crime. A former Chicago mobster who took sanctuary in Japan and changed his name, he is slender, thirty years old, and a deadly shot with any type of firearm. He is bearded and foulmouthed, dresses in black, wears a hat, and smokes incessantly.

• Goemon Ishikawa XIII, another of Lupin’s accomplices, is a samurai and a descendent of a sixteenth century Japanese personage executed for thievery. He has long hair and dresses in traditional samurai garb. He lives a spartan existence and is recognized both for his skills in a variety of martial arts and for his mastery with his sword, Zantetsu.

• Fujiko Mine, a beautiful, busty young Japanese woman, sometimes joins Lupin and sometimes opposes him in the commission of crimes. Completely untrustworthy and amoral, she often betrays Lupin to achieve her own agenda, but he usually forgives her for the sake of their uninhibited make-up sex.

• Inspector Kouichi Zenigata is Lupin’s trench-coat-wearing nemesis. Black-haired, black-eyed, Japanese-born, and middle-aged, he was a Tokyo Metropolitan Police officer before joining Interpol. An emotional, physically fit man, a deadly shot, and a master of martial arts, he is totally dedicated to the capture of Lupin. The two adversaries have grudging respect for each other’s skills.

Artistic Style

While the subject matter of Lupin III springs from many sources—original Arsène Lupin stories, adventure tales of Alexandre Dumas, mysteries of Agatha Christie, James Bond movies, and such action-oriented television programs as “Mission Impossible”—the style of the first manga series owes much to MAD magazineof the 1960’s. Monkey Punch has publicly acknowledged his debt to three longtime MAD artists: Mort Drucker, Don Martin, and Sergio Aragonés.

Most of the main characters in Lupin III are drawn in loose, sketchy, semirealistic line art. Human figures are sometimes enhanced with high-contrast inking, occasional crosshatching to emphasize details, watercolorlike washes to underscore mood, or silhouettes to add drama. Male characters are subject to comical exaggeration: impossibly wide eyes to indicate surprise, gritted teeth to show anger or frustration, or broad, humorously treated gestures that help readers understand and appreciate particular emotions. Female characters, however—always beautiful, big-breasted and with willowy limbs—do not suffer from the same distortions, and their portrayals are handled with reverence, even as their characters are abused or demeaned. Visual interest is added through specific touches: the pattern of a shirt or tie or the lacy borders of women’s lingerie. Inanimate objects—guns, automobiles, planes, trains, or architectural structures—are typically rendered realistically and in great detail.

Because Lupin III concentrates on action to carry the stories, the series does not rely on lengthy narration blocks to explain events. Speech and thought balloons are kept short to provide lively interplay between characters; many scenes are entirely wordless. Three to twelve panels (typically six or seven per page) are creatively employed to vary layouts and keep reader interest high. Monkey Punch seldom employs the same design scheme on consecutive pages, which range from double-page, across-the-gutter horizontal panels to narrow top-to-bottom panels and a multitude of small rectangular panels when characters interact. Though the majority of the stories are presented in medium-length depictions, close-ups and long shots are included to provide telling details or overviews to help explain the action.

Lupin III: World’s Most Wanted continues the same types of storylines as the previous incarnation. The artwork, however, is considerably more refined, making it possible to more easily distinguish between characters. Likewise, Lupin III Y and S continue the updating process, giving the series a crisper, more simplified look more consistent with modern manga than with the 1960’s vintage cartoons that provided the original inspiration. Monkey Punch’s Lupin III M and H versions complete the transformation of the series’ look from outmoded to modern, thanks to slick, full-bodied drawings accented with highlights and shadows that add realism and dimensionality.

Themes

A constant and recurring theme in Lupin III is the conflict between good and evil, and the blurring of the lines between the two extremes in a world full of contradictions. An antihero who is admired for his boldness and ingenuity even as he applies his skills in doing wrong, Lupin is a modern version of many fictional predecessors in the gentleman thief tradition. However, more so than most of his predecessors, Lupin III is the modern embodiment of the trickster. An archetype found in the folklore and mythology of most cultures; the trickster does mischief simply for the challenge of planning a prank and the fun of carrying it out.

A second major theme is Monkey Punch’s homage to the 1960’s, the decade during which he started his cartooning career and achieved his first successes. Lupin is essentially stuck in a time warp from a bygone era. His clothing, haircut, and devil-may-care attitude, particularly toward women as sexual objects, all preserve the morality of the freewheeling 1960’s.

Impact

Lupin III is a paradigm of the late Silver Age/early Bronze Ages of comics: hip, cool, irreverent, crude, and vulgar. The series offers enough imagination, humor, and dynamic artistry to offset politically incorrect factors such as rampant chauvinism, violence, and the glorification of crime and to lend Lupin III staying power in the Modern Age.

Though the prolific Monkey Punch has not garnered any major awards for his work, his Lupin III series has been hugely popular since its introduction and is yearly included in Japanese polls of the top fifty manga. A whole Lupin industry has sprung up in Japan, with films, television series, and annual made-for-TV specials, as well as video games, soundtracks, posters, T-shirts, and other specialty items. There are numerous Web sites devoted to Money Punch and Lupin III. In recognition of his influence and longevity, Monkey Punch has been a member of the jury of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan International Manga Award. Dubbed versions of many of the Lupin III anime films and original video animations (OVA) are sold worldwide.

Films

Lupin III Secret Files. Directed by Masaaki Osumi. Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1969. This is an animated pilot film inspired by the original manga series. Completed in theatrical and television versions in 1969 but not released until 1989, this forty-minute film was shown only on television.

Lupin the Third:Strange Psychokinetic Strategy. Directed by Takashi Tsuboshima. Toho, 1974. A live-action theatrical release adapted from the series, this film focuses on slapstick humor and spectacular stunts. This film stars Yuki Meguro as Lupin. Lupin helps a beautiful woman escape from jail and contemplates following in the footsteps of his grandfather.

Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo. Directed by Soji Yoshikawa and Yasuo Otsuka. TMS, 1978. This animated feature stars Yasuo Yamada as the voice of Lupin. The film opens with the apparent death of Lupin and includes a quest for the philosopher’s stone. Dubbed several times into English, the movie was released on DVD in 2003.

Lupin the Third:The Castle of Cagliostro. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. TMS, 1979. This is a feature-length animated film based on an Arsène Lupin novel by Leblanc, updated as a vehicle for Lupin. The plot follows Lupin’s heist of a Monaco casino. Dubbed into English on numerous occasions, the film was well-received both commercially and critically.

Lupin III: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon. Directed by Seijun Suzuki and Shigetsugu Yoshida. Toho Columbia Pictures, 1985. This full-length animated feature focuses on the quest for ancient hidden gold. The film was later reissued with subtitles.

Lupin the Third:The Fuma Conspiracy. Directed by Masayuki Ozeki. Toho, 1987. This direct-to-video full-length OVA features Toshio Furukawa as Lupin. The plot involves the rescue of Goemon’s fiancé.

Lupin III: Die Nostradamus. Directed by Shunya Ito, Takeshi Shirado, and Nobuo Tomizawa. TMS, 1995. Monkey Punch wrote the screenplay for this feature-length animated film, which features Kanichi Kurita as the voice of Lupin. The bizarre plot involves Richard Nixon, a new Tower of Babel, a vicious cult, and the Brazilian soccer team.

Lupin III: Dead or Alive. Directed by Monkey Punch. Toho, 1996. This the fifth full-length animated film and the last theatrical release. Cowritten by the director and Hiroshi Sakakibara, the film is about a heist of loot located on a heavily guarded fictional Middle Eastern island.

Return of the Magician. Directed by Mamoru Hamatsu. TMS, 2002. This direct-to-video OVA is a fifty-minute production that brings back Pycal, a villain from the original television series.

Lupin III: Green vs. Red. Directed by Shigeyuki Miya. TMS, 2008. A third OVA with the voice actors from the other movies, this film features a story in which Lupin battles a legion of impersonators.

Television Series

Lupin III. Directed by Soji Yoshikawa, et al. TMS, 1971-1972. This anime series based on the original manga ran for twenty-three episodes.

Lupin III, Part II. Directed by nine different individuals. TMS, 1977-1980. This anime series ran for 155 episodes and was dubbed for DVDs in English-speaking countries.

Lupin III, Part III. Directed by Seijun Suzuki. TMS, 1984-1985. This anime series ran for fifty episodes.

Bye Bye, Liberty Crisis. Directed by Osamu Dezaki. TMS, 1989. This is the first of more than twenty annual TMS-produced original animated television specials. Each was dubbed into English for worldwide release. The others in the series are Mystery of the Hemingway Papers (1990), Steal Napoleon’s Dictionary! (1991), From Russia with Love (1992), Voyage to Danger (1993), Dragon of Doom (1994), The Pursuit of Harimao’s Treasure (1995), The Secret of Twilight Gemini (1996), Island of Assassins (1997), Burning Memory—Tokyo Crisis (1998), Da Capo of Love—Fujiko’s Unlucky Days (1999), Missed by a Dollar (2000), Alcatraz Connection (2001), Episode 0—First Contact (2002), Operation Return the Treasure (2003), Stolen Lupin (2004), An Angel’s Tactics—Fragments of a Dream Are the Scent of Murder (2005), Seven Days Rhapsody (2006), Elusiveness of the Fog (2007), Sweet Lost Night—Magic Lamp’s Nightmare Premonition (2008), Lupin III vs. Detective Conan (2009), and Lupin III: The Last Job (2010)

Further Reading

Miwa, Shirow. Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark (2001).

Tatsumi, Yoshihiro. Black Blizzard (2010).

Tezuka, Osamu. Swallowing the Earth (1968-1969).

Bibliography

Gravett, Paul. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. New York: Harper Design, 2004.

Patten, Fred. Watching Anime, Reading Manga: Twenty-Five Years of Essays and Reviews. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2004.

Thompson, Jason. Manga: The Complete Guide. New York: Del Rey, 2007.