Lupin III Part II | |
DVD box art, released by VAP
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Genre | Action, adventure, comedy |
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Anime television series | |
Directed by | Hideo Nishimaki Hideo Takayashiki Ichinori Tanahashi Kyosuke Mikuriya Noburo Ishiguro Shigetsugu Yoshida Yagi Ishikura Yasumi Mikamoto Hayao Miyazaki |
Studio | Tokyo Movie Shinsha |
Licensed by | |
Original network | NTV |
English network | |
Original run | October 3, 1977 – October 6, 1980 |
Episodes | 155 |
Lupin the Third Part II is the second incarnation of TMS Entertainment's long-running anime television adaptation of the Lupin III (Japanese: ルパン三世 Hepburn: Rupan Sansei?) manga series written by Monkey Punch. The series is often referred to as New Lupin III (新 ルパン三世 Shin Rupan Sansei) by Japanese fans.
The series contains 155 episodes which aired between October 3, 1977 and October 6, 1980 on the Japanese television network NTV (Nippon Television). Episodes 145 and 155 were the first to appear in the United States on VHS in 1994, released by Streamline Pictures initially under the title of Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf, and later as Lupin III's Greatest Capers. Pioneer Entertainment then licensed and released 79 episodes in North America, some of which were broadcast on Adult Swim in 2003. Discotek Media has since picked up the series and began releasing it in January 2017.
The series, based on the Lupin III manga written by Monkey Punch beginning in 1967, centers on the adventures of Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of novels. He is joined by Daisuke Jigen, crack-shot and Lupin's closest ally; Fujiko Mine, the femme fatale and Lupin's love interest who works against Lupin more often than with him; and Goemon Ishikawa XIII, a master swordsman and the descendant of Ishikawa Goemon, the legendary Japanese bandit. Lupin is often chased by Inspector Koichi Zenigata, the rather cynical detective who has made it his life mission to catch Lupin.