Lupin The Third Part I

Lupin the Third Part I
North American DVD set, by Discotek Media
ルパン三世 (Rupan Sansei)
Genre	Adventure, Comedy-drama, Kaitō
Anime film
Lupin the Third: Pilot Film
Directed by	Masaaki Ōsumi
Written by	Gisaburō Sugii Yasuo Otsuka Tsutomu Shibayama Osamu Kobayashi Jiro Saito Toshiaki Imaizumi
Music by	Norio Maeda
Studio	Tokyo Movie
Licensed by	NA Discotek Media
Released	1969 (unreleased)
Runtime	12 minutes
Anime television series
Directed by	Masaaki Ōsumi Hayao Miyazaki Isao Takahata
Written by	Atsushi Yamatoya Kazuichi Tsurumi Kiyoshi Miyata Mon Shichijō Seiji Matsuoka Shunichirō Koyama Tadaaki Yamazaki Tatsuo Tamura Tōru Sawaki
Music by	Takeo Yamashita
Studio	Tokyo Movie
Licensed by	NA Discotek Media
Original network	Yomiuri TV
Original run	October 24, 1971 – March 26, 1972
Episodes	23 (List of episodes)

Lupin the Third Part I is the first incarnation of TMS Entertainment's long-running anime television adaptation of the Lupin III (ルパン三世, Rupan Sansei^?) manga series written by Monkey Punch. The series was originally broadcast as Lupin III between October 24, 1971 and March 26, 1972.

Arsène Lupin III, grandson of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, is an internationally-wanted thief. His right-hand man is Daisuke Jigen, an expert marksman who can shoot a target within 0.3 seconds. They are joined by Fujiko Mine, Lupin's primary love interest who often manipulates situations to her advantage. After several encounters with the samurai and expert swordsmen Goemon Ishikawa XIII, he becomes part of the group. They are constantly pursued by Inspector Heiji Zenigata VII, an expert on Lupin from the Tokyo MPD, who has made the capture and arrest of Lupin and his collaborators his life goal.

Adapting Monkey Punch's manga into animation was first suggested by animator Gisaburō Sugii to Yutaka Fujioka, the founder of Tokyo Movie Shinsha (then known as Tokyo Movie). Although Fujioka was interested in the idea, Tokyo Movie lacked the financial resources to produce such a project on its own. This led to the creation of a CinemaScope Pilot Film, which was intended to generate interest in the project and secure funding. The Pilot Film, consisting of narrated introductions to the five lead characters of the manga, was scripted and animated by Sugii, Yasuo Otsuka, Tsutomu Shibayama and Osamu Kobayashi, with supervision by Masaaki Ōsumi and background art by Reiji Koyama. The music soundtrack was composed by Norio Meida, while the narration dialogue was written by Jiro Saito and Toshiaki Imaizumi. Yasuo Otsuka had left Toei Animation to join Tokyo Movie, as working on Lupin would allow him to use his knowledge and lifelong interest in guns and transport in his animation. The team studied Monkey Punch's style in detail, including the influence of American cartoonist Mort Drucker on the manga, and analysed the characters from all angles; they were initially assisted by Monkey Punch himself until he felt the project was too much for him. Scripts and treatments were also written for a feature film adaptation, one of which depicted Lupin before the start of his thieving career as a hippie in Shinjuku, and explained how he came to be pursued by the police and other criminals.