New ‘Lupin Zero’ Series Takes the Anime Back to the Beginning
A brand new Lupin III streaming show was just announced, and we’re taking a trip back in time to Lupin’s youth.
HiDive announced this week that they will be steaming a brand new, upcoming Lupin prequel series, Lupin Zero. The announcement came complete with a short trailer.
The trailer tells us almost nothing, but the animation looks good, the young Lupin looks just like a young Lupin, and the music is spot on. So, y’know, so far so good.
Lupin Zero
The official press release describes the show as:
“The LUPIN ZERO anime features a young, nameless, Lupin III running around the streets of 1960s Japan during the economic boom — the era simultaneous to Monkey Punch’s release of the manga.
How did this young boy become notorious gentleman thief “Lupin III”?
Lupin Zero will be a six-episode series that will see its streaming premiere on December 16th of this year. But for lucky attendees of Anime NYC in November, the show will have its world premiere during the convention on November 18th at 6:30 pm. So with any luck, we’ll get more news about the cast, plot, and maybe even the theme song around then.
Daisuke Sakō (Lupin the Third: Part 5, Lupin III Italian Game) is directing Lupin Zero at Telecom Animation Film. Ichiro Okouchi (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Sk8 the Infinity) is in charge of the series scripts, with Asami Taguchi (Lupin III Italian Game, Lupin III: Part IV) on character design. Yoshihide Otomo (INU-OH, Otona no Ikkyū-san) did music composition. And finally, Seiichi Shirato (Lupin the Third: Part 5, Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen’s Gravestone) is was in charge of setting research.
The new series will feature a young Lupin III in the 1960s and will have a combination of stories from the original manga as well as original stories.
Lupin III
Lupin The 3rd is a timeless and critically acclaimed series by Monkey Punch about the goofy, eponymous thief and his friends. The series celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year.
Since the first manga was published in 1967, Lupin III has encompassed hundreds of animated episodes, multiple feature films, video games, soundtracks, OVAs, manga, and specials. It’s a classic anime that you can’t help but love thanks to its wacky antics and characters.
Title Character, Lupin III is the grandson of the famous fictional gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin. His M.O. usually involves loudly announcing his next target via some sort of calling card and then successfully stealing that item, despite his silly antics. There is an ongoing supporting cast of friends, fellow thieves, and a very persistent inspector. But despite Lupin being fairly formulaic, it always manages to be a ton of fun and an absolute delight.
Are you excited about Lupin Zero? Which Lupin III adventure is your favorite? Did you know there were copyright issues with the name, “Lupin” across the world until fairly recently? If you ever saw him referred to as “Rupan” or “Wolf,” that’s why! Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventurers!
