Written by Yūya Takahashi Director Kazuhide Tomonaga | Network Italia 1 | |
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Directed by Kazuhide Tomonaga (Chief director)
Yūichirō Yano Music by Yuji Ohno (Japanese broadcast)
Papik (Italian broadcast) Studio Telecom Animation Film (TMS Entertainment) Licensed by Discotek Media
Anime Limited Original network Italia 1 (Italy)
NTV (Japan) Genres Adventure fiction, Comedy-drama, Gentleman thief Similar Lupin the Third Part II, Lupin the Third: The Woman C, Lupin III Part III, Lupin the Third Part I, Goodbye Lady Liberty | ||
Lupin the Third: The Italian Adventure (ルパン三世 L'AVVENTURA ITALIANA), also known as Lupin III Part IV, is the fifth 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.
Contents
Story
Most of the story takes place in Italy and San Marino, although some episodes are partly set elsewhere (e.g., France, Japan), with Lupin in his 20s wearing a blue jacket.
Production
The series was announced at Mipcom in Cannes, France in October 2014 to be broadcast in Spring 2015 in Italy, but was delayed to August. The series was produced by Telecom Animation Film, with franchise veteran Kazuhide Tomonaga serving as chief director and Yoichiro Yane directing with scripts by Yūya Takahashi. Yuji Ohno returned as series composer. Tomonaga's aim was to mix the opposing elements of the franchise and combine them into a series that is both hardboiled and comical, realistic and fantastical.
Release
The series received its world premiere in Italy on August 30, 2015 on the Italia 1 and Italia 1 HD channels, and a preview screening at Concordia theater in San Marino on August 29, 2015. The Japanese premiere was on October 1, 2015 on NTV and the series was made available on the J:Com and Hulu services in Japan on October 21. It ran for 26 episodes in Italy and 24 episodes in Japan. The opening theme for the Italian version of the series, "Lupin, un ladro in vacanza" (Lupin, a thief on holiday) is performed by Italian talent show hip-hop singer Moreno featuring Italian anime and cartoons themes veteran Giorgio Vanni. The opening theme for the Japanese version of the series "Theme from Lupin III 2015" is composed by Yuji Ohno and performed by You & The Explosion Band. The ending theme for the Japanese version of the series "I Won't Love You if You Don't Say It Right" (ちゃんと言わなきゃ愛さない, Chanto Iwanakya Aisanai) is performed by Enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa and features lyrics written by Tsunku. It was released as a single with additional tracks in Japan on October 1, 2015.
The series was released across DVD and Blu-Ray releases by VAP in Japan between 23 December 2015 and 20 July 2016. Crunchyroll began streaming the series as Lupin the Third Part 4 on January 7, 2016. All episode previously broadcast in Japan were added at the same time. The series has been licensed by Anime Limited for the UK market and by Discotek Media for the North American market. The dub was directed by Richard Epcar and Ellyn Stern.
Manga
A manga adaptation by Naoya Hayakawa began publication on December 28, 2015. Titled Lupin the Third Italiano (ルパン三世 ITALIANO, Rupan Sansei Itariāno), four volumes have been published by Futabasha as of November 28, 2016.
Reception
Daryl Surrat of Otaku USA magazine refers to Part 4 as the "grand unification of Lupin styles" due to combining elements from several different eras of the franchise; "a bit dangerous like the originals, a bit silly like the 1980s 'pink jacket' Lupin, a bit bizarre like The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, a bit 'gentleman thief with a heart of gold' like Hayao Miyazaki's Cagliostro interpretation."