Without a doubt, Lupin III is the most profitable franchise in anime history. This short 1967 strip in Weekly Manga Action gave birth to six theatrical movies, two OVAs, thirteen television specials, seventy-three manga, forty-one soundtracks, twenty-one video games, a live-action movie and a musical to now rule supreme as the longest running anime... of all time. Its secret for everlasting youth? Well, don't tell anyone but I think it has something to do with the incredible (not to mention lovable) cast of characters performing antics that will eventually get old in, oh, a million years or so. After all, why alter a championship team? Gentleman thief Lupin, gunman extraordinaire Jigen, master swordsman Goemon, the beautiful yet deadly Fujiko and the shrewd Inspector Zenigata have been showing us that old dogs do not need to learn new tricks.

Kazuhiko Kato, under the pen name Monkey Punch, introduced Japan to his Lupin manga on August 10th, 1967. At the age of 30, Kazuhiko only had two published works under his belt: Playboy Nyumon (the escapades of a sexy female detective) and Ginza no Senpuji (the story of a mob hitman). After reading the French novels of Maurice Leblanc about an elegant thief named Arsène Lupin, he decided to apply a similar formula to his strip... but with a major twist. Indeed, his character was to allegedly be Arsène Lupin's grandson, but the new-generation Lupin dropped the standoffish act of his ancestor to concentrate on being human above all else. From chasing girls before treasures and desperately trying to sleep with Fujiko (which means "twin peaks" in English. I hope I don't need to explain...), Lupin's playboy trait stood out like a bonfire and made the manga an instant hit.

The resounding success of the Lupin III manga lead to the inevitable next step: anime. Monkey Punch was reluctant at first knowing the outrageousness of his beloved character would probably be toned down. However, in 1969, all parties finally agreed on a screenplay for Lupin's first anime performance. This 13-minute pilot film did not impress any of the major distribution companies and the idea of a full-length theatrical release was eventually dropped. It was not all in vain, though, as this pilot film (now available as Lupin III: Secret Files) served as publicity for the first televised series which finally aired in 1971, launching Lupin into stardom.

Live-action, theatrical anime, merchandise... the floodgates were now opened and every producer wanted a piece of the Lupin cake. Since each had their own interpretation of Monkey Punch's vision, all characters had a wide variety of looks and personalities; the latter often more civilized and down-to-earth than in the manga. This is especially noticeable when Miyazaki was in the driver's seat during the first season of the series (co-directed with Takahata), two episodes of the second season and the famous movie Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro. Yet, since his Lupin directing is amongst the best this franchise has known, nobody can really hold it against him. Theatrical releases and full-length series were a gamble few producers were willing to make after the craze died down a bit. In 1989 came the first Lupin III television special. Since it is relatively cheap to make, gathers a large audience and can easily be sold as a home video afterwards, there has been a traditional summer television special every year since.

Popularity is nice but you need to be careful not to get too popular for your own good. The people in charge of Maurice Leblanc's estate got word of this success and, needless to say, were pretty angry to see their licensed name used freely without seeing an extra penny. Since Japan did not enforce copyright laws, there was little they could do about the local market.

When Lupin went overseas, however, certain adjustments and arrangements needed to be done. From subtle editing to blatant alterations to names like "Rupan" or "The Wolf", the word "Lupin" was rarely shown or mentioned in releases by Streamline and AnimEigo. Now, the original name is used more frequently; deals made with Leblanc's estate and copyrights deteriorating more and more into public domain are to thank for that.

Television

Lupin III
Lupin III part III
New Lupin III

Movies

Castle of Cagliostro
Dead or Alive
Legend of the Gold of Babylon
Mystery of Mamo
To Hell with Nostradamus!

OVAs

Fuma Conspiracy
Return of the Magician
Secret Files

Television Specials

Alcatraz Connection
Angel Tactics
Bye Bye Liberty Crisis
Dark Order of Assassination
Episode 0 First Contact
From Russia with Love
Fujiko's Unlucky Days
Hemingway Papers
Hunt for Harimao's Treasure
In Memory of the Walther P38
Legend of the Twilight Gemini
Napoleon's Dictionary
One Dollar Money Wars
Operation Return the Treasure
Stolen Lupin
Tokyo Crisis
Zantetsu Sword Is on Fire