Lupin III

Lupin III (ルパン三世), also written as Lupin the Third or Lupin the 3rd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the escapades of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of novels.

The Lupin III manga, which first appeared in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967, spawned a media franchise that includes numerous manga, four anime television series, five animated feature films, two live-action films, three OVAs, yearly television specials since 1989, music CDs, video games, and a musical.

Video games
Several Lupin III video games have been created. The first was released to arcades in Japan by Taito in 1980 asLupin III. A Laserdisc video game entitled Cliff Hanger was released to arcades in North America in 1983 by Stern. While it uses footage from Mystery of Mamo and The Castle of Cagliostro to provide a gaming experience similar to Dragon's Lair, it changes the characters' names and has an original plot. Epoch Co. released a second game called Lupin III for the Epoch Cassette Vision in Japan in 1984. Also in 1984, Lupin III: Legacy of Pandora was released for the Family Computer. This game featured Clarisse from Castle of Cagliostro. Two games were released for the MSX platform, both based on anime movies: Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro in 1987, and Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon in 1988. Lupin the 3rd: Hunt for the Treasure of Legend! was released for the Super Famicom on December 27, 1994. Sega released two games developed by WOW Entertainment for the Sega Naomi arcade system: Lupin III The Shooting, a light gun game, in 2001, and Lupin III The Typing, a typing game, in 2002. Bandai released Lupin the 3rd: Treasure of the Sorcerer King in Japan for the PlayStation 2 on November 8, 2002. This stealth game was later released in North America on February 10, 2004. Lupin is Dead, Zenigata is in Love, a stealth game developed by Banpresto for the PlayStation 2, was released in Japan on February 22, 2007. In 2010, Lupin III: Shijō Saidai no Zunōsen was released for the Nintendo DS.

Legacy
Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo director Shinichirō Watanabe revealed during an interview with Newtype Japan that he was heavily influenced by the work of director Masaaki Ōsumi on the first Lupin television series. Animator Akihiro Kanayama has cited the animation of the anime adaption as an inspiration.

Numerous series have made reference to the series including Magical Princess Minky Momo, Cat's Eye, Gunbuster, Urusei Yatsura, Cowboy Bebop, Here is Greenwood and FLCL. Video game designer Hideo Kojima compared the personality of Lupin with Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, stating that in "MGS, Snake became this sharp-tongued, Lupin III-like guy who flirted with women and told lots of jokes".

Production
Monkey Punch's inspiration for the series was the fictional French gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc. Before creating the series he read 15 of Leblanc's stories. The aim of the Lupin III series was to produce a comedy adventure series in that reflected the traits of Leblanc's character. Originally the intention was to keep the blood ties between the two fictional characters secret, however he was convinced by others not to do so. Monkey Punch did not ask permission to use the character's name and at the time Japan did not enforce trade copyrights. By the time Leblanc's estate launched legal action in Japan, the name was considered to have entered into common use. However, this was not the case in North America and Europe and several foreign releases of Lupin III media dropped the Lupin III title and the character himself was renamed to "Rupan" or "Wolf". In France, the series was known as "Edgar, Detective Cambrioleur" (Edgar,Detective Burglar) with Lupin himself renamed Edgar de la Cambriole (Edgar of Burglary).

Legacy
Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo director Shinichirō Watanabe revealed during an interview with Newtype Japan that he was heavily influenced by the work of director Masaaki Ōsumi on the first Lupin television series. Animator Akihiro Kanayama has cited the animation of the anime adaption as an inspiration.

Numerous series have made reference to the series including Gunbuster, Urusei Yatsura, Cowboy Bebop, Here is Greenwood and FLCL. Video game designer Hideo Kojima also cited Lupin III as an influence on the personality of Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, stating that in "MGS, Snake became this sharp-tongued, Lupin III-like guy who flirted with women and told lots of jokes".