THE LIBRARY

From a three-month manga commission in 1967 to seven television series, a Miyazaki classic, and a near-yearly run of TV specials: the documented history of Lupin…

The Lupin III manga as physical books: the Futabasha and Chuokoron-Shinsha Japanese editions, Tokyopop’s 2002–2004 English run, and Seven Seas’ hardcover…

Monkey Punch’s 1967–1969 Lupin III: 94 chapters in Weekly Manga Action, a seinen comic far darker and wilder than the family-friendly anime that followed.

Kazuhiko Katō (1937–2019): the Hokkaidō artist who took a pen name he disliked for a three-month job and drew one of manga’s permanent characters.

Mort Drucker’s line, Mad’s gag machinery, James Coburn’s face: the American comics DNA inside Monkey Punch’s Lupin III, documented.

Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko, and the Inspector: the five fixed points of Lupin III, how Monkey Punch built each one, and why they are not really a team.

Part I (1971–72): 23 episodes, a hard-boiled start, and the Miyazaki–Takahata takeover that softened Lupin and made him immortal.

Part II (1977–80): 155 episodes in the red jacket, Yuji Ohno’s theme, Miyazaki’s farewell episodes, and the series that conquered the world.

Part III (1984–85): 50 episodes in pink, the most cartoonish Lupin ever made, and the era the franchise half-tried to forget.

Green, red, pink, blue, and green again: what each of Lupin’s jacket colors actually marks, series by series, and why fans read tone from a wardrobe.

The 2012 series that returned Lupin to Monkey Punch’s page: Sayo Yamamoto directing, Takeshi Koike designing, 13 episodes of the gang’s first meetings.

Part IV (2015): Lupin in Italy and San Marino, the blue jacket debut, a story-arc structure, and a premiere that happened in Italy before Japan.

Part 5 (2018): 24 episodes set in France, the homeland of Arsène Lupin, with jacket-color homages woven into the season.

Part 6 (2021–22): Sherlock Holmes, a green jacket restored, Kiyoshi Kobayashi’s farewell as Jigen after 52 years, and Lupin Zero.

Hayao Miyazaki’s 1979 feature debut: made in seven and a half months, a flop on release, and now the most beloved Lupin III film ever made.

The first Lupin III animated feature (1978): Sōji Yoshikawa’s science-fiction caper, and the film that filled half of America’s Cliff Hanger arcade game.

The 2019 CGI feature directed by Takashi Yamazaki: the franchise’s first fully CG film, openly built on the bones of The Castle of Cagliostro.

From Bye Bye, Lady Liberty (1989) to the end of the yearly run in 2013: how the Lupin TV specials became a quarter-century Japanese institution.

From Taito’s 1980 stealth arcade game to the PS2’s Treasure of the Sorcerer King: forty years of Lupin III games, documented platform by platform.

Stern’s 1983 laserdisc arcade game: two Lupin films re-cut into an American game, a hero renamed Cliff, and Miyazaki’s accidental US debut.

The Leblanc estate, a name taken without permission, Edgar in France, the death of Lupin VIII, and the 2012 public-domain date that freed the name.

Tokyopop’s complete 14-volume run (2002–2004), the abandoned World’s Most Wanted, and Seven Seas’ hardcover revival: Lupin’s English print history.

Two rival Japanese publishers, a split edition history, and three English eras: a field guide to identifying Lupin III manga editions before you buy.