| Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure | |
 Promotional poster | |
| ルパン三世 (Rupan Sansei) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure,comedy |
| Created by | Monkey Punch |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Kazuhide Tomonaga(Chief director) Yūichirō Yano |
| Produced by | Yu Kiyozono |
| Written by | Yūya Takahashi |
| Music by | Yuji Ohno(Japanese version) Papik(International version)[1] |
| Studio | Telecom Animation Film (animation) TMS Entertainment (production) |
| Licensed by |
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| Original network | Italia 1(Italy) Nippon TV(Japan) |
| English network | |
| Original run | August 30, 2015 – November 30, 2015(Italy) |
| Episodes | 26(List of episodes) |
 Anime and manga portal | |
Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure, also known simply asLupin the 3rd (Japanese:ルパン三世,Hepburn:Rupan Sansei) orLupin the Third Part IV (Japanese:ルパン三世 PART IV,Hepburn:Rupan Sansei Pāto Fō),[3] is a Japaneseanime television series animated byTelecom Animation Film. Part of theLupin III franchise, it is the fifth anime television adaptation of theLupin III manga series created byMonkey Punch. The series aired from August to November 2015 onItalia 1 in Italy, and from October 2015 to March 2016 onNippon Television and other channels in Japan. It started airing in the United States onAdult Swim'sToonami programming block in June 2017.
Most of the story takes place inItaly andSan Marino, although some episodes are partly set elsewhere (e.g., France, Japan), with Lupin wearing a blue jacket.
A manga adaptation by Naoya Hayakawa began publication on December 28, 2015.[5] TitledLupin the Third Italiano (ルパン三世 ITALIANO,Rupan Sansei Itariāno), four volumes have been published byFutabasha as of November 28, 2016.[6]
The series received its world premiere in Italy on August 30, 2015 on theItalia 1 channel,[7] and a preview screening at Concordia theater inSan Marino on August 29, 2015.[8] The Japanese premiere was on October 1, 2015 onNTV and the series was made available on the J:Com andHulu Japan services on October 21.[9][10] It ran for 26 episodes in Italy and 24 episodes in Japan. The main theme song for the Italian version of the series, "Lupin, un ladro in vacanza" (Lupin, a thief on holiday) is performed by Italian hip-hop singerMoreno featuringGiorgio Vanni.[11] The main theme song for the Japanese version of the series "Theme from Lupin III 2015" is composed byYuji Ohno and performed byYou & 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 byenka singerSayuri Ishikawa and features lyrics written byTsunku. It was released as a single with additional tracks in Japan on October 1, 2015.[12] The series was released acrossDVD andBlu-ray releases byVAP in Japan between December 23, 2015 and July 20, 2016.[13]
Crunchyroll began streaming the series asLupin the Third - Part 4 on January 7, 2016. All episode previously broadcast in Japan were added at the same time.[14] The series has been licensed byAnime Limited for the UK market and byDiscotek Media for the North American market. The English dub, which was directed byRichard Epcar andEllyn Stern,[15][4] started airing in the United States onAdult Swim'sToonami programming block on June 18, 2017[16] and concluded on January 21, 2018. The dub, which was created as an adaptation of the Italian version, and the original Japanese version of the series have been released on home video separately in English-speaking markets due to the differences between the two versions. According to Anime Limited, these differences in video footage made it "simply not possible to include both language options" in one set.[17] Discotek released the English dub in North America on Blu-ray on May 29, 2018, and on DVD on June 26, 2018, while the subtitled Japanese version was released on Blu-ray on April 30, 2019. On July 1, 2017,Funimation also started streaming a simuldub of the series with episodes airing every Sunday.[18]
The series was announced atMipcom inCannes, France, in October 2014 to be broadcast in spring 2015 in Italy, but was delayed to August. The series was produced byTelecom Animation Film, with franchise veteranKazuhide 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 bothhardboiled and comical, realistic and fantastical.[19] Producer Yû Kiyozono stated that the series was set in Italy due to the success achieved by theLupin the Third franchise in that country.[20]
Daryl Surat ofOtaku 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 likeThe Woman Called Fujiko Mine, a bit 'gentleman thief with a heart of gold' likeHayao Miyazaki'sCagliostro interpretation."[21]
