Noting that they’ve been sitting on it for a bit, Discotek Media has revealed that they’ve picked up the home video rights to the Lupin the 3rd Part IV anime series that aired in the fall of 2015. The distributor is planning a 2017 release on home video with an English language dub in the works. That’s being handled by Richard Epcar directing with Ellyn Stern the cast returning of Tony Oliver, Lex Lang and Michelle Ruff. Doug Erholtz is on board to plya Zenigata.
The season was streamed via Crunchyroll to audiences in the United States, Canada, Central and South America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands. Anime Limited picked up the rights to the show back in May for the UK home video schedule.
The series has Kazuhide Tomonaga working as the chief director on the property, which is welcome as he was involved in some of the best parts of previous films, while Yuichiro Yano will be directing based on scripts by Yuuya Takahashi. The series is animated at Telecom Animation Film. They’re not exactly a really well-known production company, but they’re heavily involved in backgrounds, finishing animation and a lot of secondary production assistance. They worked on the Inuyahsa TV series and were involved in the Brave Story feature as the primary animation production company. They have experience with this franchise as well, having been involved in several of the specials and a couple of the movies as well.
Happy Halloween! No tricks here, just a treat. #LupinPart4 coming to home video in 2017, both subtitled and English-dubbed! pic.twitter.com/BEYevN5I3z
— Discotek Media (@discotekmedia) November 1, 2016
Plot concept: A beloved classic franchise, LUPIN THE 3rd PART4 will be the first full-fledged Lupin the 3rd television series to air since 1984, when Lupin the 3rd Part 3 aired. The new story takes place in Italy and San Marino, and features a blue-jacketed Lupin in his 20’s. Lupin the 3rd follows the escapades and adventures of master thief Arsene Lupin III, a brilliant thief who has been able to carry off heists no one ever thought possible. Although he has been arrested and jailed on multiple occasions, he has always managed to escape.
