Pre-orders for “50 Animated Years of Lupin III” are now live!
Magnetic Press turned the heads of many a Lupin fan late last year, with the announcement of two gorgeous hard cover books — “Gentleman Thief, Arsène Lupin”, and the “50 Animated Years of Lupin III”.
While the former has only just been released after a short delay in production, the latter — and perhaps the one that piques our interest the most, as keen Lupin III fans — is now nearing the end of its development.
With that in mind, as of today, fans eager to secure themselves a copy of the book once it releases in late 2022, by pre-ordering directly from Magnetic Press’ official mini-site!
The book itself contains around two-hundred pages of everything Lupin III — from titbits about the history of the franchise, to rare character artwork. There's also series and episode guides, plus information regarding the films, OVAs, and of course, the late series creator Monkey Punch himself.
Perhaps its biggest selling point, however, is that “50 animated years of Lupin III” is being worked on by knowledgable Lupin veteran Reed Nelson, previously known for his work on the now defunct Lupinthe3rd.com. Reed has written liner notes and essay’s for official Lupin III home video releases, working with Discotek Media for many years on their DVD and Blu-rays. Reed is no doubt putting an incredible amount of effort into writing for this book, and we cannot wait to see what he includes!
Two versions of the book are to go on sale, with “standard” $40 and “deluxe limited” $75 variants.
The standard version, shown in the images above, comes with a bonus sketchbook and a two-inch metal coin, featuring the Cagliostro family ring pattern on one side, and Lupin’s trademark emblem on the other.
The limited edition version, shown below, comes with a much larger haul…
Included with the “deluxe” version is the aforementioned sketchbook, the collectible coin, a linen card stock print featuring artwork from The Castle of Cagliostro, a gold foil bookmark, Lupin themed pin, and a numbered book plate. The hefty tome comes snugly sat within a beautiful faux-leather slipcase, which features a gold foil version of Lupin's recognizable emblem on the front. A classy design, and truly fitting for a book of secrets about a master thief.
Unfortunately, the $75 “deluxe” version is being printed in limited quantity. Only a thousand copies are to be made available — so act fast, if you want one sitting proudly on your shelf, or coffee table.
Limited quantity versions can be seen as a little unfair, especially to those unable to order their copy at time of sale. Considering the amount of extra goodies that come with this version, however, I can only assume production costs are high—and therefore, continued printing of such a version is unlikely to be sustainable. With that said, I do hope everyone that wants one is able to secure themselves a copy.
At the time of writing, both editions are expected to hit store shelves by the end of 2022.
Please note that there was initially an error on Magnetic Press’ mini-site when it came to calculating international postage costs, and that this should now be fixed.
Before we wrap up, I have to quickly address the elephant in the room…
On announcement, it was initially unclear on whether those who backed the original Kickstarter campaign for the “Gentleman Thief, Arsène Lupin” book, and selected the Lupin III book as an add-on, would be eligible for a copy of the deluxe edition version. The same could be said for those who ordered via Amazon, and RightStufAnime.com, too. Will there be upgrade options available for those that wish to get the “deluxe” version? Are customers expected to cancel previous pre-orders, and order again via the Magnetic Press mini-site?
In an effort to help answer this question (and more), I reached out to the lovely Mike Kennedy, one of the founders of Magnetic Press. Mike was kind enough to answer my questions, along with detailing a few things about the book, and the company behind it…
Lupin Central:
The limited deluxe edition of “50 Animated Years of Lupin III” looks incredible, however, a number of people already have made pre-orders for the standard edition via Kickstarter add-ons and RightStufAnime.com. What is expected of customers who have ordered already, that wish to upgrade to the deluxe edition?
Mike:
We are formulating a special offer for the backers who pre-ordered their copy via the ARSENE LUPIN Kickstarter. Because of the wide gap in shipping dates, we will be shipping the rest of their ARSENE pledge items ahead of time (in just a few weeks), with the Anniversary book shipping as soon as it is in hand in October.
For those asking about the new pre-order bonuses (sketchbook and coin), or wishing to upgrade to the slipcase, we haven’t overlooked them—we’ll be posting an update shortly with how that will work for those backers.
For anyone who pre-ordered through regular trade, like RightStuff, Amazon, Target, etc, those orders will be fulfilled like any other book store when the books are finally released later in the Fall, but they won’t include our pre-order bonuses or Deluxe Edition. Those are exclusive to our own web store. If anyone chooses to cancel their retail order in favor of pre-ordering our exclusive incentivized bundles from us, that is up to them. :)
Lupin Central:
We notice the information on the bottom of the page, stating that the book is not available for shipping in select territories. There appears to be a keen interest in the book from the Japanese fan base in particular—will there ever be opportunity for this book to ship to countries in Asia, like Japan?
Mike:
Yeah, it does seem odd that Japan and so many other Asian territories would be carved out of our license, but since there are so many other publishing agreements covering so many pieces of the franchise already in place in those territories, it just wasn’t possible to secure worldwide rights without some exceptions. With a property this popular having so many finely-parsed rights across so many publishing and merchandise categories, we were happy to get what we could.
So, we cannot distribute or ship orders into those limited regions ourselves, but creative fans will find a way to get their hands on a copy somehow in this internet age. We just have to abide by our agreement. :)
Lupin Central:
Also, there's no pressure on this, but I wondered if you minded giving a quick comment about the book's delay? I believe it was originally scheduled for the summer, and is now set for October. I imagine production on a product like this is incredibly difficult, with lots of checks and moving parts needed, so it's not surprising. Regardless, October isn't far away, and I'm sure it's going to be worth the wait!
Mike:
You hit the nail on the head – there have been many parties and production partners involved in the property over the past fifty years, and it was a bit more complicated than expected to navigate all of those partners for approvals. Beyond that, however, just the volume of content itself was a lot to produce and proof for accuracy – TMS is considering this their Official Guide moving forward, so things like episode titles and character names that vary between dubs, subs, and a dozen different wikis all had to be addressed and concretely decided. That, plus digitally remastering so many pieces of archival artwork took more time than expected. A lot of it was really old, low-rez scans on yellowing paper, but we employed some really cool, cutting-edge AI software (and manual touch-up) to digitally enhance a lot of it.
Full disclosure: it is still in the final approvals stage, but we (Magnetic and TMS) are now confident it will be at the printer very soon. The big hurdles are finally behind us and the finish line is within arm’s reach.
And not to assume anyone is asking or wondering, but yes, the RPG is still in the works. Getting the Anniversary book finished was top priority, however. With that wrapping up, the RPG is next on the docket. :)
A huge thanks to Mike for taking time out of his no doubt hectic schedule to provide those insights!
It is clear to me that Mike and the Magnetic team are a small outfit, filled with passionate fans of Lupin, books, comics, art, and so much more. While their latest Lupin III themed product is shaping up to look amazing, I would like to quickly say—please have some patience. I feel the team are putting in a superb effort, but what they have taken on is a colossal task. With that said, we still cannot wait to have the book in our hands, and wish Mike and his team all the best!
Don’t miss the first trailer for the book, which has been uploaded to Vimeo below, and stay tuned for more details as we approach its shipping date later this year!
Please note that Due to license restrictions, Magnetic Press cannot ship the book to Russia, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, or Japan.
