Farewell to Nostradamus coming to Blu-ray in the US!
It’s time for audiences in the United States to say “hello” to the 1995 theatrical Lupin III film, Farewell to Nostradamus (or To Hell With Nostradamus as it is otherwise known)!
Announced as part of Discotek Media’s Otakon panel on July 30th, 2022, the classic feature-length film is coming to 1080p Blu-ray in English for the very first time.
Farewell to Nostradamus had previously released in the United States on DVD in the mid-2000s, complete with an English language dub by FUNimation (Sonny Strait as Lupin, Christopher R. Sabat as Jigen, etc). The new home video release will feature the aforementioned FUNimation English dub, alongside the Japanese original.
The Japanese audio is relatively special, as it features the first appearance of Kanichi Kurita as Lupin III, on the back of the late Yasuo Yamada’s passing in March 1995. While still finding his feet during the recording of Nostradamus, Kurita certainly hit the ground running, and is still playing the character to this day (hi Kurita-san, if you’re reading)!
While Farewell to Nostradamus isn’t the most popular animated Lupin film, it’s still incredibly pretty, and should absolutely sing in 1080p.
Perhaps dialled back a touch from 1985’s Legend of the Gold of Babylon, the 1995 film does a great job at giving a softer, more Looney Tunes cartoonish take on the red jacket character designs. There is some fantastic background work too, no doubt thanks to the talented artists working with Tokyo Movie Shinsha and Telecom Animation Film at the time.
The character design for the film was handled by Kenji Hachizaki, now a veteran member of the series having worked on The Fuma Conspiracy, Seven Days Rhapsody, Another Page and many more. Hachizaki also directed the animation, alongside Tadashi Kudo who took charge of the art.
Even if you are not “wowed” by the story, this should be a fun watch for any Lupin III fan. It will no doubt be a nice contrast visually from the slightly darker, Monkey Punch-ian Dead or Alive too, which is also getting a Blu-ray release in the United States later this year.
Farewell to Nostradamus is expected to release late 2022 / early 2023. In the meantime, you can check out Discotek Media’s new trailer for the film right here.
