Monkey News - Squigglydigg Ditty
Welcome to Monkey News, your weekly news update for everything Lupin III.
Lupin III: The First comes to France’s Annecy International Festival!
The first feature length 3DCG Lupin film is soon to get a release in France, courtesy of distribution company Eurozoom.
As legal issues with the Maurice Leblanc estate have now cleared up in the novelists home country of France, the film and character have both maintained their original Japanese title for this latest release.
This is a welcome celebration for French fans, as the original localised title Edgar, le Détective Cambrioleur is now absent, and Lupin is simply Lupin!
The Annecy Festival, which is now known as the highest profile animation gathering in the world, will be held online this year due to concerns regarding COVID-19. Rather than physically heading to watch each participating film in a cinema, attendees can purchase an online pass and watch over the web, from the safety of their own homes.
There is a catch, however.
Not all films will be aired in full. Instead, this will be up to the production teams behind each film. Streaming unreleased films online creates new legal issues that not all companies behind the films will agree to, so during the festival, a ten minute extract or short documentary can be aired instead.
This will no doubt be disappointing for those hoping to check out films for the first time. It remains unclear what form Lupin III: The First will take, however regardless, we imagine a full French release is likely right around the corner.
We imagine more information will be revealed in advance of the festival, which takes place between June 15th - 30th.
When the film does eventually release throughout theaters in France, expect to see the original Japanese language version along with French subtitles. Check out the latest trailer to see a snippet of the film in action!
Happy birthday, Tony Oliver!
Veteran voice actor Tony Oliver celebrated his 62nd birthday last week, on the 12th of May!
Oliver, who has voiced Lupin III across various North American localisations since the early 2000’s Geneon / Pioneer dub, most recently took on the role for the English language version of the 2019 TV special, Goodbye Partner.
Alongside Lupin, Oliver also stars in a heap of other shows, including (but not limited to) Captain Harlock, Ghost in the Shell and Naruto. He has also gone onto direct English dubs for a bunch of different shows, such as K-On!, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Love Live!
To many fans in North America, Oliver is Lupin. He along with the rest of the Epcar Productions crew are a huge part of the series overseas and we look forward to hearing them star in episodes, TV specials and films for years to come!
BSLICK and Squigglydigg team up for cover version of the Lupin theme!
This may not be recent news, however it’s so good we just had to share it!
BSLICK (Bobby Yarsulik) and Squigglydigg have teamed up to create this fantastic version of the Part II theme tune. The version covered is specifically the Monkey Majik version, which released back in 2009 alongside a snazzy animated music video.
Squigglydigg, the lead vocalist for the track, is an active artist on Twitter and has also performed for various other original and cover songs. Her performance in the Lupin track is fantastic, and no doubt would do Yuji Ohno proud!
You can check out the track on iTunes, Google and Spotify. For comparisons sake, take a listen to a live version of the Monkey Majik song below!
