New Lupin mag releasing in Italy!
A new weekly Lupin III magazine is set to release in Italy!
The 63 issue run will begin on the 23rd of March 2021. Each release comes with a DVD, which over time will build into a collection that covers all of the Lupin TV series, including Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part 5 (V) and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Each episode will include both Japanese and Italian language audio.
Each volume will retail at the recommended price of €10.99, and a subscription plan is available (which gives a small discount off of the first issue). The total price of the set will come in at around €630, so not a cheap endeavor!
Alongside the magazine, fans can also pick up a sticker album and slowly fill it in over time, as each issue comes with free stickers.
You can subscribe to the magazine and buy individual issues at the Gazzetta Store website. Big thanks to super-fan Dario for the heads up!
This news may come as bittersweet to Italian Lupin III fans.
A magazine release covering every episode of all six Lupin TV series is positive news, and the inclusion of both Italian and Japanese language audio is welcome. However, three of the six series included as part of this magazine run still do not have proper home video releases in Italy.
If fans wish to watch Part IV, Part 5 (V) and Fujiko Mine, the current best way to do this is by catching them on TV or buying this magazine subscription. It’s rather baffling as to how these three series do not have a proper Blu-ray or DVD home video release, especially when you consider how popular the Lupin series is in Italy, and that it all has received an Italian language dub.
The same can be said of various films and TV specials - of which a bunch are lacking proper home video editions, and instead have only made it onto cheap VHS / DVD versions that have been sold on newsstands.
The blame appears to be on the licensing company behind these Lupin releases, whom appear to be continuing to disappoint with the lack of home video support. Fans have been voicing their concerns for a while now - Fujiko Mine originally aired in 2012 for example, and has since had two separate home video sets in North America.
We hope these series and specials make it into Italian homes as part of more extensive DVD and Blu-ray releases soon enough - the fans deserve it.
A huge thanks to Matteo over on Twitter for bringing this information to our attention, and detailing the issues surrounding home video releases in Italy.
