Rumour: Is a new Lupin III TV special on the way? (Updated)
Update (Oct 17th):
Lupin III: Prison of the Past has been officially announced and airs in Japan on Friday the 29th of November!
Update (Oct 12th):
A full track listing for Lupin III: Prison of the Past is now available over on Amazon Japan.
It is extremely likely that the album listed here is the one announced by Yuji Ohno and VAP records a couple of months ago. Looking down the track list, you can see various vocal performances by Shigeru Matsuzaki mentioned - including the main theme and an updated version of Part II's Super Hero!
The album is currently up for pre-order on Amazon and releases on October 23rd. While we still have no further details on the potential TV special, the album (track listing included below) looks to be a corker, with a new version of Legend of the Gold of Babylon's Manhattan Joke and more!
“ルパン三世のテーマ2019
AFRO-CUBAN NIGHT
BRILLIANT STEP
PAL PAL BUN BUN
REGGAE DA LUPIN ~Love & Peace~
スーパーヒーロー2019 feat.松崎しげる
GARGANTA DEL DIABLO
A WOMAN WITH MOJITO
TIO PEPE ~Sweet~
DEVIL’S ISLAND
DULCE DE LECHE & VANILLA
MANHATTAN JOKE 2019
風のささやき feat.松崎しげる
ROBBERS ON THE ROCKY ISLAND
BOUNCE BACK (GET SHIBUKO)
ELGUILLE PRISON part Ⅱ
END OF SUMMER LOVE AFFAIR
BU-BA BE
JAZZ SQUALL 2019”
Check out the cover artwork for the album below, and stay tuned for more details!
Characters and above image owned by TMS and NTV.
Original article:
I think the safest answer to the above question is… yes, there is likely a new TV special in development.
Lupin III has had yearly / bi-yearly TV specials since the first one, Goodbye Lady Liberty, hit screens in Japan during the April of 1989. The bigger question is, how soon is the next one?
At the start of this year, Goodbye Partner aired in Japan for the first time. This latest special featured an original story, new animation and a soundtrack by series veteran Yuji Ohno. While it is yet to release in the West, in Japan, it was the first TV special in an unusual amount of time.
Goodbye Partner aired in Jan, 2019 - Characters and above image owned by TMS and NTV.
Prior to this, we had Italian Game. This released in 2016, coming off the back of Part IV. For the first time in the Lupin franchise, it re-used episodes from the TV show itself and only featured around twenty-five minutes of new animation, which tied everything together.
There is a lot of chatter in the Lupin community regarding the announcement of another TV special - one that may be releasing this fall / winter. This has come from a recent update on the Yuji Ohno Twitter account - which confirms that the series veteran is releasing a new album on the 23rd of October, 2019.
The CD will feature new renditions of the Part II theme song and Super Hero. Both will be performed by J-pop icon Shigeru Matsuzaki, perhaps most well known for providing the vocals of the We Love Katamari theme song, Katamari On The Swing (although that statement may be a bit biased, as I love the Katamari video game series)!
Red jacket confirmed! - Yuji Ohno and Shigeru Matsuzaki pose for the camera.
The album in question is currently untitled, which is highly unusual considering the release date is so close. This is because it appears to feature music from an upcoming, unannounced TV special, as described in the original tweet.
It is certainly possible that a new TV special could be set to drop toward the end of the year. With the 3DCG film, which releases in December, being handled by various different studios and considering Goodbye Partner appeared to have less involvement from Studio Telecom, what could they have been up to?
With all that said; it’s likely by the time you read this, and by the time the new Lupin Central launches, all will have been revealed. For now, let’s ponder about what is to come and keep an eye out for an announcement - which, when you consider the release date of the new album, should be happening very soon.
Regardless of what happens in relation of the special, Shigeru Matsuzaki’s version of the Part II theme and Super Hero are no doubt going to be amazing - and we cannot wait to hear them!
For more information on the album, check out Yuji Ohno’s official website.
