Lupin the Third Part IV: The Italian Adventure

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Brady Hartel

IT'S HAPPENING. Final packaging for
@discotekmedia's release of Lupin the Third Part IV: The Italian Adventure - The Japanese Language Collection. Sorry for the wait!

Finally! We just need a release date...

[nagpo]

I'm gonna say may or june

[LordCrumb]

I really think this needed it's own thread for discussion. Great to see some more Lupin coming out

[vivablu]

Why do they only release part 4? Are there parts 1-3 as well?

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by vivablu

Why do they only release part 4? Are there parts 1-3 as well?

Part 4 is the most recent series. The HD masters for Part 1 (Green Jacket) and Part 2 (Red Jacket) are fairly horrendous. They were upscales done early in the HD era (Both series were some of, if not the first, cel-anime on Blu). I can't say on the Part 3 (Pink Jacket) series but I wouldn't be surprised if they were problematic like the first two. Discotek has slowly been releasing the full Part 2 series on DVD and have released Part 1 one long ago on DVD.

[vivablu]

If I don't know anything about Lupin, would it be difficult to follow the story in this set?

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by vivablu

If I don't know anything about Lupin, would it be difficult to follow the story in this set?

With "Lupin", there's not really an overall arching story-line from series to series, special to special, film to film etc. It's easy to follow.

[vivablu]

Is this the same set that is available on RS or Amazon right now?

[Footlong Shoe]

Originally Posted by vivablu

Is this the same set that is available on RS or Amazon right now?

The one available right now is the Italian cut of the series with English dub only, the one pictured above is the Japanese cut with subtitles only.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by vivablu

If I don't know anything about Lupin, would it be difficult to follow the story in this set?

I watched Part II on Adult Swim 16 years ago without knowing it was Part II until later. I did think it was odd to have episode 1 of Part II being a reunion but then I remembered Funimation had some movies and TV Specials which was then when I found out that there was quite a lot of Lupin.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Part 4 is the most recent series. The HD masters for Part 1 (Green Jacket) and Part 2 (Red Jacket) are fairly horrendous. They were upscales done early in the HD era (Both series were some of, if not the first, cel-anime on Blu). I can't say on the Part 3 (Pink Jacket) series but I wouldn't be surprised if they were problematic like the first two. Discotek has slowly been releasing the full Part 2 series on DVD and have released Part 1 one long ago on DVD.

Green jacket is not upscale, but suffers from "frozen grain".

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Footlong Shoe

The one available right now is the Italian cut of the series with English dub only, the one pictured above is the Japanese cut with subtitles only.

Well thats pretty dumb. As a person who likes a dub and likes to watch subs this would make me less likely to buy either

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by veritas

Well thats pretty dumb. As a person who likes a dub and likes to watch subs this would make me less likely to buy either

I get it, but there are differences in the runtime of both which made this inevitable. On average the Italian/EN Dub episodes run 2 or 3 minutes longer than their Japanese versions, so more content. However, the Japanese version- which was broadcast later- has updated animation. So it really comes down to what the viewer prefers. I only watch stuff subbed, so it’s easy for me, but for people who do either, it’s a harder decision.

[Crazymerio]

Originally Posted by professorwho

I get it, but there are differences in the runtime of both which made this inevitable. On average the Italian/EN Dub episodes run 2 or 3 minutes longer than their Japanese versions, so more content. However, the Japanese version- which was broadcast later- has updated animation. So it really comes down to what the viewer prefers. I only watch stuff subbed, so it’s easy for me, but for people who do either, it’s a harder decision.

I was waiting for the Japanese release but I didn’t realize they were this different. Are the stories actually different in some way for the Italian edition? Which would you recommend?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Crazymerio

I was waiting for the Japanese release but I didn’t realize they were this different. Are the stories actually different in some way for the Italian edition? Which would you recommend?

The Italian version- from what I can tell- is like a Director’s cut due to the standard length of TV episodes being longer there than in Japan.

I’ve only seen the Japanese version, and it was perfectly fine. Don’t know much about the new stuff so I’ll ask around.

[professorwho]

Here’s what I found about the differences:

(In regards to the Japanese version being on 2 discs):

Every episode of the Japanese version is like 2 minutes shorter than the US version (which adds up to 52 minutes less content), plus the extras aren't super long. So it all fits fine.

We fit Kaiba onto one disc and that show has crazy gradients and also digital grain and got compliments on the picture quality. This doesn't have a lot of gradients and all the characters are very flat colors, so don't worry. Like I said, trust in @worldofcrap.

Japan is all the same formats as the US, just on this particular show we're working on, the US version has different openings+endings and a minute and a half long roll call that's not in the Japanese version. The US version being a much different cut is the whole reason why we had to do two sets in the first place. :/

(From Anime Limited- the UK destributor)

When the series originally aired, it premiered first in Italy, not in Japan. It came to light later on that there were particular video materials used for the Italian broadcast that differ to the materials used in the Japanese broadcast, when the series later aired in Japan.
When the series was dubbed into English, the dub was created utilising the Italian broadcast video assets, not the Japanese broadcast video assets. This meant that there were differences between the two.
“Why is this is a problem?” you ask. To give some context, when you select audio options on other anime Blu-rays, both the English and Japanese audio are timed to match with the video materials. This is why it’s easy to switch between the two. But in this case, because there are differences between the two versions in terms of video footage it was simply not possible to include both language options on a single Blu-ray release.

From what I can tell, the music is different in certain bits- the OP is completely different. Compare this:

https://youtu.be/dvaosZlQqrY

To this (the Italian OP):

https://youtu.be/JE1TtZxoheg

And this is what the English dub used for broadcast on Toonami (again, totally different):

https://youtu.be/G-dAh3v2p-Y

So, unless someone makes a blog post showing off all the differences, we’ll never fully know.

[Wade Wilson]

Originally Posted by vivablu

If I don't know anything about Lupin, would it be difficult to follow the story in this set?

I started watching Lupin with this set (The Italian Adventure). Its a great starting point, and highly recommended to newcomers to the series.

[MOONPHASE]

There’s also the 2nd Toonami Opening for the 2nd half of the series(sorry the video sucks)

YouTube

[Squeakyboots]

The reason why the episodes are longer in the English release is because every episode starts with this minute and a half-ish long role call segment featuring narration from the five main characters introducing each other. These were edited out when the series aired on Toonami but are included in every episode on the blu-ray release. Not sure why they felt the need to include that in every episode but that's why the runtime is increased by so much.

I'm not aware of there being any scenes in one version that aren't in the other besides minor animation tweaks. You're getting the same show with whichever version you decide to watch, just with a different presentation.

[LexInHD]

I love Lupin. I picked up the old Streamline tapes as soon as I found them and got hooked. As soon as Lupin made it's way to Murica via Pioneer, I got the CDs and DVDs. When Funimation got the TV films, I got those. Now, I get these new BD releases. I LOVE LUPIN! I also discovered this Samurai-era Lupin knock-off with the same animation style, on Crunchyroll that some of you might find interesting.

https://www.crunchyroll.com/bakumatsu-gijinden-roman