Before the GENTLEMAN THIEF graced television screens-THE LUPIN III 1969 PILOT FILM

When Lupin III premiered on August 10 1967 as a manga series written and illustrated by the late KAZUHIKO KATO, aka MONKEY PUNCH, 

Little did people or Kato himself, know that what was spearheaded that day would forever change the landscape of Anime Audience Perception.

But did you know that before the 1971 series debut, TMS made a pilot film in order to appease bankers and financers to gain some finances to produce a series before the project goes PRIMETIME?

It's true. 

Behold the PILOT FILM of LUPIN III

What differs with this version of LUPIN vs. the later more well known adaptations is the visual presentation.

Unlike the later anime adaptations which often at times prefers to deviate away from MONKEY PUNCH's art style, in favor of something more CONVENTIONAL for the presentation, 

This PILOT FILM seeks to make the art sort of match MONKEY PUNCH's art in ways you can't possibly imagine.

That's the fierce dedication that the artists have when they happen to be fans of the author.

Also, some of the voices sound different too.

Most noticeably ARSENE LUPIN III himself.

Before they decided to have YASUO YAMADA perform the voice of the gentleman thief, they had given ARSENE's grandson a different tone of voice in both performance and octave.

That may explain why LUPIN sounds deep-voiced instead of NASAL and funny which we've come to associate the thief with.

In the Cinemascope version, he was portrayed by NACHI NOZAWA

while on TV, he was portrayed by Taichiro Hirokawa.

None of these actors accurately portrayed the Nasal octave and performance tone that YASUO YAMADA was known for.

Also, Zenigata and Goemon have their respective actors swapped.... sort of.

In Cinemascope, Zenigata was performed by SHINSUKE CHIKAISKI,

While on TV, it was CHIKAO OTSUKA.

In Cinemascope, Goemon was portrayed by GORO NAYA,

while on TV, it was OSAMU KOBAYASHI.

When the TV series premiered, OTSUKA and NAYA swapped their parts as NAYA felt he's better off as Zenigata while OTSUKA felt he's a better GOEMON.

Of course, in part 2, OTSUKA was replaced with MAKIO INOUE.

The only noticeable standouts who would actually be mainstays in LUPIN till their retirement later in life were

KIYOSHI KOBAYASHI as JIGEN

and EIKO MASUYAMA as FUJIKO.

Did I say that the animation of this PILOT FILM aimed to mimic the art style of MONKEY PUNCH?

Here are some images of the manga to prove what I'm talking about:

Now let's use some VLC Screenshots to compare to the MANGA:

You'll also notice this old man on the right next to Zenigata.

Apparently, TMS was planning to add this character to serve as a fatherly assistant to the inspector.

He goes by the name of KOGORO AKECHI.

This character already existed before LUPIN so I think the plan was to bring this character full circle as an adversary for Lupin considering he actually arrested the thief in the the very first Chapter of the Manga.

But my guess was there was a Copyright issue with this character back in the late 60s that prevented this character from appearing in future LUPIN III adaptations so TMS dropped AKECHI from the LUPIN Canon.

Where can you find the pilot film?

If you have the Green Jacket DVDs, then it's where you can find this.

I'm sure it's also on YOUTUBE but...

You might be asking

"HEY DAN, WHERE THE HELL ARE THE SUBTITLES? IS THIS THING DUBBED?"

My answer:

The pilot film was never officially dubbed in ENGLISH. 

The version of the Pilot film I'm using for my VLC Screenshots is actually in Japanese but for some reason, the copy I found on ARCHIVE.ORG is the Raw Japanese print so that's why there are no subtitles.

Also, the print I'm using is the TV Pitch print from the 1971.

I'm still on the lookout for the original Cinemascope Print with the original 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio as well as the original actors but finding the Lupin Pilot Film in Cinemascope has been surprisingly difficult.

And no, Lupin himself didn't steal the Cinemascope Prints.

He fiercely believes in film preservation as much as we all do.

Anyway, after these prints of the PILOT FILM were made, they all spearheaded the LUPIN Franchise.

The first was the Green Jacket TV Series in 1971

The Red Jacket Series from 1977 until 1980

The Pink Jacket series from the Mid-1980s

Theatrical Movies that include

Mystery of Mamo in 1978

Most famously CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO in 1979

The various Tv Specials which can range from Artist to Artist depending on the special

And culminating in the 3DCG theatrical movie released in late 2019

While the art for Lupin has changed over the years depending on Animation Director, production team, budget, or whether the team prefers to mimic Monkey Punch's art vs the Fandom preferring the art to be as conventional as anime should be, 

Be sure to remember where it all started.

Sure, the Manga started in 1967 

but the animation of Lupin all began with a simple Pilot Film released in 1969 and was originally meant to be screened to investors....

Which succeeded the second time around during the start of the 70s.

Maverick Foods 02-The Tipper

Before I get into this joint, here's a backstory:

Before the middle of the 2010s, there was this nice restaurant near Broadway Station in Vancouver called Banners.

You ever go to your favorite Breakfast Sandwich joints around your area regardless if you're in Canada like me, or in the States, or Mexico, or Europe.... Depends where you are..

Besides the point, ever been in those kinds of joints where they serve a plethora of Sandwiches, Eggs, Burgers, Fish, bacon, etc.?

Well, that's what Banners was. A Breakfast joint.....

Well, they have to have other foods that's not only breakfast.

Unfortunately around 2015, Banners closed their doors as they went out of business.

Anyway, 

It was Tuesday Night, November 19 2024.

I was helping my mother do her shopping at a Dollar Store.

After we got her Christmas decorations, we decided to walk across KINGSWAY ST. and stop by this restaurant called TIPPERS.

At this point, I never set foot in there buy my mother did so I decided to give it a go.

This joint sort of was in the mold of Banners but not quite. 

It had dimmed lighting, which I actually like since I actually prefer my dimmed lighting in my bedroom where I do these Blogposts.

It also had these cute little Menus where the art varies from Child-to-Child.

My guess is the restaurant wants help from the community to contribute to the art world so they actually encourage to get art from whoever submits.

Anyway, back to the food.

My mother had a Linguine Pasta Meal 

while I had a Wild Salmon Burger.

What can I say, the food actually was great.

Sorry I'm lacking in photos. I forgot to take photos of my meal......

But now that I think about it, I don't really take photos of my food that much.

Oh well, maybe when I come back, then I'll revisit this post someday with a future update and photos to boot.

Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man-THE "FOGGING" BOUNCER Breakdowns

30 years since Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man made it's debut on March 1994 on the USA Network...

but Series Creator Everett Peck unfortunately did not live long enough to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of his cult classic.

.....

Why am I doing this Blogpost?

Because 30th Anniversary...

And because I'm working on a new animation on Autodesk Maya where I took some audio from the episode RESEARCH AND DESTROY 

where Bernice is ranting at a snooty BOUNCER for denying her and her family from watching AJAX's poetry session.

And what language does she use towards poor Mr. Bouncer?

Actually.... it's sort of a combination of a Minced Oath and a Pun.

FOGGING!!!

And so here are the acting breakdowns of Bernice's Rant:

"HEY!!!"

"WE WERE HERE FIRST!!!"

"Maybe Next..."

"Show..."

"When...."

"You've cleared the FOG..."

"From your Consciousness..."

"I'll tell you what's...."

"FOGGING...."

"MY CONSCIOUSNESS!!!"

"I have been cooling my FOGGING heels...."

"For two FOGGING HOURS...."

"Looking at your stupid FOGGING...."

"FACE...."

"AND...."

"Soaking up your snobby FOGGING...."

"Attitude!!!"

"Now if you don't find us a FOGGING place to...."

"SIT...."

"I am going to RIP OUT YOUR FOGGING SPLEEN...."

"AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR FOGGING THROAT!!!"

"SO MOVE YOUR FOGGING BUTT IN THERE..."

"AND FOGGING GIVE US A FOGGING TABLE...."

"RIGHT FOGGING NOW!!!!!!"

"and don't you forget it!!!"

Say what some of you will about KLASKY CSUPO being contacted at the time to do the animation for DUCKMAN when the studio is more well known for doing RUGRATS, AHH REAL MONSTERS, Etc.,

But I still think DUCKMAN is one of the better KLASKY CSUPO shows out there even if the concept was made by Everett Peck.

The show is more down-to-earth and has the best fluidity in the character acting than what you could get out of shows like DOUG, SIMPSONS, BEAVIS, etc.

Sure, it's still Animation Acting but it still feels like the Overseas animators in Korea were taking a page out of LIVE-ACTION ACTING 101 and applying it beautifully on many scenes that warrant it which is why the FOGGING Scene is perfect acting exercise for my MAYA Project.

and yes, DUCKMAN still has a healthy cult following to this day with many a fan still sore about the unfortunate loss of Everett Peck back in June 14 2022.

So for the late Everett Peck,

HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY DUCKMAN.

The Anime-fication of Western Cartoons

I've noticed in the recent years where some existing North American and European Animation I.P are getting this treatment where the art remains the same but the animation looks more ANIME like then ever before.

It depends whether you're inspired by or or the production is indeed from Japan....

Normally, when I see fanart of Western Cartoons, I see people redesign the characters to look like they've actually come from an anime....

This is prevalent because when we are young and restless, we need something that's considered

COOL

in the presentation.

And considering mid to late millennials as well as a majority of Gen-Z grew up watching Anime that were localized by various companies and broadcast on Cartoon Network most of the time,

most of my generation considered these Japanese Cartoons SUPERIOR to the Western Animated fare that we have at home Stateside.

It's not helped that even with the proliferation of adult animated shows like THE SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY, FUTURAMA, SOUTH PARK, etc.

the age old belief that Cartoons are for Children still lingers on some people's mind...

as well as some executives who control said I.P no matter what,

So the fact that the Japanese let the Medium grow with more MATURE ADULT-ORIENTED works without letting the Moral Guardians get in the way made a lot of people move towards the more COOLER anime than what we get here in the STATES.

And once the Animation Studios started allowing more 2D Fare into Television, then came the CALARTS STYLE Mandates that no one liked but them showrunners refused to listen to our complaints.

So that caused a Migration of Viewers away from the shows that permeated the 2010s in favor of the more Superior JAPANESE Work.

I can tell because throughout High School, College, and when I'm on transit, I sometimes look at what people are watching on their phones(They don't have anti-peeking screen protectors),

and not a single animation they watch is from the US or Canada.

I guess several years later, the studios weren't buying it with this mass migration of viewers so they devised a solution:

MAKE SHOWS THAT ACTUALLY USE THE ANIME LOGIC IN DESIGN AND ACTING.

Now this is nothing new.

It was already done to death with shows from the past but for now, let's use 

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER because that's an example of a WESTERN CARTOON that uses ANIME LOGIC for both ANIMATION and ACTING.

I remember attending this After-School care program at the RAYCAM Community Centre from 2005 until 2011 and one of their programs had this BIG Silver Painted Flat Glass Widescreen TV where we could watch shows on YTV.

And AVATAR was one of those Broadcasted Shows on TV.

It truly was a Golden Age of Imitating the Japanese just to win back the crowd.

Too bad a Combination of the 2008 Great Recession as well as 

LEGEND OF KORRA driving away older fans

caused Executives to not want to borrow a page from AVATAR AANG until the start of the 2020s.....

So that's when I started to see shows like 

MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN

Really take off and show that if you borrow a page from the Japanese as well as AVATAR AANG, you can achieve great success....

and piss off the CALARTS-LOVING executives too...

The funny thing is that MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN was originally susposed to be marketed for Pre-Adolescent Viewers but an issue with Marketing made the series wound up find a home on ADULT SWIM despite the show lacking anything remotely TV-MA warranted.

MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN is a hit and ADULT SWIM was a blessing for the show and continues to have a huge following to this day.

Then this prompted other studios to borrow their Homework out of both AVATAR and SUPERMAN.... 

Some include CAPTAIN LASERHAWK

Yes, RAYMAN is French but he just looks so good when he gets the Anime Treatment 

and yet he still retains his design

SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF

which I did a post back in November 2023,

is one of the few times an actual NORTH AMERICAN I.P is given the treatment by an actual Japanese Studio but this time, the original author of the comics BRYAN LEE O'MALLEY was actually involved with the creation of the series.

RICK AND MORTY THE ANIME 

is another show that is based on an existing I.P where it's gotten the Anime Treatment but the characters retain the art style of the host show.

But from what I can gather, the show's having a rough time finding it's audience.

My guess is the declining reception of the host series in the wake of Justin Roiland's allegations and firing from ADULT SWIM....

We'll see...

And for you J.K Simmons fans out there, 

No I did not forget INVINCIBLE.

Otherwise, OMNI-MAN would never let me live it down...

Is my research and anecdotes worth it?

Or are we going to assume that artists like BRENNI MURASAKI still do a better job at redesigning WESTERN CHARACTERS in the ANIME Aesthetic than the executives can do?

Especially since us fan-artists prefer to redesign Western Animated Characters in the Anime Design Aesthetic instead of retaining the original designs even when converting the characters to the other medium....

Hesitant to use the Teen Titans example since the 2003 series already has sort of the aesthetic 

but this is the best Fanart I currently have.

Happy 5th Birthday Disney+

It was 5 years ago today, that I signed up for what would be the contender of the streaming wars against NETFLIX.

I was 21 years old, and I was living in the Dunbar Neighborhood in Vancouver...

with my roommate BENJAMIN GARNER.

We were anticipating the release of a new streaming service from the MOUSE HOUSE.

It was to be a haven for shows from their catalogue but also would house films from

PIXAR,

MARVEL,

LUCASFILM,

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC,

etc.

I remember first setting up a FREE TRIAL on my iPhone 6s at the time and watching old DISNEY ONE SATURDAY MORNING classics.

My roommate at the time also bought himself an Apple TV 4K set box so he can watch Disney+ on that thing too.

Our accounts were separate though...

He even lent me a hand-me-down APPLE TV so I can take advantage of Screen Sharing on the device so I can watch my shows on what was my TV for the last 9 years which was a TOSHIBA HDTV from 2010.

.....

Such was the end of 2019......

Then 2020 came......

And for some of us, we felt this streaming service was perfect enough for us to bask in our our beds, couches, gaming chairs, etc.

whenever we need our TV fix during the Pandemic.

While I did watch DISNEY+ during the height of the pandemic, I purposely limited my choice of shows.

Unlike in 2019 where I watched my share of Mandalorian, Disney's DOUG, RECESS, Goof Troop, among those likes,

in 2020, I limited myself to THE SIMPSONS, Fantasia, Documentaries like HOWARD, etc.

WHY?

Because of my anxieties of COVID, as well as having to focus on my studies in Art School, which by this point was ONLINE due to Social Distancing.

2021 was when we got most of the HULU catalogue, or at least what the Mouse House owned....

A lot has changed since then.

I eventually got my PS5 in March 2021,

Graduated from Lasalle College in 2022, 

Built my PC in 2023,

and of course, BOUGHT MY HISENSE 4K TV in 2024.

Despite the Price Hikes, Ron DeSantis' fights, controversies with Bob Chapek, etc., 

I still have my original account after all those years, even with the upgrades to STAR bundles, and premium plans with NO ADs!!!!,

I'm not canceling my subscription any time soon but I will still admit that Physical Media can never replace streaming.....

or digital copies you buy at iTunes....

or

Downloads from the Internet Archive.