It's the end of the month and it is another progress report.
Considering due to the virus meaning that things have been on hold even affecting Japan means that the year just got quieter. Just hope people are coping okay, both physically and mentally. Staying at home even for people who are used to it does take a toll on you.
In the US, Discotek is announcing something on the 3rd of May. The wording is the key since they used Third hinting something is coming. The only thing that is possible is a release date of the US 4K release of The Castle of Cagliostro that was teased earlier. It is too early for a release of Prison of the Past but there might be something else entirely (Blu-ray/4K release of Mamo? re-release of an old Funimation release on Blu-ray? any of the TV Specials that were not released outside of Japan/Italy?).
[Note: This did not happen, the only thing loosely related that was announced was a Blu-ray of Detective Conan: Episode One]
In honestly, the update seems larger than it is and has been a quiet month. Still managed to have some new content though.
Also a nice treat, some impressions regarding the Italian Blu-ray of Part 2.
Characters[]
The majority of characters have been from Part 2 including:
Dr. Oz
Alan Budonson
Kosuke Kindani
One-Eared Joe
Silver
Piccolo from Madame and a Thieves Quartet
Supermarket Manager from Lupin vs. Superman
Alibaba Naibaba
Benson Dokonjo Jr
Mrs Dokonjo
Monsieur Daré
Maniac from Revenge of the Gold Butterfly
Duke Weather who also appeared in Part 5
Speaking of Part 5, Mirage (mother) and Zylberstein were added. So was Malcolm Hurst from Part 3. The manga was not left out either since Pycal's Wife has also been added, yes Pycal did have a wife in the manga.
The TV Specials had a few characters added: Joseph Malkovich and Brian Murphy from Stolen Lupin, there's Dolcurs, Lumberjack, the "swordsman" and the "gunman" left. Morgana did get started however only his first manga appearance rather than The Last Job, more info on why is further down... Mark Williams from Operation: Return the Treasure managed to squeeze through.
While Ofumi has yet to have been done outside of her picture, Lupin XXXIII and Fujiko's Descendant from Elusiveness of the Fog have been added. Kyosuke Mamo has been going through a rewrite that is partially done regarding his first appearances but needs more work.
If anyone has been looking at the images, they may notice some more characters. This is due to that pages will be done of those characters in the future.
Housekeeping[]
A page about TMS Entertainment has been added since it is only fair that the company (and previous related companies) has done so much for the franchise.
Finally managed to get a censored picture of Steal Everything from Lupin, it is the best that can be done through. A couple of Part 2 episodes have translation notes.
Two important lists have been made, first one was Home Media Releases where it details the various releases outside of films and TV Specials. This is where we need some extra help. While a majority of releases have been recorded, there are missing gaps. These include the Hong Kong or Taiwan VHS releases of Part 3 (or Cliff Hanger/Lupin Part 3 as they were also known as), they were on Yahoo Auctions however had disappeared from there. Anyone who has Lupin, l'incorreggibile Lupin 2 (not the magazine release one) just to find out what was included since 1 had Part 1 episodes while 3 had the Mysterious Gang of Five 2 parter.
The second was requested and that is List of Lupin III animated productions by release date. It is missing details of Part 3 due to a retranslation project and Part 5, Mankatsu, Lupin Shansei and Is Lupin Still Burning? but covers most of the series from 1969 to present.
Speaking of which, some titles have improved translations such as The Sweet Trap of ICPO (official) and Copy Humans are Expensive.
Outside of myself, Haltron providing more voice acting info, pictures and a logo for Mediaset, Whiteknight810210 provided a movie poster of the live action Lupin the 3rd film, Potato Pikawika doing some housekeeping, an edit of Secret of the Twilight Gemini and Furukawa20 has been doing a few minor edits. I thank everyone on the wiki, no matter how minor an edit.
Italian Blu-ray Impressions[]
Never thought that I would get this but I have the complete Italian Part 2/Red Jacket/Second Series Blu-ray box. Impressions are really good. It uses the Japanese masters so not only it is uncut but all those changes that were made do not apply so Goemon listens to a Japanese vocal song in Lupin Laughs at the Alarm Bell, the brand names are present and correct including Jigen's cigarettes. Outside of having a different intro and credits as well as the different title card placement, it is as close as possible to how it was originally aired before it got censored. The picture quality is pretty good considering that the source is an upscale (Part 2 believe has a 480p source, might be 720p), none of that dirty noise in some frames like the VAP Blu-rays or having a filter. It might be slightly cropped though.
Sound is probably the best that you are going to get for the Italian dub, they sound much clearer than on the TV airings and do not suffer from clipping unlike the DVDs where the loudness problem kicks in. Farewell My Beloved Lupin doesn't sound as good making it hard to hear clearly but from what I gathered, that episode is problematic in the past and does get a bit better after the title card. As a note since the Italian dub never had episode previews, an instrumental track plays instead. Not much to say about the Japanese soundtrack, it sounds as good as usual.
From what I know regarding subtitles, episodes 1-79 use the English Pioneer/Geneon translation as a base including its mistakes with Sidney instead of Sydney for episode 1 and Perre instead of Pele for episode 2. In Classic Thieves and Myriah, they accidentally left a line in English "Yes, Mr. Zenigata". The lyrics of the Japanese song in Lupin Laughs at the Alarm Bell was also translated. Episode 80 onwards is hard to say. It has elements of the online translation (e.g. Lupin vs Superman uses Joe McReed rather than the subtitles that appear on TMS sources saying Joe MacLeed, The Treasure that My Grandfather Left Behind using Zantetsuken than sword with the former being correct) however it has its own translation such as using Daret rather than the incorrect Darren in Lupin vs the Mystery Man of Two Faces.
As for extras, the main extras are not a lot. There is the original Italian intro and credits that also feature a rare TMS logo. The main extra is redubbing the dialogue that either got lost or was cut to begin with. It is not a complete redub like what some series had received however considering how iconic the dub was and how expensive it would be to redub, it is a little touch and the voice actors do a good job making it hard to tell between the two. Probably the main things that Italians would want is changing Margot back to Fujiko, reversing the Arsene Lupin and any other censorship since it is a faithful dub to a degree. There are also three art books showing some character designs, backgrounds and a breakdown of the intros/credits. Sure it might only be a small piece compared to the metric ton that it got made but having them has a little insight on how the show was made.
If you want the Italian dub in the best quality that you can get uncut, get it. You won't regret it. For anyone else though, it's hard to say. Value wise is pretty good, about half the price compared to buying all four DVD collections of the Discotek release and for Region B Blu-ray owners this is pretty much your only option since no other company in Europe will ever release a Part 2 boxset. The issue really is whether you can read Italian since there is very little English and obviously you miss out on the English dub. Plus for Japanese owners who have a multi-region player, the subtitles are locked when played with Japanese audio but that was a TMS decision.
Problems[]
This is one reason why the wiki has been a bit slow and not as many updates, there have been two problems.
Problem 1: Translation
This has been a problem since Day 1 especially when it comes characters but episode names are just as bad (in case of some for Part 2 and 3). It got towards the point that a Name Variants page was made as not even TMS themselves have made this consistent outside of the main characters.
Was going through Voyage to Danger and noticed Jean Claude on the subtitles (the ones for the Japanese voice track, not ones for the dub). He's the boss of Shot Shell. At first thought that it was his name but need confirmation just to make sure so decided to translate ジョン・クローズ (jon kurōzu) and there are multiple results of what it could be. John Crows, John Close or the name that Funimation chose being John Klause. The Italian dub used John Cloths while the French dub decided to use John Claude. None were Jean Claude. So what would Jean Claude be in Japanese? ジャン＝クロード (jan ＝ kurōdo) As an example? This is how Jean Claude Van Damme got translated into Japanese. The Discotek (and the French) translation was wrong but who is right?
Then there's the inspector who was featured in Lupin vs Superman. The English subtitles on the TMS translation say Joe MacLeed, the other translation and the Italian Blu-ray say Joe McReed, the English TMS synopsis says McLead. In Japanese it is ジオ・マクリード , the first part translates as Geo rather than Joe (ジョー) but the second part could be McReed, McLead, McCreed, it could even be McLeod. Ohh... Ahh... To make matters worse, he appeared in a Japanese only PS2 game as well.
You don't know who the character is called when even the official licenser doesn't know who it is called either.
Problem 2:
When doing a character, first I watch the episode/film/TV Special in full out of leisure to familiarise. Then over time analysis the character from start to finish looking at the body language, what they are saying and if they are with others (usually Lupin), then take a screenshot or take a screenshot then analysis. Usually there aren't problems or too much trouble outside of the above problem, it might take a while especially if it is a main character in a movie or a TV Special.
That depends on the source. Some of them are very laggy to watch and over time they can't be paused. You press pause but it still plays without sound. The Last Job was a nightmare to get through and even caused it to crash. It is better to do it directly rather than streaming as you get the best that you can (and no buffering or Internet shortages). Was thinking that the computer is not powerful enough to watch them properly or a problem with the encode of the source however in some cases it is the only source. Due to this current event, unable to resolve it if it is a computer problem so it would have wait.
The last update mentioned Bincam and Morgana but unable to do so. This is been the main reason why most characters have been from Part 2 as they haven't had the problem, neither has Part 5 mostly. Stolen Lupin hasn't had many problems, Marco Polo has a problem scene (one that affects Bernardo Vilar) and so far, Elusiveness of the Fog only focused on minor characters. It was lucky that Mark Williams from Return the Treasure was more or less done as it had the problem but the character had spots where he was featured (the funeral, the task, the digital camera, the USB drive scene, the past with Anita and a flashback with Carlos).
Closing Words[]
Will there be another update? It is hard to say really but it is nice to see that people use the wiki. It might be limited but do try our best especially for a series that is either mainstream, cult or a niche depending where you are. As for me? Working on more characters and watching more stuff for pleasure.
Catch ya later.