"'Lupin III's Greatest Capers'" is a compilation tape of two English-dubbed Lupin the 3rd Part 2 episodes, that was released by Streamline Pictures between 1993 and 1995.
Synopsis[]
A double dose of fun and excitement unfold as the world's most loveable thief does his best to stay one step ahead of the law, as he presents his two most spectacular capers!
Info[]
Both episodes had been previously released as separate volumes in Streamline's "Anime Classics" library as Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf. Hayao Miyazaki directed the episodes using the pen-name Teruki Tsutomu however was credited with his proper name on this compilation. Streamline released this compilation banking on the early success of the renowned filmmaker. These episodes were among the first Lupin animated projects to be released to western audiences, along with The Mystery of Mamo, The Castle of Cagliostro, The Legend of the Gold of Babylon, and The Plot of the Fuma Clan, the latter two were subtitled at the time. These were also the first two Lupin the 3rd Part 2 English dub episodes as Geneon later dubbed the first 79 episodes.
The episodes included were:
Dub and alterations[]
The dub is notable for being one of the first ever English-language Lupin dubs and contains the talents of several well-known voice actors. It was the first in the US to use his correct name since the English dub of The Mystery of Mamo was not officially released at the time outside of bootleg tapes coming from a tape copy from TMS. Lupin's name is pronounced as /ˈluː.pɪn/ like the Funimation dubs, as opposed to the customary pronunciation of /ˈluː.pən/ used in later dubs. In addition, Lupin is also constantly referred to by the alias of Wolf, due to copyright reasons and linking to the dub of The Castle of Cagliostro. This affected Part 2 Episode 145 where only Inspector Koichi Zenigata and Fujiko Mine called him Lupin.
Like the Streamline dub of The Castle of Cagliostro, the script was rewritten with a majority of the dialogue completely replaced with some additions and removals however keeping the intentions of the original script. Carl Macek was involved with the changes.
While the episodes themselves were left relatively unchanged from the original source, several modifications were made to the opening and ending sequences. TMS gave Streamline the masters that had the textless opening and according to the copyright information was done in 1989. These masters had the title Cliff Hanger, an aborted attempt to bring Lupin to markets where they couldn't legally use his name however by the time Streamline released the dubs, the copyright to the Arsène Lupin name in the US had expired. A new title card which reads "Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf" is superimposed over the old title card outside of one frame. [1] A screenshot from Part 2 Episode 75 is inexplicably placed over the sequence where a cutout of the word LUPIN zooms forward to reveal a profile shot of the gang cruising in Lupin's Benz, this was due to the above reason. During the final shot of the opening, credit is given to Monkey Punch in English lettering, naming him as the creator of the original comics.
The original ending credits sequence of the episodes, which pertained to season four, were replaced with the ending sequence of season 3 as unlike the other ending, it did not feature the Lupin name. The music, which was originally Love Squall by Sandy Ohn, was replaced with an instrumental rendition and the sequence itself was slightly altered to fit the timing of the new audio track. Bob Bergen's name was also misspelled as Bob Bergin.
Reception[]
Despite that anime was a niche in the US back in the mid-1990s when the tapes were released, there were reviewers who praised the two Hayao Miyazaki episodes. Most reviewers mention his name with Martin Ouellette from Protoculture Addicts calling him "the master of animation".
Michael Swanigan from Toon Magazine calls Albatross, "This high-flying farce is a true anime classic" and Aloha Lupin, "The result is arguably the finest ani-mation ever produced for series television". The former quote was featured in the packaging of Greatest Capers.
Not every review was positive as Todd French from Imagi-Movies mentioning that the "animation is dated by today’s standards" however considers "the situations are well-crafted".
The Streamline dub was also praised with Martin Ouellette saying "The dubbing by Streamline is flawless (just as with ‘Cagliostro Castle’) and shows this company’s concern about good dubbing" for Albatross and "The dub is done very well..." for Aloha Lupin. Tim Lucas from Video Watchdog mentions "the English dubbing is exceptionally well-done, managing to be both witty and topical, and features some unexpected stereo effects that add to the fun". Rick Sternbach from Animerica was less positive saying "The video and sound quality are fine, and the dubbing is at least on a par with the Cagliostro feature in that it might have required a modicum of exaggeration."
Notes[]
- Streamline Pictures wanted to dub a 3rd episode however they were denied by TMS who wanted the entire series to be dubbed and Streamline could not afford to dub all 155 [2]. It is unknown which episode that they would have chosen and no way of knowing since both Carl Macek and Fred Patten have passed away.
- These two episodes were also the first to be released in Japan on VHS in 1983.