Maybe the Hotel Lupin could have been a coincidence if it wasn’t for the very obvious Fujiko Mine fan art.

It's gotta be Part 5 right?

Discotek through MediaOCD released a list of out-of-print Blu-rays. The asterisk indicates the disc was only ever released on DVD.

I’ve seen people claim that Lupin’s character in the Koike-verse movies is radically different from the Lupin of the past, especially the beloved version found in The Castle of Cagliostro. The common sentiment is that The Immortal Bloodline represents a much closer adaptation of the ruthless Lupin III from Monkey Punch's original manga. I wanted to examine that sentiment more closely.

At first glance, you might be inclined to agree that Koike’s Lupin is darker, more sinister, and more violent, which feels like a major departure from Hayao Miyazaki's whimsical vision, and therefore closer to Manga Lupin. However, I challenge you to take a step back and actually compare them. Does Lupin in the Koike-verse cross the line into becoming a cold-blooded maniac like his manga counterpart?

If you look closely at the body count, the answer is clear. It’s ironic that, despite the R-rated gore, severed limbs, and hyper-lethal atmosphere of the Koike films, Lupin himself doesn't actually kill a single person. He leaves the lethal force to his crew or entirely outsmarts his targets. Koike doesn’t corrupt Lupin’s core morality or turn him into a mindless thug. Instead, the biggest difference in this modern depiction is simply that the slapstick has been removed. Without the rubbery animation and sight gags of early television, his competence feels dangerous. Koike also places Lupin in a harsher, darker underworld that matches the depravity of international crime and criminals. Ultimately though his heart remains the same.

I need to point out that the Koike-verse has a lot of similarity to The Mystery of Mamo, and I am not just talking about the Mamo connection. It is wild to think about now, but Mamo and Cagliostro were separated by just a single year. Mamo came first in 1978, and it contains many of the exact elements Koike adopted for his films, leaning heavily into surrealism, cloning sci-fi, and a gritty, psychological atmosphere. Koike wasn’t inventing a new, edgy persona; I’d argue he was honoring the original cinematic blueprint of the franchise, and my personal favorite entry.

Here’s a truth bomb: fans love to use "manga-accurate" as a buzzword anytime the anime gets a little dark, but anything close to a manga-accurate Lupin has never actually existed in animation. Frankly, I’m not sure audiences would even have the appetite for it. Would fans really tune in to root for a man who casually tricks innocent guards into the electric chair, abuses women, and kills without a second thought? Of course, anything done well can garner accolades, but it difficult to imagine working and runs a massive risk of alienating the existing fanbase.

Takeshi Koike or even Sayo Yamamoto (The Woman Called Fujiko Mine) didn't actually copy the manga as they are sometimes attributed. Instead, they adopted the aesthetic of the print material, including the sketchy linework. They successfully brought over the adult underworld and the genuine sense of danger, but they wisely kept the anime version of Lupin's soul intact. We still get his fierce loyalty to Jigen and Goemon, alongside his lack of genuine malice toward bystanders. Koike's achievement isn't manga accuracy or reinventing Lupin's character. It’s creating the visceral feeling of the manga while keeping Lupin just as sympathetic and rootable as he has always been.

The Immortal Bloodline wraps up an eleven-year, five-installment run for Takeshi Koike, and its long-term impact on the franchise will be undeniable. Koike proved that mature, hand-drawn 2D animation can still thrive commercially. He demonstrated that Lupin III is a flexible enough vehicle to support high-end prestige filmmaking, proving the character doesn't have to adhere super close to the style of Castle of Cagliostro or the other lighter entries in the series. By the way, can you believe that Immortal Bloodline is the first 2D Lupin film in nearly 30 years, last one being 1996's Dead or Alive?

In the end, that is what makes Lupin III so enduring: his ability to be reworked and reimagined over the decades. I loved The Immortal Bloodline, and I hope we continue to get dark, hardboiled entries in that vein. But don’t get me wrong, I also love the softer, whimsical entries like the 3D-animated Lupin III: The First. The beauty of this franchise is that it doesn't have to choose. Both styles can, and should, continue to coexist.

In another thread I saw that there was some speculation about what possible new Lupin Discotek titles we could get this year, if any, or if there might be any upcoming redubs. I know that not every fan cares about dubs, but they do serve as an easy entry point for a lot of casuals. As someone with dyslexia, they also serve as an accessibility option that makes enjoying the series a lot easier. 

This got me thinking, and I observed that since 2016, we've gotten a pretty steady flow of new Lupin English dubs, a lot that were released first by Discotek. Discotek always seems to be working on something Lupin. I have heard Discotek mention, during their panel discussions, that not every new dub is funded stateside and that actually a few movies and the Part 1 dub were funded by Japan through some cultural exchange fund or something like that. 

Something New For 2026?

To recap, I decided to make a list for myself to see how many dubs Discotek has released over the years and it's a lot, like half of the whole franchise:

2016 - Jigen's Gravestone
2018 - Part IV 
2018 - The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
2019 - Goemon's Bloodspray
2019 - Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid
2020 - Fujiko Mine's Lie
2020 - Goodbye Partner
2021 - Part V + Is Lupin Still Burning
2021 - Lupin VS Conan Movie
2022 - Prison of the Past
2022 - Part I
2022 - Episode 0: First Contact
2022 - Lupin VS Conan Special
2025 - Castle of Cagliostro

Now let's speculate on what might still be in store for English-dubbed Lupin in 2026.

TV Specials

I think as far as Discotek is concerned, all of the TV specials that they were interested in dubbing are done, especially now that we are getting the TV Specials collection sets. I think it's unlikely for a new dub to be released in one of those sets.

Series:

Discotek has made it clear that while there is a lot of fan demand for a completion of Part 2 or a complete Part 3 dub, it would be too expensive for them to produce. The only reason even Part 1, which is much shorter than 2 or 3, happened was because it was outsider funded. I just don't see Parts 2 or 3 happening. While the length of those series prevents them from getting the full dub treatment, something short like Lupin Zero has a much better shot. When Lupin Zero was released in English-speaking territories it was actually Sentai Filmworks that handled the distribution. For whatever reason they didn't opt to give it an English dub, a truly bizarre exclusion. It's been a few years now and I think it's possible the license has lapsed, and could be up for grabs. It's a short 6 episodes, which I think could be easily dubbed and released by Discotek.

OVA:

This is the one place I see a couple of good opportunities for a new English Dub. I think one of the OVAs that is at the top of mind for most fans would be a ReDub of The Fuma Conspiracy. I've recently watched this english dub, and while it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, its audio mixing seems uneven and sloppy. It's also now one of few a titles Discotek has never released on blu-ray, despite releasing a DVD, and their DVD run is over a decade out of print. I heard there might be some licensing issues for that title but I have a hard time believing it's something that Discotek can't work out, considering they already have in the past. I think that new dub or not The Fuma Conspiracy is likely to release on blu-ray soon, but I heavily lean toward there being a new dub on that disc.

The other OVA which is also due for a Blu-ray release would be Green vs. Red. It's another title that Discotek released on DVD ages ago, in 2013, that I could see getting an English dub on a shiny new Blu-ray Disc. Unlike The Fuma Conspiracy, this has never had an English dub. Truthfully, I would have thought we would have gotten this title on Blu-ray by now. I've been speculating that they might do something interesting with this OVA by casting two actors to play the different Lupins. I understand that the original Japanese Dub used a completely new voice actor for yasuo, but how exciting would it be to have, say, Tony Oliver voice Red and Sonny Strait voicing Green? But what do I know? I thought they would have gotten Tony or Sonny to voice the fake Lupin in Zenigata and the 2 Lupins, but they got someone new instead. Although that was more in line with how the original OVA handled that Fake Lupin. I strongly believe this will also be released on blu-ray soon.

Speaking of the Lupin the IIIRD OVA series, Zenigata and the 2 Lupins is likely coming within the next year from Discotek although that won't exactly be a new dub from Discotek, as it has already been released on VOD platforms. I guess it's still true that it will be released on blu-ray first by Discotek. The Immortal Bloodline Movie already has a pre-order up by GKIDS. GKIDS usually does good blu-ray releases but I hope they let the license lapse and discotek re-releases it eventually, y'know for that blu-ray spine continuity.

Wild Card!

I just laid out all the titles I think are likely to get a standard normal blu-ray release, but there is a wild card possibility I wanted to highlight. Discotek experimented with a Fan Disc for the series Reborn!, where they dubbed a collection of fan-favorite episodes. I think it's possible that they put together a Fan Disc for Lupin part 2 that collects 4-8 fan favorite episodes that never received an English-language dub. If such a disc were made I think it's possible they would take the opportunity to redub the two Miyazaki-directed episodes to match the same cast as the newly redubbed Castle of Cagliostro.

We really are coming to the end of an era for new Lupin dubs from Discotek, but like Lupin himself Discotek also always seems to have one more thing up their sleeve.

I can’t join the beta but I am curious about the upcoming update. Is it just the Roku app now on plex?