Lupin III is Back in Thieving, Cinematic 2D Action

Lupin III has been steadily going through manga, anime, and films for decades, but it’s been almost five years since Lupin III: The First back in 2019. If you feel like it’s time for a new movie, TMS Entertainment agrees with you, and it turns out they’ve already got something new in the hopper.

During Thanksgiving, the studio unveiled a preview for a brand new Lupin film project whose title and plot are currently unknown, save for the fact that we’ll once again see the Gentleman Thief and his friends in yet another caper. The series’ longtime Japanese voice actors are back reprising their respective roles, and in the animation seat is Telecom, returning after previously handling various parts of the anime and several films in the franchise, plus the 2022 Lupin Zero web series. Takeshi Koike, who directed Redline and franchise films centered on Fujiko, Goemon, and Jigen during the mid-2010s, is also on hand to helm this new venture, workng off a script by the anime’s Part IV writer Yuya Takahashi.

But it’s not all same old, same old: according to Lupin in the trailer, an entire country’s gunning for the crew (in addition to Inspector Zenigata, of course), and the tagline teases audiences will gain some more insight into Lupin. Notably, this film is both a fresh new story following the passing of manga creator Monkey Punch in 2019, and the first 2D anime movie for the series since Lupin III: Dead or Alive all the way back in 1996.

The new Lupin III movie is expected to come out sometime in 2025, so we’ll learn more about it—including its official name—in the coming months.

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