I know some people didn't like the Genoen release as they tried to modernize the show (originally from the 70s) with things like eBay and such. To be honest at the time I never realized the animation was from a show that old when it originally aired. I guess Japan Animation holds up better then most Western animation. Sure they did a lot of static images with moving mouths but that was very common of most Japanies animation even in the early to late 90s.
Lupin the Third isn't exactly poetry and while it's clear series 2 takes place in the 70s I didn't have a problem with the modernization. I actually do like the Geneon dub of series II as I think it captures the humor of the series that might otherwise be lost in translation. I've watched all 155 series II episodes and unfortunately the series gets worse and starts having a much lower good episode percentage around the 80s-90s so where Geneon left off isn't a bad stop.
Well so far I scored:
Lupin the third first haul off eBay for $34 with the seller verifying that the one movie was not the edited verson
Lupin vol 15 for $24
Those Geneon DVDs can get expensive, I have all 15 of them and I know a few go for a small fortune. Last I knew if you want to watch the dubbed episodes they're all free on Hulu.
Most of the other vols for between $3-$6 dollars off amazon only missing vols 5, 10, 12, 13
With holiday expenses I will have to hold off until next month to buy any more. Plan on getting the missing vols and final haul.
I have the individual first haul DVDs and then the final haul set for the funimation movies/TV specials. Just as a warning the video quality on these is piss poor. Nostradamus while possessing great animation looks horrid on the DVD sets.
Then the next month the resent Fujiko series on bluray and the first lupin series.
If you're on a budget and just want to watch them last I knew Fujiko and Green jacket were both on Hulu too. On a side note there's two different series 1/green jacket sets. A cheaper set exists that removes all the bonus material. If you just want to watch the episodes do so over Hulu, if you want it to collect buy the set with the bonuses.
And just keep going from there I guess until I and done. Sigh. I just know I am going to rebut these as a bluray comes out and if any more dubs. Although there is clearly a following for this series it never seems to get the kind of release and bundles that would make it more accessible. Granted O think Dunimation did a great job with their two movie collections totaling ten movies all together they really should reprint these in bluray and do more of the movies IMO.
It's a money thing. Cagliostro is coming out on Blu-Ray in the US, the recent Fujiko series already is. The TV specials/shows were originally created for 480 television and a lot of them don't exactly have stellar animation. Unless TMS still has all of their original film sources for these episodes/specials it's probably not worth it to go back and re-scan/remaster these for higher res TV quality animation releases. As mentioned earlier Discotek is releasing two more of the TV specials next year.
