Trivia / Lupin III Yearly Specials

• Bad Export for You: Funimation's releases have been criticized by many fans for their poor picture quality, especially with the existence of better masters. Averted with Discotek Media's releases, however, with them using the best quality masters available to them, including their re-releases of Funimation's specials.
• Franchise Killer: Not for the franchise as a whole, but Lupin III: Princess of the Breeze seems to be this for the regular specials; the ratings had been steadily declining for a while by then, and most likely, this was simply the straw that broke the camel's back, at least for regular yearly releases. The next special, Italian Game, was not only released two years after this, but it was more of a sidestory for Part 4, and overall, specials seem less frequent than they used to be, though some still pop up once in a while.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The specials released by Funimation were in the limbo for a while, but starting with Voyage to Danger, Discotek has started re-releasing those. Island of Assassins is soon to follow it, and more will likely come. Even then, however, it isn't too difficult to find the Funimation specials for a reasonable price.
• No Dub for You: The specials between Bye Bye Libery Crisis and Voyage to Danger, The Alcatraz Connection, everything between Episode 0 and Blood Seal ~Eternal Mermaid~, and everthing between Blood Seal ~Eternal Mermaid~ and Goodbye Partner.
• No Export for You: Several of the specials still haven't been brought over, though thanks to Discotek Media, the list has been decreasing, at least in the US.
  • Another case of this was Bye Bye Liberty Crisis's dub where the US was concerned. Once again, Discotek Media came to the rescue.
• The Other Darrin: Following Yasuo Yamada's untimely death, Kanichi Kurita, by Yamata's will, took over as Lupin. His first special was The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure. As of Blood Seal ~Eternal Mermaid~, Gorō Naya (Zenigata), Eiko Masuyama (Fujiko) and Makio Inoue (Goemon) retired and were replaced by Kōichi Yamadera, Miyuki Sawashiro and Daisuke Namikawa, respectively. Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Jigen) is the lone remaining member of the original cast to remain in his role.
  • Nothing unusual on the English side, but Manga UK dubbed Bye Bye Liberty Crisis back in 1996. Every other special with a dub was instead handled by Funimation in the 2000s, and they used a different voice cast from Manga UK. In 2018, the voice cast from the Red Jacket and Part 4 dubs were announced by Discotek Media to be dubbing Lupin III: Blood Seal ~Eternal Mermaid~.
• Out of Order: Both Funimation and Discotek Media have released their specials in a somewhat random order, though Discotek, with putting the proper numberings on the DVD packaging, at least isn't altering the order numerically speaking.
• Sequel First: In the US, Funimation put out their specials out of order. Even forgetting that, however, none of them were the very first one. Averted in the UK, and on the English side itself, at least where the specials are concerned, since said first one did get dubbed, before any of the others no less, though said dub wouldn't reach American shores until 2014.
• What Could Have Been: According to fan Reed Nelson, Geneon actually did get the license to four of the specials, but they never got around to releasing or dubbing them before their closure. Funimation was interested in them, but according to Nelson, they pretty much got all the specials TMS would let them have, and these four weren't among them. Discotek Media did release them to North American markets years later, but without a dub.

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