According to media reports, the original author of the manga "Lupin III" in Japan, Monkey Punch (real name Kato Kazuhiko), died of pneumonia on April 11, at the age of 81. As the author of the manga work "Lupin III", which is known as the "Legend of the Undead Bird" in Japan, this kind old man has created such a legendary work for the Japanese animation industry for many years and has had a profound impact.
Kazuhiko Kato. Graph source network
The story of "Lupin III" is not complicated, the protagonist Lupin III is a strange thief with a monkey face, living a life of leisure, and stealing all kinds of rare treasures around the world to help all kinds of people, so Lupin III also once became synonymous with righteous thieves.
The legend of the undead in Japanese anime
Since the beginning of the serial in 1967, "Lupin III" has been popular in Japan for more than 50 years, although the style of the whole work is different from all Japanese manga works in the same period, and it adopts the mode of unit drama, the plot continuity is not strong, and the male protagonist's shape is relatively ugly, but this does not affect the fans' pursuit of this work.
In the 40 years of continuous circulation, in addition to manga, "Lupin III" has launched 5 tv versions, 11 theater versions, 27 specials, 5 ovas, two live-action movies, a musical by the Takarazuka Opera Company, a stage play and a large number of game works, which can be said to be the first ip in Japan. In particular, the theatrical version, almost all of which was directed by famous artists, was directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 1979, and "Lupin III: Castle of Cariostro" was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which was also the first animated feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and also made Japanese anime fans remember the name Miyazaki for the first time.
Stills from the animated film Lupin III: The City of Cario stró, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Graph source network
In addition to Hayao Miyazaki, including Takahata of Studio Ghibli, Tsutomu Izusaki, director of "Doctor Strange Black Jack", Yoshifumi Kondo, the director of the Japanese version of "The Legend of the White Snake", Yasuo Otsuka, the director of the Japanese version of "The Legend of the White Snake", and Okada Kuri, the screenwriter of "Dragon and Tiger", have all served as the director or screenwriter of the "Lupin III" series of works, and many animation directors and screenwriters have become well-known animation masters through the work of "Lupin III", and are well known to the world.
In addition to the animation works, the live-action version of "Lupin III" released in 2014 not only brings together Japanese first-line actors such as Oguri Shun, Kuroki Akira, Tamayama Tetsuji, Ayano Tsuyoshi, and Asano Tadanobu, but also well-known Actors from China and South Korea, such as Yan Seung-wook and Kim Joon. In 2015, the famous Japanese opera company Takarazuka Opera Company also launched the opera "Lupin III", which shows the great influence of the entire series in Japan.
The classic Chinese works are cold
A few years ago, the cctv6 movie channel had introduced all the special episodes of "Lupin III", and it was directly translated by the movie channel, and there were not many animation films that could have this treatment in the movie channel, and Lupin's status can actually be seen from here. However, the final ratings and the number of broadcasts on the online platform are not satisfactory, and it can also be seen that the fan base of "Lupin III" in China is not good.
Why is such a classic popular work so popular in China?
Stills from cctv6's translated version of Lupin III: Angel's Strategy, which is a special piece. Graph source network
First of all, we didn't introduce the TV version of Lupin III. In the late 1980s and 1990s, when Japanese animation was introduced the most in China, Lupin III did not launch a TV version of the animation, missing the era of television, which was the easiest to lay a mass foundation in China. Therefore, we now watch a lot of nostalgic animation videos, and there is no shadow of "Lupin III".
Secondly, the story and character style of "Lupin III" are far from the aesthetics of domestic animation fans. From the story point of view, the spiritual core contained in lupin III's comical appearance and the unit drama mode of plot separation is actually a kind of adult romance that promotes free and cynical, and some fans also call it Yuppie, which is more difficult to understand and accept for the general student audience in China. Coupled with the fact that the image of the male protagonist Lupin III's monkey face and thin bamboo pole is incompatible with the current mainstream anime character image aesthetics, even in 2015 after the restart of the series, it did not make much waves in China.
The perception of "Lupin III" by domestic fans mainly comes from the special part and theatrical version of "Lupin III vs Detective Conan" launched in 2009. Due to the super high recognition of the Conan series, "Lupin III" has also rubbed a rare traffic, whether it is popularity or attention has increased significantly. Especially as the first generation of anime fans grew older, the adult romance story core of "Lupin III" began to be recognized and understood by fans.
Stills from the theatrical version of Lupin III vs Detective Conan. Graph source network
However, due to too many lessons owed in the past and the death of the original author, it is becoming more and more difficult for "Lupin III" to really catch fire in China.
□ Yuan Lei (Animation Critic)
Beijing News Editor Wu Longzhen Proofreader Wei Zhuo