Produced by Japanese animation studioTokyo Movie Shinsha, Lupin the ThirdPart II is the second Lupin III television series, with the first airing between October 24, 1971 and March 26, 1972. The series contains 155 episodes which aired between October 3, 1977 and October 6, 1980 on the Japanese television network NTV. Episodes 145 and 155 were the first to appear in the United States on VHS, released by Streamline Pictures under the title Lupin III's Greatest Capers. Two feature films, The Mystery of Mamo and The Castle of Cagliostro, were released in theaters during the original broadcast run of the series. Twenty-six episodes of Geneon Entertainment's English adaptation of the anime aired on Adult Swim starting on Monday, January 13, 2003. Episodes 1–27 were broadcast on the channel, with the exception of episode 3. 15 Region 1 DVD volumes have been released in the United States by Geneon Entertainment. Richard Epcar, the voice of Jigen revealed via Twitter that Geneon lost the license to the series before they could dub the rest of the episodes in English. In December 2015, Discotek Media announced it had licensed the show and would be releasing the Second Series in four DVD sets with the first one coming in 2016. The series, based on the Lupin III manga written by Monkey Punch beginning in 1967, centers on the adventures of Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of novels. He is joined by Daisuke Jigen, crack-shot and Lupin's closest ally; Fujiko Mine, the femme fatale and Lupin's love interest who works against Lupin more often than with him; and Goemon Ishikawa XIII, a master swordsman and the descendant of Ishikawa Goemon, the legendary Japanese bandit. Lupin is often chased by Inspector Koichi Zenigata, the rather cynical detective who has made it his life mission to catch Lupin.
Season 1
The first season ran from October 3, 1977 to April 3, 1978 and can be distinguished from the other three by the different opening and ending themes. The opening theme for season one of Lupin III Part II is Theme from Lupin III '78 by Yuji Ohno, while the ending theme is the instrumental version of Love Theme, also by Yuji Ohno.
Season 2
The second season ran from April 10, 1978 to September 25, 1978 and can be distinguished from the other three by the different opening and ending themes. The opening theme for season two of Lupin III Part II is Theme from Lupin III by Peatmac Junior, while the ending theme is the Love Theme , by Ichirou Mizuki.
Season 3
The third season ran from October 2, 1978 to October 1, 1979 and can be distinguished from the other three by the different opening and ending themes. The opening theme for season three of Lupin III Part II is Theme from Lupin III '79 by Yuji Ohno, while the ending theme is Love Squall by Sandii Hohn. A notable episode in this season is episode 99, which was the first episode of any anime series to be broadcast in stereo. After that episode, several other episodes of the second Lupin III TV series were broadcast in stereo. For episodes 100–103, viewers were asked to send in their ideas for episodes as a part of the 100th episode celebration of the show. The viewer whose idea was chosen for each episode was named in the credits under "story concept".
Season 4
The fourth and final season ran from October 8, 1979 to October 6, 1980 and can be distinguished from the other three by the different opening and ending themes. The opening theme for season four of Lupin III Part II is Theme from Lupin III '80 by Yuji Ohno, while the ending theme is Love Is Everything by Noboru Kimura. Episodes 145 and 155 in this season are notable for being directed by Hayao Miyazaki under the pseudonym of Teruki Tsutomu. Those two episodes did not mark his final involvement in making television animation before exclusively working on feature films, despite what the annotated sources here may claim -- that honor actually goes to Sherlock Hound, which Miyazaki directed the first few episodes of in 1981 before production was temporarily shut down. These two Lupin III episodes were also dubbed into English by Streamline Pictures and released to VHS in North America.
