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Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo (ルパン三世ルパンVS複製人間, Rupan Sansei: Rupan tai Fukusei Ningen) is a Japanese animated film made in 1978 under the direction of Soji Yoshikawa. Originally released under the title of Lupin III (ルパン三世, Rupan Sansei), it was the first film that was made based on the story of the character Arsène Lupin III, created by Monkey Punch. The film's plot follows master thief Arséne Lupin III and his attempts to foil Mamo, a wealthy and powerful recluse, and his bid for immortality.

Dubbing History[]

Around the time of the film's original release, an English dub of the film was produced by Frontier Enterprises, commissioned by Toho. This dub was made with the intention of being shown on Japan Airlines Flights, and was also available from the Los Angeles branch of Toho for booking to play at local theaters. This version has no credits for the voice cast on any known prints and as such, the full cast has yet to be verified. Goemon is known to have been voiced by Frontier Enterprises owner William Ross, while Zenigata was voiced by Tokyo-based writer Greg Starr, a role he "doesn’t remember much about". Lupin is also known to have been voiced by Tom Clark, as mentioned on his talent agency.[1] This dub is the most faithful to the original Japanese script, though most of the names were changed to Western-sounding alternatives.

Due to licensing issues with TMS Entertainment (which owns the rights to the film, but not the dub), the Toho dub could not be released commercially. This prompted Carl Macek of Streamline Pictures to create a new dub of the movie, using the same cast used to previously dub The Castle of Cagliostro. This dub was released on VHS in April of 1995. Loosely based on the Toho dub and its script, this adaptation made various alterations to the film's original dialogue. This was also the first and only dub of the franchise produced by Streamline in which Lupin is consistently referred to by name: due to concerns of a possible legal dispute with the estate of Maurice Leblanc (the creator of the original Arsène Lupin), he was referred to in their dub of Cagliostro as "The Wolf", while their dub of episodes 145 and 155 of Lupin the 3rd Part 2 alternate between the two names.

A third dub, produced by Manga Entertainment UK was made the following year for the PAL market under the title of The Secret of Mamo and released on July 8, 1996. The main reasoning behind the creation of this dub was due to the aforementioned possibility of a dispute with the Leblanc estate, and thus this dub changes Lupin's name to "Wolf III". The script was also based on that of the Toho dub.

The fourth dub was produced by Phuuz Entertainment for Pioneer Entertainment was released on DVD on July 29, 2003, using a new anamorphic print taken from the Japanese DVD. This dub, which was also titled The Secret of Mamo, utilized the cast for Phuuz/Pioneer's then-ongoing dub of Lupin the 3rd Part II. Similar to their dub of the series, the Phuuz/Pioneer dub of the movie took a liberal approach to adapting the original Japanese dialogue, with the script incorporating 21st century pop culture references and additional profanity. Due to music licensing issues, the film's ending theme, "Lupin Ondo", was replaced with an extended reprise of the title theme "Lupin III '79".

All four dubs of the movie are included on the 2013 DVD release by Discotek Media. Both the Toho/Frontier and Manga UK dubs were extensively restored, with the former being reconstructed from an edited version of the dub released on a previous Italian DVD release of the film, as well as copies of the dub provided by fans. Discotek later released the film again on Blu-ray Disc in 2022, with the aforementioned dubs receiving new restorations that greatly improved their sound quality, with the transitions between different sound sources in the Toho/Frontier dub being less noticeable than on the DVD. On this release, the reprise of "Lupin III '79" on the Phuuz/Pioneer dub is replaced by "Lupin Ondo".

Cast[]

Image Character Seiyū Frontier Dub Streamline Dub Manga Dub Geneon Dub
Lupin-Mamo Arsène Lupin III Yasuo Yamada Tom Clark Bob Bergen William Dufris Tony Oliver
Jigen-Mamo Daisuke Jigen Kiyoshi Kobayashi Cliff Harrington Steve Bulen Eric Meyers Richard Epcar
Goemon-Mamo Goemon Ishikawa XIII Makio Inoue William Ross Ardwight Chamberlain Garrick Hagon Lex Lang
Fujiko-Mamo Fujiko Mine Eiko Masuyama Patricia Kobayashi Edie Mirman Toni Barry Michelle Ruff
Zenigata-Mamo Inspector Koichi Zenigata Gorō Naya Greg Starr David Povall Sean Barrett Dan Lorge
Mamo Mamo /
Howard Lockwood
Kō Nishimura Mike Worman Robert Axelrod Allan Wenger Paul St. Peter
Flinch Flinch Shōzō Iizuka Greg Starr Jeff Winkless William Roberts Bob Papenbrook
Gordon-Mamo Special Agent Gordon Hidekatsu Shibata Don Knode Michael Forest Michael McConnohie
Richard Cansino[N 1]
Gissinger Starky (Heinrich Gissinger) Tōru Ōhira Frank Rogers Steve Kramer John Baddeley Joey D'Auria
Commissioner-Mamo Police Commissioner Kōsei Tomita William Ross Jeff Winkless Richard Cansino
Police-Chief-Mamo Egyptian Police Chief Haruo Minami Joseph Zucatti Steve Kramer
Officer-Mamo Officer Yūji Mikimoto John Armstrong Carl Macek Eric Meyers Lex Lang
Guard-Mamo Thug Guard Shunsuke Shima Greg Starr Steve Kramer George Roubicek Richard Cansino
U.S. President Fujio Akatsuka John Armstrong
Joseph Zucatti[N 2]
Sean Barrett Doug Erholtz
Chief Secretary Ikki Kajiwara Joseph Zucatti Jeff Winkless William Roberts Dave Wittenberg
Scientist-Mamo Scientist Ichirō Murakoshi Don Johnson Michael Forest George Roubicek Richard Cansino
Notes:
  1. One loop.
  2. Five loops.

Notes[]

  • At one time, it was speculated that the Toho/Frontier dub was dubbed by Peter Fernandez and his fellow Speed Racer voice actors based in New York. Due to the manner in which the dub was produced, this is impossible. This is notable due to the speculation getting out of hand to the point that Lupin was listed as one of Fernandez's roles in his obituary on the New York Times. The individual who initiated the speculation later admitted that at the time he knew more about Speed Racer and other early New York-produced dubs of pre-Robotech anime than those dubbed by other studios and has since done some work trying to uncover the real dub cast based on information that had since come out, using personal videotape copies of other anime dubbed by Frontier Enterprises with better-documented dub casts.
  • Frontier also dubbed an international trailer for the film. They lacked a vocal-less dubbing track, as the soundtrack fades out before characters speak, and sound effects are used to make it less obvious. At one point, Kiyoshi Kobayashi as Jigen can be heard saying "kuso" (Japanese expletive, often translated to English equivalents such as damn it or shit) before the soundtrack fades. The onscreen text of the trailer also renders Mamo's name as "Mamaux".
  • The name changes in the Toho/Frontier dub;
    • Fujiko Mine is renamed "Margo".
    • Daisuke Jigen is renamed "Dan Dunn".
    • Goemon Ishikawa XIII is renamed "Samurai". The Manga UK dub alternates between his real name and "Samurai".
    • Inspector Zenigata is renamed "Detective Ed Scott".
    • Mamo's real name, Howard Lockwood, is renamed "Foward Fughes", a play on industrialist and director Howard Hughes. This name was also used in the Manga UK dub.
    • Starky is renamed "Mr. Gissinger", a play on politician Henry Kissinger. This name was also used in the Manga UK dub, while the Streamline dub uses the name "Heinrich Gissinger". The character is unnamed in the dialogue of the Pioneer dub, but is credited as both "Starky" (in the opening credits) and "Stuckey" (in the ending credits). The subtitles use the latter spelling, which is believed to be a corruption of the former spelling.
  • Kirk Thornton was often miscredited as Goemon in the Streamline dub. This is because Ardwight Chamberlain and Kirk Thornton's voices sound similar, and the fact Chamberlain went uncredited likely didn't help matters.
  • Footage from the Toho/Frontier dub was used along with The Castle of Cagliostro in the 1983 Dragon's Lair-style arcade game Cliff Hanger. Many of the parts were redubbed using the game's voice actors (using the poor techniques used to overdub the Japanese soundtrack of Cagliostro), with only a couple of pieces of dialogue intact, such as when Lupin (renamed Cliff) calls out "Kurarisu" in Japanese.
  • As mentioned above previously, the Toho/Frontier dub on Discotek Media's DVD release was sourced from an Italian DVD release. Though as this release featured an edited Italian TV dub (similar to the English version, the Italian version of Mamo has four dubs), the Toho/Frontier dub was cut to match the censored video. Discotek's release patched a complete version together using a poor quality bootleg VHS rip previously in circulation online (though with heavy hiss reduction and cleanup) and vocal-less bits of the Japanese soundtrack.
  • When Lupin tells Goemon and Jigen that they should travel towards the ocean, his lips do not move at all, despite his face being clearly visible throughout. This error was repeated in the Toho/Frontier and Manga dubs, but was corrected for the Streamline and Geneon dubs – Lupin does not say anything in the Streamline dub, while a related line is given to Goemon in the Geneon dub.
  • Goemon is inconsistently referred to as "Samurai" (an artifact from Toho's original English dub) and Goemon throughout the Manga dub. Mamo's real name is still referred to as Foward Fughes as well.
  • In Frontier's dub, when Mamo calls up the President to announce his missile launch, the voice actor is Joseph Zucatti who provided the voice for the Chief Secretary.
  • The Pioneer dub has one of Gordon's lines voice matched by Richard Cansino in place of Michael McConnohie during his aggressive chiding of Jigen.
  • Original prints of the Toho/Frontier dub feature the English-language song "Super Hero" by Tommy Snyder over the end credits, while the other versions use "Lupin Ondo" (except for the Pioneer dub, which uses an edited version of "Theme from Lupin III '79" instead on most releases, presumably due to music rights issues).

Video Releases[]

Distributor Year Format Dub Region Country
Streamline Pictures 1995 VHS Streamline NTSC United States United States
Manga Entertainment 1996 Manga PAL United Kingdom United Kingdom
Image Entertainment 1998 DVD Streamline All
NTSC
United States United States
Pioneer Entertainment 2003 Pioneer 1
NTSC
Yamato Video 2005 Toho 2
PAL
Italy Italy
Manga Entertainment 2008 Pioneer United Kingdom United Kingdom
Discotek Media 2013 All 1
NTSC
United States United States
2022 BD A
DVB-T

References[]

  1. Tom Clark | Foreign narrator catalog (in Japanese). Retrieved January 27, 2018.

External Links[]

See Also[]

vdeLupin III logo
Series

Lupin the 3rdLupin the 3rd Part 2Lupin the 3rd Part 4Lupin the 3rd Part 5Lupin the 3rd Part 6

Spin-offs

Lupin the 3rd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

Films

Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of MamoLupin the 3rd: The Castle of CagliostroLupin the 3rd: Legend of the Gold of BabylonLupin the 3rd: Farewell to NostradamusLupin the 3rd: Dead or AliveLupin the 3rd: The First

Specials

Bye, Bye, Lady LibertyVoyage to DangerDragon of DoomThe Pursuit of Harimao's TreasureThe Secret of Twilight GeminiIsland of AssassinsCrisis in TokyoThe Columbus FilesMissed by a DollarEpisode 0 'First Contact'Blood Seal of the Eternal MermaidGoodbye PartnerPrison of the Past

OVA

The Plot of the Fuma ClanIs Lupin Still Burning?Jigen's GravestoneGoemon's Blood SprayFujiko Mine's Lie

Characters

Arsène Lupin IIIDaisuke JigenGoemon Ishikawa XIIIFujiko MineInspector Koichi Zenigata

External Links
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