The series was originally broadcast as simply Lupin III (Japanese: ルパン三世, Hepburn: Rupan Sansei) on Yomiuri TV, Nippon Television and other stations between October 24, 1971 and March 26, 1972.
This led to the creation of a CinemaScope Pilot Film, which was intended to generate interest in the project and secure funding from potential producers.
The Pilot Film, consisting of narrated introductions to the five lead characters of the manga, was scripted and animated by Sugii, Yasuo Otsuka, Tsutomu Shibayama and Osamu Kobayashi, with supervision by Masaaki Ōsumi and background art by Reiji Koyama.
[3][4] Scripts and treatments were also written for a feature film adaptation, one of which depicted Lupin before the start of his thieving career as a hippie in Shinjuku, and explained how he came to be pursued by the police and other criminals.
[1] Although the animation quality of the Pilot Film was high for the time in which it was made, few financial backers were interested in the project due to its adult themes of violence and sexuality.
Yamada, known for his dubbing of Clint Eastwood, continues to be widely acclaimed for his serious and humorous portrayals of Lupin, and became synonymous with the role even after his death in 1995.
[1] Although not officially released until the Lupin III Secret Files (シークレットファイル, Rupan Sansei — Shīkuretto Fairu) collection in 1995,[5] animation from the TV version of the Pilot Film was recycled for several of the series' opening credits sequences, despite Lupin wearing a red jacket in these sequences (it was changed to green for the series at Otsuka's insistence).
[7] Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata had recently moved from Toei to Tokyo Movie in order to begin pre-production on an adaptation of Pippi Longstocking.
[9] Unlike Ōsumi, Miyazaki and Takahata agreed to make several changes to the series, many of which were based on their own perspectives regarding the source material.
To achieve this, they gave the characters a more positive outlook: Lupin would become "happy-go-lucky" and "upbeat", Jigen would be "a friendly, cheery fellow", while Fujiko's "cheap eroticism" was removed and Goemon's anachronistic nature was used for occasional comic relief.
[11] Lupin the Third Part I is noted to be the first animated series created in Japan to target an adult audience with an emphasis on mature, complex characters and storylines.
It also frequently placed an emphasis on realism, with attention to details of vehicles, weapons and consumer items (which were only approximated in the manga) being a cornerstone of Otsuka's animation style.
is also noted for being the first animated work in the Lupin canon to execute what Reed Nelson describes as the "Lupin-Formula", a series of plot elements that would frequently be revisited through future instalments in the franchise.
[29][30] In 2021, in honor of Lupin III’s 50th anniversary, an English dub of the first episode of Part I was announced by Lex Lang with the help of Sentai Filmworks.
[40] In November 1994, Monkey Punch himself named the first series as the best anime adaptation of Lupin III, particularly the first few episodes, citing its faithfulness to his manga.
[21] Mike Dent, writing for Otaku USA called the series "fantastic" but highlighted the first 12 episodes as the "true gems of the show".
[46] In a feature written for Anime News Network, Reed Nelson states that "The transition [between Ōsumi's seinen-themed episodes and the family-friendly Miyazaki-Takahata installments] is not entirely smooth, but [the series is] a fascinating watch for the curious, and can give new viewers a glimpse into the variety the franchise offers as a whole".