Discotek...where are you guys?!?!?

[Shin Lupin Sansei]

Title basically sums it up, but last year we had the 2nd Series Part 1 set, Island of Assassins, and 2nd Series Part 2 set; a total of three releases set 5-7 months apart. At this point we have nothing new in sight aside from the Gold of Babylon Blu-Ray. I completely understand that newer anime is becoming a bigger deal for you guys than in years past in spite of the fact that I won't touch most of it, lol. However can you guys throw us a bone?

There is so much of the series still untouched. How about a Fuma Blu-Ray release? Can we get the Bloodspray of Goemon film so I can dump my badly-subbed-by-some-Russian-guys digital copy for a legit release? We are on the verge of Series 5 and series 4 still isn't available in physical format...I understand that there was a tv deal in place but let's be honest was anyone really staying up till 2am or whatever absurd time it aired to watch it on Adult Swim? How about some of the classics films like Nostrodamus or Dead or Alive on Blu-Ray? Or even some of the newer stuff like Princess of the Breeze?

Also I've noticed that Cagliostro and Tomb of Jigen seem to have gone out of print also. Sniff sniff....it's like you guys don't love us anymore. I promise to buy 4 copies of each new release instead of my usual 2 if that means you will still be my friend, lol.

[JAG2045]

I've been thinking the same recently, we've had no new Lupin announcements since Babylon back in August, not even anything regarding Red Jacket collection 3 (personally I'm hoping that's because they are holding off on that if they are trying to get the blue jacket cast to dub the episodes)

Each time they do a batch of new announcements I check for any Lupin related ones first but there hasn't been anything for a while, even DVD/BD sets of TV specials that Funimation had previously released, or Japanese only releases from TVS16 onwards 

[SolHerald]

Their Lupin releases have been quite slow recently, not sure why, but I'm hoping its because they are working on Part IV and Part II simultaneously and once they are done with at least Part IV they will return to their usual release speed.

With that said, I'm a patient man (kinda), but the Goemon movie has had a home release in Japan for almost a year now and no mention of even picking it up. 

Also I've noticed that Cagliostro and Tomb of Jigen seem to have gone out of print also. Sniff sniff....it's like you guys don't love us anymore. I promise to buy 4 copies of each new release instead of my usual 2 if that means you will still be my friend, lol.

Except for Fuma all of the Lupin releases they've done are still in print, where do you see them not?

[VampireNaomi]

I wouldn't worry just yet. As SolHeral said, Part II, Part IV and Babylon are probably keeping them busy, and they need to have hands for all their non-Lupin releases, too. Plus, Part IV will have two different sets, so that's some extra work. I'd only get worried if nothing new gets announced a good while after either Part II or Part IV is fully out.

Personally, I'm hoping for more DVD/BD combos of the specials Funimation put out so that I can dump their discs.

[Shin Lupin Sansei]

Except for Fuma all of the Lupin releases they've done are still in print, where do you see them not?

About a month ago I noticed rightstuf.com was out of stock, both were no longer available through Bestbuy, and Amazon only offered third party sales at higher price's (~$40 each). Must have just been a temporary lapse in supplychain.

[Shin Lupin Sansei]

Personally, I'm hoping for more DVD/BD combos of the specials Funimation put out so that I can dump their discs.

I couldn't agree more. I especially want to replace Nostrodamus, Zantetsu, and DOA with anything better. The PQ on those fun releases is simply awful.

[Reed]

I think the industry is on enough of an upswing that even if you don't see a giant flood of Lupin from Discotek specifically, all the major Lupin stuff will get licensed and translated one way or another.

We are working hard on Part II among other things. Babylon is definitely still in the pipeline and we have an exciting feature for that one in the "finishing touches" stage. I can't name names, but other standalone Lupin titles (as in the movie/special/90-ish-minutes-long category) are in the works. Nothing's been announced yet for those, but no one need sweat. The timing just has to be right. And while Part IV's dubbed release is pretty much done, Part IV subtitled is still in the works.

The works are alive and kickin' folks, with cool stuff in the pipeline. Just be aware it's not a Lupin-exclusive Blu-ray/DVD factory. Something's gotta give here and there.

As for the Jigen/Cagliostro shortage, yes, that was just a distribution hiccup that I believe has been resolved.

Except for Fuma all of the Lupin releases they've done are still in print, where do you see them not?

This is ALMOST true.....the live-action movie went OOP right around the same time as Fuma.

[...]not even anything regarding Red Jacket collection 3 (personally I'm hoping that's because they are holding off on that if they are trying to get the blue jacket cast to dub the episodes)

(Personal Opinion Time) If you have several hundred thousand dollars you are willing to donate to accomplish this specific feat, I'm sure Discotek would be on board! In all seriousness, by my personal estimates, it could run as much as $500,000+ total to dub those 75 episodes. I don't think any company is crazy enough to do that kind of investment in a low-popularity property like Lupin these days. Maybe if they could do it even cheaper...but would you still want it if it had a different cast from Part IV? (Think about how much you loved the Fuma dub's cast.)
We were BLESSED to get as much of the 70's TV series dubbed as we did, and short of some kind of television revolution where anime airs for hours on every cable channel and in extreme demand, I just don't see the job getting finished. (And yes, GATSU, a Kickstarter is a good idea, but it's not in the cards anytime soon.)

[mikezilla2]

All Good Reed  beyong Kickstarter tho

wili you Cant Name names is there anything to be said of part IV in EU / anime limited ?

Wish the Blu Rays were Region Free

[Reed]

wili you Cant Name names is there anything to be said of part IV in EU / anime limited ?
Wish the Blu Rays were Region Free

Normally I wouldn't know much, but in this specific case I know for a fact AllTheAnime/AnimeLimited have definitely been working hard on their set. Isn't it out within the next couple months? I would not expect the English dub+Italian soundtrack situation everyone seems to be disappointed with to change, but for all I know they might have gone the extra mile to edit both the dub to the same video master as the Japanese version. I'll be curious to see how they handled the video/audio dilemma.

Yeah, can't do much about that. When an anime is licensed for North America, licensors just aren't so keen on allowing the disc to be compatible outside that region.  They're especially particular about the Blu-ray format from what I hear in the industry. I'm really not sure how anyone else gets away with the few region-free or region-defeatable discs there are.

[SolHerald]

Babylon is definitely still in the pipeline and we have an exciting feature for that one in the "finishing touches" stage.

Read that on Twitter, color me interested.

Except for Fuma all of the Lupin releases they've done are still in print, where do you see them not?

This is ALMOST true.....the live-action movie went OOP right around the same time as Fuma.

Oh right the live-action movie.  To be fair though, the live-action movie is still like $20 on amazon, whereas Fuma is like $150!

[...]not even anything regarding Red Jacket collection 3 (personally I'm hoping that's because they are holding off on that if they are trying to get the blue jacket cast to dub the episodes)

(Personal Opinion Time) If you have several hundred thousand dollars you are willing to donate to accomplish this specific feat, I'm sure Discotek would be on board! In all seriousness, by my personal estimates, it could run as much as $500,000+ total to dub those 75 episodes. I don't think any company is crazy enough to do that kind of investment in a low-popularity property like Lupin these days. Maybe if they could do it even cheaper...but would you still want it if it had a different cast from Part IV? (Think about how much you loved the Fuma dub's cast.)
We were BLESSED to get as much of the 70's TV series dubbed as we did, and short of some kind of television revolution where anime airs for hours on every cable channel and in extreme demand, I just don't see the job getting finished. (And yes, GATSU, a Kickstarter is a good idea, but it's not in the cards anytime soon.)

Discotek during their Toonami-Lupin III Part IV-end party stream said something along the lines of dubbing more episodes would only be possible if everyone, their mother, the kitchen sink, and the family dog bought ten copies.

I remember Epcar always saying that he thinks they dubbed more episodes then what aired, do you know if that is true? And if so, is it possible to get those episodes?

[GATSU]

Reed: Well, if it happens, you better throw in a trade-in. Just hope you were at least smart enough to take notes on my comments on the second half of the show. And the ones which are region-free are either terrible sellers, or the money’s just not there to sell ‘em separately.

[Shin Lupin Sansei]

Wow. So literally the day after I post this we get a date for the English-language Only version of Part IV. Wait is this for real? In the era of Blu-ray a feature that is available on DVD (dual audio) is being separated across two releases and those of us who want Japanese audio can hurry up and wait some more?

Honestly f**k off Discotek. This is a really shitty thing to do. I would actually have preferred you release a nice LE set along the lines of what Funimation did for Bebop and charge us $100+ for it, at least then I would have felt somewhat valued as a consumer. What a kick in the crotch. I didn't realize we were still in the VHS era where studios could legitimately justify separate English Dub and Japanese Dub releases like this...

[Shin Lupin Sansei]

Thanks Reed for the input. I'll just be passing on future releases from DT at this point after being toilet-bowled as a consumer on this Part IV announcement and the nearly two year delay in bringing this to market, but I do appreciate the responses you offered.

[Reed]

Thanks Reed for the input. I'll just be passing on future releases from DT at this point after being toilet-bowled as a consumer on this Part IV announcement and the nearly two year delay in bringing this to market, but I do appreciate the responses you offered.

Cool. I mean, you know, you be you.

I understand why you're upset and some of it is not without justification. I'll try to elaborate on the Part IV situation so anyone reading this understands what the deal is.

The Japanese version literally uses a different video master from the version that was dubbed into English. Different shot timing, different BGM, and different OP and ED, for example. The dubbed audio would have to be significantly altered to fit against the Japanese video master. Since this means video streams that are far from 1:1, a choice had to be made: sell an expensive set with both versions on a large number of discs, or split them up. I can't speak for anyone else but I know it didn't excite me. But, you do what you can and work within your limitations.

SolHerald: no, that never happened. We dug deep and talked to the guy who produced that dub, there's nothing more than the first 79 of Part II dubbed by them. It's not impossible more episodes were translated by their translator but no proof could be unearthed. TMS has no record of anything past 79, either. I think Richard and Tony are probably mistaken or we are missing a huge piece of the puzzle (like it's the wrong series or something, for which there is also no evidence, as far as I know).

[SolHerald]

^thx Reed.

Wow. So literally the day after I post this we get a date for the English-language Only version of Part IV. Wait is this for real? In the era of Blu-ray a feature that is available on DVD (dual audio) is being separated across two releases and those of us who want Japanese audio can hurry up and wait some more?

Honestly f**k off Discotek. This is a really shitty thing to do. I would actually have preferred you release a nice LE set along the lines of what Funimation did for Bebop and charge us $100+ for it, at least then I would have felt somewhat valued as a consumer. What a kick in the crotch. I didn't realize we were still in the VHS era where studios could legitimately justify separate English Dub and Japanese Dub releases like this...

I think you're blowing it way out of proportion. Does it suck? Yeah, but the release date and the separate releases are definitely something that were out of Discotek's hand. Aim you're hatred towards TMS, Toonami, or the Italian broadcaster. Also they could have sold a set 8 disc set with both sub/dub included, but there is a big difference between selling Cowboy Bebop and Lupin III, most people wouldn't shell out $90-120 for a show they mildly enjoyed on Toonami.

I do hope the sub version comes out soon after though.