DVD

CD Japan has a listing for an upcoming Blu-ray box set of 21 Lupin TV specials. It is a pricey set at 84000yen or ~ US$ 911 and will be released March 17.

Three interesting things to note about the set:

1. The Conan crossover is not included in this set. Make of that what you will.
2. This year's special is included in the set. That's quite the turnaround -- air in February, released on home video in March.
3. This appears to be the only way to get this year's special on Blu-ray. CD Japan has the standard regular DVD and regular DVD + CD editions listed. Nary a stand-alone Blu-ray version in sight.

While the price tag is steep, it is slightly cheaper than trying to pick all of the Japanese versions of the specials up individually. Where I have nearly all of the specials already on DVD, I think I'll stick with picking up the DVD+CD version.

Thanks to Buster Darkwings' post in the mania.com anime forums for the heads up.

A street date of July 24 has been announced for the DVD & Blu-ray release of the crossover special. DVD will set you back 4800¥, Blu-ray 5800¥.

Blu-ray:
CD Japan
Amazon Japan

DVD:
CD Japan
Amazon Japan

Coming out on 22 April are two DVD releases of PLAY THE LUPIN "clipsxparts" around what appears to be music videos based on the music from Lupin the Third. If you just want the clips, you can pick up a 20 minute DVD containing five clips running four minutes each. That will set you back 2100¥. For 4200¥, you can get 60 minutes of clipsxparts; details are scant at the moment, so it is difficult to tell what the additional 40 minutes contains.

Blu-ray aficionados can wait until 22 May and shell out 5250¥ for that version. Hasn't even hit the official Vap site yet; Amazon JP seems to be the only site I've found that has any listings for it.

Original news source: lupin-3rd.net

Product codes:

• VPBY-13333 (clipsxparts)
• VPBY-13334 (clips)
• VPXY-7104 (Blu-ray)

Courtesy of nausicaa.net comes word that Lupin is finally hitting the next generation format. The official Vap site (Japanese) has the full details, but here is the brief summary:

• Cagliostro and Mamo will be released 2008 Dec 3.
• First TV series will be released 2008 Dec 21.
• Second TV series will be released 2009 Feb.

Will be interesting to see if they've done further restoration for this latest release.

Another year, another TV special comes to DVD in 'Limited Edition' form (CD + booklet) and 'Regular' form (just the movie please!). Streets on 2008 Oct 22; only seen it up on CD Japan for pre-order so far.
Limited Edition
Regular Edition

I've posted my review of Green VS Red; tried something new for this review. Hope you enjoy; let me know what you think!

CD Japan's annual spring sale features three Lupin titles; you can pick up both the DVD/CD limited edition or the DVD only edition of the 2007 TV special for 10% off. The best deal is the 40% off you can get for the DVD/CD limited edition of the 2006 TV special.

Reed Nelson, Discotek's commentator for the Fuma DVD, reports the DVD release of Babylon has been put on indefinite hold due to declining sales growth in the anime market.

The DVD for the 2007 TV special is finally hitting the on-line stores for pre-order. Once again, there are two versions: just the DVD and a DVD/CD limited edition combo. You can pre-order from the usual sources -- CD Japan (regular, limited edition), Amazon Japan (regular, limited edition), DiscStation (regular, limited edition), and others I'm sure.

Funimation now has a replacement program for the First Haul box sets that contained the edited version of Twilight Gemini. Send an e-mail to orders@zstore.com with "Lupin Movie Replacement" as the subject line. They will send you instructions on how to get a replacement disc in their reply.