About the name "Rupan"

Revised 26 July 2015

With regards to the name "Rupan" in the English Dub:

In short, "Rupan" is how the Japanese pronounce the French name "Lupin." It was changed for an earlier release of this film for legal reasons.

Now if you want to get into the nitty-gritty background as to why:

Lupin the Third was created in a short manga story by Monkey Punch (pen name of Kazuhiko Katou) in August of 1967. The first chapter was hastily produced to provide some kind of story for the start-up magazine, Weekly Manga Action. He chose to base the main character (very) loosely on the French character, Arsène Lupin. Due to the speedy nature of manga creation, however, Monkey Punch did not have the opportunity to ask the estate of Maurice Leblanc permission to use the character's name. He probably didn't worry much over this matter, as he expected the series to conclude soon enough.

However, Lupin the Third found an audience, and it wanted more. Monkey Punch would ultimately write and illustrate over two dozen Lupin the Third graphic novels across multiple iterations. The series was exported to other countries like Italy, where it would find great success. In this, the franchise's heyday (but no sooner than 1980), the widespread popularity of the Lupin the Third franchise reportedly caught the attention of the Leblanc Estate. Legal actions of an undisclosed nature supposedly followed, although we are not privy to the specifics.

As part of the finalization of these legal matters, it is rumored that TMS (Lupin the Third IP rights-holders) and/or Toho (Japanese rights-holders for The Fuma Conspiracy and Legend of the Gold of Babylon) reached an agreement with the Leblanc Estate. The Japanese entity (or entities) committed not to release the anime franchise's future release in other nations as Lupin the Third, but by some other name. Some of the alternate names include "Cliff Hanger" and "Chase Tracer," but neither branding got far off the ground. "Cliff Hanger" was used for a 1983 LaserDisc arcade game featuring Lupin animation, as well as the release of the first Lupin series during the 1990s in Latin American markets. (The franchise never saw a release as "Chase Tracer.")

In the United States of America, the "Arsène Lupin" character fell into public domain in 1991. Streamline Pictures, then an upstart in the anime localization business, licensed the fan-favorite film, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro. Even though the original "Lupin" was now fair game, TMS (the Japanese licensor) asked that they not use the name in their English versions. Streamline agreed to the restriction and released the film in 1992 as simply The Castle of Cagliostro. The Streamline Pictures adaptation renamed our protagonist to "(the) Wolf," which is based on the French word "lupine," or "wolflike." In a 2001 interview, Carl Macek added that Lupin is also "a 'wolf' when it comes to the ladies."

AnimEigo would follow suit two years later with their own Lupin releases, Fuma and Babylon. Although their licensor was Toho International and not TMS, the name-change obligation apparently still applied. AnimEigo knew as well as Streamline had that the character Arsène Lupin was in the public domain, but in order to license the film, they took the good with the bad. During these negotiations, they decided upon the alternate name "Rupan," which is simply how the Japanese pronounce the original name. AnimEigo chose "Rupan" over "The Wolf," perhaps in part because Streamline's adaptation of The Castle of Cagliostro was not well-received by fans. They likely wished to distance themselves from the negative feedback of that release, and without the knowledge that in 1994 Streamline would begin releasing titles under the name "Lupin III" without specific reference to "Arsène."

This specific renaming obligation was apparently bound contractually. So when AnimEigo released the film on DVD in April 2003, they were still obligated to keep the name "Rupan," regardless of contemporary releases of other series titles as Lupin the Third. Thankfully, the issue is now null and void in North America, but the artifacts lie within in the English dub of Rupan III: The Fuma Conspiracy.

- Reed Nelson