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Lupin III: the Last Job TV Special to Air in February

Lupin III: the Last Job, the 20th television special starring the crafty thief character from Monkey Punch's caper manga, will premiere in Japan on February 12. The premise of the new anime will center around the supposed "death" of Inspector Zenigata, Lupin III's nemesis from Interpol. The story begins with the discovery of a Japanese cultural treasure — at a Nazi Germany sanatorium. Morgana, a mysterious figure who leads a ninja thief gang, battles Lupin for the treasure, and he seemingly kills Zenigata.

Since Monkey Punch launched the original manga in Manga Action magazine in 1967, the Lupin III franchise has spawned three television series, six theatrical films, and a string of two-hour television specials that began in 1989. This past March, Lupin III faced a detective from another manga, Gōshō Aoyama's Detective Conan. The year before, Lupin dealt with an impersonator in the Lupin III: Green vs Red video anime.

Last month, the NTV television network, the Heiwa pachinko (Japanese upright pinball machine) maker, and Bandai Namco Games launched their "Lupin Steal Japan" campaign. The steal-japan.jp website has been taking suggestions for what people want to have stolen. The website then announced on December 1 that the anime thief character Lupin III would steal the 29-year-old Moyai statue from Tokyo's busy Shibuya train station. All that remained where the giant stone statue once stood at station's south entrance is a giant white canvas that read, "Thanks for the Moyai. Lupin Steal Japan steal-japan.jp" in Japanese. Lupin III's latest prize is this month's issue of Brutus magazine for men.

Streamline Pictures, Manga Entertainment, Geneon, and Funimation have all released parts of the Lupin anime franchise in North America. Tokyopop published Monkey Punch's original manga.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web

Update: AnimEigo and Discotek also released Lupin III movies and television specials in North America. Thanks, joelgundam00.