Ask John: Is There Any Lupin I Anime?

Question:
Was there an anime released before regarding Arsene Lupin I (grandfather of Lupin III)?

Answer:
The deeds of Arsène Lupin I are told in a series of French novels created by Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941). Lupin III creator Monkey Punch created Lupin III to be a Japanese sequel to these popular French novels. Hayao Miyazaki’s famous movie Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro was actually a sequel to Leblanc’s novels La Comtesse de Cagliostro & La Cagliostro se Venge (The Countess Of Cagliostro & Revenge Of The Countess Of Cagliostro).

There are 21 complete Arsène Lupin novels by Leblanc, the first published in 1907, and another 5 published between 1973 and 1979 authored by writing team Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac. Leblanc penned over 60 Arsène Lupin adventures in the form of novels, plays, movies and comics, in total. Especially in Europe, the fame of Arsène Lupin rivals that of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. In fact, the two met in Leblanc’s second Lupin novel Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmes (Arsène Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes). For legal reasons, Leblanc could not use the name “Sherlock Holmes,” thus the obvious pseudonym.

A pair of readers have graciously informed me of at least two existing animated adaptations of Leblanc’s gentleman thief. Lupin I was animated in the Japanese television movie Kaitou Rupan 813-no Ei (Mysterious Thief Lupin and the Mystery of 813) broadcast on Japanese television on May 5th, 1979. And While it’s not anime, the French animation studio Cinar has produced a 26 episode animated adventure cartoon about Lupin I titled Les Exploits d’Arsène Lupin (The Adventures of Arsene Lupin), broadcast in Canada under the title NightHood.