Interview with Kazuhide Tomonaga, General Director of the new TV series "Lupin the Third," which emphasizes the "hand-drawn" feel of the series.

The "Lupin the Third" TV series will be broadcast for the first time in 30 years, and although it is a complete episode, the rich structure with a new heroine and other plot threads will make even anime fans accustomed to watching late-night anime gasp. The hand-drawn artwork is also a major highlight.

Kazuhide Tomonaga, who has a long association with the "Lupin" series, is the general director of the film, having created the original drawings for the car chase at the beginning of "Lupin III: Cagliostro's Castle. For this interview, we asked Kazuhide Tomonaga about his memories of the past "Lupin" series, the fun of drawing original pictures, and the highlights of this new "Lupin III" series.

Lupin" in which he participated as an original picture man

───Director Tomonaga, you have been involved in "Lupin the Third" since the second series ("New Lupin" in 1977) as an original picture artist, right?

Tomonaga: Yes, I was working for OH! I participated in quite a few episodes, including "Nessie no uta ga kikoeru" (episode 4), "Venice Super Express" (episode 8), "Caribbean Adventure" (episode 14), and "Shoot into the White Night" (episode 31), all of which I drew within OH! In the latter half of the season, I was transferred to Telecom, where I worked on "Wings of Death Albatross" (ep. 145) and "Saraba Aishiki Lupin yo" (ep. 155) directed by Hayao Miyazaki, "God Gave Me a Pile of Money" (ep. 153) directed by Shigetsugu Yoshida, "Miami Bank Attack Anniversary" (ep. 143) with drill missile-like mecha, and "Lupin Arrest Highway" (ep. 144) directed by Shigeru Yoshida. (episode 143) and "Lupin's Arrest Highway Operation" (episode 151), in which a drill missile-like mecha appears.

─ ─ What kind of scenes did you draw a lot?

Tomonaga: There was a lot of action and slapstick. Even in the episodes directed by Mr. Miyazaki, I was mainly entrusted with scenes involving aerial battles and the appearance of Self Defense Force tanks. In the first series of "Lupin the Third" (1971, hereafter "Old Lupin"), the scenes that Mr. Miyazaki and Mr. Yasuo Otsuka were in charge of were slapstick, weren't they?　That was more to my liking.

─ ─ The first half of "Old Lupin" was directed by Masaaki Okuma and had a very hard atmosphere, didn't it?

Tomonaga Yes, I liked the hard-boiled atmosphere of the first half of "Old Lupin" and the storyline, which was difficult to understand at that time. The episode in which Paikaru appears (episode 2, "The Man Called Magician") left a strong impression on me.

─ ─ But when you do the original drawings yourself, you like slapstick, don't you?

Tomonaga Yes, I loved Toei Doga's (now Toei Animation) feature-length animated films such as "Puss in Boots" and "Animal Treasure Island. Maybe that's why the scenes that come my way tend to involve a lot of action.

─ ─ In the animated film "Lupin the Third: Cagliostro's Castle" (1979), you drew the car chase at the beginning of the film.

Tomonaga Yes, but I had never drawn cars before. When it came to me, Mr. Miyazaki showed me a rough original drawing. I understood that if I drew it like this, it would move like a car.

─ - I see that a Fiat also appears in the new "Lupin the Third" film.

Tomonaga I am not at all familiar with cars, and I don't even drive one myself, but I guess the Fiat suits Lupin. (laughs).

Relationship with "Lupin" after "Cagliostro's Castle

─ After participating in "Cagliostro's Castle" at Telecom, you returned to OH!

Tomonaga Yes, I was working at OH! Productions when Yasuo Otsuka asked me to come back. He said, "This time we are going to do a full-animation theatrical blockbuster. That was "Nemo" (1989). I thought, "I'd love to be a part of that," so I transferred to Telecom.

─ ─ "NEMO/Nemo" was such a difficult project that it could have been written into a book (Yasuo Otsuka, "Little Nemo's Ambition"), wasn't it?

Tomonaga Yes, Telecom was the studio that was set up to produce "Nemo.

─ Why did you decide to make "Cagliostro's Castle" at Telecom?

Tomonaga: Mr. Otsuka was at Telecom, but we had not decided on a director. I think that is why they invited Mr. Miyazaki, who was working at Nippon Animation. At the time, Mr. Miyazaki had just finished "Conan: Future Boy" (1978), so he must have used that momentum to get into "Cagliostro's Castle.

─ ─ I am surprised that "Cagliostro's Castle" was not a hit when it was released.

Tomonaga That's right. The same year, "The Galaxy Express 999" (in which Mr. Tomonaga participated as an original illustrator) was released, and it was a big hit.

─ After "The Castle of Cagliostro," you continued to work on the "Lupin" series (......).

Tomonaga: I also did the original drawings for "Jarinko Chie" (1981) (laughs).

─ That's right (laughs). After that, I worked as an animation director and character designer for "Lupin III: Conspiracy of the Fuuma Clan" (1987) and "Lupin III: Go Fuck Yourself, Nostradamus" (1995)! Nostradamus" (1995) as a storyboard artist.

Tomonaga: For "Nostradamus," I was a "jack-of-all-trades," correcting other people's storyboards and drawing image boards. I also drew my own original drawings and corrected other people's original drawings.

───Did you draw original pictures for "Lupin the Third" as well?

Tomonaga: Yes, I am currently working on it.

─ So you want to draw the original pictures yourself, too?

Tomonaga I want to draw, or rather, I am forced to draw. ...... (laughs). (Laughs) I also do the driving scenes and action scenes, as well as some corrections to the original drawings done by outsourced artists.

─ ─ In the recent "Lupin" series, there was "LUPIN the Third - A woman named Fujiko Mine" (2012) and "LUPIN THE IIIRD: Tombstone of Daisuke Tsugimoto" (2014), for which Ken Koike did the character design. How do you feel about those two films?

Tomonaga: They were interesting because I had never seen "Lupin" before. Koike-san's character has a completely different flavor from mine, and when I first saw it, I thought it was like Leiji Matsumoto's character (laughs). (Laughs.) I also did some original drawings for "Tombstone of Daisuke Dimentional.

─ ─ Which scene did you draw?

Tomonaga: The scene where Yael Okuzaki shoots Daimon. I am not familiar with guns, so I asked Koike-san to fix it for me. ...... Also, as usual, I drew the car chase (laughs).

─ ─ "A Woman Called Fujiko Mine" and "Tombstone of Daisuke Dimentional" have a very mature atmosphere, don't they?

Tomonaga Yes, that broad range is probably the secret of the popularity of "Lupin," which has continued for 40 years. Anything is possible, or rather, any style is possible. Even the annual TV specials always have a different flavor depending on the director. I was surprised when "Lupin" was in competition with "Detective Conan" (laugh), but I guess the character can be forgiven even for that.
　So this "Lupin the Third" is also a unique work, taking over the good old "Lupin" atmosphere that Mr. Otsuka and Telecom used to portray and incorporating a modern story.