I was the only "newcomer" among the staff. ...... "Lupin the 3rd Part 5" Interview with Series Composition by Ichirou Okochi

Lupin III Part 5" will finally start on-air in April 2018. It is a legitimate numbered work of the well-known national anime work.

The series composition and script for "PART 5," the first since "PART 4" aired in 2015-16, will be written by Ichirou Okochi, known for "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" and "Kabaneri of the Iron Castle," among others. Mr. Okochi, who was originally a fan of the series, spoke candidly about his thoughts on the "Lupin" series and what he values in its production.

I later realized how scary it was to be involved in the "Lupin" series.

--How did you come to be in charge of series composition and scriptwriting?

Okochi: There was a person named Mr. Suzuki from TMS who worked with me on the film "Fuse Teppo Musume no Torimonocho" that was released in theaters in 2014, but for various reasons, he was removed from the project halfway through. I was disappointed to hear that, so I was happy when Mr. Suzuki asked me to work with him again this time. The job that prompted that offer was "Lupin.

--So you didn't have "Lupin" in mind.

Okochi: I had seen "Lupin" and liked it, but when I accepted the job, I was quite scared. It was not only the fact that there were old and devoted fans, but also that I was the only "newcomer" on the staff. Director Yuichiro Yano and Hisao Yokobori, who was in charge of character design, had been working on "Lupin" since the 1980s, and everyone else had been making the "Lupin" films that I had loved and watched.

--I was certainly scared to jump in.

Okochi: At first, I think they were a bit wary. They said, "This scriptwriter is going to do something terrible to the "Lupin" that we have been protecting.　He said, "What kind of a scriptwriter would do something outrageous to "Lupin" that we had protected? In fact, in the early meetings, they asked me, "What kind of Lupin are you going to make? "Why is this change necessary?" They asked me, "What kind of Lupin are you going to make? Since then, we went back and forth several times, and now that I am in the studio writing the script, I feel like I have finally been accepted into the group. As a newcomer to the Lupin Village (laughs).

--By the way, which "Lupin" series did you first come into contact with?

Okochi: The second series, which was broadcast from 1977 to 1980. I think it was broadcast in the evening, and I don't think it was recognized at the time as something that children should not watch, especially in terms of content. It was a time when naked women were a common sight in cartoons and variety shows such as the "Time Bokan" series. If we did it now, it would be a big problem (laughs).

--I understand that (laughs). (laughs) What was it about "Lupin" that attracted the Okochi boys?

Okochi: One week there would be a serious story, and the next week it would be a gag, or a mature love story, or a foreign country that I had never seen before. I get the impression that the work is full of great variety, and you never know what will happen each week.

This time Lupin makes full use of digital items!

--I understand that the setting of this work is a "modern digital society.

Okochi: People have the image of Lupin as a man who loves vintage items such as oil lighters and gasoline-powered cars, but on the other hand, he is always a cutting-edge thief when it comes to stealing. He uses a machine he invented to break through security, is international, and sometimes even goes into space. He was a stylish character who completely overturned the image of the thief of the time, who had a mustache and a black beard. So, for me, if I wrote a normal Lupin now, it would naturally become a series with "a lot of state-of-the-art digital items and gimmicks"!

-I can't go into details because it would be a spoiler, but you also depict a certain "incident" that actually happened in the world.

Okochi: I was surprised because I wrote the scenario before the "incident" took place. I had talked with Seiichi Shirado, who created the setting, about the possibility that such an incident would eventually occur, but I had no idea that it would happen before the show aired. Reality always moves fast, doesn't it? But I think the result was a series that dealt with a modern crime.

--It's amazing that the series is set in the time in which we live, but it doesn't lose the "Lupin" style of the past.

Okochi: That is thanks to the predecessors of "Lupin. The Telecom Animation staff I mentioned earlier and the cast, including Kanichi Kurita (Lupin) and Seiji Kobayashi (Dimentoku), ...... are all excellent. I think the fact that I and the other newcomers have joined in more or less balances it out nicely.

--In this work, there are episodes that are drawn over several episodes and episodes that are completed in one episode, and they are drawn in chapters.

Okochi: In this PART 5, the theme was to keep "Lupin" but make it half "now". So, what should we change to make it "now"?　First of all, I thought it was impossible to change the characters. I thought it was impossible to change the characters, because I, as well as the viewers, watch "Lupin the Third" because they like Lupin and his friends. So, my idea was to update the "shape of the story. In recent years, foreign dramas often have a strong kick at the end of the story and are structured as serials that make viewers want to watch the next episode. I thought that this form would look good when applied to "Lupin the Third. However, if the story were to be a continuous one from beginning to end, the viewer would get tired, and "Lupin" has the charm of a complete story, so I decided to arrange a series of four or five episodes and a complete story side by side. This way, even those who watch from the beginning will not be left behind and will feel as if "Lupin" has been renewed.

--Which do you find easier to write, the serious episodes or the gag episodes?

Okochi: Actually, I couldn't write what you might call "gag episodes" this time because of my position as series director. I really wanted to write a romantic comedy episode. If there is a "Part 6," I would love to include it in each episode (laughs).

Laughs] -- Recently, fans are paying close attention to the staff composition of each episode, wondering if the scriptwriter wrote this episode, or if it was written by this person.

Okochi: I think "Lupin" is a work that can be enjoyed in this way. Especially with complete episodes, it is easy for the individuality of the staff to come out, and "Lupin" has a wide enough range to accept that individuality. In this PART 5, we have prepared a wide variety of stories, including stories about characters such as Dime, Gemon, and Zenigata, gags, and mysteries. There are many scenes and characters that will make fans of the past grin, and in that sense, I think that PART 5 would not have been possible without Telecom, which has been involved in the production of the "Lupin" series for a long time.

--By the way, are you an active user of SNS?

Okochi: I use SNS only moderately. I make announcements about my own work and look around to see what people think of it. It's nice to be able to talk with staff members from past projects that I am not working with at the moment. I don't go out of my way to contact them, but it helps me feel like I want to stay in touch with them. It can be scary at times, but social networking is great. If I were younger, I would have been very attached to them.

--I think I would have been a lot younger if I had been more active on social networking sites.

Okochi: When I wrote the script for "DEVILMAN crybaby," which was released in January of this year, I was impressed by the retweets and feedback I received from overseas fans in various languages. I hope that "Lupin III Part 5" will also be well received by anime fans not only in Japan but also overseas.

(Interview, text, and photos by Atsushi Saeki)

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Original story by

Monkey Punch

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