Lupin III's boyhood is revealed! Interview with Yu Hatanaka (Lupin) and Shunsuke Takeuchi (Dimenton) to commemorate the distribution of the anime "LUPIN ZERO"! Part 1

LUPIN ZERO," an original anime depicting the boyhood of Lupin III, will be exclusively distributed on the newly launched video distribution service "DMM TV" from December 16, 2022 (Friday).

Set in the Showa 30s, the same period when the manga "Lupin the Third" (original story by Monkey Punch) was first serialized, "Lupin Zero" is a nostalgic yet new original story about the still-unknown "Lupin" who travels around Japan during its high economic growth period. Telecom Animation Films is in charge of animation production. How did a boy become "Lupin the Third"? Lupin, a middle school student who is still a nobody, meets his future partner, Goku, and confronts a dangerous case in order to save a woman!

The two actors, Yu Hatanaka (Lupin) and Shunsuke Takeuchi (Gyoji), tell us how they portrayed Lupin and Gyoji as young boys. The two actors spoke about their passion for their roles and their thoughts on the work, as well as the buddy feeling that only these two can create, so we hope you enjoy their interaction.

I believe that "Lupin the Third" itself is "jazz.

--How did you feel when you were chosen to appear in this film about your boyhood in the long-running "Lupin the Third" series?

Hatanaka: I was like, "What should I do?

Takeuchi What should I do? But I felt a little rewarded, thinking, "I'm glad I did it this way," and "I'm glad I believed in my own path," though I was being cheeky. Moreover, when I was auditioning, I thought, "Who would be good as Lupin? ...... Yu would be the only one who could do it," so I thought, "Right?" I felt relieved. It must have been tough for Yu, but I was excited.

Hatanaka: I also asked "Who is your partner? I asked him, "Who is your partner? He said, "Takeuchi," and I thought, "Takeuchi, you are thorough, he is going to do it, what should I do? I thought Takeuchi-kun was going to challenge both the Lupin created by the seniors and the new Lupin, so I was more concerned about what to do. But more than that, I was very moved by the audition itself.

Takeuchi You said you were happy just to be able to say the lines.

Hatanaka Yes, that's right. During the audition, there was a line that was typical of Lupin as a young boy, and after I read the line, I was asked to turn around for a moment. When I turned around, there was a piece of paper on the floor, and he said, "Now read the lines on that piece of paper. I turned the paper over, and what was written on it was "My name is Lupin III. My name is Lupin III, grandson of the famous thief Lupin.

I felt that only Mr. Yamada and Mr. Kanichi Kurita were allowed to say this line, even in jest, especially if they were voice actors. I thought how chic of them to let me say it in an audition. But I was able to do it because it was an audition, but it was terrifying to think that I would actually play the role of Lupin, even as a young boy, and have to face these lines.

Yu Hatanaka

--Did you feel more pressure than joy?

Hatanaka: The pressure was overwhelming. That's when the trial and error process began.

--Mr. Takeuchi, do you feel any pressure?

Takeuchi: I thought Yu was the one in charge of pressure (laughs). (Laughs.) But Yu says this, but I know his character very well, so there was no way I could feel pressure.

Besides, I think that if I felt pressure too, the work would become difficult, or I would not be able to see the way out. That is not like Lupin. I think "Lupin the Third" itself is "jazz. It is something to be enjoyed. Just watching it makes you naturally move your body and want to imitate the gestures. That is the most attractive thing about Lupin.

The essence of "Lupin the Third" is entertainment. I think it is pop music and jazz. So I practiced imitations of all the characters except for Fujiko Mine, and sent them to Yuu saying, "How about this? I sent it to Yu. I sent it to Yu and asked him what he thought of it.

Hatanaka: Lupin was very similar. I thought he was better than me (laughs).

Takeuchi No, no, not at all. I thought, "Let's have fun. I am sorry that I made Yu take on the role of Lupin, but I thought that since he was playing Lupin, there was nothing I could do about it.

Hatanaka So, I rewatched "Lupin the Third" in a confused state of "what should I do ......" and found it interesting, and I was attracted to Mr. Yamada's acting and the dialogue of that era. I used to watch it vaguely, thinking "Oh, it's interesting," but I feel like I have been introduced to Lupin once again.

Shunsuke Takeuchi

I can't do a perfect imitation, and I hope that the breakdown will lead to the boy Lupin.

--I think that the image of the voice of Lupin is very familiar to us. What was your approach to playing Lupin and Dimentio, even as boys?

Hatanaka: Director Daisuke Sakamukai told me that "both are important. Of course, the past Lupin style is important. （He wanted the audience to think, "This is Lupin," but not a perfect Lupin. I want Lupin and Dimenton to still be shaky. I want him to still be a shaky Lupin, and I want him to still be Dimentional. I want to see various faces of Lupin and Dimenton, including those of the actor himself. It seems that the director had this in mind.

To begin with, I am not capable of perfect mimicry. I'm not the type of person who is that good at mimicry, so I can't help but see the frayed edges. But I did it in the hope that those tears would lead me to Lupin.

Takeuchi: When I have to decide what I should do to make sure that my work doesn't end up as a monomania, I do a thorough research on the character. Playing Lupin and Dimenton is like having Yasuo Yamada and Seiji Kobayashi on my back, and having the feeling that I am also playing Seiji Kobayashi.

--I am also playing the role of Seiji Kobayashi....

Takeuchi: First of all, in order to understand their way of life, we delved deeply into their backgrounds and how they came to love acting. Then, I would imitate them thoroughly, or rather, I would try to sound them out first, just as in kabuki or rakugo. I would take notes of all the ad-libs, and examine the pattern of the sound, such as "〜na-na-ka-↓"which means "the tail goes down" in this situation, but "〜na-na-na-↑"which means "the end goes up" in a different situation. Then, a textbook is created. Then, based on that textbook, I would work on exploring how to create a new dimension.

Besides, in order to know Dimentional, I had to know Lupin, so I wrote down all of Lupin's ad-libs in order to know him thoroughly.

Hatanaka: I also made a "Lupin's Language Record," you know. All of Mr. Yamada's ad-libs for Lupin.

Takeuchi I watched back all the TV animation up to "Lupin the Third Part III".

--All of them! That's amazing. It wasn't a one-cour work.

Takeuchi I took notes and shared them with Yu. Then I would get opinions back, and I would match them up with Yu's idea of Lupin. We stayed in touch with each other until the day of postrecording, and we talked a lot about what kind of balance we wanted to achieve.

Hatanaka: "How many episodes have you seen? "How many episodes are we at now?" "There's a gap of more than 30 episodes! We were like, "How many episodes have you seen?

Takeuchi If they saw that episode first, they would say, "You're going to see a great episode in the future" (laughs).

Hatanaka Yes, yes. (laughs). "This was the highlight of the episode.

Takeuchi Lupin and Dimension are opposites, but they are working together in tandem. So, although our approach was different, we were conscious of the fact that we could breathe more life into them by working in the same stride.

--It's really amazing. You don't often hear people go this far.

Takeuchi: I do it about 70% as a hobby (laughs). (laughs) I just do it because I want to.

Hatanaka That is seriously amazing. But as it turns out, it all comes down to "getting to know Mr. Yamada" and "getting to know Mr. Kobayashi. I think that knowing Lupin means knowing Mr. Yamada. I am sure Mr. Kurita has been thinking that way as well. That's why I feel so proud of myself.

If you look at old interview videos, you will see Mr. Yamada saying, "I am not a voice actor. I am an actor. He would say, "You are a voice actor, aren't you? Ha-ha-ha! He laughs. I could see Mr. Yamada's conviction in this, so I decided to try it with this attitude. And if this piece was to be jazz, I would also value the groove. That is something that comes from the interaction between the two of us, so I felt that the connection between the two of us was really important.

Takeuchi In jazz, you have to understand the theory first. It is a music that cannot be played by feeling alone. The rules are somehow defined within a piece of music, and after everyone has thoroughly studied music theory, jazz is about enjoying how you can perform in a way that exceeds those rules. I once asked a jazz pianist I know what kind of music jazz is. I really wanted to reproduce that sense of jazz in this recording.

Hatanaka On line, I was told that "to know jazz, you must first learn classical music.

Takeuchi Did I say that? (Laughs)

Hatanaka He did, he did. Wow, that's tough. It's a long road, what should I do? I was so confused (laughs).

Takeuchi I am saying this, but Yu was born and raised in a theatrical family, so I think he is a genius in his senses. He is a genius and adjusts quickly.

Hatanaka I don't mean to say that we matched, but rather we passed things to each other. In that sense, I felt that we were able to cherish our interactions with each other, and I really enjoyed working on the set of Lupin.

To be continued in Part 2!

(Reporting, writing, and photography by Kenichi Chiba)

Commemorating the release of "LUPIN ZERO! We are giving away a cheki autographed by Yu Hatanaka (Lupin) and Shunsuke Takeuchi (Dimenton)!

Outline of the present campaign

<Prize

A checkerboard autographed by Yu Hatanaka (Lupin) and Shunsuke Takeuchi (Dogen)

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