News
Pioneer Official Response Re: Lupin III Episode
posted on by Christopher Macdonald
Pioneer's Official Response:
Thank you for your enthusiasm for the long-awaited Lupin the 3rd TV series. Unfortunately, as noted here, the third episode of the original broadcast, “Hitler's Legacy,” will not be included in this first volume. While Anime fans certainly understand Lupin, the uninformed public remains extremely sensitive to any references to Hitler and the subject matter will certainly offend the audience that does not care to consider the topic within the context of the show. The launch of Lupin would not survive any negative press or stereotypes from this type of publicity.
In the end, the decision was made to delay the release of this episode until the franchise has been established and any negative aura would be countered by the established, true nature of Lupin: Charming characters and outrageous fun for people of all ages. Other than this reordering of the episodes, Pioneer Entertainment has not made any edits and we have left the original Japanese dialog intact. While the English dialog has been updated to give Lupin a more current feel, a faithful translation of the original dialog is present in the subtitle track. Also, you will find the original Japanese episode titles translated in the previews, and, beginning with volume 2, we incorporated your feedback and added the episode titles as soft subtitles in the title slate.
However, there will remain discrepancies between the Japanese releases and the region 1 releases due to copyright infringement issues. Our licensor was forced to remove certain trademarked images and logos from the footage and swap out a few musical elements before they could release the masters to territories outside of Japan. Since we were denied access to the original masters, we cannot provide a full list of these changes (although we're sure that a list will be generated by fans shortly), but there are not very many and they are minor nuances. The original storylines and contents remain unedited and unaffected.
Obviously the most dedicated fans who are the most aware of Lupin the 3rd will be the most concerned about these changes, so we ask for your understanding and your patience as we introduce everyone else in North America to this wonderful show. We found that despite some issues that may cause us trouble, Lupin the 3rd was just too much fun to pass up and we are doing our best, given the conditions forced upon us, to make everyone feel the same way. Please support Lupin the 3rd in its launch so that we may have the opportunity to release the title in its entirety for everyone to enjoy!
Thank you for your enthusiasm for the long-awaited Lupin the 3rd TV series. Unfortunately, as noted here, the third episode of the original broadcast, “Hitler's Legacy,” will not be included in this first volume. While Anime fans certainly understand Lupin, the uninformed public remains extremely sensitive to any references to Hitler and the subject matter will certainly offend the audience that does not care to consider the topic within the context of the show. The launch of Lupin would not survive any negative press or stereotypes from this type of publicity.
In the end, the decision was made to delay the release of this episode until the franchise has been established and any negative aura would be countered by the established, true nature of Lupin: Charming characters and outrageous fun for people of all ages. Other than this reordering of the episodes, Pioneer Entertainment has not made any edits and we have left the original Japanese dialog intact. While the English dialog has been updated to give Lupin a more current feel, a faithful translation of the original dialog is present in the subtitle track. Also, you will find the original Japanese episode titles translated in the previews, and, beginning with volume 2, we incorporated your feedback and added the episode titles as soft subtitles in the title slate.
However, there will remain discrepancies between the Japanese releases and the region 1 releases due to copyright infringement issues. Our licensor was forced to remove certain trademarked images and logos from the footage and swap out a few musical elements before they could release the masters to territories outside of Japan. Since we were denied access to the original masters, we cannot provide a full list of these changes (although we're sure that a list will be generated by fans shortly), but there are not very many and they are minor nuances. The original storylines and contents remain unedited and unaffected.
Obviously the most dedicated fans who are the most aware of Lupin the 3rd will be the most concerned about these changes, so we ask for your understanding and your patience as we introduce everyone else in North America to this wonderful show. We found that despite some issues that may cause us trouble, Lupin the 3rd was just too much fun to pass up and we are doing our best, given the conditions forced upon us, to make everyone feel the same way. Please support Lupin the 3rd in its launch so that we may have the opportunity to release the title in its entirety for everyone to enjoy!
bookmark/share with:
