Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

In 1979, I produced the movie Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, which was based on the TV series of the same name that I produced earlier in my career. This was a story about Arsene Lupin III, a professional thief, who robbed the national casino of Monaco with Daisuke Jigen. But they later discovered the bills were the legendary “goat bills”, which were perfect counterfeits that used to influence the economy of the nation. Therefore, they decided to investigate the source of the “goat bills” by returning to the country, Duchy of Cagliostro. When I was working at A Pro in 1971, I started co-directing the first animated series, Lupin III with Isao Takahata. After the huge success of the first series, I produced and directed the second series, The New Lupin III, in 1977. Driven by the popularity of the series, I decided to produce the movie version of the series called Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979. This movie was the first movie that I directed, which became another major turning point in my career. The experience of movies production differed from series production a lot as movie production provided me with more freedom and flexibility in expression. Ever since the production of Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, I was inspired to direct and produce more movies later in my career.

 

Explore the Tale of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind