Legendary Japanese voice actor Kiyoshi Kobayashi is retiring from the Lupin the Third role that he has filled for over 50 years.
The 88-year old actor will play Jigen for the final time during the first episode of the upcoming Lupin the Third Part Six anime series. Kobayashi first took on the role of Jigen 50 years ago in the original 1971 Lupin the Third anime adaptation by TMS Entertainment. He has filled that role for the five decades since, and has also appeared in countless other anime, including Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Golgo 13 and Death Note. Kobayashi was the last member of the original series' cast to remain on the franchise; Yasuo Yamada, who voiced the titular Lupin in the original TV broadcast, passed away in 1995, while Chikao Ohtsuka, who played the swordsman Goemon, passed in 2015.
Kobayashi will be replaced by Akio Otsuka, an accomplished voice actor in his own right who is best known to western audiences as the Japanese voice of Solid Snake in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series. Otsuka will fill the role of Jigen starting from episode 2 of Lupin the Third Part Six. The voice actor has previously played multiple side characters within the Lupin franchise before, but this will be his first time taking on the role of Jigen. Otsuka previously worked alongside Kobayashi in Mobile Suit Gundam 0083, and is also known for being the voice of Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack. Otsuka has also had roles in various other series during his 30 years in the anime industry, including Cowboy Bebop, One Piece, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Naruto Shippuden.
The new season of the Lupin the Third anime is scheduled to premiere in Japan this October. This season will feature an all-star team of guest writers, including Ghost in the Shell's Mamoru Ishii and Doraemon's Masaki Tsuji. The series will feature a confrontation between anime's most beloved thief and the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Part 6 has already been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for an international release.
Lupin the Third was originally created by Monkey Punch and first published in 1967. The character of Lupin III is meant to be a descendant of the thief Arsene Lupin, who starred in his own series of books by French author Maurice LeBlanc, which were first published in 1905. Like his grandfather before him, Monkey Punch's Lupin is an expert thief who travels the world in search of valuable treasures to claim. He is aided by his partner, the expert marksman Jigen, as well as the samurai Goemon, and the femme fatale Fujiko Mine.
Source: Official Lupin the Third Website
