Lupin III: The Western Series (1992 - 1999)
When Warner Bros. first acquired the rights to Maurice LeBlanc's Aresene Lupin stories, it was mostly just to make a 1977 film that was rather mediocre. However, this would prove to be a blessing in disguise soon after. Monkey Punch, the creator of Lupin III, saw this as a chance to get a western adaptation or dub of his famous manga and TV series made. A few days in 1978, and the deal was made, with Lupin III: Part 1 being dubbed in 1979, followed by all the other anime installations. This would go on with Part 2 being dubbed soon after in 1981.
However, the early 1990s came, and Warner Bros. wanted their own answer to Paramount Animation's hit Batman: The Animated Series, which had debuted in 1991 and had yanked away some Tiny Toon Adventures alumni in the process. This franchise would prove to be their chance to strike, and Tom Ruegger was put in charge of a western adaptation that would be aired mainly for teenagers and young adults on the newly formed Cartoon Network.
The series' premise is the same as that of almost every other installation in the franchise. Arsene Lupin III (Billy West) goes around the world trying to steal various artifacts. Joined by gunslinger Daisuke Jigen (Ron Perlman), swordsman Goemon Ishikawa XII (Tim Daly), and femme fatale Fujiko Mine (Amy Irving). That is, not without being pursued by Inspector Koichi Zenigata (Neil Ross), who seeks to arrest Lupin. Though Zenigata never succeeds for long, his quest does give him the chance to arrest criminals who are even worse than Lupin. Ranging in nature from drug dealers to escaped war criminals, and in the later, often darker seasons, even child traffickers.
Overall, this is a re-tread of Lupin's general premise, albeit one that takes heavy influence from Lupin III: Part 2 - to the point that some of the episodes in this show were direct remakes of episodes from said series. However, the Western Series makes up for that with its takes on certain characters. For instance, it is explained that Jigen is actually Bret Maverick IV, with "Daisuke Jigen" simply being an alias from when he was collaborating with the Yakuza, which is how he met Lupin. Likewise, it is also shown that Goemon has a soft spot for children, and is often the first to insist the gang stops people trying to harm them. In addition, the entire gang also leads Zenigata to even more vicious or evil criminals on purpose.
This show is also remembered as the one that started the trend of western adaptations as a way to get otherwise obscure Japanese franchises into the states; as well as the best example of said trend done right. To the point that Monkey Punch even incorporated some of the series' lore into his comics and in future animes. Another major selling point in the franchise's native Japan was its excellent character animation.
