New Arsene Lupin/not-Lupin release in Italy soon?? Light novel thing???

aisterion

read mort the dead teenager
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This is a new release from Kappalab, an Italian publisher with a manga and anime bent. This book is not based on any Arsene Lupin story and is instead a partially "legally distinct" light novel adaptation of Castle of Cagliostro that I have no idea how it's being made.

Apparently there are OTHER releases by this company of Ghibli movies as light novels but because a lot of Ghibli films are based on books they just adapt the movie which is really weird. What's everyone's take on this oddity of an item that's currently available to get?

I put this in this category because it's advertised as Arsene Lupin through LeBlanc's name which currently does not have a channel. It is lupin related but I do not know enough about it nor do I speak the language to properly confirm how accurate the story or quality is
 
What goes around comes around as they say...

From what I've gathered it does seem that they try to license or to do it legit* and may have wanted to do an adaptation but because TMS has the rights to Lupin III, they couldn't get the rights for an adaptation or probably most likely couldn't be bothered. Since Leblanc and Lupin is in the public domain, they were free to do their own Lupin and can legally. Italy was one of the few countries that wasn't affected by the Lupin copyright name back in the day but was affected by the link to Arsène for a while (Lupin name = yes, family link or being called Arsène = no). Notice that Arsène wasn't mentioned once in the press release and just called him Lupin? So it's not an Arsène Lupin story AFAIK** but it is not quite Lupin III either even if they are hinting that e.g. calling him "incorreggibile", a character design with various nods (sideburns, a jacket with a tie, belt and trousers). I've also seen the villain's character design before but can't quite place on who he's based on. Strangely it is marketed as a Young Lupin story when Cagliostro itself is considered a later story by Miyazaki and even more strange is that the Fujiko character on the cover looks more like Fujiko than she did in Cagliostro (wonder if she's called Margot?). Probably the closest thing that I can think of is all those Young character stories people have done like Young Bond or Young Sherlock Holmes.

* - I do think some of it is bending the copyright law. Candy Candy has rights issues from what I remember preventing any release making this no different than fan fiction or doujin, there were rumours that Alexander Key wasn't happy with Future Boy Conan until more recently and don't know if the Howl's Moving Castle sequels are authorised.

** - Unless it is an adaptation of The Countess of Cagliostro that was one of the inspirations for The Castle of Cagliostro but with mention of the Templars and Count of Cagliostro in this story, it's not that either...

As for how close it is to The Castle of Cagliostro or the Arsène Lupin stories, we don't know until someone has it. I do think even if it is a knockoff, Lupin does look cool in its own right if you imagine him being more of an adventurer even if it isn't the Lupin we know, Leblanc's OG Lupin, Night Hood Lupin, Filipino Lupin or the Netflix Lupin.
 

aisterion

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I was somewhat hesitant to put this in the Fanmade Lupin Merch category because this doesn't seem to be in good faith like most fanmade items are. It just seems a little weird and predatory, definitely trying to exploit copyright law and work around a release that could land them in legal trouble. Would have just been better to release it on AO3 or whatever as a written adaptation but I guess it sells, especially in Italy
 

aisterion

read mort the dead teenager
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* - I do think some of it is bending the copyright law. Candy Candy has rights issues from what I remember preventing any release making this no different than fan fiction or doujin, there were rumours that Alexander Key wasn't happy with Future Boy Conan until more recently and don't know if the Howl's Moving Castle sequels are authorised.
Late update to this but I believe the Howl's sequels are a part of the series that was adapted into the movie and the others are just Wynne Jones books they got for some reason to add. There are only two Howl's sequels but the others are unrelated.
 
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