I noticed a lack of guides to doing costumes of specific anime characters and decided to throw some of my experience into the pot. One of my most successful anime costumes gleaned from my closest was Arsene Lupin from the classic anime series “Lupin the 3rd.” Based off the Maurice LeBlanc novels of the gentleman thief Arsene Lupin, Japanese comic book (aka manga) artist Monkey Punch developed “Lupin the 3rd” in the late 1970s as an homage. As the name implies, Monkey Punch’s Arsene Lupin is the third descendent of Maurice LeBlanc’s Arsene Lupin and both share similar characteristics of being gentleman thieves who take pride at their intricate plans of stealing various riches while evading the dogged persistence of the police. The “Lupin the 3rd” anime and manga were relatively obscure in the United States until Pioneer released parts of the 2nd season television series on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim line-up in 2003 and Tokyopop published translated volumes of the “Lupin the 3rd” manga in 2002. I liked the Lupin character because of his style, charisma, and recognition among veteran anime fans.
Lupin the 3rd wears many different outfits but they generally have the same scheme: Boots, trousers, dress shirt, altered necktie, tie clip, suit jacket, slicked back hair, and a Walther P-38 pistol. Out of the many combinations, I selected the outfit worn during the first television series and “Castle of Cagliostro” movie. Castle of Cagliostro” is one of Lupin’s most successful movies and was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the director of Academy Award winning animated film “Spirited Away.” To accomplish this version of Lupin, I would require brown boots, black trousers, a black dress shirt, a yellow necktie altered to the right style, a tie clip, and a green jacket. All of these items could be found in a thrift store or clothing store. Oddly enough, the green jacket was a lot easier to find in the women’s aisle than the men’s.
Fixing the neck tie to match Lupin’s is simple. Fold the tip of the tie backwards behind the visible part of the tie, pin it, and iron it to form a crease. Remove the pins. Then hand stitch the tip to keep it tucked. It is preferable to not let the stitches show on the front of the tie so carefully run the needle through only one layer of the tie fabric. Hair gel and a comb will slick the hair back and keep it in place. I don’t recommend carrying a Walther P-38 pistol around in public, even if it’s a prop. But if you must for costume accuracy, airsoft pistols are the way to go. A Walther P-38 airsoft pistol is rare, but they do exist.
I wore Lupin a few times for Halloween anime themed anime events and Halloween events with nothing to do with anime. The anime fans recognized me as Lupin easily. People unfamilar with anime thought I was a sharply dressed man or a leprechaun. Either way it’s a fun anime costume to do and fun to wear.
