In addition to Lupin The 3rd Part4, Nihon TV will also air a new two-hour TV special Lupin the Third: Italian Game at 21:00 on January 8, 2016 (JST). The first Lupin TV special in two years, since the 24th Princess of the Breeze - The Hidden City in the Sky, is helmed by fourth TV series' director Yuichiro Yano alongside general director Kazuhude Tomonaga.

Legendary animator Koji Morimoto (work on Akira, The Animatrix, Memories). has offered a teaser for his opening for the anime.

新年１月８日放送　金曜ロードショウ『ルパン三世ＳＰ』のＯＰ担当しました！ pic.twitter.com/vFPJwALOsQ

— 森本晃司 (@kojimorimoto) December 27, 2015

The story begins with the kidnapping of Rebecca Rossellini, the new heroine of the fourth series who got married with Lupin in the first episode. During rescuing her from the kidnapper, Lupin receives a challenge from a mysterious man named "The Masked Count." The target is the inheritance of Count Cagliostro (it is not clear whether it means the same character who appeared in the 1979 film The Castle of Cagliostro).

44-year-old voice actor Tsuda Kenjiro, best known as Seto Kaiba in the Yu-Gi-Oh! series (also Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens), is cast as The Masked Count, while 61-year-old Bin Shimada voices Gaspare Balsamo, a descendant of Count Cagliostro.

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.