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Hey, since this is finally announced, I wanted to be a little serious for once and talk a little bit about this release. https://twitter.com/discotekmedia/status/1291481165589815296
As everyone who follows my Twitter knows, I love Lupin, and I produce most of the Lupin blu-rays released in North America. However, this particular special was one of the most frustrating for me to work on, and I thought about handing it off to someone else a few times.
First, the main villain in this special is a homophobic, okama-type crossdressing stereotype. One who speaks with a feminine voice, wears lipstick, and doesn't like to be near women. On top of this, he is the leader of a neo-nazi cult.
There are some gay panic-style jokes where he forces himself on subordinates, sadism, and his name is, depending on translation, Hermann von Diett or Herr Mafroditte.
In coming to terms with this character, we went back to the original script to try to help figure things out. The script says the nazi-leader persona is supposed to adopt a child's voice, not a feminine one, but the intention in the voice recording could be interpreted both ways.
The name is obviously a thinly veiled reference to "hermaphrodite" though, which is enough on its own to be problematic, but then there's all this stuff on top of it. A homophobic-coded gay-neo-nazi-leader is not a character I EVER thought I'd see in my life, to say the least.
The okama stereotype was super prevalent in 90s anime, unfortunately. At this point, I decided I would keep working on it, but try to give as much context as possible. To that end, we decided to first add a warning to the beginning of the Blu-ray. This is the warning.
Secondly, to help contextualize the release for fans new and old, we wrote both liner notes as well as an essay about homophobia in 90s anime.
In doing so, I'm hoping we've given this release enough history and context to still be enjoyed while being respectful to my friends and family in the LGBTQ+ community. My hope is if people pick this Blu-ray up they might at least learn a little bit about this harmful stereotype.
Many people helped with this release, including, in no particular order: @ulsairi, @Mendinso, @worldofcrap, and @hEnereyG. I want to thank them all for taking the time to help me with what was one of the hardest releases I've ever had to work on and being amazing sounding boards.
Anyway, thank you to everyone for taking the time to read this. I just wanted people know a lot of time, care, thought, and sleepless nights went into how to best present this release.
Also, I feel really bad but I also forgot @MarcFBR and @Schmullus1 who went over I think 3 drafts of the laid out notes for me as well. Thank you guys. 
Also not related to this, but big thanks to @Devilishleader for helping me with setting up the packaging.
