Lupin III: The Lost Treasure Under the Sea (anime film)

"There must be some kind of mysterious hidden treasure somewhere, right?"

- Lupin III, while talking to the two child charactersLupin III: The Lost Treasure Under the Sea (or The Underwater Treasure Hunt for some international releases) is an obscure direct-to-video anime film that was made to promote the release of the video game of the same name. It was released in Japan on July 31, 2003, just in time for the game's release. Despite the game not making it to international countries, this film was released in international countries and it was dubbed into many languages.

Plot
There were many rumors of a mysterious hidden treasure hiding underwater, that once the treasure is restored, it'll change life forever. Lupin III, his gang, and two children join the quest as they solve some mysteries to the lost treasure.

Release History
This film was released in Japan on July 31, 2003, the same day the game was released.

In the UK, it was released on September 23, 2003 by Creative Corporation Inc. with an English dub, but instead of using their own British cast for the film, they hired Cinelume to dub the film with it's Montreal voice cast. The dub recieved mixed reviews, the praise given to the voice acting, the writing, the humor, and the faithfulnes to the Japanese version, but the critisicm was given to some of the script changes, making it look like a gag dub.

In the US, it was released in June 14, 2004 on VHS and DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Due to not having the rights to the UK dub, they made their own English dub, this time using a Los Angeles voice cast. Later on, for the DVD release, another English dub was made in New York as a second option. The first US dub was a gag dub, and had changed music, while the second US dub was more faithful to the Japanese version, but still kept the changed music. Both of the dubs recieved critical praise, but most English dub fans prefered the NYAV Post dub than the Buena Vista dub.