"It took many years for Lupin III to get to US shores (outside a couple of the many films/specials)."
Don't forget the laserdisk game "Cliff Hanger"...
What I would like to know is why Mamo was dubbed three different times (you can hear part of the original English Mamo film in Cliff Hanger).
The later 2 dubbings had weak voice work and included some lame off script jokes. Oat Bran? Reagan? It was made in the Carter years.
And I understand that different companies want to "own" a unique translation, etc. but if you have not improved on the original, you are only cheating the consumer.
The Australian Akira DVD has both English dubbings as soundtracks.