let's anime

Prince Planet Flashback 2012 23: part II

2012-01-29T13:32:00.003-05:00

The next eight pages of our exciting Usei Shonen Papii story, translated by Rick Zerrano, all for you! Remember to read from right to left for maximum comprehensibility.

Sorry it ends on a cliffhanger - be sure to pick up next week's SHONEN and find out what happens to Prince Planet! Next week being, of course, sometime in 1965.

Prince Planet Flashback 2012

2012-01-16T11:19:00.004-05:00

Just in time for the new year, here's some old manga! This Usei Shonen Papii manga story is straight outta a 1965 issue of SHONEN MAGAZINE. Thrill to the cheap paper, the insubstantial printing, the inevitable foxing and discoloration that comes with the territory of 47 year old newsprint! Translation and typesetting by Rick Zerrano, scans and touchup by me. Click on pages while shouting "Papii!" to enlarge images.

Will Prince Planet - er, I mean Papii - defeat the mystery robot? What's the secret behind Black and White? Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion to our manga story! Brought to you by GLICO. Gu-ri-co, gu-ri-co, GUU-RII-COOO...

DEVILMAN SAVES CHRISTMAS

2011-12-16T12:42:00.004-05:00

It turns out public generosity can give complex Tezuka manga second printings, so where's the love for our other lost English-edition manga treasures? Like, say, DEVILMAN: THE DEVIL'S INCARNATION, out of print now for 24 years?

Just like the Beelzebub of legend, Devilman has appeared in many forms - as the blue-skinned superhero of a Toei TV cartoon, in two late-80s OVAs, co-starring with Mazinger Z in the high-art cinema MAZINGER Z VS DEVILMAN, as a devil-munchkin in CB CHARA GO NAGAI WORLD, in games for the NES and PSX, and as the star of his own live-action film. And as a lady. The manga career of Devilman spans 52 chapters serialized in the venerable SHONEN MAGAZINE, a update/remake/reboot titled SHIN DEVILMAN from '79, and appearances in other Go Nagai manga like VIOLENCE JACK. As an apocalyptic, H.P. Lovecraft-meets-the Hell's Angels story of immensely powerful beings from beyond the laws of time and space annhilating each other with savage fury, DEVILMAN can be a sacireligious ultraviolent adventure story or as a sobering reminder of the insignificant part human beings play in the larger cosmos.

look out for that elephant guy

But apart from the shoddy floppy-comic release of SHIN DEVILMAN by Glen "Small Man Syndrome" Danzig's Verotik, the original DEVILMAN manga has never been translated or released in English. Except when it has! In 1986 Nagai's own Dynamic Productions released a 200+page trade-paperback edition of DEVILMAN in English. THE DEVIL'S INCARNATION was translated, charmingly hand-lettered, flopped to read Western-style, has a garish color cover, and would have been great to see in the mall bookstores of America alongside the Donning/Starblaze ELFQUEST color books, WATCHMEN, and, in a few years, Go Nagai's full-color painted MAZINGER graphic novel.

pretty much a whole book of custom-van paintings of monster robots

THE DEVIL'S INCARNATION delivers the manga-reading experience magnificently; sized for the American book market, it had great potential to deliver a one-two manga punch to readers and maybe even get "the manga boom" started a decade or so early. DEVILMAN's failure was in distribution. Meaning, there wasn't any. I found my copy in the mid 90s, hidden in a shelf of marked-down books in the back of a record store. This is not what I call "promotion". Was this ever distributed in a reasonable fashion? How did it end up in Criminal Records? Why did Dynamic Productions insert itself mysteriously into American publishing and then just as mysteriously vanish?

mild-mannered Akira Fudo, reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper

The story, for those as yet untouched by Devilman, is that Akira Fudo, a well-known crybaby and wuss, is visited by his best friend Ryo, who convinces him to merge with the devil Amon. And with friends like that who needs enemies? The combination of Akira and Amon becomes Devilman, sworn to defeat the legions of devils that existed long before mankind and who lay slumbering in the depths of the earth, Lovecraft style.

devilman, I choose YOU

Go Nagai's artwork still retains the cutesy cartoony "Shameless School" look, but when things get real you can see the brushline vibrate and the ink start to get all intense. By the time Akira and Ryo are slugging back whiskey in a basement full of half-naked hippies doomed to be possessed by hideous demons, we have moved into new and disturbing manga territory.

Certainly this is not what Americans were expecting from their Japanese comics in 1986 - if it didn't have slick Studio Nue mecha and cute pastel-accented idol singers then America simply wasn't interested, thanks. Alternatively, had an enterprising publisher delivered DEVILMAN to American audiences in 1972, the decadent, violent saga would fit perfectly with your Stooges records and your 42nd Street grindhouse shockers.

raw power can destroy a man

Viewers of the excellent 1987 DEVILMAN: THE BIRTH video know where the story goes - the Akira/Amon combo defeats a room full of grotesque monsters and realizes his devil-fighting destiny. That's how DEVILMAN: THE DEVIL'S INCARNATION ends, Akira and a battered, unconscious Ryo surrounded by the bloody remnants of a devil army, wondering what the future holds. That's a good question. Will this be the only representation given to 45 years of Go Nagai's manga in North America? Or will there emerge a publisher with taste and vision to deliver the raw power of DEVILMAN once again to the English-language world?

Thanks to Mike Toole for inventing the phrase "Devilman Saves Christmas". Happy Holidays to all and see you in 2012!

shaggy dog story

2011-12-03T14:02:00.005-05:00

What can I say about a show that features anthropomorphic animal versions of human beings having adventures - without sounding like one who's joined the Furry Revolution, I mean? Well, two words may serve to relieve the discomfort bubbling up through your pyloric valve- Hayao Miyazaki. Yeah, that's right, Comrade Nausicaa himself, together with Tokyo Movie Shinsha and the Italian TV company RAI, produced this animated, walking, talking dog version of England's own Sherlock Holmes. So put those fursuits away, boys.

Originally known as FAMOUS DETECTIVE HOLMES, this show was one of the mysterious gray areas of Miyazaki's resume; we knew he worked on it, but we didn't know when and where and for how long, and more importantly, we couldn't get good copies of the darn things. Well, back in 2002 before Pioneer became Geneon and went out of business, they heard our pleas and released HOLMES on two different 2-sided DVDs. Side One has five episodes in English, and the other side has the same exact episodes in Japanese, with subtitles. Extensive research has determined that the English versions of these episodes come from the same bunch that Just For Kids released on cheap, 6-hour, KayBee Toys Clearance Bin Home Video several years ago. You may have noticed them taking up shelf space next to their Macron One releases. This dub is, however, NOT the English dub that certain sharp-eyed anime fans may have remembered seeing on the Showtime cable channel years ago - that version featured a Sherlock Holmes that was, in fact, referred to as "Holmes", as well as British accents that might be a tad more authentic, for the simple fact that they might actually be voiced by British people. This edition is perfectly acceptable, however. The dubbing is Englishy enough, the transfer is excellent, and we're even given the original Japanese opening and ending credits. The box itself is really classy, and the liner notes reveal several interesting things about the production of HOLMES; namely, that the show was a 1981 co-production between TMS and RAI, originally produced in English, and it was cancelled after 4 Miyazaki-directed episodes, and then two other Miyazaki episodes were completed and shown on a double bill with NAUSICAA, and then they went and got Kyosuke Mikuriya to make twenty more episodes for the 1984 TV season. And now I've given all the surprises away.

Holmes and Watson are on the case

But even if you know all its secrets, HOUND is still worth watching. There are those among us who shudder at the thought of a period cartoon starring talking dogs; I am one of those people. I prefer my anthropomorphic canines to stick to late-night poker games. However, if you can't trust Hayao to turn even the most unpromising premise into entertainment, who can you trust? Nobody, that's who. HOUND is full of the kind of detailed, hyper-kinetic set-piece action scenes that made Miyazaki memorable. The characters - canine as they may be - are as fully realized as cartoon characters can be, from facial expressions to clothes to nervous habits. And the backgrounds! SOMEBODY at TMS did their homework, because this show features some of the most beautiful background work I've ever seen in an animated television show. Edwardian London comes to life with crowded city streets, train stations, department stores and government offices and the ramshackle apartments on Baker Street where Holmes and Watson relax between cases all realistically and vividly portrayed. Virtually every shot is crammed full of period detail. Other, lesser cartoons would suffocate under such baggage; HOUND thrives on it.

That's not to say this show is an exercise in historical accuracy. Great liberties are taken with regards to mechanical contrivances; especially those of a certain Professor Moriarty, the self-styled 'Napoleon Of Crime', whose wizardry at late 19th century gadgetry would only be matched by the similar antics of the character Grandes from Gainax's 1991 series SECRET OF BLUE WATER. Not that I would point the finger of plagarisim at that much-and-justly-maligned series - no, the animation that was shameless in its theft from HOUND would be Disney's own GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE, which managed to crowbar entire scenes from SHERLOCK HOUND - and what it didn't steal from HOUND, it swiped from CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO. But I digress. Suffice to say that HOUND is probably the only show that can utilize painstaking recreations of Victoria Station circa 1901 AND Space Invaders sight gags.

Why only the Japanese and the Italians could produce the quintessential Sherlock Holmes cartoon is a question better left answered by semiotics professors or popular culture majors, and why it stars talking dogs is probably not going to be touched except by somebody's overpaid psychologist; and why the whole mess actually works is a completely different story altogether. While not as thrill-intensive as your typical robot cartoon or sci-fi epic, HOUND succeeds with its own brand of tweedy, low-key adventure.

Mrs Hudson - your typical quiet Victorian lady

Of course there are some who won't find HOUND a masterpiece. Sherlock Holmes fans, in particular, aren't going to be very impressed, because as near as I can figure HOUND barely gets within striking distance of any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's actual Sherlock Holmes stories. I don't particularly consider this a deal-killer - how many LUPIN III episodes are based on Maurice LeBlanc's actual LUPIN stories? - but it's refreshing to see a show obsessed with background accuracy yet blissfully unconcerned about actually giving us a Red-Headed League, or for that matter, a Hound of the Baskervilles. Yet, comparing HOUND with Holmes gives us some insight into the transformation from human sleuth to dog detective. The human Holmes is, to be blunt, kind of a jerk. He's an arrogant know-it-all with a big nose; tough to wrap a children's cartoon around, to be sure. I certainly can't see Doyle's Holmes spending quality time with children the way Miyazaki's Hound does. However, let's face facts; if I was a big fan of nineteenth-century English literature, I wouldn't be reviewing many Japanese cartoons.

Moriarty's sub versus British dreadnought

Even though this DVD features very little in the way of extras or special goodies - very little meaning, absolutely nothing - the quality of the animation and the charm of the show itself make SHERLOCK HOUND well worth sniffing out. While the DVD is currently out of print in the United States, streaming episodes of SHERLOCK HOUND are available on streaming video. So be sure and enjoy your 1980s Japanese cartoon based on 1890s fiction with the technology of the 21st century! Professor Moriarty would be proud.

THE CYBORG 009 STORY

2011-11-27T13:10:00.002-05:00

It’s the 1961 World Science Fiction Convention in Seattle. Robert Heinlein is the guest of honor and “A Canticle For Liebowitz” takes the Hugo for best novel. In the crowd is manga-ka Shotaro Ishinomori, covering the show for Shuiesha. A resident of the famous ‘Tokiwaso’ apartment house with manga giants like Tezuka, Hideko Mizuno and Fujio-Fujiko, Ishinomori shared their speedy, cinematic, big-foot style and by ‘61 already had more than 75 different published works to his credit.

Shotaro Ishinomori’s comics would go on to have an almost immeasurable impact in Japanese and global pop culture, creating children’s adventure heroes like KIKAIDER, KAMEN RIDER and what we’d call “sentai” with GORANGERS. He’d explore economics with JAPAN INC, Edo-period detective stories with SABU & ICHI’S ARREST WARRANT, big city soap opera drama in HOTEL, manga about Charlie Parker, TV ghosts, magical girls and mischievous robots along with illustrations for the first Japanese edition of Frank Herbert’s DUNE. His work would inspire animation, live-action film & TV projects, and thrill generations of readers throughout the world for decades.

A few months prior to the Seattle Worldcon, neurophysiologist Manfred Clynes and psychopharmacological pioneer Nathan S. Kline had coined the word “cyborg” in the journal “Astronautics” to describe the artificial modification of the human body to suit different environments. As an “exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integrated homeostatic system”, the concept would fuel practical and impractical research, but the term itself would be a boon for science fiction writers. SF had long been combining humans with machines or computers – the first example dates from 1879 - but now a sleek, futuristic word defined the concept. It’s unknown if the Clynes & Kline “Cyborg” paper was discussed at Worldcon, but as we’ll see eventually the term found its way to Ishinomori. After completing his circumnavigation of the globe he returned to Tokyo and got right back to work on manga like MUTANT SABU, an adaptation of the cult Toho monster film MATANGO THE FUNGUS OF TERROR, and, for Shonen King in 1964, something called CYBORG 009.

From around the world, nine people are kidnapped by the evil Black Ghost organization, a shadowy group dedicated to promoting war as a profit-making enterprise (even described as “merchants of death’, a callback to the devastating 1934 expose of war profiteers and the munitions industry). Our nine victims are transformed into cyborg soldiers to allow BG to bring war to the far reaches of the universe. However, they turn against Black Ghost. Along with their creator, Dr. Gilmore, the cyborgs battle Black Ghost’s attempts to recapture or destroy them and escape, free to try and fit into a world that no longer calls them human. The series’ cold war backdrop of military conspiracies, continent-destroying super weapons, and nuclear wars started by hateful third parties was balanced by science-gone-made Frankenstein stories and tales emphasizing the tragedy of being turned into a cybernetic war machine. This is manga that dares to ask, can you be turned into an ultrapowerful cybernetic fighting machine, and still have a human heart?

As a manga series CYBORG 009 was a hit for Shonen Gahosha’s Shonen King weekly, which also featured KAIBUTSU-KUN, the Jiro Kuwata BATMAN manga, WILD 7, GALAXY EXPRESS 999, and LOCKE THE SUPERMAN. Ishinomori’s combination of super-mechanical SF action and the tragic drama of people turned into machines was a winner with Japanese manga readers, and the first series lasted fifteen volumes’ worth. Ishinomori even tried to end it, but the readers demanded more, so just like Nishizaki and ARRIVEDERCI YAMATO, Ishinomori was forced to rewrite his own story to keep his characters alive. CYBORG 009’s manga adventures would continue through eight separate story arcs across nine different manga weeklies and monthlies, from 1964 until 1981 (in 2003 Tokyopop would release the first arc of the CYBORG 009 manga in North American markets across ten volumes with varying degrees of success).

CYBORG 009’s cast stands out in a manga field full of loner heroes - a diverse group of individuals each with their own special abilities and temperaments. And while several of the cyborgs’ appearances border on racist caricature, every character – from the requisite Japanese leader to the African rebel to the Chinese cook – is portrayed as a human being, not a token or a prop. When they aren’t defending the world, they’re living their own lives as actors, restaurateurs, ranchers, or race-car drivers.

The Cyborgs:

001 is the infant Ivan Whisky, who’s brain was restructured – by his own father, believe it or not - giving him incredible psychic power. Unfortunately this is incredibly taxing and he sleeps for weeks at a time, which may explain a few things on the part of Dad’s motives, who might have just wanted a good night’s sleep.

002 – Jet Link, the feisty big-nosed American, was taken right off the streets of New York City where his gang – The Jets – spread terror through synchronized dance routines. His character is named after James Dean’s character in GIANT, the ranch hand Jett Rink. As a rebuilt cyborg, jet engines in both his legs allow him to fly at supersonic speeds of up to Mach 5.

003 was a French ballerina named Francoise Arnoul until the Black Ghost restructured her as the ultimate detecting device with super sight and hearing. No relation to the French actress of the same name. She’s the typical ‘big sister’ token girl character, always demurely serving coffee, playing nurse or babysitting 001. Even her cyborg powers are largely passive. Is there a romance between 003 and 009? In spite of the difference in age and life experience, sources say “yes”.

sources say "pictures don't lie".

004, German Albert Heinrich, escaped from East Berlin with his girlfriend in a zoo truck, but a hail of Vopo bullets killed her and seriously wounded Heinrich. Kidnapped en route to the hospital by Black Ghost agents, his body was almost completely rebuilt. One hand has machine gun fingers, another hand contains a super sharp blade, and depending on who’s animating the character, one or all of the knees and elbow joints contain missiles. A cynical character, he’s bitter about his rebirth as a war weapon, and who can blame him?

005 is the giant Apache Geronimo Junior. Even before he was cybernetcized, he had enormous strength and the strong spiritual nature typical of mass-media depictions of aboriginal peoples. After the Black Ghost was through, G. Jr. became immensely powerful and nearly indestructible.

006, Chan Chan Ko, was a Chinese cook. His culinary skills remain, even though now he can blast super hot fire from his mouth that can be both a weapon and a tunneling mechanism allowing him to burrow through the earth. The degree of stereotype involved in his character pretty much depends on the year the animation was made – if it’s the 60s you can count on quite a bit.

007 naturally hails from Great Britain. In fact his name is Great Britain! As an English actor he was legendary on the stage, but alcohol was destroying both his career and his life. His abduction by Black Ghost probably saved him from decades of staggering his way through countless embarrassing cinematic turkeys. Now his natural gifts of mimicry are increased a thousandfold as his body is able to shape-shift into just about any form regardless of size or complexity – mice, lions, missiles, coffee grinders, dolphins, you name it, he’s changed into it. In the 60’s era 009 anime he was depicted as a small and annoyingly voiced child.

008 is the African revolutionary known as Puma, who was changed into a specialist underwater cyborg. Obviously early versions of this character were astoundingly racist stereotypes, but subsequent character designs have, slowly, developed into something 009 fans can proudly display to others without reservation or embarrassment. As the only cyborg with actual military experience his tactical knowledge comes in handy.

Our leader 009 was the last cyborg built and as such is the most advanced. Joe Shinamura was a half-breed orphan with a background of abuse and neglect that, nevertheless, failed to change his nature as a kind, decent human being with a strong sense of shonen-manga-hero justice As a command-and-control cyborg he’s fast and strong, and his ‘acceleration switch’ can propel him at speeds up to Mach 5. This can be traced directly to Alfred Bester’s legendary 1956 novel THE STARS MY DESTINATION, in which vengeance-driven spaceman Gully Foyle has himself rebuilt as a military-grade cybernetic commando whose amazing speed and reaction time is controlled by a switch concealed within a tooth, just like Cyborg 009. Coincidence? I think not.

Accelerate!

Professor Issac Gilmore, their creator, worked willingly with Black Ghost until he learned their true intentions, and then he conspired with the Cyborgs to escape. Cranky, irascible, driven, yet with a fatherly heart.

For Americans such as myself, nosing our way into the confusing new “Japanimation” world via American comic book fandom, CYBORG 009 was a great door opener. Science-fiction adventure starring alienated superheroes in a world that fears their power? Sounds a lot like the X-MEN comics we’d been reading. But while Marvel’s mutants would sink into a confusing morass of never-completed storylines and endless parades of new characters, CYBORG 009 followed Ishinomori as he moved beyond superpowered fistfights and explored themes of sacrifice, humanity, evolution, spirituality, and man’s place in the universe, in adventures involving mind-expanding journeys across time and space.

CYBORG 009 would be animated on, let’s see, six separate movie and TV occasions, with varying degrees of animation, entertainment quality, and faithfulness to the source material.

scenes from the first CYBORG 009 film

The first film, simply titled CYBORG 009, was released in July of 1966 and featured a radical re-design of the Cyborg characters as they moved through a streamlined version of their escape from Black Ghost. The character designs and costumes were given the squat, ovoid Hajime Numai treatment, including 007’s reinterpretation as a small child – obviously an identification character for the kids in the audience. The Yugo Serikawa animation moves in fits and starts, placing slick motion sequences next to long stretches of nothing. It’s the studio’s first attempt at an animated film based on a currently running manga property, and clearly in the same trail then being blazed by Mushi Productions’ ASTRO BOY and TCJ’s series ASTEROID MASK, YUSEI SHONEN PAPII, and TETSUJIN 28.

one of the monsters of "Monster War"

The sequel, CYBORG 009 - MONSTER WAR, would be produced by the same creative staff and released in March of 1967. This film is sometimes titled “Underground Duel” because that’s what the label on my VHS cassette read back in 1985. I spent years spreading the misinformation because I was too lazy to research it myself. As the film contains more “underground” than “monster”, it’s a natural mistake. 009 and the gang set out in their super air-ground-submersible to battle a league of giant monsters which are carrying on giant-monster tradition by decimating the world’s shipping, ports, natural gas storage tanks, and cities. Along the way they rescue the mysterious Helena, who leads them into an underground world populated by giant carnivorous plants and the evil Cyborgs 0011 Plus and Minus, and eventually to the lair of Black Ghost himself. But is Helena their friend or enemy? Unlike other Toei films of the 60s like GULLIVER’S TRAVELS BEYOND THE MOON or SINDBAD THE SAILOR, the CYBORG 009 films wouldn’t make it to American audiences, but Spanish-language theaters got their 009 under the title “Astroboy 009”. In Finland it was “Superagentit 001-009”.

The next year Toei brought CYBORG 009 to TV in a 26 episode series, repurposing the theme song from the films but losing the color. Many outstanding stories from the manga would appear in the TV show, including the “Mad Machine” South Pole story and the sad tale of Kubikuro the cyber-dog. Other plots were all over the map, from giant Inca robots to spy stories, Jekyll-Hyde monster tales, fleets of skeletal Imperial Navy pilots, and in general a lack of coherence or narrative logic; villains all have squads of faceless minions to be slaughtered and Dr. Gilmore has whatever scientific device necessary to advance the plot, from electron microscopes to orbital multi-stage rockets.

009 '68

The ’68 series is, again, not at all far removed from your typical SPACE BOY SORAN or SPACE KID JUN episode. The animation is still stiff in places but the character designs and action are moving away from the clean, round look of the early 60s – you can see a rougher, more confident hand in many scenes. Also one episode has a quick gag where 007 transforms into a surprised-looking James Bond.

subtitles by "Nanto", hairpiece by House Of Gilmore

1968 series episode titles:

1. Terror Of The Mysterious Men
2. Challenge Of ‘X’
3. Confrontation At The South Pole
4. Space Demons
5. Ah, Kubikuro
6. Rescue Galleria’s King
7. The Schoolbus
8. The Girl With The Golden Eyes
9. The Devil Walks Tonight
10. Royalty of the Golden Earth
11. The Golden Lion
12. Sky Giants
13. Secret Of the Devil’s Castle
14. Cursed Desert
15. Tragedy Of The Animal Man
16. Ghost Of The Pacific
17. Phantom Alliance
18. My Father, The Demon’s Apostle
19. Terror Of The Nuclear Submarine “Sea Snake”
20. The Final Escape
21. Phantom Cavalry
22. Spirit Of Vengeance, part 1
23. Spirit Of Vengeance, part 2
24. Challenge Of Love’s Mistake
25. Back From The Dead
26. Death Is The Peace Of Soldiers

The powerful finale features demonic toys plotting to cause worldwide nuclear war by stirring up trouble between two hostile nations. In a chilling dream sequence, one general imagines a peaceful world annihilated by atomic war in a montage that calls to mind the famous “Flower” television ad the LBJ campaign aired – once – in 1964.

In your heart, you know he might

The final episode would also use a plot point from the climax of the first 009 manga arc – having destroyed the Black Ghost satellite in orbit, 009 is unable to maneuver in space and starts to burn up upon re-entry into the atmosphere. Watching him burn brightly from the ground, two children make a wish on the beautiful falling star. As we all know, 009 was saved at the last minute by 002, but the sequence has a haunting, almost Ray Bradbury beauty to its poignancy. And well it should, as it’s the plot of the Ray Bradbury short story “Kaleidoscope”, itself the basis for EC’s WEIRD SCIENCE story “Home To Stay.”

the rumored Wood-Ishinomori connection

It would be ten years before CYBORG 009 would return to the animation world, with fifty episodes of Toei’s 1979 CYBORG 009 series on TV Asahi. Character designs changed again, now matching the manga costumes, but with a sketchier look more representative of late ‘70s anime styles. 007 became an adult, 008’s freakish stereotype became less objectionable, and everybody got scarves and giant boots and the occasional Yoshinori Kanada directed action scene. Two long story arcs pitted the 009 team against what appeared to be ancient Norse gods and a revived Neo Black Ghost, led by cybernetic triplets Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu. The series was subtitled and broadcast on a few Japanese-language TV stations in America, notably California, Hawaii, and New York. Naturally the series was broadcast widely Europe, the Middle East and Asia; they get all the good cartoons.

The 1979 series doesn’t attempt to retell or reboot or waste any time, from the first moment we’re thrown into a world where stone giants claw their way to the surface to warn the human race that the Gods have returned and boy, are they pissed. Rogue cybernetic surgeons rebuild boxers and soccer players with tragic results, disaffected youth join gangs, misguided scientists abuse sea-people, and through it all our Cyborgs struggle against injustice and fear. It’s a more mature anime series that deals with the energy crisis, the oil shock, prejudice, revolution and war along with the giant monsters, pirate submarines, killer plants, ancient astronauts, and UFOs. The evil triplets and Neo Black Ghost first appear in episode 22 and from then on dominate the series with their various plans to conquer the world and destroy the 009 Cyborgs, not necessarily in that order.

bad things come in threes

1979 series:

Rebirth Of the Gods
Slumbering Ice Giants
The Devil’s Victory Gate
Africa’s Star Burns With Pride
Inside The Legendary Sleeping Giants
The Unwanted Tears Of A Goddess
Trap of The Gods
The Violin That Plays of Love
Call Of The Cosmic Tree’s Village
Fallen Friendship in the Great West
Awakening Of The Phantom Leader
Don’t Let The Fighting Machine…
The Formless Assassin
The Boy Left On Iruku
Terror Of The Strange Plants
West Side Duel
Stop The Tragedy Of “X”
Vampire Of My Soul
Man-eating Merhen Land
Desert Of Betrayal
The Eternally Sleeping Dinosaur
Challenge Of Neo Black Ghost
Life And Death Struggle! The VT Strategy
Defend The World Peace Conference
Our Gentle Father Gilmore
Pursuit! Lute, Weapon Of The Burning Sand
Beautiful Life! The Beloved Young Woman
Fight The Cyborg Empire
Run! The Peace Of Oscar’s Heart
Joe! Chase Your Father!
Certain-Death Kick! The Deadly Assassination Soccer
Trap Of The Luxury Liner “Fairy”
The Lonely Boy
Tomorrow Rings With The Bell Of Love
Gerun’s Sad Friendship
Kajino’s Offense And Defense Battle! Use A Substitute For Ikasama!
Escape From The Great Forest
Wild Roar Of The Lion, King Of One Hundred Beasts
A Toast To The Actor
The Man Who Staked His Life On Speed
Sadness In The Distant Seas
Ivan, Ask Your Father…
The Ghost! Three Brothers’ Secret
Grasp Neo Black Ghost’s Tail!
Jesus Of The East, part 1
Jesus Of The East, part 2
Mystery Of The Quadtruplets, part 1
Mystery Of The Quadtruplets, part 2
Overthrow It! Terror Of The Shangri-La Project
The End Of Neo Black Ghost

GET THE KNACK

2011-10-25T13:02:00.003-04:00

Back in the feral prehistory of anime fandom, seekers would brave the darkest recesses of that most foetid pit of darkness- the children’s section of the video store. There, amongst the clamshelled remains of Walt Disney, would reside the sole representatives of the Japanese anime industry deemed worthy to compete in the American home video market. These were the days before AnimEigo would pioneer the field of uncut direct-to-video anime releases, so our choices were Jim Terry’s FORCE FIVE series of giant robot slugfests, maybe a few Family Home Entertainment’s abortive ROBOTECH releases, and a scattering of Z.I.V. versions of shows that deserved better treatment, like CAPTAIN HARLOCK or CANDY CANDY.

And of course we had NINJA THE WONDER BOY. Ah, NINJA THE WONDER BOY. Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? This remarkably inept piece of junk found its way into the tape collections of most Reagan-era anime fans. Not because it was good - far from it – but because by God, it was an anime title, and we were anime fans, and therefore we had to embrace it like a recently paroled cousin. Apart from providing fodder for Corn Pone Flicks documentary series BAD AMERICAN DUBBING, NINJA THE WONDER BOY served only as a Ninja The Whipping Boy for the sarcastic amusement of jaded anime fans seeking what we’d later term “totally lame anime”.

But confusion lingered around NINJA THE WONDER BOY. Sure, it was dubbed by legendary kidvid localizer Jim Terry Productions, who gave us not only the FORCE FIVE family of super-robots like GRANDIZER and DANGUARD ACE, but also voiced Tatsunoko’s TIME BOKAN as TIMEFIGHTERS, produced a very edited English CRUSHERS dub of the CRUSHER JOE movie, and brought forth the dub of Toei’s KING ARTHUR. Dubbing is, however, only half the story. Who animated this piece of ninja junk anyway? Was it in fact one of those crazy Korean knockoffs like GOLDWING or DEFENDERS OF THE SPACE? Or was it an honest-to God Japanese cartoon from Japan? Careful examination of the Jim Terry credits led me to the production company - Knack Studio.

As it turns out Knack has the dubious honor of being the driving force behind some of the worst Japanese cartoons ever produced. If they weren’t ruining Japan’s martial heritage with NINJA THE WONDER BOY (MANGA SARUTOBI SASUKE), they were cluttering up the giant robot field with turkeys like ASTROGANGER and GROIZER X or diluting the children’s comedy anime market with CYBOT ROBOTCHI (American title ROBBY THE RASCAL). Not to mention despoiling the memory of beloved live-action heroes with their versions of MITOKOMON and GEKKO KAMEN (“Moonlight Mask”, not the naked Go Nagai one). Most of their productions share the Knack hallmarks of shoddy, barely-there animation and characters, themes, and mechanical designs suspiciously similar to other, more popular shows. That’s not to say that everything they did was terrible, but the Japanese animation field is a big one and somebody’s got to be near the bottom, that’s just how things shake out.

artwork by Knack staffer Seiichi Hayashi

Knack (now called Ichi Corporation) was started in 1967 by former Mushi Productions and Toei staff, including talented, award-winning illustrator Seiichi Hayashi. As a studio they might have had more misses than hits but there was real potential in their lineup. Knack’s earliest show was 1972’s GRIMALKIN, aka “Granny Mischief”, a gag show based on the comic strip by Machiko “Sazae-San” Hasegawa. SAZAE-SAN’s still on the air, while GRIMALKIN is a misty memory. Do the math. It wouldn’t be long before high-profile licenses would give way to more original, less coherent shows.

Astroganger and friend

1972’s ASTROGANGER is a particular favorite; and by “favorite” I mean “favorite to laugh at”. When danger threatens the Earth in the form of sequentially-numbered aliens in flying saucers, our young hero Kantaro brandishes his medallion, instantly changes into a superhero outfit, and is sucked via energy beam into the guts of the clunky-looking robot Astroganger, who then proceeds to smash the aliens. Astroganger talks, feels pain, and makes the audience wonder what the benefit of having a giant robot is if he’s grunting every time some monster takes a swipe at him. Naturally there’s a requisite science center, managed by what appears to be Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Colonel Sanders. ASTROGANGER creatively strip-mined earlier, vastly superior shows like BABEL 2 and TETSUJIN 28, while the rest of the industry was moving on the slightly more sophisticated entertainment of MAZINGER Z style robot action. Character design and key animation for ASTROGANGAR was courtesy Tama Productions’ Eiji Tanaka, who also subcontracted for Tatsunoko Productions, and who also worked on Knack’s 1973 series CHARGE MAN KEN.

Charge Man Ken

As a CASSHAN or a HURRICANE POLIMAR for the preschool set, CHARGE MAN KEN wears its Tatsunoko hero pedigree on its weirdly colored sleeve. But as a piece of cartoon television it carves out its own wildly incomprehensible space, as legions of YouTube viewers have come to know. The show’s inexplicable DVD release sparked an online viewing frenzy as dumbstruck fans shared their newly uncovered, forever lame gem with their friends. Parody subtitles, fan videos, and the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for, you know, actual entertainment have all appeared in the mighty wake of CHARGE MAN KEN.

Groizer X, Joe, Rita

Knack would return to the super robot field with a disgruntled-with-Toei Go Nagai and 1976’s GROIZER X. When a mysterious girl flying a super space vehicle crashlands on Earth, it’s time for science center layabout hero Joe to take the wheel of her super space vehicle and battle the Gaira aliens. The Groizer X transforms into a super robot with rocket fists and jets of flame, but easily transforms back into jet-airliner configuration to enable it to land safely at any major metropolitan airport. GROIZER X inspired some boss 70s diecast toy action that even saw a brief US release, and the show was a major hit in Brazil.

Cybot Robotichi aka Robby The Rascal

Go Nagai’s frequent collaborator Ken Ishikawa would work on Knack’s CYBOT ROBOTCHI, the tale of an absentminded, lecherous inventor who builds himself a little robot buddy who gets into trouble a lot. Though this is a DR SLUMP ripoff crossed with a ROBOCON swipe, it’s nowhere near as shameless as the American sitcom SMALL WONDER. Fact is, ROBOTCHI gets downright wacky; there’s an entire village of wacky small-town type robots who struggle against the machinations of a spoiled zillionaire and his sexy henchmen. Released in America as ROBBY THE RASCAL, it’s a definite curiosity.

Robby and girlfriend, evil Horatio Horton III and his sexy sidekicks

When KAMEN RIDER was heating up the small screen Knack had to cash in. So they did the next best thing, they licensed Kamen Rider’s spiritual predecessor, GEKKO KAMEN or MOONLIGHT MASK, for a 1972 anime series. Unfortunately capturing the zip and panache of Japan’s tokusatsu heroes in animated form has never been easy, and it’s got to be even more difficult when your studio is Knack and therefore sucks. I saw this show in Spanish on Univision, and unlike fellow Univision series EL NINO DEL FUTURO (FUTURE BOY) CONAN, MOONLIGHT MASK is inept and clumsy, dated even as it aired.

in the name of the moon I will punish you

1979’s NINJA THE WONDER BOY (Manga Sarutobi Sasuke) itself is no prize. Forget contemporary, successful ninja anime series like KAMUI and NINJA SASUKE, with their drama and their expressionistic, gekiga inspired visuals – NINJA THE WONDER BOY looks like Astro Boy in feudal drag. The show’s cartoony designs and kiddy-grade stories are nowhere near Real Ultimate Power when it comes to ninja animation, and while there’s lip service paid to the feudal setting and the historical reality behind the characters, this show also features evil witches, giant dragons, and betting on horse races.

he's a wonder!

In spite of its more questionable creative decisions, Knack managed to knock out a few quality shows and score some international success. Go Nagai returned to Knack for 1983’s PSYCHO ARMOR GOVARIAN, an outerspace super-robot show with an ESP twist; pilot Isamu controls his Psycho Armor with his own psychic power and battles invaders from another dimension. Though similar in appearance to MAZINGER Z, there isn’t any connection between GOVARIAN and the more successful MAZINGER, except in South Korea where GOVARIAN and GROIZER X were released as part of MAZINGER Z.

Psycho Armor Govarian

Don Chuck and friends

Children around the world in 1975 watched and enjoyed DON CHUCK STORIES, a long-running series about a beaver who wears overalls. Germany, Italy, the Arabian world, Russia; they all went nuts for this overall-sporting, strangely yellow beaver and his more than 100 episodes of woodland fun. A more sophisticated anthropomorphisized Knack series was SUE CAT, the story of a cat girl who finds her family and a musical career AND life as a line of character goods.

The 1984 volleyball drama ATTACKER YOU managed to overcome a derivative title with unique and, for Knack, classy character designs. Tomboy You Hazuki arrives at a new school, finds herself on the volleyball team, and struggles with her coach and the hostility of the team’s captain on her way to the Olympics! This series was a big hit in Europe where it was packaged as a sequel to ATTACK NO. 1, even though the two shows had nothing to do with each other. ATTACKER YOU was even popular enough for a 2008 Chinese/Japanese co-produced sequel that starred a kung-fu fighting volleyball girl and went straight to video in Japan.

And when Knack produced THE LITTLE PRINCE in 1978, based on the children’s books by French aviator Antoine St. Expury, they managed to score both domestically and around the world. Early adopters of NICKELODEON will remember THE LITTLE PRINCE fondly along with BELLE AND SEBASTIAN and MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD, not to mention YOU CAN’T DO THAT ON TELEVISION and the show where they would simply read comic books out loud. What was up with that? At any rate I wrote a whole thing on THE LITTLE PRINCE already so go read that now.

Oh! Family

Knack’s situation-comedy family division would be represented by several different series over the years. 1984’s OH! FAMILY was based on the manga by Taeko Watanabe. OH! FAMILY is the delicate, pastel-colored and very 80s slice-of-life story of Anderson family of Los Angeles, California, whose idyllic family life is disrupted when young Johnathan shows up, claiming to be Dad’s illegitimate child. It’s a far cry from 1974’s NO-GOOD DADDY (Dame Oyaji), the biting, irreverent story of the saddest dad in Japan, disrespected by wife and children alike. Though toned down from the original manga’s bleak cynicism, the show still managed to shock audiences unwilling to look past the icon of the all-powerful Japanese father.

As the anime book of the 80s wound down Knack diversified into live-action films and direct-to-video live productions with titles like Assassin Girl Battle Road, Path Of Shura, New Gangster Kingdom, and something called “Peanuts”. Their animation business continued as they assisted in the production of END OF EVANGELION and their bandwagon-jumping continued as they produced a whole slew of adult-oriented anime videos with titles like SPONGE HEAVEN, TIME FOR ADVENTURE, and SLIGHT FEVER SYNDROME.

But as the internet success of CHARGE MAN KEN shows, their true legacy may very well be that of a studio that solidly filled out the middle-to-lower ranks of the anime world, producing adequate if uninspiring sports and children’s anime along with what-were-they-thinking oddities. So whether you’re a sarcastic mocker of lame anime or a nostalgic basic cable viewer with a fond memory of little princes in outer space, you have only one studio to thank, and that’s Knack.

spooky classic anime

2011-10-17T02:15:00.005-04:00

At AWA this year, I did a panel about spooky anime of the 60s and 70s. You know, ghosts, scary monsters, supernatural elements, all the things we were promised but didn’t really get here with “Casper The Friendly Ghost”. You see bits and pieces of these shows out of the corner of your eye as you dig through old This Is Animation books and back issues of Animage, but most of them are ignored on this side of the pond by commercial localizers and cosplaying fans alike. I figured it would be a good way to kill an hour at this past AWA, what with the convention being back in October and all, but in researching the topic I learned about shows I’d never heard of, which is always a pleasant surprise. The crowded panel room seemed to agree and most of the comments I got were things like “wow, I had no idea this kind of thing existed”. And that’s why we’re here!

There's only one way to begin a discussion about classic supernatural anime, and that's with Shigeru Mizuki. After a childhood spent drawing comics and listening to ghost stories, Mizuki was drafted into the Imperial Army and sent off to New Britain where he suffered malaria, was listed as KIA, and lost his left arm in an air raid. His wartime experiences would inform his later non-fiction manga that bluntly confronted Japan’s role in the Pacific War, including the unflinchingly brutal semi-autobiography ONWARD TOWARDS OUR NOBLE DEATHS. After a stint working in the kamishibai field, Mizuki broke into manga in 1959 and has kept going ever since.

Available now from Drawn & Quarterly

His most popular series is GEGEGE NO KITARO, the story of a boy in a striped vest who walks the line between the “normal” world and that of the yokai, traditional Japanese spirits who roam the countryside, inhabit various objects or geographical features, and whose interactions with humans can be playful or deadly. Based on ancient Japanese folklore, tales of yokai were widely regarded as embarrassing hillbilly superstition, but Mizuki’s work highlighted their cultural significance and brought these stories to entire new generations of youngsters to boot.

A bewitching combination of simplistic characters and highly detailed, tightly rendered backgrounds, Mizuki’s artwork is as appealing as any of his monsters or adventures. There’s a classical, hand-tooled look to his work that defies, hell, obliterates the cliché of manga as being slick commercial fad-driven hackwork.

Kitaro, wanting peace between the yokai world and the humans, is always getting into trouble. Luckily his incredible mystic powers get him out of most scrapes, and his father, reincarnated as an eyeball with legs and arms, is always there to help. Not so helpful is Kitaro’s friend Nezumi Otoko AKA ‘Rat Man’, a wily schemer whose plans usually wind up going awry. A supporting cast of cat-girls, demon umbrellas, and haints & spirits of every description round out the series.

Mizuki’s KITARO is ridiculously popular in Japan. The original manga ran for ten years in Weekly Shonen, and it was animated for television in 1968, 1971, 1985, 1996, and 2007. There was also a live-action film in 2007. As a manga/anime property KITARO was merchandised like crazy, with all kinds of products like toys, stationery, video games, and utensils; in fact the whole panoply of anime marketing benefited from these creepy folktale characters. There’s even KITARO toilet paper.

Oh, you thought I was kidding?

This was purchased at a KITARO-themed shop in Asakusa, Tokyo, where you could outfit yourself head to toe in KITARO gear and go out to bring peace between yokai and human. Naturally a show of such significant pop-cultural importance was completely ignored by the American “anime industry”.

For all your Kitaro needs. Near a rickety old amusement park, too!

But that’s not the only spooky manga Mizuki ever created; his other supernatural manga hit was AKUMA-KUN. First appearing in pay-library manga in 1963, the series was rebooted for Shonen Magazine in ’66, the pay library version was rewritten in 1970, and the character was revived in 1987 and again in 1993.

Double-page spread of AKUMA-KUN awesomeness

AKUMA-KUN has a more Western feel in its approach to demons and monsters but still has that great Mizuki look. The story is about Shingo Yamada, ostensibly a normal boy, but one day when he follows an old man into a cave he finds out that he has the power to control demons, namely Mephisto. Because Shingo is a good boy, he forces Mephisto to help him fight evil demons and monsters! AKUMA-KUN didn’t get animated until 1989 but in 1966 Toei made a live-action series out of the manga starring the kid who played Johnny Sokko in JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT.

AKUMA-KUN color anime from 1989

In the United States, it took the mid 1960s TV horror hosts and a whole spate of sold-to-TV monster movies to create a “horror boom” that led to things like THE MUNSTERS, Famous Monsters Of Filmland, and “The Monster Mash”. But in Japan Mizuki’s KITARO and AKUMA-KUN manga helped spur a Japan-only “yokai boom” that led to scary kids’ entertainment of all stripes.

And if you want shows that would scare the hell out of childhood me, you need look no further than YOKAI NINGEN BEM. This 1968 color anime series from studio Dai-ichi Doga (who also produced the GOLDEN BAT anime) is about three yōkai, Bem, Bera and Berro, who arrive at a large coastal city and find evil caused by both “immoral humans” and yokai, which they must of course battle. A live-action remake of this series is currently on the air! The anime has a great chunky late 60s feel that evokes JOHNNY QUEST, but with more fangs, drool, and horror.

Manga-ka duo Fujiko-Fujio created the worldwide success DOREAMON, but their boundless creative energy had many manifestations; before the blue robot cat conquered the world in 1970 they created KAIBUTSU-KUN. Wouldn’t you like to have monsters for pals? Kaibutsu-kun does! His friends Dracula, Wolfman, and Franken make every day Halloween! They travel from Monster Land to the Human Realm, where they keep mankind safe from the monsters of the demon group Demonish. And fight over who has the better breakfast cereal. The 1968 anime series was from TMS and Studio Zero, the animation studio that Fujio-Fujiko was a part of along with Shotaro Ishinomori and others. KAIBUTSU-KUN joined the ranks of live-action series in April 2010. Is Japan in the grip of another monster boom?

Fujiko-Fujio didn’t stop with KAIBUTSU-KUN – another supernatural manga from the prolific duo is OBAKE Q-TARO. Attaching himself to the Ohara family, Q-taro is a “obake”, a ghostly Japanese spirit who comes in many frightening and disturbing forms, none weirder than Q-Taro himself, who resembles one of those targets you knock down with baseballs at the county fair, only with feet and giant comedy lips. Q-taro loves to cause trouble and steal food, but he’s deathly afraid of dogs, so sleep soundly, pet owners. The anime series was produced on 3 separate occasions – 1965, 1971, and 1985, and the Nintendo game was released here as “Chubby Cherub”. No, seriously.

Obake Q-Taro is scared of dogs.

Speaking of manga legends, Osamu Tezuka’s 1967 manga serial VAMPIRE, though not dealing with the traditional blood-sucking freaks of legend, did star monsters and werewolves! The vampires of the title are beasts who, disguised as humans, walk among us regarding normal people as prey. It’s the law of the jungle when they transform into their animal shapes and hunt humans! Their long term plan is to overthrow civilization and bring us all back to our savage natures. However, young Toppei, a wolf-man, abandons the animal life and moves to Tokyo where he gets a job at Mushi Productions working for Osamu Tezuka, who starred as himself in the TV series. When did that guy sleep? And will the vampires let Toppei escape? Meanwhile stock Tezuka character Rock Home, this time a master-of-disguise criminal genius, seeks nothing less than the domination of the entire world. Can he force the vampires to do his bidding? In 1969 the series was turned into a live-action show that, even without the live-action actors interacting with the animated monsters, is a pleasure to watch just for the crazy new-wave camera work.

Toppei as a human, Toppei as a cartoon wolf, Tezuka as himself. Workaholic much?

Kazuo Umezu's work is SPOOOOOOOOOKY.

Kazuo Umezu has a giant body of horror manga, including SCARY BOOK, CAT EYED BOY and THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM. His immensely disturbing work never quite made the jump to children’s TV anime, which is probably a good thing for the mental health of Japan. However there was a pilot film made for CAT EYED BOY, which I’ve never seen. Though I bet it’s disturbing. The 1990 anime “The Curse Of Kazuo Umezu” certainly is. And of course live-action versions of his manga abound, but make sure the kids are in bed.

Parents kill children in short horrific Go Nagai story.

Manga legend Go Nagai is mostly known here for the animated versions of his popular works like MAZINGER Z, GRANDIZER, DEVILMAN, CUTEY HONEY, and KEKKO KAMEN. However, his manga work has yet to really make any kind of headway in the States. Which is a shame because hey, he’s Go Nagai! Along with his more science-fictional or naked-girl themed manga he’s produced lots of spooky supernatural themed comics, of which DEVILMAN is probably the best known.

Thanks for reading kids! Sleep tight now!

DEVILMAN became more of a super hero kind of thing when it made the transition to television, but another Go Nagai concept, DORORON ENMA-KUN, kept its spooky yokai spirit intact! Enma-kun, our hot-headed, lustful teenage boy protagonist, has eyebrows that can detect spirits and a staff which turns into a giant hammer. Enma-Kun is sent by his uncle, The Great King Enma, the Buddhist King of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead, to straighten things out here on Earth. Aided by ice demoness Yukiko-Hime, the kappa demon Kapperu, and his talking hat Chapeauji, Enma-Kun battles the demons that infest every inch of Japan! The 1973 TV anime was from Toei, but the 2011 remake DORORON ENMA-KUN MEERA MEERA was by Brain’s Base and will be released in North America next year!

Meera meera meera meera meera meera.

So happy Halloween everybody, and when you’re shivering in your bed afraid of spooks, remember that GeGeGe no Kitaro and Dororon Enma-Kun are on their way.

my yearly excuse

2011-09-18T13:34:00.002-04:00

Every year for the past, oh, 17 years, I have the same excuse as to why I can’t get much of anything done in the late August-September time frame. It’s all because I helped start an anime convention in Atlanta back in 1995, and AWA has been such a blast every year that I continue to be involved.

This year is no different, I’m handling several events and panels over the course of the weekend, and preparation for same has taken up the free time I’d normally use to write Let’s Anime columns.

What’s happening this year at AWA 2011? Thursday night at 7 we do this thing called the SUPER HAPPY FUN SELL, where anime fans dig through their closets and bring out their pre-loved manga, DVDs, old VHS and laserdiscs, toys, games, plushies, model kits, prints, cassette tapes, fans, kimono, record albums, and other less identifiable items to sell to you at bargain prices. I find neat stuff at this sale every year and I predict this one will not be any different. Bring money!

Then later on Thursday it’s Dave’s Old School Classroom. I wasn’t going to do it this year, mainly because at previous shows it’s always been this late night Saturday thing and I was tired of spending my Saturday night catching-up-with-friends time in a video room showing “Legend Of Marine Snow”. So this year it’s moved to Thursday at 10pm in the Kennesaw room and I’m going to take the audience through the anime work of Shotaro Ishinomori, including little-seen gems like Sabu & Ichi’s Detective Stories and 30,000 Miles Under The Sea. You’ll need your AWA badge for these events so show up early Thursday to get squared away!

Friday night is of course Japanese Anime Hell; I’ve been doing it at AWA since 1997, a two-hour compilation of entertaining and inexplicable found video that works within the themes of Japan or animation or both. Or neither. To be honest I never thought it would become as popular as it has, but I could say that about AWA in general, which will have more than 12,000 attendees this year.

There’s a whole bunch of stuff going on at the show on Saturday but all I’m responsible for (other than a certain gathering for fans of a certain show) is a panel at 7pm titled “Stone Age Mecha”, anime and manga robots of the pre-Mazinger Z era. Expect some Mitsuteru Yokoyama action in this one.

On Sunday at 1pm I’m on a panel with representatives from other Atlanta anime conventions, and we compare and contrast our various shows, talk about dealing with hotels and vendors, and generally swap trade secrets. I don’t live in Atlanta any more, so my eligibility as an AWA representative is dubious at best, but this gives me a chance to catch up on all the gossip. And that’s important.

At 3:30 there’s a talk entitled “My Life On The Super Robot D-List”, where experts like Richard Hoelsher and Drew Sutton and me discuss various robot anime shows that never quite caught on with the public. And there were a surprising number of these near-misses, some entertaining, some terrible. Then I have to run over next door at 4pm and do a panel on “Spooky Classic Anime”, all about Shigeru Mizuki’s Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro and Akuma-Kun, other shows like Yokai Ningen Bem, Obake Q-Taro and Kaibutsu-Kun, and even some Dororon Enma-Kun thrown in for good measure. And then before you know it the con is over for another year!

Of course AWA’s packed with attractions besides my humble involvement; guests include seiyu Naoko Matsui (Dream Hunter Rem, Katsumi Liqueur in Silent Mobius), artist Yoshitoshi “Serial Experiments Lain” Abe, voice actors Todd Haberkorn, Vic Mignogna, Amy “Nova” Howard-Wilson and Brina Palencia, industry figures like Carl Horn, Neil “Totally Lame Anime” Nadelman and David Williams, animation director Tim Eldred, artist Bob DeJesus, musical acts MOON STREAM and The Suzan, among others. There’s a formal ball, the famous AMV awards, a giant artists alley, classy costume contest, karaoke, maid cafes, video games, a manga library, a huge dealers hall, RPG games, three 24 hour anime video rooms showing damn near everything, a whole programming track dealing with cosplay, Midnight anime parody Madness, several loud dances, and this year a skit event, so you can shut up about your damn skits.

AWA 2011 happens September 29-October 2 at the Cobb Galleria Convention Center/Renaissance Waverly Hotel in what’s technically Atlanta GA! See you there!

best tattoo ever

2011-08-21T08:23:00.003-04:00

I don't have any tattoos, but if I did, they'd probably look something like this...

Reader Gary S. sends us this photo of his incredible Prince Planet-themed body modification. Is that amazing or what? Thanks for sharing this with us, Gary - now excuse me, I need to get over to the local tattoo parlor...

Ten Times As Big As A Man

2011-08-15T22:04:00.005-04:00

This review originally appeared on the Anime Jump website in 2005.

Back when UHF television was the great babysitter for the nation, all sorts of crazy shows wound up getting syndicated and parceled out to the upper reaches of the broadcast dial. One of those shows was KING KONG / TOM OF T.H.U.M.B. Long after its original 1967 premiere as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup, this show got a new lease on life entertaining children on weekday afternoons after school. That’s where I saw it, sandwiched between MIGHTY HEROES and ROCKY & BULLWINKLE. Watched, enjoyed, filed away as a pleasant memory; and only when I got copies of episodes from some guy in Australia did I notice that KING KONG / TOM OF T.H.U.M.B. was animated by the Toei Animation Company of Japan, the same folks who produced many of the other shows that populated my personal pantheon of TV potentates. Who woulda thunk it?

Actually, KING KONG was one of the first co-productions ever attempted between hungry American cartoon outfits and cheap Asian animation studios. It's a system that proved lucrative for both parties and would lead to greater and greater percentages of American TV cartoons being written in the States and animated in Japan or points east. KING KONG's American side, Rankin-Bass, would later become famous as the producer of THE HOBBIT (a Toei co-production) and those endless Christmas specials starring stop-motion puppets of Burl Ives and Fred Astaire and the kicky character designs of MAD MAGAZINE stalwart Paul Coker Jr. Rankin-Bass's predilection towards cherry-picking top American illustration talent is evident in the credits for KING KONG, which lists MAD and EC Comics legend and good ol' Georgia boy Jack Davis as character designer. It's hard to spot after the layers of cleanup, but his touch is visible, especially in the older characters.

But enough of this trivia. What about KING KONG? Well, for what it is, a 1967 TV cartoon written in one continent and animated in another, this show is pretty entertaining. It's got a great theme song ("TEN TIMES AS BIG AS A MAN!!"), the animation is stripped-down basic, the character designs show the clean-looking international style so popular with all Japanese exports of the period, and the stories are all self-contained 8-minute vignettes with little time for anything but action.

Bobby, Susan, and their hairy friend. And Kong.

Young Bobby Bond lives with his scientist dad and teenaged sister Susan on Mondo Island, home of the giant King Kong (copyright RKO Radio Pictures, Inc). Jimmy and Kong form a fast friendship and together they defeat monsters, invaders from space, centurions from the depths of the earth, evil white hunters, and the machinations of the evil Doctor Who. No, not the BBC guy with the police box, but an evil scientist who looks like Captain Marvel's Dr. Sivana as drawn by Chester Gould, full of dastardly plans to kidnap Kong and use him to either conquer or destroy the world, whichever comes first. You may remember him from the Toho film KING KONG ESCAPES - also a Rankin/Bass co-production.

The Evil Doctor Who

As a cross between JOHNNY QUEST, GIGANTOR, FRANKENSTEIN JR, and ADVENTURE ISLAND the show fits neatly into the mid 1960s, a time when children's TV cartoons were able to feature action and adventure, a glorious age of fun and excitement ended only by the monstrous onslaught of Action For Children's Television. If not for these shrewish bluenoses, American animation might have continued to match Japanese cartoons in the two-fisted entertainment category, and American cartoon fans might now be obsessed with American panty-flashing maid shows instead of the Japanese ones. KONG enjoyed a bit of success in the ‘60s; merchandising included toys, books, and even a board game.

The companion show TOM OF T.H.U.M.B. is just as entertaining, if not more so. A wacky spy romp in the GET SMART vein, TOM stars a secret agent who used to be a janitor. He and his assistant, a stereotypical 60s “Oriental” named Swingin’ Jack, were caught in an experimental shrinking ray and instantly reduced to Smurf proportions. Naturally his minature stature comes in handy when battling the evil plots of M.A.D. (which stands for “Maladjusted, Antisocial, and Darn Mean”, as we’re reminded every episode). The show is still fun to watch. The dialog is deliberately corny, the plots are bare-bones excuses for gags, and the agents of M.A.D. speak in foreign accents that range from Russian to Hispanic to Brooklyn, sometimes in the same sentence. Tom’s outfit, by the way, is the Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau. Yes, I remember all this stuff from when I was 8. And before you bring up INCH-HIGH PRIVATE EYE, this show did it first.

Tom of T.H.U.M.B. blastin' away 'cause he got little-man syndrome.

The DVD release is a swell package, you get 8 Kong episodes, each with 2 Kong segments and 1 TOM OF T.H.U.M.B. segment, separated by the original bumper segments. Vol. 2 has the KONG pilot episode as well. The transfer is sharp, and while the colors seem to be a bit washed out, that's understandable for a show that's been sitting in 16mm reels in somebody's vault for the past 20 years. I noticed some varispeed artifacting in one episode due to cheap time-compression, which is an odd thing to see in a show that hasn’t been broadcast in 20 years. Still, this is a $10 DVD you buy at Target, of a dimly-remembered licensed show from the mid-1960s, released by a now-defunct studio, so you can’t really expect Criterion quality.

New York crowds already have King Kong fever as we can see by this bystander's T-shirt.

Sure, maybe this show is only getting a DVD release because of the current KONG film. So what? If it gets forgotten classics like this show onto home video, I’m all for it. Maybe this series will inspire more outfits to unlock their vaults and share the goodness with us. At $10 a pop (or less, nowadays) that’s hard to beat.

KING KONG VOL. 1&2, released by Classic Media / Sony / Wonder.

Gakuen Tokusou Hikaruon

2011-07-26T13:55:00.005-04:00

This is the kind of OAV that you get a copy of in 1987, watch once or twice, forget about in favor of the DIRTY PAIR movie or BUBBLEGUM CRISIS videos, and next thing you know it's 2011 and you're digging VHS tapes out of a box wondering what the hell "Hikariyon" is. Except the tape is labeled "Space Sheriff" and that's funny because the guy who labeled it “Space Sheriff", he obviously couldn't read even basic katakana. Yet he was the kind of guy who would insult the Japanese language skills of others. These are the kinds of people one was forced to deal with in "the good old days".

So let's just get this out of the way. You know about KAMEN RIDER and ULTRAMAN, right? You know about all the Sentai shows and the shows like DENJIN ZABOGA and SPACE IRONMAN KYODAIN and STARWOLF and all the wild live-action shows that sell toys to Japanese kids. Well, there's a subset of tokusatsu that's called 'uchuu keiji' which is charmingly transliterated as "space sheriff", though aficionados prefer the term "metal hero". Except there are "metal hero" shows that aren't "uchuu keiji" shows. Anyway... this concerns outer-space lawmen who come to Earth, specifically Tokyo, to battle evil outer space villians and monsters from other dimensions. Our Uchuu Keiji heroes transform into high-tech armor and use ray guns, light sabers, motorcycles, Mazda RX-7s, and the occasional super robot or giant dragon ship to fight for justice. The first "Metal Hero" series was UCHUU KEIJI GAVAN in 1982, followed by UCHUU KEIJI SHARIVAN in '83 and UCHUU KEIJI SHAIDER in 1984. Later the "Metal Hero" genre lost the Star Wars trappings and got more down to earth with shows like METALDAR, WINSPECTOR, and JANPERSON ("Fight For Justice!")

Meanwhile in 1986 the Japanese animation industry was in the midst of an original video animation boom. Home video was hot and rental shops needed product to keep people coming in the door. In America that meant keeping your local video store well stocked with VHS copies of "Down & Out In Beverly Hills" "Runaway Train" and "9 1/2 Weeks". In Japan this meant original, direct-to-video animation releases DIGITAL TARGET GREY, URBAN SQUARE, FANDORA, OUTLANDERS, DEL POWER X, COSMOS PINK SHOCK, something called "Pink Noise Volume 1 Call Me Tonight", and coming up in January 1987, Volume 2 of the Pink Noise series, Gakuen Tokusou ("Campus Special Investigator) HIKARUON.

The OVA boom meant freedom for animators as they were not limited by the constraints of merchandise-driven broadcast television or the dictates of the theatrical film industry Freedom! Expressed in this instance by AIC making the interesting choice to create an animated version of a Uchuu Keiji show. And that’s just what we get with HIKARUON.

Ms. Adzumi, Hikaru

Ms. Adzumi’s class at Ryotoku Academy High School has a new student, Hikaru Shihoudou. It also has a big problem with teenage suicides as we see in a pre-title sequence. Hikaru hasn’t even taken his seat before he runs afoul of the classroom bully, giant gang leader Gomi. Cutesy class vice-president Yayoi Shiina stands up to Gomi’s bullying, but her subsequent assault is interrupted by Hikaru and his ninja darts. Turns out Hikaru is, surprise, actually Hikaruon, a metal hero space sheriff tokusatsu super fighter. Together with Ms. Adzumi he infiltrates high schools, 21 Jump Street style, to battle Uraer, an evil monster from another universe who gains power by stealing the precious souls of high school students.

Classy cars, classy teacher outfits, hideous monsters.

After school, Hikaru walks Yayoi home and they’re attacked by Gomi’s street gang in a well-animated scene involving a tricked out Mitsubishi sports car. Clearly they’re on the track of the bad guys. The next evening Hikaru tracks down the ringleader while Adzumi puts on her miniskirt to investigate some nightclubs, and winds up assaulted by punk rock club ninjas. And I mean “assault” in the “clothes get ripped off and it's pretty clear there's a gang rape about to happen” sense. Because that's what we need in our Space Sheriff story, implied gang rape? Looks like superhero decadence hit the OVA world about twenty years early. If this was an episode of LAW AND ORDER SVU or a more adult-themed anime video like, say, the others in the “Pink Noise” series, sexual assault would be a thematic fit. But this is an animated video about a super hero in metal armor who fights for justice and says so while waving his arms meaningfully, and as such is meant for six year olds, and I don’t know how you raise YOUR kids, but my kids, if I had any, would be at least eight or nine before I start advising them to avoid nightclubs filled with punk rockers possessed by demons from the ultra-dimension.

Henshin!

Luckily the virtue of our female characters is well-protected. Yayoi, tricked into the evil Uraer dimension, is menaced by our evil Uraer monster, but Hikaru waves his hands and becomes, you guessed it, Hikaruon, complete with red and blue metal armor, laser gun, Justice Blade, super motorbike, and a habit of shouting the name of whatever special attack or gadget he's about to use. I am being very serious here when I say that this is a note-perfect animated version of a Uchuu Keiji television show, complete with motorcycle sidecar, flashing light sabers, and a mid-battle dimension jump. With his various high tech super weapons Hikaruon is naturally able to defeat Uraer, who as it turns out was really class president Amakusa in disguise. That’s a win for clean student government if there ever was one.

Backgrounds courtesy ultra dimension. Yayoi's outfit courtesy 1980s fashion sense

As to why AIC figured that the world needed an animated version of a show the world already had 100+ perfectly watchable episodes of - not a parody, not a loving homage, just a standalone episode of a show, as if there was a whole season of HIKARUON and this was just a sample – well, maybe we’ll never know. Director Kazuhiro Ochi worked on a whole raft of different series, from the 1980 TETSUJIN 28 to LADY LADY, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, the animated version of the live action RAINBOWMAN, GOD MARS, and the HO-scale fighting robot show PLAWRES SANSHIRO and one imagines he’s a director who could handle damn near anything. What we see in HIKARUON is nothing special – you will see the same exact creepy, drippy ultra-gross space monsters in every OVA from this period, from ICZER ONE to YOTODEN to CRYSTAL TRIANGLE, and while the fight scenes are nicely animated, the show neither fully embraces nor breaks free of its source material’s grip as we saw in, say, ASSEMBLE INSERT or PREFECTURAL HIGH SCHOOL EARTH DEFENSE FORCE. However, for those looking for something extra in their animated versions of live-action hero genre shows, we’re given some ultra-creepy attempted rapes. Go HIKARUON! Go right back to 1987 and stay there.

edited for stupid

process of elimination

2011-07-17T13:24:00.002-04:00

"HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW ASTRONAUTS GO TO THE BATHROOM?" Visitors to the men's room at the US Space And Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama were greeted with this question - at least they were the last time I was there, which was a good 25 years ago. A recorded voice led us gently but firmly through the various procedures necessary for elimination of bodily wastes in a zero gravity environment, accompanied with slides and actual examples of the various hoses, nozzles, collection bags, and accoutrements that our brave spacemen and spacewomen used to answer the call of nature outside Earth's atmosphere.

It was right around this time that the Japanese explored this selfsame scenario through the medium of -what else? Comic books. So, in honor of the last flight of America's Space Shuttle, we present a manga tutorial on How Astronauts Go To The Bathroom. Enjoy! WARNING: this deals with how astronauts go to the bathroom.

Mitsu-chan, Don, and Professor Space blast off on board the Space Shuttle for an exciting and educational visit to outer space. Many fascinating facts are revealed concerning rocketry, ballistics, orbital mechanics, radiation, and the behavior of living organisms in low-gravity environments. And in the midst of all this learning, Don's gotta take a space leak.

Everything seems to be fairly straightforward, but there are inherent difficulties involved in the ejection of liquid materials that Don has not taken into calculation.

You thought the restrooms at the ballgame were nasty? Space travel multiplies the ick factor by several thousand million as thoughtless or delinquent patrons can now contaminate, well, pretty much everything via FLYING PEE BALLS.

Thankfully astro-science was thinking ahead and provided our space environment with a handy pee-vacuum designed to clean up after Doofus here.

Proper astro-urination procedure is effected by inserting pee-nozzle apparatus (standard issue) into collection device, activating negative-pressure air control, and then allowing liquid to flow naturally into reservoir compartment. Pee-shy personnel should consult with astro-urologist.

Solid waste collection involves a giant vacuum that collects the, uh, solid waste, and is, uh, charmingly anthropomorphized. Thanks Japan.

Luckily for girls, who can't insert things into other things, there's a sit-down vacuum-enabled space toilet. And luckily for everybody, it has its own room where such things can be done in privacy. Thank goodness.

When you're finished - remember to take an astro-shower! Let's keep it clean in outer space.

Illustrations taken from the educational comic LIVING IN SPACE: SECRETS OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE.

HOLY GOD THIS ULTRAMAN MANGA IS FREAKING ME OUT

2011-06-04T12:52:00.002-04:00

(this article originally appeared on the website Anime Jump in 2004.)

Nostalgia used to be classified as a mental illness. The wiser heads of the Victorian age rightly determined that any personality so warped as to obsess itself with the past was one seriously in need of the finest counseling that the pre-psychoanalytical age could provide.

Knowing all this makes it all the more difficult to appreciate, much less write about, a show like ULTRAMAN. Is your love of the show truly motivated by the actual quality of the show itself? Or are you using the show as an excuse to wallow in a more innocent age, spent wearing footy pajamas, on one of America's more garish sofas, eyes glued to the Superstation Channel 17 as the weird multicolored swirl of what appeared to be latex house paint formed itself into the show's title, to the accompaniment of a discordant jangle of tortured electric guitar strings? Is ULTRAMAN your gateway drug into nostalgia addiction? Or are we, as I suspect, dealing with the effects of sleep-deprivation on young viewers combined with a unique and frequently bizarre television show?

ULTRAMAN first premiered in 1966 on TBS, the Tokyo Broadcasting System. The brainchild of producer Eiji Tsubaraya, ULTRAMAN was a sequel of sorts to a show called ULTRA Q, a monster-laden suspense show along the lines of our OUTER LIMITS. What set ULTRAMAN apart from ULTRA Q was, naturally, the eponymous Ultraman, a giant silvery spaceman visiting Earth to protect us from monsters. In a nation already dutifully trooping to the theater every year for another GODZILLA film, a television show featuring pretty much the same sort of thrill was a natural success. ULTRA SEVEN followed ULTRAMAN, which was in turn followed by RETURN OF ULTRAMAN, ULTRAMAN ACE, ULTRAMAN LEO, ULTRAMAN TARO, ULTRAMAN 80, and after a hiatus of nearly 20 years new ULTRA series like DYNA and TIGA have returned to Japanese (and American) television. Even though ULTRAMAN was a Tsubaraya production, I have only Peter Fernandez to thank for it; without his work dubbing the series into English, for me and most Americans it would only be a curiosity alongside FIREMAN, MIRRORMAN, ZONE FIGHTER, RED BARON, etc.

I'm not going to bore you with descriptions of Ultraman or the Science Patrol or of their guns and spaceships and uniforms and what-not. All that stuff is pure window dressing -merely the sugar coating the pill of delicious horror that the UHF antenna brought into your home. Who knew what that Saturday's episode was going to bring? A quivering, gelatinous thing, with antennae bristling from its rubbery orfices, menacing Earth simply by daring to exist? The corpse of a monkey-faced mummy, reanimated by ten million volts, vaporizing Tokyo police? Zebra-striped, fetish-masked aliens who walk through walls and collect shrunken scientists in test tubes? The tortured cry of a gigantic, mutated astronaut echoing through the forest? Or, best of all, the echoing laugh of the silver-hued, lobster-clawed Baltan, whose rotating eye-stalks foretold the doom of the human race?

Like the British baby-boomer children who fearfully watched Dr. Who’s Daleks from behind the safety of solid middle-class British furniture, American children found that Ultraman’s monsters were not only best viewed from behind the couch, but that most could be dispatched with a quick burst of Spacium energy from Ultraman’s crossed forearms. In fact, ULTRAMAN inspired my first effort at media journalism; a one-page report delivered to my first grade class on blue-lined notebook paper (though the subtextual subtleties of the show escaped my 6-year old view). The calming presence of that giant, bulb-eyed spaceman assured us all that while monsters may howl and cardboard city blocks might be demolished, safety and order would ultimately triumph.

No, the fact of the matter is that ULTRAMAN is frequently dismissed as a monster-of-the-week show, a GODZILLA imitator starring Clark Kent as a giant silvery wrestling champion defending miniature office buildings. And these dismissals are entirely fair. ULTRAMAN actually is a simplistic, frequently silly show entirely too dependent upon underpaid actors in uncomfortable rubber monster suits. And yet…

And yet, I can’t forget the chill that literally tingles my spine when I recall some of the show’s more effective monsters. The bottom line of this show is – maybe it’s a show intended to frighten (and therefore entertain) children – but if that’s the show’s purpose, than it is a resounding success.

Because this is a show that scares children. The constant use of location shooting (this takes place in the real world, not some set) –the parade of incidental characters attacked, possessed, murdered, or otherwise affected by the monsters –the New Wave cinema verite camera techniques –all these add to ULTRAMAN’s fear factor. Produced by a society consumed with a love of the bizarre, ULTRAMAN could hardly expect to be anything else – bizarre is the only word for a show utterly consumed by monsters. Monsters big and small – from gigantic horned beasts that shoot fire and emit blinding flashes, to a subterranean race of what would be ordinary looking people, except they have NO EYES. Or the shiny silver alien who creates his own evil Ultraman. Or another alien who tempts a human boy to betray his planet, like Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness.

Ultraman himself, a monster. Gigantic, unspeaking, with destructive and vaguely defined powers, looking gnarled and lumpy in the close-up shots. Sure, as the franchise continued we’d get a parade of Ultraman and Ultrawomen and Ultrakids, along with backstory about their home galaxy, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseaum. Thank God that stuff never made it to the States, at least not while I was a kid. I prefer the original- unencumbered by dogma, paint peeling from his shopworn Ultra suit, dedicated to kicking monster ass, occasionally cutting loose with a few meaningless grunts. The silly or contrived moments of his TV show being counterbalanced by the creepy, the bizarre, the monstrous.

America has produced no children’s television quite so menacingly offbeat; the closest one might come is the Sid & Marty Kroftt production LAND OF THE LOST, or the pre-hero monster comics Marvel produced in the early ‘60s. Horror in America is strictly for adults, or for kids smart enough to dodge parents or babysitters.

This nostalgia jag was sparked by a fat volume of Sun Special ULTRAMAN manga from the 60s. I wasn’t expecting too much; so much ULTRAMAN stuff is out there, and very little of it really has much to do with the show I enjoyed as a child. In fact I’d had a volume of SHONEN MAGAZINE’s Ultraman comics by Kazumine Daiji for years –simplistic Mitsuteru Yokoyama-style clean-line SF comics without any distinguishing characteristics. Well, this manga –by horror comics auteur Kazuo "Cat Eyed Boy" Umezu, fer Chrissakes - begins with a story where a crazed scientist takes a big swallow from a gasoline pump, and then his skin peels away and he turns into a Baltan. A disgusting, veiny, chitinous Baltan, who lets Ultraman rip one of his claws off, just so he can set fire to the gasoline draining from the wound and fly off, laughing.

THEN things get REALLY weird.

The stories in this volume have a passing resemblance to the television scripts, but only faintly. Umezu's draftsmanship keeps the characters cartoony and simple, except where monsters are concerned. Monsters, the true stars, are delineated with a loving and detailed hand aimed directly at the primary goal; frightening children.

The boys who read this would grow up to read even more outlandish and violent mens’ comics; the girls would have a whole sub-genre of girls’ horror comics, jam-packed with beheadings, defenestrations, and entrails, some drawn by Umezu, for their entertainment.

The question is, do Japanese kids hide behind the sofa when the Baltans appear on the screen? Do they get the same kind of horror-excitement charge that American children got? Or are they culturally so inured to the bizarre nature of their popular entertainment that such things are seen as a matter of course? If so, that’s a shame. Perhaps you have to be raised in the more restrictive atmosphere (at least as far as television is concerned) of mid-70s America to truly appreciate the creepy vibe of ULTRAMAN.

The other question is, what happened to ULTRAMAN? From genuinely disturbing to shiny and genial in one – okay, two seasons? By the time the 70s rolled around, Ultraman was safe and non-threatening; he might as well have worn glasses and worked at the Daily Planet. It’s probably yet another symptom of Nostalgia As Psychological Disturbance for one to prefer that Tsubaraya keep his show scary and threatening rather than safe and comforting; probably more advertising money with the safe angle, I should imagine.

ATTACK OF THE FIFTY-FOOT FUJI!

Perhaps you can’t return to the pre-teen days of being scared out of your wits by a laughing Baltan. Sometimes, however, nostalgia can be induced merely by a few panels of a out-of-print comic serial, and it all comes rushing back. Minus the footy pajamas, of course.

real fun

2011-05-06T14:32:00.002-04:00

Back in 1984 my family went on a vacation trip to Philadelphia, which for me meant visiting comic book stores and watching Starblazers and Force Five on "Philly 57" in the hotel room. It also meant my first look into the world of free urban weekly zines, the mere sight of which impacted my youthful consciousness in ways that have not quite yet finished bouncing around my brain-pan.

REAL FUN was a shock: a cheap newsprint thing full of badly toned photographs, ugly comics, cut and paste typesetting, one or two colors somehow making the whole package look CHEAPER than if it was just black and white. Handwritten columns were next to primitive Macintosh typesetting. Ads for independent punk rock labels, record stores, and head shops coexisted with strips by Peter Bagge, Dennis Worden, Bill Griffith, Spain, the mysterious XENO, Henriette Valium, and other future stars. Fake news articles, anti-McDonalds editorials, and a general contempt for Reagan's America made REAL FUN authentic subversive literature for this suburban kid. What else did REAL FUN have? Japanese cartoons!

(click to enlarge)

This article by D.M. Kister and F. Couch continued across two issues and not only was it filled with amusing typos and blatant editorializing, it was living proof of my firm conviction that Japanese animation was a vital element of America's mass media zeitgeist, that it had a place at the trash-culture table along with comic books, Pez dispensers, the 45 single, and late-night diner food.

As it turns out Mike Kister had a business selling Japanese animation books and magazines so I suppose there was an ulterior motive behind this article.

Remember, this was a time before businessmen even considered the idea of selling Japanese cartoons to America as anything but edited, dubbed syndicated children's television. The thought that there might be something worthwhile in these robot cartoons... that the degree of artistry and design in your Macross or your Nausicaa might be of interest to more than sugar-addled 8-year olds... this was SUBVERSIVE THOUGHT in 1984.

Was Japanese animation as transgressive as the "Ugly Comics" of Atlanta's own "Baby Sue"? Only "Bob" knows for sure. Click to enlarge his predictions for 1985!

And if "Bob" can't heal you through slack, your only hope is Fred Lane And His Hittite Hot Shots.

Remember, the wing tip of destiny casts no shadow.

You doubt the convergence of underground culture and Japanese cartoons? You fool! Perhaps this "Dead Planet" comic strip will convince you with its clip-art Unico.

Also in REAL FUN: this ad for the WCC Animation Comics STAR BLAZERS.

The day of the free ad-zine might be over, but that doesn't mean I don't miss the punk-rock typography or the casual thrown-together design. If I had my way ALL magazines would look like this, which probably explains why I failed Graphic Design. There just wasn't room in the future for this kind of breezy insolence that can't help being REAL FUN.

the wonderful children's book of Honey Honey

2011-04-18T13:50:00.003-04:00

HONEY HONEY'S WONDERFUL ADVENTURES children's book published by Eikosha circa 1981. Based on episode #6 of the Kokusei Eigasha HONEY HONEY television series, "Hamelin Is Full Of Cats". Click on smaller images to enlarge, and enjoy!

Special thanks to Rick Zerrano for the translation assistance!

anime and manga bloggers for japan

2011-03-15T12:23:00.005-04:00

As I hope you're aware, Japan is reeling in the aftermath of the worst earthquake since they started keeping records on earthquakes. Whether you call it the "Great Tohoku Earthquake" or the "Great Sendai Earthquake", what you need to do is to haul out the cash you fritter away on the sort of goofy junk I usually write about here, and send it to any one of these relief agencies. Hell, send them ALL some money.

Doctors Without Borders You know, Medecins Sans Frontieres, risking life and limb to help people around the world.

The Red Cross is in on this action, of course, as they always are. In America you can text REDCROSS to 90999, which will donate $10 that's added to your cell phone bill (seriously, how easy is that?) or call 1-800 RED CROSS. In Canada you can text REDCROSS to 30333 to donate, or call 1-800-418-1111.

Shelterbox is fascinating, they send premade emergency kits to disasters. "Each box supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and lifesaving equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless."

You can join the Humanitarian Coalition - that's CARE, Oxfam Quebec, Oxfam Canada, and Save The Children. And there are a dozen, a hundred different other places to donate time & money. Get busy.

This post is thanks to all about manga, whose "Anime & Manga Bloggers For Japan" post inspired me to quit watching disaster footage on TV and actually do something. If you ever enjoyed reading Let's Anime or any other anime & manga blog, or enjoy cartoons or comics from Japan; well, the time to say 'thank you' is now. Right now, this minute, go.

Tomo Book No. 47

2011-03-05T14:12:00.003-05:00

Depending on who you ask, the “golden age” of American comics starts somewhere in the late 1930s and ends anywhere from the Korean War to the Kennedy inauguration. Straitjacketed by this America-centric comic book collectors mindset, it’s tough to categorize Japanese comics from the same period. Is there a Golden Age of manga? Is there a Bob Overstreet-san categorizing faded Shonen Magazines and dusty stacks of tankubon, grading each according to condition and scarcity and injury-to-the-eye-motif
covers? God I hope not.

It’s this lack of raw data – raw data in a language I can read, anyways – that makes uncovering this kind of mid-Showa period manga (hah, here I am, categorizing away) so thrilling. What is this? Where did it come from, who was tracing Tezuka characters when they drew it, and what was it doing in an estate sale in Marietta GA in the mid 1980s? That’s where I found it, casually placed on an antique dresser next to a O.E.S. New Testament.

Number 47 in the “Tomo Book” series, this particular volume is titled “THE VANISHING WORLD” (forgive my rough translation) and features 4 stories of rockets, robots, Martian flying saucers, atom bomb tests, jet pilots romancing jungle girls, and general science fictional adventure; the Japanese equivalent of the Tom Swift sci-fi juveniles that American ten year olds were devouring at the time.

The artwork is generally pretty crude. You can get away with faking the cartoony Tezuka style once or twice but eventually the lack of structure or perspective, the weak crosshatching, the general ineptitude of the artwork (inside front cover signed “Yasuhiro Kozako”) shows through. And this is 1955: Tezuka was right in the middle of one of his most productive periods, Ishinomori was just getting into his Shonen Magazine groove, Tatsumi was moving beyond current styles and percolating the ideas that would, in a couple of years, emerge as "gekiga". Our Tomo Book No. 47 is an anachronism, even for 1955. Still, the breakneck pacing manages to brute-force the stories right through the weaknesses of the illustration, and the blue ink gives the entire production a reassuring elementary-school handout atmosphere.

Sometimes you meet robots on Mars;

And then sometimes the robots turn out to be beautiful girls. Life's like that.

Budding manga geniuses aside, most comic books everywhere are pretty much like “The Vanishing World” here – crude lowest-common-denominator distractions for children barely able to read. Impulse purchases for those who are barely old enough to have enough pocket money to learn what an impulse purchase is. Fifty years on, its value as a cultural artifact may outweigh its utility as an adventure story for children. But that’s OK. Rest easy, Tomo Book No. 47.

Magnos The Robot, I Suppose

2011-02-14T12:51:00.005-05:00

This review originally appeared at the Anime Jump website in 2004.

Many people think of Japanese animation as high-tech, sophisticated entertainment for adults; animation that breaks the boundaries of animated entertainment and stuns audiences with originality and innovation.

These people are of course completely wrong.

As evidence to the contrary, I present the only possible argument; a rebuttal that is smashing in its impact and draws one to an inexorable conclusion that brutally shatters paradigms, even as it opens up new worlds of possibility.

The argument? MAGNOS THE ROBOT aka MAGNETIC ROBO GAKEEN, a mid-1970s Toei giant robot show that combines all the classic elements of Japanese anime: hackneyed plot, clichéd characters, outlandish and impractical mechanical design, and bizarre, incomprehensible villains and monsters. Combined with deadpan American dubbing, the end product can only be described as kitsch. Released on DVD in the US by "Liberty International Publishing", MAGNOS is a simple, tape-glitches-and-all transfer of an earlier VHS release that once graced the kiddie section of America's video rental stores and thrift shops.

No grand vision went into making MAGNOS. Driven by market forces, the creators simply threw together whatever elements they could rip off from other, more successful anime shows. Giant super robots, fantastic ultra-scientific secret bases, grotesque evil creatures – they’ve all been done before, and done better. However, the producers of MAGNOS took the bizarre visuals and childish storylines of your typical robot drama and cranked everything up to eleven – and as with all kitsch, their efforts had the opposite effect. Instead of appearing fantastical and awesome, MAGNOS THE ROBOT simply looks outlandish, impractical, and faintly ridiculous.

Earth is in big trouble; horrific creatures from the depths of the earth, actually ancient astronauts from outer space, have declared war on the surface world. Even though national monuments are being blasted into pieces, the United Nations refuses to listen to Sir Miles Nevers, the only one with any sort of idea who’s attacking us. Apparently the UN believes that sometimes things just explode for no reason. Is Sir Nevers a scientist, a naval officer, a industrialist? MAGNOS never tells us. Nevers has a gigantic nuclear powered flying battleship, a combat unit of helicopters and antiaircraft cannon, and a complicated combining-robot fighting system. However, all this equipment is completely useless, because what Nevers DOESN’T have is a hairy, disgruntled, denim-clad, kung-fu-fighting 70s style antihero to pilot his robot and save the world.

Enter Janus, who is a disgruntled karate champion with bad hair and a wardrobe straight out of the Levis department of your local Sears. Anybody who’s ever seen any 70s giant robot show can tick off the subsequent plot elements: Janus is asked to pilot the robot. Janus refuses because he’s the 70s style antihero and they never volunteer for nothin'. The horrific monsters attack! Janus, shocked at the fighting ineptitude of Nevers’ gang, is compelled to show these amateurs exactly how he did it in the karate ring. He changes into a tacky jumpsuit and is tossed into the robot cockpit, where his fighting spirit and cocky, never-say-die attitude succeed where skill and training fail.

But wait! What about the girl? There’s ALWAYS a girl in these shows, and it’s ALWAYS the professor’s daughter, and her and the hero NEVER get along, for at least three episodes. Well, MAGNOS is no exception. In fact, Nevers’ daughter Ester is absolutely vital to the plot. You see, Nevers built his Magnos robot in two parts, and one part is piloted by his daughter, and another part has to be piloted by a tough karate champion guy. I know some parents go to extreme lengths to hook their children up, but this is ridiculous. Actually the male-female thing fits in with the whole “magnetic” theme of the show – with a positive and a negative, MAGNOS evokes both your Electrical Engineering 101 syllabus AND your Tantric Sex manuals.

You see children when a man robot pilot and a woman robot pilot love each other very much...

The 1970s were known as the decade of the ridiculously elaborate pilot-entering-his-giant-robot scene, and MAGNOS upholds the tradition magnificently. First our heroes don stupid-looking jumpsuits. They get into rocket-propelled elevators and make special arm movements, which magnetically change their jumpsuits into even stupider-looking jumpsuits. Once inside little flying cars, they’re shot out of the nuclear battleship, along with the parts of their robots. The flying cars dock with the robots, and Janus and Ester wind up fighting evil inside some of the most inept looking machinery ever designed for a Japanese cartoon. Seriously, these two robots – “Magnon” and “Magnetta”- resemble gingerbread men more than they do combat equipment. Naturally they’re useless against the monsters of Xerxes Tire-Iron Dada, so they must combine into Magnos. This requires the following sequence: Janus and Ester leap out of their robots in mid-air and whirl around each other face to face, while the pieces of Magnos are shot out of the nuclear battleship. All this whirling somehow turns both Janus and Ester into some sort of rectangular yellow box, and as the pieces of Magnos come together in the sky, this rectangular yellow box becomes Magnos’ belt buckle. Magnos itself is another terrible robot design – think of Go Nagai’s STEEL JEEG and then exaggerate the less plausible, more outlandish features. Magnos has pumped-up steel muscles, a head that doesn’t turn, blades that pop out of the hands, and tiny wrists and ankles (this becomes a plot point later, believe it or not).

Meanwhile, of course, the enemies of mankind have been chilling out and watching this entire transformation take place. Xerxes Tire-Iron Dada is far away in another galaxy, so he’s forced to rely upon his minions to conquer Earth. Led by Brain, a grotesquely ugly green fellow with a giant brain that resembles an afro, they include a robot guy, a woman made out of fish parts, and some kind of lion person. They’re all full of great plans for defeating Magnos and conquering the Earth. Most of these plans involve gigantic monsters made from combining Earth animals – resulting in LSD-inspired combinations like Batroacher and Octo-Crabus X-3. Yes, it’s monster design via Conan O’Brien’s “If They Mated”.

The Brain, Xerxes Tire-Iron Dada, and the majestic Octocrabus X-3

The dubbing is terrible. The mix is awful, resulting in incidental music drowning out nearly every important line of dialog. The actors read their lines competently enough, but the script can’t decide if it wants to be silly and self-referential or deadly serious. Of course, when the bad guy is named Xerxes Tire-Iron Dada and most of Brain’s lines consist of “What treachery is THIS?” it’s hard to maintain a serious tone. At least SOMEBODY was having fun with MAGNOS.

It’s hard to say how seriously this was taken in Japan, anyway. After all, this IS a show where a giant bat-cockroach attacks an oil refinery, where our karate hero Janus is shown karate-chopping a BULL in a flashback. The show is just wild enough, just kitschsy enough to make me think that everybody was in on the joke. At least I HOPE nobody was taking this seriously. The animation isn’t as lame as the storyline; perfectly competent Toei TV show animation, much as you’d see in any TV anime of the day. Some of the fighting scenes are actually fairly well done. “Well done” – never thought I’d use that phrase in connection with MAGNOS.

KARATE BULLFIGHTER!!

Curiously, the Spanish track on the DVD has a better audio mix than the English track. MAGNOS was a big hit in Italy under its original GAKEEN title, and it would have been nice to see the Italian opening credits, maybe some Italian dialog. But this is a bargain basement DVD release, and anyway, special features would destroy the low-rent atmosphere MAGNOS works so hard to maintain.

Grace Jones - actress, model, musician, Bond Girl, otaku?? This is a REAL Grace Jones LP.

Yes, I said DVD – MAGNOS THE ROBOT makes a fine addition to anybody’s DVD collection, as a counterpoint to all those expensive box sets full of anime designed for the hip, artsy, with-it, modern aficionado of the animated art. MAGNOS takes us directly back to the time when the term “Japanese cartoon” meant cheap, lurid, violent children’s entertainment. If you’re concerned about the image of Japanese animation as a mature art form for intelligent adults, avoid MAGNOS, because it will make you cry. However, if you’re in the mood for outlandish junk-food cartoons about clumsy-looking giant robots battling the monsters of Xerxes Tire-Iron Dada, then MAGNOS is the one to watch.

tezuka parade of values

2011-01-21T13:51:00.004-05:00

Our unplanned Osamu Tezuka January jag continues! Let's take a look at some offbeat merchandise from Tezuka-inspired anime series; particularly JUNGLE EMPEROR, which you know as KIMBA THE WHITE LION unless you know it as LEO THE LION. Which isn't actually the same show, but a sequel. The 1965 KIMBA series was the first color cartoon made expressly for Japanese television, and served as the inspiration for many tributes, imitations, and products, including this lovely Leo light.

No, seriously, that's what it was marketed as, the "Lovely Leo Light".

At some point in the mid 1980s my brother went out to L.A. He picked this lamp up at the fabled "Pony Toy-Go-Round". And yes, it still works!

And if reading by the light of the Lovely Leo Light makes you hungry for candy, you can always have some Jungle Emperor Ju-C-Double candy, delivered right from Leo's neck.

I picked this up at a now-defunct Japanese grocery store in Doraville GA and yes, I ate all the candy. As an imitation Pez, the Ju-C delivery system sports softer plastic construction and a less robust candy-feed mechanism than its European counterpart. However, it features the angry head of Leo, in the face of which all objections vanish.

When you're done with the candy, Leo's head can be mounted trophy-style atop your favorite pencil at school.

Remember moms, this candy is approved by Osamu Tezuka himself - and he's a doctor!

Once your Tezuka themed shopping expedition is complete, your purchases will fit neatly inside your Astro Boy plastic bag.

This one was picked up in the mid 80s at the Philadelphia retailer "Heaven", which featured a full line of Astro Boy T-shirts and Space Giants and Godzilla monster toys, alongside thousands of magnets, toy robots, and other wonderful kitschy goodness. A more aptly-named retail establishment would be hard to find.

Rintaro + Otomo + Tezuka = Metropolis

2011-01-06T14:10:00.003-05:00

Note: a version of this review originally appeared in 2002 on the website Anime Jump.

METROPOLIS is an animated version of a manga by Osamu Tezuka, with a script by Katsuhiro Otomo, directed by Rintaro. If those names don’t mean much to you, then this review won’t either. Oh, sure, you’ll enjoy this movie- which is a visually stunning, brilliantly directed animation spectacular with an engaging storyline, strong characterization, and refreshingly retro character design - you just won’t enjoy it as much as I did.

Back in the 1930s, Japanese manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka saw some stills from the 1926 Fritz Lang film METROPOLIS. Inspired (as so many were) by the haunting images of the gigantic city and the struggle of its inhabitants, Tezuka wrote his own story around Lang’s film and in the first flush of his success as a manga author, published his own METROPOLIS, which, along with LOST WORLD and NEXT WORLD, made up his original science fiction trilogy.

Set against the background of the fantastic techno-wonderland Metropolis, this film portrays the power struggles between the city-state’s various factions. Not only is the city’s disgruntled underclass about to revolt - obviously they’ve seen the silent film - but the city’s mysterious millionaire Duke Red is plotting against the government. Duke Red’s own Marduk political faction is constantly at war with the intelligent but subservient robots. Marduk’s commander, Duke’s adopted son Rock, struggles for his father’s attention, but is ignored in favor of Duke’s scientific fantasy, the center of which is the immensely powerful, lifelike girl-robot Tima.

Kenichi, Shunsaku Ban, and robot detective Pero

In the midst of this three-and-four way struggle, Shunsaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi arrive. Ban is a detective on the trail of the missing scientist Dr. Lawton. Is Lawton involved in Duke Red’s mysterious plan? Can they get to the bottom of the mystery, even as Metropolis crumbles around them?

I know this is a cliché bored reviewers trot out for every new anime film, but I’ll say it again. METROPOLIS is visually stunning. Rintaro’s direction has never been stronger, and I say that as someone who owns four different versions of his GALAXY EXPRESS film and who watched all of DAGGER OF KAMUI without subtitles, twice. All his hallmarks are there- dramatic rays of light penetrating the darkness, gigantic buildings delicately shaded and colored, choreographed slo-mo scenes of vast destruction. At times he’s even taking cues from himself - the whimsical robots he pioneered in ROBOT CARNIVAL are back, and there is one scene lifted wholesale from BATTLE ANGEL ALITA. Rintaro’s well-animated (by ace studio MADHOUSE) characters inhabit a fully-realized world that we see from every angle, from the top of Duke Red’s menacing Ziggurat to the lowest of Metropolis’ deepest levels. Sometimes all in the same shot.

Tima and Kenichi

Since this is a Katsuhiro Otomo version of an Osamu Tezuka story based on the Fritz Lang movie, one has to look for Otomo’s hand in the script, and it’s definitely there - political corruption, personal betrayal, technology that goes too far and assumes a life of its own. The struggle between the natural and the artificial is not a new theme for Japanese animation, but I know of no other film that lays the battle lines out so clearly, and demolishes them so utterly. I was particularly impressed to learn that many story elements were added to the original by Otomo - his storylines are seamlessly integrated and really have that Tezuka atmosphere.

The score is an unexpected pleasure. METROPOLIS has a wonderful jazz soundtrack that contrasts brilliantly with all the high-tech scenery. Instead of the typical bombastic orchestra, or heaven forbid, the dreaded all-electronic soundtrack, the lively, fun METROPOLIS score ranges from bebop to Dixieland and keeps the film’s humanity in the foreground. These aren’t old classics dug out of the public domain vault, either; apart from one very prominent Ray Charles tune, this is original work by Toshiyuki Honda, and that’s Rintaro on sax, can you dig it?

Rock menaces Professor Lawton

To be certain, the long-time anime fan will get a kick out of this film However, that’s not to say METROPOLIS won’t be entertaining for the general public, especially now that the general public has been acclimated to the idea of Japanese animation being potential art-house material. This film has all the techno-spectacle of AKIRA, but instead of that movie’s bleak tone and no-future worldview, METROPOLIS has old-fashioned scientific romance appeal. I don’t think it’s too far off to characterize this film as a big, sloppy love letter from Rintaro to the memory of Osamu Tezuka. All of Tezuka’s classic stock characters make an appearance and the homages and references are constant. Much is made of the computer animation in this film, and while there’s a real attempt to keep it in line with the traditional animation, it is still too smooth, too shiny, and too controlled. The gulf between paint and pixel is still too wide, and the film’s attempt to bridge the gap is earnest but unsuccessful. Still, as Rintaro points out, Tezuka himself was always trying new things and new techniques. Both his commercial productions and his experimental works were rife with well-meant attempts at expanding the medium. If anything, a pure Tezuka version of METROPOLIS might have had even more CG, perhaps less of the juxtaposition of old and new, less of the struggle between gleaming future machine and old school cartoon that gives this METROPOLIS its power.

Duke Red and Tima

The readily available, early 2000’s edition DVD is just as classy as the film. Columbia-TriStar produced a comprehensive gatefold package, with the film in English, Japanese, and French, subtitled in two different English versions as well as French, Spanish, Portugese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai, and of course it’s widescreen. The extra materials? You get character sketches and a step-by-step visual guide to the special effects and CG animation. A 20 minute special details the original comic and features interviews with Rintaro, Otomo, the major voice talent, the animation studio Madhouse, and the composer Toshiyuki Honda. There are additional interviews with Rintaro and Otomo, there’s a Rintaro filmography and a short bio of Tezuka’s career. Seeing Otomo and Rintaro both agree that Tezuka wouldn’t have let them make this film while he was alive, or watching Taro explain his efforts to drag digital animation into the analog world; it’s gold. Lacking is a primer on the Tezuka references - there can’t be too many Americans versed in Tezuka’s visual motifs. Perfect for the Blu-Ray, fellas!

The inevitable conclusion

Not to diminish Tezuka’s legacy, but he was known as kind of a control freak. I have doubts he would have let Otomo and Rintaro have their way with METROPOLIS if he’d been alive, and that would have definitely resulted in a stodgier, less interesting film. What counts is the end result, and the end result of METROPOLIS is a fantastic, engaging film that shows the best of Tezuka’s story, Otomo’s screenwriting, and Rintaro’s direction. It’s rare for a film project to live up to its hype. It’s rarer still for a film to exceed all expectations. METROPOLIS, for me at least, is that film.

METROPOLIS screens Thursday January 6 and Sunday January 9 at the Toronto Underground Cinema.

See you there!

coolest thing ever, Tezuka edition

2011-01-02T22:58:00.002-05:00

Custom hand-painted Russian nesting dolls sporting your favorite Osamu Tezuka characters? Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Painted by "hooverdam", whose handmade MLS banners have been seen in major league soccer events around the world.

Happy 2011!

merry xmas and a happy 2011

2010-12-22T01:02:00.002-05:00

My apologies to all; I fully intended to have another post up here before the Christmas holidays rolled around, and that just isn't gonna happen. In the meantime, however, I want to wish everybody a happy holiday season full of joy and good cheer.

See you in 2011!

-Dave

Welcome To The GALATT

2010-11-26T23:49:00.004-05:00

In a defenseless world where war has been outlawed, only one brave scientist stands between the alien hordes and our precious Earth. Can his super robot creations protect us all from destruction?

Sure, this is the basis for hundreds of Japanese cartoons. But CHORIKI ROBO GALATT (aka “Galatt The Great”) dares to take this concept and “transform” (haw haw) it into a gag comedy! Premiering on October 6 1984 and lasting until April of next year, GALATT’s 25 episodes were a humorous digression among Nippon Sunrise’s more serious mid-80s series like VIFAM, the sadly neglected PANZER WORLD GALIENT, and HEAVY METAL L.GAIM. Yet GALATT’s squat comedy robot action idiom would live on in later Sunrise series like GRANZORT and WATARU, as well as the Ashi Productions hit NG LAMUNE & 40, and something called S.D. GUNDAM, whatever the heck that could be.

Two things distinguish GALATT. One is the Yumi Murata theme song, which is fun and funky with great 80’s style techno hooks. I mean, come on, hear the song and you’ll be mumbling “G-A-L-A...T-T” to yourself for weeks. The other thing is the running gag about how our genius inventor, Dr. Kiwi, is a total child molester. Seriously, he spends the show trying to grope the female lead, 13-year old Patty Pumpkin. Hell, he spends the OPENING CREDITS of the show trying to grope Patty Pumpkin. And this is not portrayed as a serious issue, as a “very special episode” of DIFF'RENT STROKES guest-starring Gordon Jump, or as anything anybody should be particularly concerned about. It’s just joke fodder. Oh Japan, you so crazy.

Yes, even in the opening credits.

When he isn’t trying for the inappropriate touch, Dr. Kiwi is working the whole DR SLUMP comedy inventor motif pretty hard. The show as a whole owes a lot to DR SLUMP, actually; a wacky SF gag show starring a loser inventor can’t help but feel similar. Of course Dr. Slump lusts after the more age-appropriate Midori and rightfully considers 13-year old Akane a total pest.

Bad touch, Doctor. Bad touch.

Anyway, in between his “Barely Legal” subscription renewals, Dr. Kiwi invented a super metal out of stuff he had lying around the house. Just in time too, because the Universal Real Estate Syndicate has arrived to carve Earth up into subdivisions and turn it into a galactic Levittown with their legions of giant combat robot Century 21 sales representatives. This is terrible for just about everybody except Dr. Kiwi, because Dr. Kiwi has been using the threat of alien invasion to bilk cash out of people for years. Now that the aliens have finally arrived for real, it’s time for Dr. Kiwi to deliver the goods!

Michael, Patty, Camille, Dr. Kiwi

Since Dr. Kiwi spends a lot of time hanging around the local junior high (WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN??) he knows Michael Marsh, your typical clean-cut wide-awake youth. Michael has a squat robot watchdog-buddy named Janbu, which after some retooling from Dr. Kiwi is suddenly able to transform into Galatt, a brave robot fighter with a Galatt Blaster, a Galatt Javelin, etc. Michael’s girlfriend, the aforementioned, long-suffering Patty Pumpkin, ALSO has a robot helper, and this “Patigu” also gets the power upgrade –including factory-standard Patigu Slicer and Patigu Shot. When annoying rich kid / rival Reggie Mantle – er, I mean Camille Cashmere comes to town, his robot butler “Kamigu” also gets the Galatt treatment to become an 8.8 meter robot with a green color scheme, and a bazooka.

Janbu, Patigu, Kamigu

And just when you think things were getting too linear, the show will casually toss in a cameo from the Sumo Sisters, “Dosukoi the elder and younger”, two schoolgirls whose name is a sumo wrestler exclamation and whose task in GALATT is to keep the nonsense at appropriately high levels.

Okay then.

Veteran mecha designer (you’ve seen his work in something called GUNDAM) Kunio Okawara’s substantial yet classy design work is on full display in GALATT; the cutesy Janbu robots are both functional and friendly and the Galatt-sized combat mecha satisfy both as inspirational pieces of design and as fighting machines. Guest mechanical designs were by Koichi Ohata, known for his later work on everybody’s second least favorite anime M.D. GEIST. Character designer Toyoo Ashida, credited on everything from SPACE BOY SORAN to SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO, from DEL POWER X to, unsurprisingly, WATARU and GRANZORT, brings his 1980s A-game to the show with headbands, sideways-mounted sun visors, and the popular “overalls with one strap down” look for ladies that has mesmerized the male gaze since overalls were invented.

LP cover art by T. Ashida

And that’s the show; Michael, Patty and Camille battle space pirates and evil plans of the Galactic Real Estate Overlords while defending Patty’s virtue from the grotesquely inappropriate advances of Dr. Kiwi. GALATT fansubs are nonexistent and even raw Japanese episodes were hard to come by, so the series didn’t get the same critical examination afforded anime from the same time period. Considered alongside contemporary shows like VIFAM, GIANT GORG, etc, it would be easy to assume GALATT has the same narrative heft. But let’s face it, VIFAM this ain’t. GALATT’s a lightweight; a gag-a-minute show with pleasant visuals and a disturbing pedo subtext that likely explains its absence from the overseas market.

Patty's super robot fighting suit by Jockey For Her

Poorly translated GALATT episode guide:
1. Galatt challenges the arrival of evil!
2. If a dog barks, a mechanical monster will appear!
3. The appearance of Camille, the beautiful rival!
4. Born with a smile – Patigu!
5. Dangerous mistake! Good weather is sometimes bad
6. Kisses are wasted on pirate children
7. Find the master thief, Janbu!
8. Eggs falling from the sky?
9. Battle! This obstacle course is murder!
10. Is it an ancient romance? The Doctor’s Abnormal Greed
11. Wandering Hero: Space I
12. Dinosaur Ranch Death Duel: Space II
13. A Stuntman Reeks Of Danger: Space III
14. The Messenger Of Justice Is A Bounty Hunter? Space IV
15. Return With A Disadvantage
16. The Customer Has Psychic Powers?
17. Remember to dance, Janbu!
18. The Doctor’s End Is Cold
19. Heart Pounding! A Corps Of Beautiful Women in the Clouds?
20. Galatt might also like love
21. What the heck? Sara Marian Dothan is kidnapped?
22. Meow of surprise! Tsu Mihi’s exclamation of love!
23. Galatt crisis – Michael’s mistake!
24. Never surrender! Battle of the fireworks counterattack!
25. Shout it out loud – DOSUKOI!

It's cool when girls hit on you but NOT LIKE THIS

We can’t fault GALATT for being merely diverting – let’s be honest, one of the characters is named “Patty Pumpkin”, and expecting it to be another XABUNGLE or L.GAIM is asking too much. Like they say in the fight game, you gotta punch your weight, and as a zany gag show involving space robots and whacked-out mad scientists GALATT holds its own with the best of this admittedly small sub-sub genre.

Lupin III The Mystery Of The Secret Of Mamo

2010-10-24T12:23:00.002-04:00

(this review of Pioneer's LUPIN III: SECRET OF MAMO originally appeared at the ANIME JUMP website in 2004.)

Funny how perspective changes things. When I first saw SECRET OF MAMO, back before you were born, I had already seen Miyazaki’s Lupin film CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO. Little did I know that the clean-cut, dapper, chivalrous Lupin of CAGLIOSTRO was not in fact the norm – was actually a total departure from Lupin’s true nature. When that faded-out thirteenth generation color bar faded from view and MAMO started, I was appalled. Not just at the incredibly lousy copy, but because MAMO’s Lupin wasn’t the charming rogue of CAGLIOSTRO. No, this Lupin was the perfect freewheeling bastard, a larcenous, horny, hairy-chested swaggering chainsmoking sonovabitch who fought dirty and attempted to molest Fujiko at every opportunity. In other words, what we’re seeing is the real Lupin III.

Of course this film's actual title is simply "LUPIN III". The original, unreleased English dub was designated “Mystery Of Mamo”, an appellation that stuck thanks to the thousands of home copies that were distributed through the American anime fan world of the ‘80s. An apt title; who dubbed this film? What was the purpose? Where was it shown? It’s a mystery, a mystery of Mamo, one might say. Theories range from the film being screened for the Armed Forces Network in America’s Japanese military bases, to a version produced for the inflight movies of JAL. This dub has surfaced attached to Lupin releases in Italian and Dutch. And maybe someday some intrepid reporter will track down who dubbed this film and why they changed Fujiko’s name to Margo. But I digress.

SECRET OF MAMO has been rendered into English four times – five if you count the scenes included in the CLIFF HANGER Laserdisc videogame. Curiously, even this latest Pioneer version – lovely DVD transfer, swell extras and all, does not measure up to the original “Mystery” dub. But that’s OK. You can’t beat perfection.

This film wastes no time; it opens with Lupin III being executed. Naturally, Lupin’s Interpol nemesis Inspector Zenigata is skeptical. His suspicion pays off in Transylvania, where a living, breathing Lupin escapes his clutches. Zenigata’s next ambush at the Great Pyramid in Egypt also fails to catch Lupin, who escapes along with fellow rogue Jigen with the Philosopher’s Stone in tow. Why is Lupin risking life and limb to swipe a mythical piece of rock? And why is he in Paris, handing it over to Fujiko, his double-crossing sometimes girlfriend?

The mystery is revealed along with Mamo, a blue-skinned dwarf resembling an underfed Paul Williams who is quite possibly the most powerful man in the world. To capture the Stone, his agents turn Paris into a battleground complete with attack helicopters and monster trucks. I don’t mean balloon-wheeled pickups, I mean monster 18-wheelers that roar like prehistoric beasts.

The rest of SECRET OF MAMO is a whirlwind of philosophical speculation and wild globe-trotting action. A crucified, brain-tapped Lupin betrays his overwhelming subconscious desires for women and Pop Rocks, a thinly disguised Henry Kissinger threatens Goemon and Jigen with America’s military might, and Zenigata wanders around Mamo’s secret Caribbean island, interrogating famous historical figures in an attempt to finally capture Lupin. The ten-thousand-year-old genius Mamo has cloned himself countless times; human history is a result of his constant interference. Is humanity powerless to stop this diminutive psuedo-deity? Will he succeed in destroying the world and replacing the teeming masses with his private collection of immortals? Will Fujiko choose eternal life - or Lupin?

Our heroes escape the Air Force bombardment of Mamo’s island and regroup in Colombia, where who should appear floating in the window? Mamo still lives, and with Fujiko mesmerized, departs to begin his campaign of world destruction. Alone, Lupin stakes his life on one gamble – that Mamo isn’t the god he appears to be, and that he himself is the one and only original Lupin III.

It’s at this point that MAMO really distinguishes itself. Lupin has been deserted by his most faithful companions, and even his hideouts, weapons, and wealth are gone – and yet he’s clawing his way up the Andes, facing down what may be an immortal super-genius with nothing more than a tacky blazer and a few homemade gadgets. Meanwhile, Inspector Zenigata defies direct Interpol orders and resigns – to continue chasing Lupin. Here’s where Zenigata and Lupin become brothers, both fighting for what makes life worth living.

SECRET OF MAMO seethes with this kind of philosophical subtext, but never forgets to entertain. The movie is a big, brawling, colorful set-piece adventure filmed in one hundred percent Tohoscope, full of nods to spaghetti westerns, James Bond, Hitchcock and even 2001. Lupin breezes through Paris, Egypt, Colombia, and the works of De Chirico and Dali without a backward glance. It’s the kind of film where Henry Kissinger lights his cigar with a lighter set in the torch of the Statue Of Liberty, where earthquakes are faked by detonating underground nuclear power plants, and Hitler and Napoleon brood on a Caribbean island – and when Our Heroes learn the Terrible Truth behind What Is Really Going On, they’re more interested in finding a place to neck. After all, they already know everything they know is wrong.

Yet where another, lesser film would get bogged down in boring What Does It All Mean mumbo-jumbo, MAMO never forgets its roots as an animated cartoon, heir to the tradition of Wacky Gags handed down from Tom & Jerry and the ouvre of the Warner Brothers. Throwaway jokes and visual puns abound; for instance, when a low-flying plane barely misses Lupin on a strafing run, its landing gear skids across Lupin’s head and leaves tire tracks, and what would be a fairly gory finish to one of Goemon’s sword fights has the shock value removed by what can only be described as a “sight” gag.

The Lupin franchise really put the animation studio TMS on the map, and it’s easy to see how MAMO turned them from a reasonably successful TV cartoon studio into one capable of holding its own in the cinema. MAMO’s widescreen is used to good advantage, with panoramic views of the film’s many locations giving the more fanciful aspects of the plot some solid ground to rest upon. The crew from the original 1972 Lupin TV series was reassembled for this film, and it’s evident from the painstakingly accurate vehicles, weapons, and gadgetry that the designers take great love in bringing realism to the cartoon world. I think the Lupin franchise –heck, culture as a whole - lost something when consumer electronics quit being hulking great boxes of leather and chrome with giant dials and knobs- it hearkens back to the golden age of home stereo when receivers and amplifiers were complicated, woodgrain combinations of function and form that looked impressive as hell on your bookshelf, instead of the insubstantial products of today. When you find out that history is worse than bunk, nothing more than the bored pastime of a crazed, ancient dwarf – what’s left but total, Playboy Philosophy, leather-interior, Hai-Karate soaked, quadrophonically amplified 70s style hedonism? This was a movie for grownups in 1978, and it’s even more so now; do kids today even know who Henry Kissinger is, let alone recognize the Clark Bar superhero contest ad when they see it?

It may just be the countless screenings of crappy bootleg copies talking, but this DVD looks FANTASTIC. There’s not a scene where my jaw wasn’t scraping the floor, agape in awe at how stupidly CLEAR everything is. I’ll come right out and say that Pioneer’s new dub isn’t bad. In fact, if I hadn’t had the soundtrack of the original “Mystery” dub burned permanently into my brain, gain hiss and all, I’d think it was fine. However, I have, and I don’t. Pioneer’s dub is not only not as funny as the original dub, it takes liberties with the original script that not only aren’t as funny or as dramatic, but in a few cases are just plain wrong, and once or twice they simply take this film places the film doesn’t want to go and in fact has made it pretty clear that it never wants to be anywhere near.

Henry Kissinger reads an issue of Lupin Comics featuring the famous Clark Bar Superhero Contest ad, now starring Lupin - edited from the American DVD release for obvious reasons.
The original “Mystery” dub is actually the closest yet to the original Japanese dialog. I don’t see why these outfits knock themselves out writing new lines when perfectly good dialog already exists. Sure, the Pioneer voice actors do a great job. Tony Oliver does a tremendous job with Lupin, and while Zenigata’s Jake Martin gets a bit too cowboy at times, he approaches the role with the right amount of bluster.

Luckily this new DVD comes with subtitles, so you can get the full effect of Jigen preparing to abandon Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart, albeit in Japanese. The disk also includes a digitized version of the original movie program book – the DVD booklet is a translation of same –and an art gallery full of conceptual sketches of all the characters in the film, and a few that aren’t. It ALSO comes with a Lupin keychain, which is kinda cool.

Not that I’ve seen all eleventy-hundred Lupin films, but of the ones I’ve seen, MAMO stands out as my favorite. There are plenty of Lupin adventures with gags, exotic locales, outrageous escapades, and other trademarks of the series, but MAMO combines the typical Lupin ingredients with a Cinemascope sense of spectacle and a good chunk of post-Watergate 70s cynicism (Can a Japanese film be “post-Watergate”?). Paradoxically, the outrageousness of Lupin works best when firmly rooted in the real world, and there’s not a Lupin film more outrageous yet more authentic than THE SECRET OF MAMO.

can't stop the littles

2010-10-17T12:23:00.002-04:00

North American anime fans impatiently await a release date for Studio Ghibli’s new picture ARRIETTY THE BORROWERS, based on Mary Norton’s children’s books. But didja know that this isn’t the first time a Japanese animation studio has produced work based on Western stories about a race of tiny people that live in our walls? Huh? Didja?

THE LITTLES was one of the earliest animated series produced by DIC Entertainment – once the entertainment powerhouse responsible for INSPECTOR GADGET, THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, part of CAPTAIN PLANET, some of the English dub of SAILOR MOON, and many others – now, after mergers and buyouts, a completely different beast altogether. But in the glory days of the 80s DIC was the kidvid king, responsible for giving many Western cartoons a distinctly international flair. Their Japan connection, producer Tetsuo Katayama, spearheaded Miyazaki’s CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO over at TMS. This relationship would pay big dividends as the Japanese studio was tapped to provide animation for a wide variety of DIC projects, including the aforementioned INSPECTOR GADGET, the Homeric SF adaptation ULYSSES 31, the video game tie-in POLE POSITION, Cousin Oliver’s comeback show KIDD VIDEO, and of course, THE LITTLES.

A loose adaptation of the children’s books by John Peterson, DIC’s THE LITTLES began a three-year run on ABC in 1983. The adventures of Tom and Lucy Little, their parents Frank and Helen, Grandpa and goofy aviation enthusiast Cousin Dinky as they survive inside the walls of the Bigg family house – with the help of normal-sized Henry Bigg – were popular enough to spawn both a feature film and a TV special, as well as resurrection in the syndication television afterlife and on DVD.

Up against Saturday morning cartoon rivals like THE GARY COLEMAN SHOW, RUBIK THE AMAZING CUBE, DUKES OF HAZZARD, MR. T, BENJI ZAX & THE ALIEN PRINCE, and of course BISKITTS, television viewers couldn’t help but notice THE LITTLES’ clean-line look and solid animation backbone. Unlike THE SMURFS, THE LITTLES had to ground its fantasy elements firmly against the real world of 1980s suburban housing. You can’t cheat your way through animating a series about tiny people that live in crawlspaces and underneath floorboards. The show’s versimilitude proved the fantasy staple of magical beings lurking in the nooks and crannies of the ‘real world’ translates well to television. Personally I was a little older than the target audience, but I enjoyed THE LITTLES regardless; how else was I gonna kill time before the premiere of MIGHTY ORBOTS?

There’s a strange appeal in tales of hidden creatures living on the margins of the human world – MRS FRISBY & THE RATS OF NIMH is still a juvenile SF favorite (and would get a big-screen animated adaptation around this time, though Disneyfied with enough magical fairy dust to make my teeth itch) and I’m pretty sure I read at least one of the original Littles novels to be at least familiar with the concept.

Henry and the Littles (with pet turtle Slick), the Bigg family, Dr. Hunter and his life partner Jeffrey

Viewed 25 years later THE LITTLES is aggressively 80s, from the lowercase font of its title to the pastel colors of the characters clothes, from the boxy compact cars the Bigg family drives to the dirt bike (and helmet, can’t forget the helmet) Henry uses to get around town from one Littles-infested crisis to another. Chased by Doctor Hunter and his assistant, LITTLES author John Peterson (!!), the Littles civilization is always at risk of being exposed to the outside, giant-sized world. This doesn’t stop them from using the big people as a template for their own lifestyle – there are apparently enough Littles living in our cellars and attics to require Littles-sized highways, filled with Littles traffic, running through our cities. One hopes the Littles are thankful for whatever zoning board decreed all structures needed lots of air vents and steam tunnels. When they aren’t going about their mysterious Littles business, Tom and Lucy always have time to help Henry out of a jam - complicated as usual by the antics of Cousin Dinky- and Grandpa can always deliver a lecture about how drugs are bad or how stealing is wrong, except when the Littles use it as the basis of their civilization. Well, that’s not really stealing. We didn’t need all that stuff anyway, go ahead, take it. THE LITTLES – charming children’s fantasy, or commentary on the wasteful nature of Western civilization? You decide.

Miyazaki's 'Famous Detective Holmes' makes an appearance

Episodes were capped with a “make it yourself” segment usually involving pipe cleaners, balloons, straws, scotch tape, and elementary laws of physics. In the third season of the series Henry’s family travelled the world (with Littles in tow) and the end segments became history or geography lessons. I’d quit watching by that time. My Friday nights were lasting a lot longer – movie theater popcorn isn’t going to pop itself, y’know – and my early Saturday mornings were spent sleeping instead of watching cartoons. Did the little people living inside our HVAC system shed a tear as one more viewer succumed to creeping teenageism? Only THE LITTLES know.

FLYING WARPED BOY

2010-09-24T21:40:00.002-04:00

“Did I just see that?” It’s a question that used to be heard a lot more among anime fans, before Japan figured out they could sell these things to America and started tailoring their cartoons to the desires of a small but impulse-control poor community. No, used to be you’d throw in a VHS tape of something you vaguely comprehended, like Captain Harlock or Nausicaa, and stuck on the end of it would be an episode of some absolutely insane gag cartoon that you honestly didn’t believe you were seeing. Thank goodness for the pause and rewind buttons.

I’m speaking, of course, of RANPOU, or “Warped Boy Rampoo” as you may have seen it scrawled in marker on the label of your Fuji T-120. This 1984 series, a mere 21 episodes worth, was like all the wacky parts of the wackiest URUSEI YATSURA episodes, only with all the extraneous, non-comedy stuff left on the side of the road.

Ranpou meets Godzilla and Ultraman, rides a hoverbike, cuts one.

Yeah, I know, Japanese animation is serious adult science fiction drama for mature viewers like you. Only it isn’t and never was; “anime” also contains plenty of Warner Brothers style sight gags and inexplicable pop culture references. For every deathly serious blood-splattered action adventure, there’s a gag comedy full of Scooby-Doo style chases, hammers that strike with a fun “BONG!” and mischievous animal sidekicks that are always there to cause more trouble.

That’s the story with RANPOU. Produced by NAS (Nihon Ad Systems), the television anime first aired in April of 1984 and lasted all the way to September of that same year. Abandoned by a fickle public, or victim of the same sponsor-bankruptcy fate that struck many other anime series in the latter half of ’84? Certainly not because of laughs, because that’s all this show is. Our title character used to be a dreamy, handsome, fairly normal junior high kid – and then he got a little close to a flying saucer, which kidnapped him and turned him into a squat, blonde troublemaker. Or is this really some kind of alien plot?

Ranpou before his tragic UFO accident.

Teachers, classmates, monsters, office buildings, other planets – all bow before Ranpou, whose little mouse friend Chutaro invents crazy inventions and whose farts – yes, fart jokes – are classified as weapons of mass destruction. This gleefully anarchic program can’t go thirty seconds without somebody’s skirt getting lifted, somebody shooting a laser pistol at a giant cockroach, or somebody getting hit repeatedly in the nuts to the accompaniment of a cheerfully painful GONG BONG GONG.

Hiroshi-sensei, Mutsumi, Iwasaki-sensei & Ranpou catch a train

Everybody’s favorite is the episode that presages virtual reality by a few years, in which Ranpou becomes Captain Harlock, girlfriend Mutsumi cosplays Nausicaa, and long-suffering schoolteacher Hiroshi is forced to portray FUTURE BOY CONAN’s Lepka in a hodge-podge mish-mash of MACROSS references and Miss Iwasaki bowling alley sight gags involving the theft of a giant gemstone.

Copyright infringement is your best entertainment value.

Masatoshi Uchizaki’s original RANPOU manga ran for nearly ten years in Weekly Boys Champion, racking up an impressive 37 volumes of collected tankubon. However, print success doesn’t always translate to cartoon longevity.

Manga Ranpou from '78

RANPOU the TV anime suffered because of a later time slot that went up against baseball games in some markets, never a good idea. The last episode didn’t even air in some markets. RANPOU has never been released on any kind of home video, another crime left unpunished – so if you wanna see it you better know somebody. And that’s a shame, because RANPOU is exactly the kind of irresponsible fun that people watch cartoons for in the first place.

spreading the japanimation gospel

2010-08-16T12:13:00.004-04:00

In the days before "anime cons", we had to express our enthusiasms for Japanese cartoons in different venues. This meant hurling ourselves at the gates of the local comic book, Star Trek, Dr. Who, gaming, fantasy, and sci-fi conventions. But could the world of anime succeed in a head-to-head battle with Mr. Spock and/or Darth Vader? Yes it could and it did, and we have the con publications to prove it.

I know nothing about the Kansas convention advertised here, other than that it featured fanart of Grandizer and therefore caught my eye. But soon, the spectre of Japanimation found its way to my home town in the form of the Atlanta Fantasy Fair.

At the time Atlanta's largest fandom convention, the AFF started in 1975 and by the mid 1980s had realized these big-eye cartoons from Japan could very well be an attractive inducement to potential Fantasy Fairers.

Not to be outdone, other Atlanta SF cons also jumped onto the Japanimation bandwagon with both Starfleet-booted feet.

You'd think a convention called Dixie-Trek would be strictly Trekariffic, but they embraced the philosophy of "IDIC" and expanded their worldview to include Dr. Who, Blake's 7, comic artists, and eternal con guest Brad Strickland. And Japanese animation.

By 1988 the anime fan community in Atlanta was secure enough in its masculinity to break down the walls of tradition, smash the prejudicial, provincial attitudes of the bourgeouis, and run the darn anime rooms themselves. And when the convention wouldn't give us a room to show anime, we would just rent a guest room and bring a few VCRs and throw a TV Party.

By the early 1990s the march of technology was unstoppable and new video formats were making the old fashioned VHS tape a thing of the past.

I was on staff by this time and had chiselled my way into running the anime room, the schedule of which is an informative document showing exactly what people wanted to see in 1990. Or at least what *I* thought people wanted to see. And no, I am not responsible for the typos, as amusing as it might be to contemplate watching something called "Riding Beam".

By 1991 I was running both video rooms, as evidenced by the trend towards Godzilla films, Twin Peaks, SubGenius propaganda, and my very favorite Star Trek episode.

Here's a tip for time-travelling anime room programmers - as much as you like Future Boy Conan, nobody wants to watch 13 un-subtitled episodes of it in a row starting at 2:30am. Take my word for it.

By a strange coincidence the last year for the AFF was also the first year for AWA and our energies became focused on our own convention world, leaving the comic book and Star Trek conventions to wither away, deprived of the life-giving force of Japanese cartoons. Don't let your convention die - show some anime already! Preferably RIDING BEAM or ORNGE ROAD.

(thanks to Devlin Thompson for much of this archival material)

F IS FOR FAKE

2010-07-25T20:30:00.003-04:00

Okay, I guess "fake" is too strong a word. In fact I don't want to even call these "bootlegs" because honestly, they don't represent knockoffs of already established product. But there's a degree of copywrong in the provenance of these pieces that speaks volumes about the desire for Japanese anime characters, as well as the casual disregard for intellectual property that has been the hallmark of Japanese animation's impact outside Japan.

If it's the 1980s, kids are crazy for robots, even in the form of cheap, tiny coloring books meant to be handed out as door prizes or favors at birthday parties, perhaps at Showbiz Pizza. And just think, that cheap coloring book you threw away because you were 8 and had no idea of the dramatic struggle of White Base to survive the Zeon onslaught was actually pirating artwork from a famous Japanese anime series! Let's look inside.

In spite of the Gundam cover, the characters inside are from Star Musketeer Bismark. Because... they couldn't find art to trace of Char or Amuro? Somebody really liked Marianne Louvre? Who knows? All I know is now I need something to put my crayons in.

Luckily this soft vinyl-covered pencil case will do the trick! And hey, it's not going to bother with your typical RX-78 Gundam, but instead chose to decorate itself with a weird approximation of what appears to be a RMS-179/RGM-79R GM II, the Earth Federation's mass production mobile suit from Zeta Gundam. I guess my pencils feel kind of safe, sort of.

The Gundam theme continues on the back with a fairly accurate GunCannon and hey, from a completely different series produced by a completely different studio, it's a Cyclone from Tatsunoko's Genesis Climber Mospeada! Because when you're using unauthorized artwork sometimes you just have to go a little crazy.

So let's take a break from all this pen and paper stuff and play some cheap plastic hand-held pinball. Surely this inexpensive dollar store party favor type game won't feature appopriated character art!

Oh wait. That's a soccer-playing Sailor Mercury going for the gold, isn't it?

Yup, it sure is, her Mercury Healing Tiara contrasting nicely with her striped soccer jersey. I suppose there was a time in the 1990s when it was thought you could sell anything with Sailor Moon characters. On the other hand, I did actually buy this thing, so I guess their plan succeeded.

Speaking of satisfying toy play value, it's hard to beat cheap Taiwanese knockoff robots for some good robot toy "fun".

Combining the classical looks of Mazinger Z with the trendy lion motif of Voltron, the "Lionbot" stands ready to defend himself against all the copyright lawyers in the galaxy!

This box art was apparently copied right off the side of THE GREATEST AIRBRUSHED CUSTOM VAN EVER. The other robot isn't a Lionbot, but Tiger Mask captured in a rare moment cosplaying as Great Mazinger.

So just let your feelings about intellectual property and quality childrens toys retreat into the background. Unless you want Lionbot to open you up a clumsily-painted, badly-cast, frosty cold can of BEAT-DOWN!

the golden age of scanlations

2010-07-11T12:38:00.004-04:00

Once upon a time there were people who loved Japanese comics SO MUCH that they would, on their own recognizance, take the original Japanese comics and translate them into English! All by themselves! And then they’d distribute these translations to the world at large, unconcerned with things like “copyright” or “trademark” or “intellectual property”. Of course this whole business has generated a lot of press lately because of the amazing ability of the vast computer networks that surround us all to transmit and distribute information faster than human minds can even conceive. And to think the doomsayers and pessimists always assumed the assault on mankind would begin with killer robots and death rays!

This may astonish today's computer-enabled youth, but scanlations existed long before cheap terabyte drives and broadband connections. In fact these stone-age “scanlations” didn’t need computers at all!

This advertisement appeared in the BOOKS NIPPAN ANIMATION FAN CLUB NEWSLETTER (vol 4) from sometime in 1985. Is this the first attempt at wide distribution of a possibly unauthorized translation of Japanese manga? Could be. Translator and Gunbuster star Toren Smith was always ahead of the curve; he went on to build a career out of authorized, licensed Japanese comics through his Studio Proteus organization.

(alternate Art Frahm cover available upon request)

The prototype scanlation seen here appeared as a companion booklet to the official Shogakukan release of Urusei Yatsura volume 1. You’d simply hold the UY manga – purchased through Books Nippan, of course - in one hand and the translation booklet in the other, and through a complicated mental process not fully understood by our top scientists, the meaning of the Urusei Yatsura story will become clear to you.

One wonders just how popular this particular marketing plan was; Viz would begin publishing officially-licensed Urusei Yatsura in English in a few years. Shogakukan had already released several volumes of Urusei Yatsura in a dual-language format as an English-language teaching aid. Or as a Japanese-language teaching aid, these things swing both ways (these handsome sepia-tone tankubon were also produced for other series, including Sasuga No Sarutobi).

Rather than a strictly commercial product, these 80s UY scanlations were a more upscale form of the ‘translation packets’ being distributed by various fan organizations throughout the 80s. Anything that would fit onto photocopier glass was Xeroxed like crazy – song translations, possibly inaccurate episode guides, character sheets, articles from trade publications – if it was about anime it got distributed, copyright and original intent of the author be damned. It is with this blithe disregard for intellectual property that anime fandom first established itself upon our shores, a mark of Cain that all must bear in shame and/or glory. Of course, the way I figure it, anime fans spent 20 years producing and distributing pro bono advertising for Bandai, so it all evens out in the end.

(I can't wait to find out what that cutie Lum is saying!)

NAUGHTY AND ANCIENT

2010-06-20T13:53:00.008-04:00

KUM KUM THE PREHISTORIC MENACE

I’d seen stills from this show and some of Yas’ typically excellent artwork here and there for years, but I’d never thought it was anything more than some illustrations, maybe a children’s book or two. I certainly didn’t think it was a Nippon Sunrise series produced in 1975 that ran for 26 episodes, and was not only a success in most of Europe, but was dubbed into English by Paramount and became an integral part of the TV childhoods of kids in Australia and England. America, however, was bereft of KUM KUM. We had to satisfy our prehistoric desires with LAND OF THE LOST and KORG, 70,000 BC and VALLEY OF THE DINOSAURS and CAPTAIN CAVEMAN. Okay, that last one, not so much.

WANPAKU (“naughty”) OMUKASHI (“ancient”) KUM KUM is a fun little series, a prehistoric children’s adventure show that freely mixes comedy, action, myths and facts but remains firmly grounded in the day to day lives of the Mountain Folk, a tribal people just on the cusp of civilization. Kum Kum lives while mankind transitions from being hunter-gathering wanderers to becoming a agricultural, settled, animal-domesticating language-developing society. The Mountain Folk have learned to plow and plant, but still do a lot of gathering. The Wise One has writing, but only he can read it. Occasional travelers demonstrate things like wheels, wagons, and war; but the Mountain Folk still make do with hunting and fishing. A rudimentary religion is demonstrated by Dark Eyes, the resident fortune-teller and soothsayer, who also demonstrates that this level of civilization possesses sophisticated hairpiece technology.

Our hero Kum Kum isn’t a BAD kid, just curious, mischievous, impulsive, sometimes unthinking, occasionally vindictive. Sure, those ingredients sometimes add up to “bad”, but when he crosses the line, the Wood Cave is always waiting. That’s where we find Kum Kum when the show opens, waiting out yet another stretch of hard time as a result of yet another prehistoric escapade.

Kum Kum’s world is a fun place to be a kid; plenty of forests and mountains to roam through, animals to chase, fish to catch, and friends to tease. Kum Kum’s gang – Butterfly (Chiru Chiru) , Little Rock (Aaron), and Bumbles (Mochi Mochi) run roughshod through the little Mountain Folk tribe, causing no end of headaches to Kum Kum’s dad Strongarm ((Paru-Paru), mom Flora (Malu-Malu), toddler brother Tum Tum and teenage sister Wildflower (Furu). Wildflower is smitten with the Wise One’s son Roman who lives up to his name by roaming far and wide across the unknown prehistoric landscape. Roman roams because his home life is mostly occupied by arguing with his hairy, pipe-smoking father, whose original Japanese name is “Kuropedia.” In spite of courtship attempts made by Little Rock’s enormous, slightly slow brother Jumbo (Goron) and Roman’s temptation to join the Nomad tribe and marry Rose, - not to mention opposition from both Strongarm and the Wise One - true love triumphs and Wildflower and Roman are (SPOILER!) married in the final episode.

(Wildflower & Roman, Strongarm, Jumbo on guard)

Just a few things keep KUM KUM from being an animated, archeologically approved version of one of those natural history museum dioramas; one is the dinosaur that lives in the lake, and the other are the Cheeky-Squeakies.

Saurus is the dinosaur; this old and amiable Apatosaurus is possibly the last surviving dinosaur. He’s happy to chew his cud in the lake and occasionally act as a giant playmate for the children. Sure, we all know that dinosaurs and human beings were separated by a few million years, but here at KUM KUM scientific rigor takes a back seat to cartoon fun.

(let's play Catch The Cheeky Squeakies)

However, the Cheeky-Squeakies (“Pyonki” in Japanese) have no analog in the fossil record. These bouncy, big-eyed little mascots hop all over the countryside and give the children something to chase in idle moments. Occasionally they catch some, harness them up, and go skiing over the tall grass. We learn in a very special episode that the Cheeky-Squeakies are vastly older than man, have a language and a culture, and occasionally go to war with each other underground in ritualized combat that recalls the classic Uncle Scrooge story “The Land Beneath The Ground”, though unlike the struggle between the Terries and the Fermies, the Cheeky-Squeaky war does not cause earthquakes.

(The Wise One, Dark-Eyes predicting doom)

It’s pretty clear that this prehistoric land is supposed to be Japan. We’re treated to establishing shots of blossoming cherry trees, the volcanic nature of the land is remarked upon in several episodes, and we even get to see monkeys enjoying hot springs and an instance of the Japanese folk belief that fish can predict earthquakes. But the question of whether or not Kum Kum's people represent the Jomon culture will have to be answered by more knowledgeable archeologists.

(wish I owned this cel)

The English language dub firmly presents Bumbles as a male, but I’m not convinced that Mochi Mochi isn’t a girl, a gangly, Big Ethel sort of gal. The female Japanese voice actress and the hair bow may be circumstantial evidence, but it wouldn’t be the first time a character’s gender was switched in the localization. The English voice is a hoarse goofball intonation that could go either way. And let’s face it, these are six and seven year old kids, gender is pretty much academic at this point.

KUM KUM carves its own niche between the One Million BC melodrama of Ishinomori’s ’71 Toei anime RYU THE PRIMITIVE BOY and the 1974 TMS caveman gag comedy GIATRUS THE FIRST MAN- the laughs and life lessons are parceled out in equal doses. Kum Kum’s bad behavior has consequences beyond the Wood Cave and frequently the tribe is forced to struggle for their very survival against the elements, destructive animals, or even other tribes. Parents and children fight and things don’t always wrap up neatly before the end credits. Kum Kum – and by extension the young viewing audience - are forced to come to terms with rather adult concepts like, you know, death. But the Mountain Folk’s life isn’t particulary nasty, brutish, or short – sure, there’s hard work and primitive conditions, but there are also strong family and community bonds, festivals, friends, dinosaurs, and a whole world full of wonders without any schools or homework. It’s no wonder this show was appealing to an entire generation of kids around the world, including the relatives of Argentine footballer Sergio Aguero, who thought the young future soccer star resembled Kum Kum and dubbed him a mispronounced “El Kun.”

(I now pronounce you caveman and cavewife)

KUM KUM was produced by Banjiro Uemera, who would later produce the fine Star Wars ripoff MESSAGE FROM SPACE. In his capacity as head of ITC Japan, he was responsible for 1982’s sf actioner TECHNOVOYAGER, otherwise known as THUNDERBIRDS 2086. He also produced the When Animals Attack film ROAR, starring Tippi Hedren and her animal friends (and daughter Melanie Griffith). Interestingly enough the show is an early directorial attempt by Rin “Shigeyuki Hayashi” Taro, who would go on to work for Toei and direct SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK, the two GALAXY EXPRESS MOVIES, and from there to direct HARMAGEDDON, DAGGER OF KAMUI, METROPOLIS, X, DOOMED MEGALOPOLIS, PHOENIX, and other anime works. But the primary creator behind KUM KUM is obvious from even the most casual glance; the distinctive art style of Yoshikazu “Yas.” Yasuhiko. Yas.’ CV includes MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, BRAVE RAIDEEN, DIRTY PAIR, VENUS WARS, ARION, GIANT GORG – Yasuhiko’s classy linework and graceful characters are an unmistakable hallmark of the classic era of Japanese animation. KUM KUM’s Yas. character designs are front and center; Kum Kum and his pals wouldn’t be out of place roaming the corridors of White Base as refugees from Side Whatever, and the flowing robes, bearded giants, and vital natural landscape would return in works as diverse as GORG and ARION.

(detail from a all-chara Yas. poster circa 1990)

What makes KUM KUM so fascinating, for me anyway, is that I’m a guy who spends way too much time thinking about Japanese cartoons (obviously). Have been this way for years. And yet here’s a show with a pretty impressive pedigree (Yas, Rin Taro) that not only had I never heard of, but that had been dubbed into English and shown around the world, to boot! It just goes to show, the more you know, the more you realize there’s yet to learn.

(no-pants cave kids)

Why did KUM KUM never make the transition to American television? One reason leaps to mind: prehistoric children don’t wear pants. So the next time you’re thinking darkly of American exceptionalism, remember that sometimes Uncle Sam is, like Kum Kum, still trapped in the dark of the Wood Cave, waiting to be set free.

(bye bye Kum Kum!)

badge of honor

2010-06-07T12:03:00.003-04:00

At Anime North a few weeks ago my wife spotted something groovy in the dealers room. No, not glomping crossdressing furry cosplayers – but something that was actually related to Japanese cartoons! Namely, a set of buttons from Albator.

You know, Albator! The French language version of Toei’s 1978 Captain Harlock series, broadcast to the Francophone world in the late 1970s. Albator, whose name was changed from “Captain Harlock” because, as the story goes, the French localizers were afraid children would confuse the character with “Captain Haddock” from the popular Belgian comic Tintin. Because the characters are so much alike! There isn't a similar story to explain why every other character in Captain Harlock got his or her name changed, nor why all the music was thrown out in favor of vastly inferior replacements.

At any rate the buttons are pretty cool. Not just because Tadashi Daiba – sorry, “Ramis” - is clearly missing an eye, or the general sloppy fan art vibe of the artwork, but mostly for the 70s era CBC logo plastered onto the images. Albator was broadcast on the French-language CBC – sorry, “Radio-Canada Television”- starting in 1979, and along with other French-language anime hits like Goldorak, Candy Candy, and Le Roi Leo, gave the Francophone Canadian anime fan a distinct advantage over the Anglophone Canucks, who were forced to make do with Star Blazers and Force Five on Buffalo UHF stations.

You might notice that one of these characters is not like the others. Sure, Captain Future, the '78 Toei series based on the pulp series by Edmond Hamilton, was popular in Europe, where he was known as "Capitane Flam". However, how a button of Captain Future’s girlfriend “beautiful Joan Randall” wound up with some Albator badges is anybody’s guess. You know those Japanese cartoons, they all look the same. And the character's slight name change only proves the Electric Company's hypothesis that a Joan can become a “Johan” merely by adding our good friend “silent h”.

WHY NO REVIVAL??

2010-05-18T19:45:00.002-04:00

It's May here at Let's Anime and that means that my important anime-blogging time is taken up with different, more urgent pursuits... namely, Anime North, Canada's number-one Japanese cartoon festival.

This year I, along with Ninjatron of AstroBoyWorld, will be hosting a Classic Anime panel on Sunday at 2pm that promises to be filled with clips of old Japanese cartoons, expounded upon at length by myself and Ninjatron. We promise to answer every question you may have about Japanese animation from the 60s, 70s and 80s, and who knows, we might not even have to make stuff up.

But before Sunday comes Friday and Saturday, and Friday night I'll be MC'ing JAPANESE ANIME HELL, the amazing two-hour collection of wonder, trash, goof, and WTF that has entertained audiences in two nations.

After HELL, you'll witness the Canadian premiere of THE OZONE COMMANDOS - the wild Corn Pone Flicks extravanganza starring nerds dressed as Japanese cartoon characters piloting their Death Blimp against a super-scientific hovering SF convention. And if you still have eyes to see and ears to hear, you'll be treated to Corn Pone Flicks' seminal 90s documentary BAD AMERICAN DUBBING.

Saturday night, interested parties may enjoy Neil Nadelman's presentation of TOTALLY LAME ANIME, where he whips up a frenzied cornucopia of terrible cartoons and inept animation for everybody to laugh at.

All these amazing events are, of course, FREE with your paid admission to Anime North, where you can also enjoy guests, videos, panels, wrestling, dealers, bands, costumers, and all the other accoutrements of the modern animation festival. It all happens May 28-30 - don't miss it!!

So basically it's an entire weekend of Japanese cartoon fun that you can't afford to miss. See you there! Your regularly scheduled Let's Anime posts will resume shortly thereafter.

macross at the mall

2010-04-24T11:07:00.002-04:00

Was there a better place for mid-80s teens to kill time than the mall? Sources say "no". And in the maze of shops and stores that made up the malls of the mid to late 20th century, one business attracted the teen like moths to a flame- video game arcades. When you ran out of quarters, however, where did you go to hang out? Spencer's Gifts, of course. Spencer's - since 1947 home to blacklight posters, naughty greeting cards, gag gifts, mood lighting, and a wide array of novelties, collectibles, and beer-related merchandise. But what's that lurking next to "The Fart Joke Book" and "101 Uses For A Dead Cat"? Toys from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, that's what.

As I recall this 4-set of Macross toys was something like twelve dollars, which was a lot of money for me at the time, a time when all my cash came from hot, sweaty, backbreaking labor mowing lawns. This was my first exposure to the anime legend Macross, other than seeing ads for that Harmony Gold Macross VHS in magazines - and its MSRP was WAY beyond my budget. Robotech? Still years in the future. Your only hope for modern anime mecha action was the toys, finding their way across the Pacific and into the hobby shops and toy stores of the nation.

The toys in this Takatoku Macross 4 Part II set are a curious amalgam of 'bath toy' and 'action figure' - if they were made of slightly softer vinyl they'd be able to squeak when squeezed, but the detailing and colors are a step above your standard rubber ducky. At 5" tall they are big enough to stand against your medium-sized Shogun Warriors but dwarfed by your Jumbo Machinders, and they're sturdy enough to be hurled across the room by your rambunctious cousins. What really made this an artifact seething with universe-expanding revelations? The packaging.

If you're used to the cheap production art on any American toy of the period, the detail and craftsmanship of the Macross paintings on this box top are something special. This artwork tells us that whatever the hell Macross was, it was carefully planned by people with vision and talent, who knew of the deep desires of prepubescent boys to immerse themselves in worlds of detailed, high-tech fighting machines. Yes yes, now we know Studio Nue was responsible, but such knowledge was hidden from us in 1984. This literally was a window into another world, a world of animation not aimed at the lowest common denominator, a world where even Armored Valkyries could have cheesecake nose-art painted on their legs.

Decades later the American entertainment industry would appreciate the visual appeal of the Japanese logotypes and leave them as-is when localizing anime and anime products - but the art on this Macross toy set was unretouched for economic, not aesthetic reasons. Why create new line art when the Japanese packaging has English written all over it?

In a few years I learned what a "Tactical Pod Glaug" really was and why Minmay sounded better singing in Japanese, and I came to enjoy Macross in all its myriad forms. But in 1984, for me the "Macross Summer" was represented solely by a well-packaged set of toys found in a corner of the local mall.

Tezuka Trash Palace Tomorrow - Alakazam!

2010-04-08T21:41:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow night the Trash Palace will play host to a Toronto Tezuka thrill trip as the '61 color classic explodes across the big screen in glorious 16mm! And the only question is: ARE YOU GONNA BE THERE, THERE BEING THE LOCATION OF THE LOVE-IN? Doors open at 8:30, movie starts at 9:30, 9:45 is when the long-haired rock dude shows up with his current trophy girlfriend to huff disgustedly at the lack of seating. Torontonians are welcome to drop by our secret Toy Factory lair and we'll get noodles or something before we walk the 4 blocks to the secret Trash Palace location - make sure to ditch work early to pick up your tix at Eyesore! Cash only.

ROBOTECH: THE FREE VERSE CHRONICLES

2010-04-06T00:46:00.002-04:00

(all text and images from ROBOTECH BOOBY TRAP BOOK AND RECORDING, (c) Harmony Gold / Peter Pan Industries, Inc)

Wait a minute, did they just...

Yes. Yes they did.

NEXT: COUNTDOWN

(c) 1985 Harmony Gold / Peter Pan Industries, Inc

book report

2010-03-12T21:13:00.002-05:00

MANGA KAMISHIBAI: THE ART OF JAPANESE PAPER THEATER
Eric P. Nash
Harry N. Abrams, 2009

This one got past me at first, but it made a great Valentine’s Day gift from my sweetie. Kamishibai is Japanese paper theater – a mysterious 1930s phenomenon that peaked mid-century whereby a storyteller would wheel his pushcart to a convenient park, ring the bell or clack the hiyogoshi sticks a few times to gather a crowd of kids, sell homemade candy, and tell an exciting story illustrated with lurid handpainted drawings. Half prehistoric proto-gekiga, half addled carnival sideshow art, the kamishibai paintings vibrate with pulpy, unstoppable energy as giant monsters battle skull-faced heroes and weeping atom bomb survivors escape derailed trains. Gangsters battle spacemen and masked cowboys as underpaid, overworked kamishibai artists whip out painting after painting in a fast, cheap, out of control frenzy. This is (or ought to be) the real Japan; not some computerized plastic mass-produced robot, but red-faced, hollering, crazy, hand-crafted, one of a kind fury.

I saw the figure BYIIIIN in gold.

Predating TV and the manga boom, the kamishibai was a Japanese original, a bastard hybrid between the town crier and Punch & Judy, presenting thrilling adventure, funny animals, myths, legends and the day’s news. Our kamishibai master would display the paintings one at a time in the proscenium arch of his wooden pushcart, describing the action and mimicking all the voices to create… what? Stone-age television? Talking comics? Still-picture theater? As an art form kamishibai is all these things; like comics, a melding of words and pictures, but with a theatricality and a vital essence that a printed comic or a TV show could never match, an experiential medium that demands a live audience, a sleepy neighborhood park in summertime, a genial narrator selling sweet potatoes, and the friendly hum of cicadas in the background...

Flipping out.

During wartime, government-scripted kamishibai highlighted exploits of the Emperor’s army as it defended the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Civilians were instructed via paper-theater on proper civil defense against the Bi Ni Ju Ku and its Electronic Incendiary Bombs. Occupation Japan’s kamishibai had to follow a whole new set of rules designed to repress the fighting spirit, but like Code-stricken American comics, stories merely shifted to fairy tales, spooky fantasy, westerns, and crimefighters. Television dealt kamishibai its death blow – when you can see Golden Bat on your TV set at home, why go to the park? Even a kamishibai Batman couldn’t save the medium.

Kintaro and animal chums fight the evil colonialists.

Today a few remaining kamishibai ply their trade as a historical re-enactment of sorts, a cultural touchstone in a Japan that embraces the past as strongly as it dreams of the future. As the Showa Era becomes the idealized past of a generation, the paper theater remains alongside teetering Asakasa amusement parks and caged fighting beetles as signposts of pop culture childhood history.

Nash’s MANGA KAMISHIBAI book is a big hefty full-color cultural treasure, filled with detailed reproductions of kamishibai paintings in all their rollicking glory. As a cultural institution and as a uniquely Japanese entertainment medium kamishibai deserves study, but this book is worth the price of admission for the paintings alone, hundreds of lurid folk-art monsters, aliens, cowboys, commandos, ninjas, junior G-men, Jungle Boys, all vividly rendered with fat strokes of ink and paint. The dust jacket unfolds into a giant Golden Bat poster. Bonus!

Golden Bat should visit an optician sometime soon.

Why don’t you already own this book? Is it because you’re afraid to learn manga superstars like Kazuo “Lone Wolf & Cub” Koike and Shigeru “Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro” Mizuki got their start in kamishibai? Fearful of the furious raging Japanese id that lurks beneath the serene salaryman exterior? Too much of a scaredy-cat to let the raw power of these images into your skull? I though so. Well, don’t be a wuss all your life – get out there and get MANGA KAMISHIBAI today!

All illustrations from MANGA KAMISHIBAI, Eric P. Nash, Abrams Comic Arts 2009

Flying Phantom Sonorama

2010-02-24T12:59:00.002-05:00

I’m a big fan of the 1969 Toei film FLYING PHANTOM SHIP – I paid cash money to have it translated into English, even though its story of a ultra-advanced flying battleship fighting super destructive giant robots controlled by an evil capitalist conspiracy masterminded by an undersea monster is easy enough to grasp, no matter what language it’s in. And as a big fan, I can’t quit writing about it.

So when I spotted this Asahi Sonorama children’s book-and-record set among the Kamen Rider singles and jazz LPs of Tokyo’s Kanda/Jinbucho neighborhood, there was no question that it would be coming home with me. And it did!

A highly abbreviated version of the film, what makes this scratchy Sonorama single stand out are the original Shotaro Ishinomori color illustrations. I can’t get enough of moody Ishinomori watercolors of tattered sailing vessels looming ominously in the background as Hayato, our audience-identification hero, bravely faces killer crabs and deadly soft drinks.

Not that those make it onto this Sonorama record, of course. Hey, even at 331/3 rpm you only get seven minutes per side, so something’s gotta get cut. But the important stuff remains, including the mysterious skull-masked captain of the Flying Phantom Ship, the robot Golem, and its ending in a giant explosion (cue producer of “Bride Of The Monster”). The opening song and music cues from the film remain, though the dialog is completely rewritten.

There are enough short Toei films from the late 1960s-early 1970s to outfit an entire fleet of Flying Phantom Ships, and while most of them can’t boast this movie’s pedigree, they’re all worth a look if you can dig ‘em up. Until that day, however, enjoy the scratches and pops of this representative sample.

Sailing With Sindbad

2010-02-01T12:32:00.002-05:00

First broadcast in 1975, the Nippon Animation Company's SINDBAD THE SAILOR ("Adventures Of Sindbad") follows the adventures of the eponymous character Sindbad - here presented as slightly younger than in other versions - and his pals Aladdin the wizard, Ali "40 Thieves" Baba, and Yasmila the mynah bird as they voyage through the mysterious, magic-filled world of Arabian fairy tales. Broadcast in Japan, Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, France, China, and of course the Arabian Peninsula, SINDBAD became a worldwide hit beloved by children everywhere, except the United States.

A shame, too, because SINDBAD is a perky, rollicking kid's show, full of action without being too violent and filled with exotic faraway places. We could have used a little SINDBAD in the dark days between "Speed Racer" and "Battle Of The Planets."

Instead of exciting adventure with Sindbad we had to endure "Scooby-Doo" reruns, the effects of whatever Sid & Marty Krofft were on that week, and drek like "Funky Phantom". Did "Funky Phantom" ever go to the jungle to meet a jungle boy and Tusk the Cocoa Krispies mascot? Well, Sindbad did!

Tusk is looking a little p.o.'ed there. Those better not be Cocoa Pebbles in your bowl kids!

With a memorable theme song sung by Mitsuko Horie, colorful and chunky 70s style anime character designs, and animation work by veterans like Noboru Ishiguro, SINDBAD is a show that carved out its own little Arabic niche of anime history. And if you doubt its influence, witness photographic evidence of a "Sindbad" themed restaurant in, of all places, Canada's federal capital Ottawa!

Cruising through Ottawa recently, I caught that sign out of the corner of my eye. I passed two intersections before I was able to convince myself I just saw a restaurant with "Sindbad" signage. And then I made an illegal U-turn. Always have your camera ready, kids!

How many more Japanese cartoon characters are being used in an unauthorized fashion as restaurant mascots? Keep watching the roadsides!

talkin' about fans

2010-01-25T11:40:00.003-05:00

That's right, this LET'S ANIME column will be all about fans! You know, the kind you hold in your hand and move back and forth that kinda keep you cool? Oh, you thought we were going to talk about the OTHER kind of fan, the kind that moves from the couch to the computer and isn't EVER cool. Well, too bad.

Nope, today I'm clearly in the category of "what the hell", the kind of thing you notice out of the corner of your eye when you're digging through some Crazy Grandma antique mall out in the butt-end of nowhere, when you CLEARLY are not expecting to find evidence of the Mighty Power Of Japanimation. And you blink a few times and you ask yourself if you just really did see that, and then you ask the clerk for the key to showcase #G-7, and then you buy the thing and take it home. That's exactly what I did when I found these things.

Crazy googly-eyed Japanese fans! And not the kind that camp out waiting to ambush their favorite idol singers, either! Nope, these are little paper souvenir fans with cartoon characters printed on 'em.

The first one is an androgynous festival child wearing his or her matsuri happi coat. In the background, a crowd of revellers hoist what may or may not be the Ark Of The Covenant.

This was a promotional piece advertising the '57 Tokyo International Trade Fair, at which I bet you coulda picked up North American Tetsuwan Atomu merchandising rights for twenty bucks and a carton of Luckies. Quick, where's my time machine?

Next up is our favorite comic-strip husband, Dagwood Bumstead!

A slightly puffy, rosy-cheeked Dagwood poses with a minimalist Daisy. Star of "Blondie", a comic strip that enjoyed tremendous if inexplicable popularity in Japan, here Dagwood gets the kind of fat, slick brush line he'd never get in American comic pages, except for that week Walt Kelly and Chic Young traded strips. But what of the Japanese comic tradition? Will the Japanese powerhouse of manga-style comic art be represented in googly-eyed fan form? But of course.

Machiko Hasegawa's Sazae-San, the modern Japanese housewife who first appeared in 1946 and whose animated television series has been continually broadcast since 1969 (!!), here recieves the ultimate accolade Japan can offer by being depicted upon a cheap, possibly unlicensed paper fan. What the hell a paper fan featuring Sazae-San was doing locked in a showcase in an antique mall in Ohio is a mystery best left to professional archeologists. I am only thankful to whatever cosmic forces placed it in my hands, in all its googly-eyed glory.

OH NO MOMMY'S DRUNK AGAIN

More "what the hell" stuff to come here at Let's Anime! Stay tuned!

Aura Battling The Blue Light Special

2010-01-12T00:18:00.006-05:00

The great part about working for K-Mart back in 1985 - working part time after school, of course - was that you got to wander the toy department and marvel at the bewildering display of Japanese robot toys that were imported by every toy wholesaler with a couple of containers to fill on the next boat from Taiwan and a desire to cash in on the transforming robot toy craze. Okay, I'll be honest. The ACTUAL best thing about working part time for K-Mart was that you got paid every week in cash. Dirty, floppy cash money straight from the registers, handed to you in a little envelope through a barred window next to the time clock. None of this wimpy check nonsense or the effete snobbery of "direct deposit" - just a fat envelope of F. Olding Money for high-school me to blow on comic books, movies, renting a tux for the prom, and oh yeah, crazy Japanese toys. We'd make the rounds of the Toys "R" Us, the Circus World, the odd discount place at the outlet mall, the doomed aisles of the Zayres and the Richways and the Phar-Mors, hoping to blow our minimum-wage pay on toys from shows we'd never seen like Xabungle or Galactic Gale Baxingar or the enigmatically titled "Psycho Armor Govarion".

But at K-Mart I could haunt the aisles AND get paid for doing so. One of the things I picked up was this swell Dunbine toy. Aura Battler Dunbine is, of course, the 1983-84 Sunrise anime series directed by Yoshiyuki "Zanbot 3" Tomino about a regular Earth guy named Shou Zama. One day he gets magically transported to the fantasy-type world of Byston Well, where he becomes the pilot of the "Aura Battler" Dunbine and is caught up in a war that spreads across both Byston Well and Earth. More information about Aura Battler Dunbine can be found in the used DVD racks of your local retailer.

This 1:60 scale toy stands a little less than 6" tall and came in both black and the more traditional Dunbine purple. I went for black because that's how I roll. At any rate, this toy is unique, not just because it's based on a Japanese cartoon that wouldn't see an American release for nearly twenty years, but also because it's just a darn well-put together piece of fantasy super robot plastic.

The joints are all articulated with hinges set on pegs - the wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips and knees not only bend, but can rotate, giving the toy a really wide range of movement. The wings are translucent and fold underneath their canopy. The claw-like feet are metal and the ankle joints move, too. It's an amazingly posable figure.

It even comes with a tiny inch-high Shou Zama figure that looks swell, but isn't good for much besides falling over or getting lost. If you open Dunbine's cockpit you'll see another Shou already in position. Two Shous? I guess they figured you'd lose one. Actually the pegs holding the joints tend to slip out, so if you aren't careful you'll lose quite a bit of this toy when the cat knocks it off your desk.

The packaging is, as one would hope, a classic of weirdly transliterated Japanese. What did children think when they browsed the K-Mart toy aisles and wanted to know more about the mysterious "Dunbine"? Did they suspect that "Shot Weapon" was somebody's name? Were they relieved to find that the "reaction of aura is good"? Was ADV's release of Dunbine on DVD in the United States merely the final link some kind of cosmic chain of events that began in the mists of Byston Well, or Taiwan, whichever is nearer?

Only Yoshiyuki Tomino knows, and he ain't telling. We are only certain of one thing; this Dunbine toy is way better than the one I bought at Spencer's Gifts.

Space Battleship Yamato For Dummies

2009-12-08T10:07:00.006-05:00

As we all know, after 16 years there's a new SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO film coming out. On Dec. 12, the film SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO REBIRTH premieres in Japanese theaters, and even across the Pacific we can feel the excitement. Whether you ran home from school to catch the latest episode of "Star Blazers" in 1979 or you discovered the series on DVD last week, we are all breathlessly awaiting the new adventures of the blue and red space battleship and its intrepid crew.

What's that you say? You've never seen "Star Blazers" -- OR SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO? Well, don't worry. We here at Let's Anime feel your pain. That's why we've created this handy list of crib notes that will allow you to hold forth on YAMATO and YAMATO-related concepts at any gathering of anime fans you may find yourself in. Now you can fool the pros and make everybody think you too wasted your youth watching cartoons on TV when you could have been outside - you know, playing sports! THIS GUIDE IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. Warning: contains spoilers for 30 year old cartoons.

Yamato - Imperial Japanese battleship destroyed in World War Two and rebuilt in 2199 as a super space battleship in order to journey to Iscandar and retrieve the Cosmo Cleaner D from Queen Starsha in order to remove the radioactivity that is slowly destroying all life on Earth. Also involved with the destruction of the Comet Empire, mysterious planet destroying activities in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, an invasion of Earth from the Dark Nebula, certain events involving the interstellar war between the Galman Empire and the Bolar Commonwealth, and the diversion of the innundation of Earth by the water planet Aquarius. All this is helpfully transcribed in record albums, storybooks, video tapes, DVDs, model kits, toys, and other historical documents.

Kodai Susumu / Derek Wildstar - determined, hot-headed young deputy captain of the Yamato, this wild young hellraiser soon settles down and by the third time the Yamato's had to save Earth, he's become the boring captain the new young guys rebel against. Before they die. Finally consummates his marriage to long-suffering girlfriend Yuki Mori in the last reel of FINAL YAMATO, depending on which version you're watching.

Younger Yamato crewmen must know where their reproductive organs are at all times.

Captain Okita / Avatar - Captain of the Yamato, this grizzled space veteran leads the way to Iscandar, inspiring his subordinates and saving the Earth. He is such an inspiration that Kodai even talks to his ghost on a few occasions, which is a good trick since we learn in FINAL YAMATO that Captain Okita didn't actually die at the end of the trip to Iscandar, but was secretly put into suspended animation and revived for the purposes of making the script to FINAL YAMATO a little stupider.

Shima Daisuke / Venture - Yamato navigator and general second banana. Occasionally gets into disputes with Kodai. Worries about his kid brother, falls in love with Trelaina/Teresa, and is killed in FINAL YAMATO for the purposes of making the script a little stupider.

Yuki Mori / Nova - Yamato's chief nurse, all-space radar operator, required female character, and very patient fiance of Susumu Kodai. Is the only female on board the Yamato, except when she isn't. Deflowered in a bizarre sequence excised from later prints of "Final Yamato".

True love waits.

Time Radar - interesting device on board the Yamato which allows operators to look back in time and see previously occuring events, including Tokugawa using a corner of the engine room as a urinal.

Tokugawa / Orion - Yamato's chief engineer. Totally does not care where he takes a whiz. His son, also named Tokugawa, becomes assistant engineer, but does not share his father's lack of regard for proper toilet training.

Sanada / Sandor - his arms and legs are bombs.

Argo - we can't put a show on American television named after a WWII battleship from a country we were fighting! What's another name for a ship? Um... "SS Minnow". "Titanic". "Edmund Fitzgerald." No wait, "Andrea Doria". "PT 109". No, those won't do. What's that ship those Greeks were on in "Jason And The Argonauts"? Give me a minute, it'll come to me.

ARRIVEDERCI YAMATO - another title for "Farewell Space Battleship Yamato Soldiers Of Love", a film in which the Yamato is completely destroyed. This didn't stop the Yamato from returning in a TV series sequel "Yamato 2", which you saw as the Comet Empire series, and in which the Yamato was not destroyed.

Arufon - Dark Nebula lieutanant assigned to seduce Yuki Mori and find out the location of the secret Earth Defense Command base in the film BE FOREVER YAMATO. Does he succeed? Hey, at least he's in there trying, unlike some other guys we could mention who are too busy saving Earth to pay any attention to their supposed fiances.

BE FOREVER YAMATO - seemingly endless film in which the Yamato must travel across time and space beyond the Dark Nebula to deactivate a bomb which is somehow instantly triggered across five hundred thousand light years, from a command post on a fake Earth that may or may not be populated by machine people. Stick around for the amazing "Warp Dimension" trick if you catch this one in a theater.

Beemera - aptly named planet populated by bee people. Hint: don't try the honey.

Black Tigers - space fighter planes carried on board the Yamato, these distinctive black and yellow ships can operate in outer space or in atmosphere. Apparently there is an unlimited supply of these planes.

Comet Empire - properly named "Gatlantis", this huge intergalactic colony vessel is the home of a green-skinned race of space invaders ruled by Emperor Zordar, who in the American version is demoted to "Prince" and whose consort Sabera ("Invidia") is given a nice Oedipal twist and becomes his daughter. When you blow up the Comet Empire a super space battleship comes out of the wreckage, and then you have to blow THAT up. If you're in the movie, you must sacrifice yourself and the Yamato, but if you're in the TV series then the mysterious Teresa from planet Telezart will use her awesome space powers to save the universe, which she could have done at any time, really, but nobody wants to watch a TV series of the Yamato getting its decks painted.

Operators are standing by. Call now!

Cosmo Cleaner D - aka "Cosmo DNA", this machine can remove the radioactivity caused by years of Gamilon planet bombing, and thereby save Earth. A team of "Star Blazers" called the Star Force undertakes the perilous mission. But can they travel to Iscandar, 148,000 light years and back, in just one Earth year?! I bet they can.

Analyzer / IQ-9 - a genius robot with the mind of an 8 year old boy.

Programmed for sexual harrassment! Note regulation "granny panties."

Dr. Sado / Dr. Sane - potato-head chief medical officer on board the Yamato. A heavy drinker and always drunk, but a super excellent medical doctor. So they say.

Ota / Eager - Star Force crewmember in charge of looking at the radar screen and saying "Missiles approaching!" in his hayseed voice whenever enemy missiles are in fact approaching the Argo.

Cosmo Zero - also known as the "Super Star" fighter, this sleek high-tech space fighter plane piloted by Susumu Kodai when he feels the need... the need for speed. The number of Cosmo Zero planes carried on board the Yamato varies widely according to which studio is animating this week's story.

"Derek Wildstar" - why yes, we DID write the American version of this show in the late 1970s, why do you ask?

Leiji Matsumoto - manga artist and WWII buff whose attention to detail and obsession with the Pacific War made SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO much more interesting than it would have been originally. Other works include GALAXY EXPRESS 999, SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK, and, uh, SEXAROID.

Yoshinobu Nishizaki - producer of YAMATO whose other works include BLUE NOAH and ODIN and various weapons and narcotics violations.

BLUE NOAH - Nishizaki-produced anime series about a space battleship defending Earth against invading aliens. Any resemblance between it and YAMATO is purely coincidental. Also the name of the Earth Defense Command flagship in SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO REBIRTH.

Wave Motion Gun - super powerful weapon that fires from the nose of the Yamato, just where the Imperial chrysanthemum was on the original WWII Yamato, thereby symbolizing the godlike power of the Divine Emperor destroying the enemies of Japan. I mean, the Earth.

Planet Bombs - Slightly more destructive than "plant bombs".

Desslar / Desslok- This blue space dictator is a sex machine to all the chicks. When he's not executing subordinates for laughing at their own jokes he's waging interplanetary war, surviving being blown into the vacuum of space, teaming up with the Comet Empire strictly for revenge and then switching sides, and watching his home planet get blown to bits. Though he spends most of his time pining away for Queen Starsha, he's not above gettin' busy with other space ladies on occasion. Just don't ask him for child support.

Ask to see his "Desslar Gun."

Gamilas / Gamilon -this volcanic hollow planet is a twin planet of Iscandar, an altogether more appealing world. Both are in the solar system of Sanzar in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, one hundred and eighty-six thousand light years from Earth. Once ruled by Desslar, Gamilas was destroyed in a mining accident involving non-union workers from the Dark Nebula, and Iscandar was destroyed after being blown out of its orbit by the same explosion. Not a good day for Desslar, really.

Talan - the moustache man. Desslar's second in command, trusted confidant, and general all around go-to guy. Talan's moustache is admired by all.

Psychological profile of Talan by "Kaoru Sotorin"

Garuman / Galman - the ancestral home of the Gamilas peoples, this planet near the Galactic Center was conquered by the Bolar Commonwealth. And then one day Desslar showed up and conquered it right back.

Skee-Ball - Desslar's favorite carnival game.

Starsha - queen of Iscandar, this impossibly skinny woman is not only the last survivor of her planet, but must deal with guiding the Star Force to Iscandar so that they can get the Cosmo Cleaner D out of her basement, while at the same time fending off the increasingly insistent romantic advances of Desslar, the dictator of the planet next door. He's only going to buy that "I'm doing my hair" excuse so many times! Eventually falls in love with Susumu Kodai's brother, an altogether more pleasant fellow.

Iscandar -this largely aquatic, peaceful planet is home to Queen Starsha and not much else, all of her subjects having died of a mysterious space disease. She sends her sister Sasha/Astra to Earth with the plans for the Wave Motion Engine so that the Yamato can come to Iscandar and retrieve the Cosmo Cleaner D. Involved in a complicated orbital arrangement with Gamilas. Destroyed by Queen Starsha to keep it from being exploited by the Dark Nebula.

Sasha - daughter of Susumu Kodai's brother Mamoru and Queen Starsha of Iscandar, she's first seen as an infant in the climax of YAMATO THE NEW VOYAGE. Two years later in the film BE FOREVER YAMATO she's a 16 year old girl, using her mysterious space powers to invent the concept of "moe".

Star Blazers - American version of SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO, comprised of a 1979 release of the first two YAMATO television series and a 1985 re-syndication of the show with an added 25 episodes taken from the third SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO series, dubbed by a completely different cast.

Star Dipwads - parody dub of ARRIVEDERCI YAMATO produced in 1989 by two Georgia teenagers. Rewritten plot involves cornbread that makes your stomach explode, a Comet Empire composed entirely of copulating sheep, and repeated use of the "Klondike Bar" jingle. Sequels: THE MAKING OF STAR DIPWADS, A STAR DIPWADS CHRISTMAS, and STAR DIPWADS II: THE METAL YEARS.

Earth Defense Command - organization in charge of commanding the defense of Earth. Also the name of the 1980s era Yamato/anime fan club operated from the Dallas Texas area, charged with defending fanzines and video tapes. The EDC maintains a gigantic fleet of space battleships which are all destroyed whenever Earth is threatened, paving the way for an inspiring last-minute save courtesy the Yamato.

Aquarius - planet made up of mostly water which tools around the universe raining on other planets. Occasionally there is too much rain and planets get completely destroyed. Sometimes evil races of outer space people use their enormous colony ships to warp Aquarius into the path of other planets and deliberately drown them just for kicks, as seen in the fine documentary film FINAL YAMATO.

Teresa / Trelaina - rail-thin last survivor of planet Telezart, her mysterious space powers enabled her to "master the secret of anti-matter." She used this power to end a civil war on her planet. Unfortunately she did this by killing everybody else on the planet. Her lonely space vigil is interrupted by the arrival of the Comet Empire and it's her warning to Earth that spurs the Yamato into action! She and Shima have a long-distance relationship, and like most long distance relationships it ends soon after they meet.

Teach me more of this Earth custom known as "clothing." Also, "sandwiches."

Captain Saito / Sergeant Knox - commander of the Space Marines, a rough-tough gang of two fisted fightin' men who love to fight and stuff. Rescued from a Comet Empire advance force by the Yamato, the Space Marines show their gratitude by fighting with Yamato crewmen until they can be deposited on planet Telezart where they can fight Comet Empire tanks. Fight fight fight.

Domel / Lysis - Gamilas general with a huge chin, called in to finally take care of that blue and red space battleship once and for all. His complicated plan involves fleets of space carriers, teleportation devices, and a missile with a giant drill on the front. He and his huge chin are blown to bits in a fairly meaningless attack on the third bridge.

Third Bridge - this curious structural appendage to the hull of the Yamato was added to give the design something interesting looking on the lower half. It's constantly being blown to bits, so if you happen to find yourself assigned to the Yamato, make sure your duties keep you out of the Third Bridge. In the new film it's painted blue, apparently to confuse attackers.

FINAL YAMATO - Otherwise known as "Space Battleship Yamato -the Concluding Chapter", this 1983 film was the absolute last outing for the Yamato, never gonna be another YAMATO, nossir. Except for YAMATO 2520.

YAMATO 2520 - we don't talk about this one.

Well, we hope this guide has been helpful to you and your self-esteem in regards to knowledge of SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO. As to why your self-esteem should be tied up in trivia about a space cartoon... that's another story. YAMATO - TAKE OFF!!

you're all winners

2009-11-23T11:24:00.003-05:00

That's right, everybody who reads "Let's Anime" is a winner. But in a different, more correct sense, only the people who sent in Prince Planet fan art are the REAL winners here. If only all of the conflicts afflicting mankind could be solved with Prince Planet fan art! The world would certainly be a more surreal place.

At any rate, here are the champions of the Great Prince Planet Fan Art Contest Of 2009, Sponsored by Let's Anime and MGM Digital Media in association with Hulu and YouTube! All Rights Reserved!!

Our first entry was by Guy, who won us over with his energetic heavy metal portrayal of Prince Planet.

When he's not drawing Prince Planet, Guy writes about anime at the Guy Hates You blog!

Next past the goalpost was Dylan, AKA "Ninjatron", with this great sepiatone depiction of Bobby and Diana.

Dylan is the man behind the Astro Boy World blog, your one stop shop for all your Astro Boy news.

Salvatore M. of Philadelphia PA came through with a peppy B&W illustration!

Meanwhile Larry C, who writes a great obscure world television blog, worked up this slick color piece that I like very much!

And not to be outdone, Sarah M. brings her "A" game with this swell watercolor illo!

I know the cut off was five entries, but I got this drawing from Emma which has the only Warlock representation here, so I'm going to share it with everybody even though I am clearly violating my own rules.

Thanks to everybody who participated and you will all be getting Prince Planet T-shirts in the mail at some point in the near future. I'm being vague about the time frame because I have to go out and buy envelopes and do all that stuff, it's not like I can just have the Let's Anime Mail Room guys do this, because they're really busy. Also because they don't exist.

All artwork is (c) its original creators. Prince Planet is (c) MGM. No rights are given or implied without express consent of Major League Baseball.

Next time at Let's Anime; something completely unrelated to Prince Planet in any way, shape, or form!!

contest is over!

2009-11-13T15:38:00.004-05:00

The great Prince Planet contest is now over, I've gotten five entry drawings. Thanks to everybody who participated! We recieved some great art and we'll be posting it right here in a few days, so check back with us soon.

Remember to head on over to Hulu and watch some more Prince Planet! Thanks again to MGM Digital Media for making this all possible.

You can also visit the Mister Kitty site and hear the American and Japanese Prince Planet theme songs and a mashup of Prince Planet audio!

cartoons by Meg Evans

Prince Planet Is Back!!

2009-11-08T21:44:00.004-05:00

It's exciting news for Prince Planet fans! Starting Monday November 9th 2009, 46 episodes of Prince Planet will be released on Hulu and YouTube. It's been thirty years since Prince Planet last aired on American television. Now, after years in MGM's archives, this fondly remembered series is zooming out of the vaults and onto your monitors in a new, digitally restored version! All your favorite characters are back - Dan Dynamo, Diana, Pops Worthy, Adji Baba the Arabian wizard, Warlock the Martian Magician, Krag the Master Of Misery, and that guy on Radion who was always asleep at the switch whenever Prince Planet needed more juice -they're all just as you remember them, and now you don't have to fiddle with the UHF antenna. Aliens, robots, monsters, gangsters, alien robot monster gangsters - all the excitement of Prince Planet is returning just when we need him the most.

Prince Planet Pastels!

We here at Let's Anime are really excited about this. Probably too excited. Anyway, thanks to MGM we have some promotional goodies to give away - T-shirts! So we're going to have a contest. Here are the rules.

1. Employees and staff of Let's Anime and their relatives are not eligible for this contest. Since we do not have any staff or employees I do not see this being a problem.
2. The first five (5) people to send Let's Anime their original Prince Planet fan art drawing will recieve a Prince Planet T-shirt.
3. Drawings must be of Prince Planet and one or more of the following: Diana, Dan Dynamo, Adji Baba, Warlock, or Krag. Your choice. Color, black and white, whichever you prefer. If you want to draw Bobby instead of Prince Planet it's OK.
4. Drawings must be ORIGINAL - this must be your own work. I know how to use Google Image Search too, smarty.

Prince Planet art by Meg Evans

5. Digital media is fine.
6. Drawings need to be scanned and saved as a .jpg file, 72 or 100 dpi, at least 400 pixels wide. Please don't send any files larger than a meg or so.
7. If you don't have a scanner, take a digital picture of the drawing and email that.
8. Email image files to: terebifunhouse@gmail.com
9. Include your NAME and your MAILING ADDRESS. This information will NOT be given to anybody and will remain a top secret of Let's Anime.

Prince Planet art by John Gaydos

10. Contest is open to United States and Canada residents only. Sorry guys, my budget for this stunt does not cover shipping stuff around the world.
11. I will post the winning drawings in an upcoming Let's Anime blog post.
12. Contest ends at 11:59pm MONDAY NOVEMBER 16th 2009.

The t-shirt looks like this!

Remember, email those drawings to terebifunhouse@gmail.com and watch Prince Planet on Hulu and YouTube starting November 9th! Special thanks to MGM for making this all possible!

IMPORTANT NOTE - I have now recieved 5 entries and the contest is now closed. There's some great artwork and I will be posting it at Let's Anime in a few days. Thanks to everybody who contributed! If you want to send fan art anyway, please feel free to do so.

More Meg Evans Prince Planet fan art

Prince Planet, of course, was first broadcast on American television in 1966. Dubbed by Copri International, this 52-episode television series was released by American International Pictures, the same outfit that provided us with gems like THE WILD ANGELS, DIE MONSTER DIE, RIOT ON THE SUNSET STRIP, BEACH PARTY, GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW, WILD IN THE STREETS, and much of Roger Corman's ouvre. AIP's Japan connection includes anime titles like ALAKAZAM THE GREAT, live-action hero shows like JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING (or GIANT) ROBOT - which is also now available on Hulu! - and films involving big Japanese stars like Gamera and Godzilla. AIP was bought by Orion, which was in turn absorbed by MGM. So the question is, what influence did Prince Planet have on North American anime fandom?

possibly unauthorized Usei Shonen Popi metal click toy from the 60s

In the years between 1966 and 1979, Prince Planet became a fixture in the minds of many of America's television generation kids. Of course the 1960s was a wild time for Japanese cartoons - the term "anime" had yet to be coined and instead the favored catchphrase was "terebi manga" - and instead of a constant barrage of magical schoolgirls and giant military robots, the nascent anime field was experimenting and finding its way with a wide variety of shows featuring a wide variety of characters. This is the era that gave us Astro Boy, Marine Boy, Gigantor, Eighth Man, Speed Racer, the Amazing Three, and other series less known in the United States like Cyborg 009, Cyborg Big X, Ken The Wolf Boy, Attack No. 1, Princess Knight, Skyers 5, Kamui the Ninja, Ninja Sasuke, Sally The Witch, Pirate Prince, Rainbow Soldier Robin - a bewildering variety of programs produced by an industry just finding its way. Usei Shonen Popi enbraced this "anything goes" aesthetic as a freewheeling adventure show willing to do anything. Robots, tiny aliens, gangsters, monsters, spaceships, death and destruction, frankly bizarre characters like Warlock and Krag, and a series-long story arc that might have been the first of its kind for any animated series anywhere all percolated in the minds of impressionable youngsters, and as these youngsters grew up and found out there was a thing called "Fandom", naturally the concept was applied to Prince Planet.

flyer for Prince Planet Foundation

In the late 1980s, armed with a C/FO membership directory that listed fans by their interests, I set out to get in touch with everybody I could find who expressed any interest in Prince Planet. The result was a loose network of pen pals and tape traders. We swapped copies of Prince Planet episodes, wrote fan fiction and drew fan artwork and cartoons, and even published a few fanzines.

Meg Evans cartoon from the Prince Planet Foundation fanzine

When I started the print Let's Anime, one of the earliest articles was a feature on Prince Planet. Throughout the 1990s I continued to get emails from people desperately looking for Prince Planet episodes. Although several unauthorized releases were being sold through grey-market channels, we continued to hope that MGM would one day legitimately make Prince Planet available to the general public. And now they have, so I suppose we can get back to where we were as children and simply enjoy the thing.

Which is what I intend to do, and I highly recommend you all spend a little time watching Prince Planet on Hulu and YouTube!

This post is approved by the Great Seal Of Prince Planet!

Artwork in this post is (c) its original creators.

By the way, Prince Planet now has a Facebook page. Naturally.

Jack And The Early Morning Witch

2009-10-30T16:00:00.003-04:00

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!! The wacky tripped-out Toei anime film JACK AND THE WITCH, which we have enthused about elsewhere on this very blog, is running tomorrow, October 31st, Halloween, at 8:00am Eastern Standard Time on the THIStv network. I encourage you all to tune in and enjoy this film in the comfort of your own home, preferably with the sugary breakfast cereal of your choice. Thanks to frequent commentator Sobienak and his announcement on the Anime Hell blog: http://animehel.blogspot.com/

Check listings here: http://www.this.tv/index.php?day=31

Stay tuned to LET'S ANIME for more new news about old cartoons! Seriously, I do have some news coming up in the next few days, I ain't kiddin'.

Honey Honey's Wonderful Adventures

2009-10-20T11:57:00.004-04:00

Can a European teenager and her cat find love and happiness while being chased throughout the world by a mysterious thief and four ethnic stereotypes in the wild and wacky days before World War One? That's the question asked every episode of HONEY HONEY, the show that kept many of us glued to our cable TV sets in the early 1980s!

HONEY HONEY began as a manga success from the pen of shoujo mangaka Hideko Mizuno - perhaps the only female resident of the famous Tokiwa "manga apartment house" in the Toshima district of Tokyo (other residents included Fujio-Fujiko, Shotaro Ishinomori, and some guy named Osamu Tezuka). She would later go on to critical and commercial success with FIRE! But before FIRE! there was HONEY HONEY. Or as we like to call it, "The Wonderful Adventure Of Honey Honey".

Honey Honey and Phoenix share a manga moment; Flora fumes

Honey Honey's manga appeared in "Ribon" in 1966 and ran for several years; Mizuno's Tezuka influence is obvious but there's stylish, breezy fashion to her pen line, moving away from the rounded kiddy look and towards the more ornate style we'll come to see as "shoujo". Though HONEY HONEY is set in the early 20th century it's not slavishly devoted to the period; Honey's 60s' bubble hairdo is kind of a tip, but the series itself refuses to take ANYTHING seriously. Animated in 1981 by Kokusai Eiga-sha and broadcast on Fuji TV, the cartoon emulated its star by making its way around the world and onto American TV sets.

Honey Honey children's book based on episode 6

Honey Honey herself is an orphan, working in a Viennese restaurant just trying to make ends meet. One day while serving a gigantic roast turkey, a white cat leaps into the restaurant and into her life - chased by a gang of cops, royalty, and various stuffed shirts! As it happens the white cat happened to be hanging around outside the royal palace where Princess Flora was entertaining suitors with her fabulous new gem, the Star Of The Amazon. Annoyed by the constant parade of weak-chinned Euro-trash, Flora stuffs the ring into a fish and hurls it out the window, proclaiming to one and all that whoever finds the ring shall win her hand in marriage. Well, when you're a hungry cat and a fish falls from the sky, you eat every bit of it, including the ring inside. Hence the gang of well-heeled cat chasers, and the white cat's furious leap into Honey Honey's face, and the trajectory of the giant roast turkey as it is delivered with more than customary speed. And thus we begin the Wonderful Adventures Of Honey Honey.

Far from the typical shoujo soap opera of tragic romantic misunderstandings, HONEY HONEY refuses to take itself seriously. The bumbling, pompous, stereotype suitors, the hair-trigger temper Princess Flora, and Honey Honey's willful troublemaking as she careens wildly across Europe make for fine viewing. Pulp adventure is represented by the Makio "Harlock" Inoue-voiced Phoenix, the mysterious masked thief who swings in to rescue Honey Honey just when he's needed most (we'll be seeing more of his type of character later in "Sailor Moon"). Is he just after the Star Of The Amazon, or does he harbor feelings for Honey Honey? This enrages Flora, who lusts after Phoenix herself and can't understand why he won't come to his senses and propose to her.

Furious Flora, Herr Gustav

Geronimo, Oil Dollar, Pika Pika

In the meantime Flora has to deal with Herr Gustav, King Pika-Pika, Sheik Oil Dollar, and Native American tribal leader Geronimo, who chase Honey Honey around the world and occasionally double cross each other trying to find that white cat so they can get married to Princess Flora. Honey Honey herself, though voiced by CANDY actress Matsushima Minori, isn't a typical shoujo heroine. She'd rather bum around Europe than be a princess, won't stand for cruelty or injustice, and woe betide anyone who dares to threaten her beloved Lily. Paying lip service to the Mauve Decade time period, HONEY HONEY never lets historical accuracy get in the way of sight gags, culminating in a King Kong-referencing final episode complete with 1970s skyscrapers.

Phoenix breaks the fourth wall

The journey begins as Honey escapes Vienna via balloon. Landing in Venice, she helps a young couple elope and winds up in Rome, thence to the Swiss Alps and a William Tell adventure. Then to Munich. Heidelberg, Amsterdam, Brussels. Paris, Orleans, Arles, and the Grand Prix in Monaco. Escaping by boat through the Mediterranean she arrives in Barcelona and hurries to Madrid, Toledo, Gibraltar, Lisbon, and London, where she meets both a long-haired guitar group and Robin Hood. It's also in London where, with the assistance of the King, the Star Of The Amazon is removed from Lily. Hey, that's the end of the show, right? Wrong. Kidnaped by Vikings - yes, Vikings - and taken to Norway, Honey learns she is actually heir to the throne of Priscilla, a tiny nation overthrown by the usurper Slag when Honey was an infant.

The evil Slag

Far from being a thief, Phoenix is really a secret agent working to restore the rightful rulers to the throne of Priscilla. Kidnaped by Slag's ninja-style raiders, Honey is taken to his secret castle in Russia. Escaping with the help of a flying saucer (used as an explanation for the Tunguska Explosion in Siberia) Honey travels to Moscow and south to Constantinople, where both she and Phoenix are sold into slavery. Phoenix is bought by Princess Flora, and Honey is left to become the latest addition to a sultan's harem.

I Dream Of Honey

It's not so bad for Honey because she gets to dress like Barbara Eden and help with magic tricks, and she gets a flying carpet which takes her to India and Japan and Los Angeles and finally to the show's climax in New York. By the time the series ends three different groups are chasing after Honey Honey for three different reasons and when the show wraps with a giant ape climbing a skyscraper holding Princess Flora, we take it all in stride.

I don't think anybody saw this coming.

Plenty of boy cartoons are watched by girls, but HONEY HONEY may have been the first girl cartoon watched by boys, in America anyways, after the show somehow made it into English and onto Pat Robertson's CBN cable network. Dubbed by "Sound International Corp." along with LEO THE LION, HONEY HONEY was broadcast in the vital Sunday noon timeslot that, unless you're sports, is ignored by all. The offices of "Sound International Corp" are now occupied by a chemical company. At the time I happened to notice LEO in the TV listings and the family VCR was sitting idle waiting for somebody to re-run STAR BLAZERS. Why not check it out? I was pleasantly surprised to learn LEO was the sequel to KIMBA THE WHITE LION (the first episode I saw helpfully featured a flashback to Leo's younger days) and, relaxing in the afterglow of my viewing discovery, decided to check out HONEY HONEY. I knew of an anime called CANDY CANDY, maybe this was a re-titled English dub? No sir, HONEY HONEY was its own thing. At first I didn't give it much attention, but after a few weeks the anything-goes style and Perils Of Pauline melodrama had its hooks in me.

Western-style Flora and Slag menace Honey in the manga

Comparing the original comics to the TV series, we find the anime begins faithfully but takes a sharp left turn somewhere in the middle of Europe. Blazing its own trail, the story is sometimes dicated by the writers and sometimes by the show's early cancellation - an extended American sequence involving Hollywood, Old West cowboys and Indians, and Chicago gangsters was excised. The storylines where Honey Honey becomes a judo champion in Japan and Honey's adventures on the Titanic also got axed. Thankfully, the manga's original ending among the jungle tribes of Africa also did not surface to embarrass us all on television.

The Great Honey Honey Dynamite Chase

The animation itself is a mixed bag. Kokusai Eiga-sha ("Movie International Company") produced animation utilizing a wide variety of sources involving a wide variety of skill levels, from beginning students to seasoned veterans. A list of their series reads like a secret history of Japanese animation - the J-9 series BRYGAR, BAXINGAR, and SASURAIGAR; the treasure-hunting ancient astronaut series ACROBUNCH, highspeed robot sportscar GALVION, Mission Outer Space SRUNGLE, ecological disaster robot series BALDIOS, Greek mythology comedy LITTLE POLLON, motorcycle racing drama FUTARI DAKA, robot boy comedy DOTAKON, and their own version of Little Women, FOUR SISTERS OF YOUNG GRASS. Like most other Kokusei Eiga-sha series, HONEY HONEY is now available for distribution from Enoki Films. HINT HINT EVERYBODY, RELEASE THIS SERIES ON DVD ALREADY.

episode 22 Honey

HONEY HONEY itself is typical Japanese animation television; clunky in parts but zippy when deadlines and budget allow it to flourish. Episode 22, "Snowbound Castle", was the high-water mark for the show; character designs are kawaii-ed up, animaton becomes fluid and expressionistic, and things just get cartoonier in general.

Yes, it's sharp.

After its CBN broadcast HONEY HONEY vanished into the mists of time. Sony Home Video reportedly released the first four or five episodes on VHS, along with other 80s titles like Curious George and "Video 45s". I've only seen evidence of the first episode myself. More than two decades later the Sony release remains the only legacy of HONEY HONEY in the United States (it was more popular in Europe, as are all Japanese cartoons). In Japan the show failed to capture an audience; perhaps a little too old fashioned for a 1981 audience, who probably asked the question we have asked, why is a 1966 manga JUST NOW getting a TV anime show? What's the deal with that? As anime fandom grew in the United States few remembered HONEY HONEY; unless you were paying a lot of attention to basic cable on Sundays in the middle of the 1980s it simply did not register. Even LEO THE LION got a few public-domain home video releases in later years, but nobody wanted to deal with HONEY HONEY. "Sound International Corp" disappeared, my letters of inquiry unanswered.

As a matter of fact I do own this cel.

In this era of total availability, where everything has DVD box sets or torrents, it remains an elusive quarry. But in a way, that fits the series perfectly - we're stil chasing HONEY HONEY.

Episode guide: some of these are from the American titles and some of these are translated or transliterated from the Japanese. If you have every episode of the series in English with the title cards intact, please drop me a line.

1. The Cat Ate the Diamond
2. Much Ado About Water
3. See Naples and Escape
4. SOS Alpine Express
5. The Red Arrows of Berne Forest
6. Hamelin is Full of Cats
7. The castle of Lovely Cats
8. Windmill Vane Phoenix
9. Only One Can Be our Sun Princess
10. Cinderella Tonight
11. The Witch House of Orleans
12. Circus Rooster
13. The Blue Hurricane of Monte Carlo
14. Cathedral Bells Ring
15. Smile, Madrid
16. Fortress of Gibraltar
17. World's Best Sponge Cake
18. Lily's in Big Trouble!
19. Honey Run! 20 o'clock
20. Secrets of Honey
21. Honey Kidnapped
22. Snowbound Castle
23. The Great Science Fiction Chase
24. Prince Menace
25. Lily Sold
26. Magic Departure
27. India Flying
28. Flora's Great Flowers
29. Hello, Goodbye, New York (last episode)

special bonus: Honey Honey in Hollywood! Spot the cameos.

Under The Western Influence

2009-09-27T16:14:00.003-04:00

This year at AWA and at Anime North back in May, I did a panel all about Japanese cartoons based on Western works; two hours of me showing clips and talking about them, only making stuff up occasionally. Seeing as how it's been weeks since I did a column here, I need something I can throw up pretty quickly. So here goes! My panel was by no means a comprehensive or complete overview - just anime I happened to have on hand that was at least vaguely interesting to look at and worth talking about for five or ten minutes. Since I first did this panel in Canada I started off with some Canadian content.

Written by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1908, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES became a worldwide success, especially in Japan. If you are Canadian or watch PBS in the States you're already familiar with the story and/or Megan Follows. If you aren't, it's about a young orphan girl who's adopted by a middle-aged brother and sister on a farm on Prince Edward Island. Expecting a boy, the pair soon overcome their initial reservations and Anne becomes a member of the family.

"Akage No Anne" was produced by Nippon Animation Company in 1979 as part of their World Masterpiece Theater series, with animation by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Nippon Animation is airing a Anne prequel - "Hello Anne - Before Green Gables" right now as part of the House Foods World Masterpiece Theater. Currently unavailable in the English speaking world, the failure of the American "anime industry" to rake in cash by releasing this series is proof of massive brain damage on somebody's part.

FABLES OF THE GREEN FOREST is another show Canadians are more familiar with than Americans. This anime series, originally titled "Rocky Chuck", was based on books written by Thornton W. Burgess, eminent conservationist from Cape Cod, who over the course of his career wrote more than 170 books and 15,000 newspaper columns. His characters Sammy Bluejay, Johnny Chuck, Polly Chuck, Peter Rabbit, Chatterer Squirrel, Paddy Beaver, Grandpa Frog, Uncle Billy Mouse, and Joe Otter were introduced in his first novel, Old Mother West Wind, published in 1910. The anime series was produced by Zuiyo Eizo (the predecessor to Nippon Animation). America got exposed to the anime incarnations Chatterer The Squirrel and pals through the good offices of ZIV who dubbed this series in a haphazard and whimsical fashion.

The TOM SAWYER ANIME, based on the Mark Twain book, was a World Masterpiece Theater series produced by Nippon Animation in 1980. Dubbed for American home video, it was released by Just For Kids to an indifferent market. Not nearly as surreal as the Hanna-Barbera Tom Sawyer that featured live-action Tom, Huck, and Becky Thatcher being chased by an animated Injun Joe. Other World Masterpiece Theater series include Swiss Family Robinson, Dog Of Flanders, Remi, Hans Christian Andersen stories, Pollyanna, Peter Pan, Daddy Longlegs, Von Trapp Family Story, and Lassie. No, not Lassie's Rescue Rangers. Just Lassie.

Toei's 1980 TV special LITTLE WOMEN wound up getting dubbed for America by Harmony Gold. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott written in 1867, it's the story of four New England sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy who come of age during the American Civil War. You know how one of the characters in the book dies of tuberculosis? Not in this movie. There was also a Little Women anime TV series called "Four Sisters Of Young Grass(?) in 1981.

HEIDI is naturally based on the popular children's book by Johanna Spyri about a Swiss orphan who goes to live with her hermit grandfather in the Alps. Animated as part of Nippon Animation Co.'s Worldwide Classics series, with direction by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata; the pair have a great time animating the endless expanses of Swiss Alps and bright blue skies. There is a Heidiland theme park in Switzerland where yodelling is enforced by law.

SINDBAD, being an adventure character whose appeal has lasted centuries, is a natural to become a Japanese cartoon. The character originates in ancient Middle Eastern tales of an intrepid sailor from Basra. The classic English version is from Richard Burton's 1001 Nights. No, not THAT Richard Burton, the other one. The movie THE ADVENTURES OF SINDBAD is a Toei film released in 1962, dubbed by god knows who, and a staple of public domain home video.

SINDBAD ARABIAN NIGHTS is a Nippon Animation Company series from 1975 and stars Sinbad, Aladdin, and Ali Baba together again for the first time! 1001 NIGHTS - produced by Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Productions- is one of three animated films aimed at an adult market in the late 1960s and early 70s that wound up bankrupting Mushi. I have an English trailer for this film but have never seen a full dubbed version.

L. Frank Baum's WIZARD OF OZ has been animated by Japanese folks on at least four occasions. One of them is a mere twelve minutes long. The Toho version released in 1982 stars the voices of Lorne Greene and Aileen "Annie" Quinn. I think we wrote about that one already.

Based on the Russian fairy tale, TWELVE MONTHS is a Toei/Soyuzmultfilm coproduction released in 1980. Anya is sent out into the cold woods to collect flowers in midwinter by the evil queen, but is saved by the twelve spirits of the months of the year. The somber, fantastical characters and cool color scheme are close to Toei's other 1980 film, Towards The Terra.

THE WILD SWANS, a Toei film from 1977, is a complicated Danish fairy tale about a king with 11 sons and 1 daughter. Our clueless widowed king marries an evil stepmother who turns the boys into swans. Daughter Elisa escapes swanification and must complete various impossible tasks and endure hardship to return her brothers to normal. Another swan-themed fairy tale anime, SWAN LAKE is that great ballet and is also a Toei film from 1981 that reportedly was the first co-production between Marvel Comics and Toei. No seriously, it says so right here in the November 1980 issue of Comics Reader. Fred Patten wouldn't lie!

DADDY LONGLEGS is based on the 1912 novel by the American writer Jean Webster, Mark Twain's grand-niece. Originally published in Ladies' Home Journal, this tells the story of an orphan girl whose tuition at a women's college (based on Vassar) is sponsored by an anonymous benefactor. The novel takes the form of letters written by Judy to her mystery man. Will the friendly, handsome uncle of one of her classmates turn out to be Judy's mysterious Daddy Longlegs? Hint: yes.

This anime version was produced by Tatsunoko in 1979 and dubbed into English in the 1980s by 3B Productions (Tranzor Z, Starbirds). There is a later TV series by Nippon Animation Company released as part of their "World Masterpiece Theater" series.

CALL OF THE WILD - Obviously from the Jack London novel, this Toei television film is surprisingly brutal in its depiction of the rough life in the North. Also features a ninja dog.

FRANKENSTEIN the anime! Loosely based on the Mary Shelley novel, this plodding, tedious adaptation is enlivened by rare moments of extreme violence. The new ending is not an improvement. Produced by Toei as a TV movie in the late 1970s and dubbed by Harmony Gold.

DRACULA SOVEREIGN OF THE DAMNED - this famous 1980 Toei telefilm is based on the Marvel Comics "Tomb Of Dracula" by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. The more fanciful notions of the comic book seem even more fanciful without Gene Colan's masterful artwork, and Dracula cockblocks Satan and eats a hamburger.

Yup, he's eating a hamburger. Deal with it.

So far the 1970s Marvel/Toei partnership resulted in Dracula at McDonalds, Spiderman with a giant robot, and Go Nagai sketching Luke Skywalker. Oh well, one out of three ain't bad.

THE YEARLING (aka "Fortunate Fawn"): the original Yearling novel was by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, was published in 1938, and was the story of Jody, a young boy living in central Florida around the turn of the century. His parents won't let him have a pet, but he adopts a fawn whom he names Flag. I don't know how the anime version ends. This World Masterpiece Theater series recieved a really odd anonymous English dub and was sold in dollar stores as "Fortunate Fawn". Fun fact: when the American film was casting in 1939 my great-uncle tested for the part of Jody. Didn't get it, though.

FUTURE BOY CONAN, part of Nippon Animation's "World Masterpiece" series, this was based on the juvenile dystopian SF novel "The Incredible Tide" by Alexander Key, who also wrote "Escape To Witch Mountain". The original book is, as I recall, deadpan and grim, with Conan and Lana fighting to survive in a much less jolly world than we'd see in the anime series. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this is perhaps the finest 26 episodes of any children's science fiction cartoon ever made by anyone ever.

CAPTAIN FUTURE - based on the 1940 pulp series written by Edmond Hamilton. Curtis Newton was raised in a secret moon base by a an artificial man, an intelligent robot, and a brain in a tank. Obviously he became a space-travelling hero battling evil and injustice throughout the solar system. This 1978 Toei TV series was really popular in Europe. Hamilton's "Star Wolf" became a live-action TV series in Japan in the early 1980s.

LENSMAN was loosely modelled after the seminal SF pulp series by Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith, PhD (food chemistry). The Lensmen are top agents of the Galactic Patrol, civilization's only defense against the Boskone pirate society. The Lens endows its wearer with telepathy and the ability to control minds of lesser strength. The battle between civilization and Boskone escalates until planets, stars, and black holes are used as weapons. The series began in 1936 and continued through the 1940s, with a final book in the series appearing in 1965.

The anime film was one of the first uses of computer animation in a Japanese anime production - not THE first, but close - and was followed by a TV series that hewed slightly closer to the original novels and had a kicky, piano-driven theme song. Other anime adaptions of American SF classics include the Sunrise STARSHIP TROOPERS, an amazingly dull adaptation of a really great book.

The famous Swedish comic strip MOOMIN about the Moomintrolls and their bucolic pastoral existence has been animated on about thirty or forty separate occasions. Mushi Productions, TMS, TV Tokyo, and lots of European studios have all collaborated on different Moomin animated series. There is also a Moomin theme park in Finland, and the shops of three continents are lousy with Moomin toys, dolls, cell phone charms, you name it. The version I have was dubbed into English in Wales.

Other Western-influenced anime titles mentioned were the Toei films Puss In Boots and Animal Treasure Island and Superbook - based on the book WRITTEN BY GOD!!- Tatsunoko's ANIME OYAKO GEKIJO / PASOCON TOABERU TANTEIDAN ("personal computer travel detectives") series from the early 1980s was commissioned by Pat Robertson for the Japanese market, dubbed and shown on various Christian television networks. In the Ukraine, the anime inspired a live-action Barney and Friends-style children's program titled Superbook Club (with the robot Gizmo, or "Robik" in Ukrainian, as the mascot).

Yes, I'm completely aware there are tons of anime titles I have completely neglected to mention, including HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE and the Toei LITTLE MERMAID and many others, including that one that's your favorite. Please feel free to fill up the comments about how I "forgot to mention" these titles, because I love it when you do that.

what I did on my vacation

2009-09-10T10:59:00.003-04:00

Been a few weeks since anything new popped up on the old Let's Anime. Why is that? Huh? It's because the end of summer is traditionally a time for reflection and contemplation, a time for spiritual and philosophical renewal, and also a time to squeeze in a little vacation. Which is what we did.

So we went to Tokyo and took a lot of pictures and did some sightseeing and bought a lot of neat stuff, and that's part of why there hasn't been any new Let's Anime action here. Another reason is the upcoming Anime Weekend Atlanta, happening September 18-20 in the Cobb Galleria Center and Renaissance Waverly Hotel in what is technically the city of Atlanta!

As one of the founders and a continuing bad influence I naturally have many important duties at AWA, one of which is the late Saturday night event known as "Old School Classroom". This video-room event is basically a clip show featuring snippets of those crazy old Japanese cartoons that have all the kids excited. This year's theme is "1960s" so that means everything from Astro Boy to Tiger Mask to Cyborg Big X to Cyborg 009. That event is going to wrap up with an entire episode of "Honey Honey", even though the cartoon is technically not from the 1960s. But it's my panel and I can do whatever I want.

Another AWA event I'll be at is the Sunday afternoon extravaganza known as "Thirty Years of Star Blazers". That's right, it's been thirty years since Star Blazers first burst forth upon American television sets, and we've assembled an all-star cast of fans and pros to talk about this seminal experience, including original Nova voice actress Amy Howard Wilson, Starblazers.com webmaster and comic author Tim Eldred, and other notables.

Friday afternoon I will be holding forth on a topic near and dear to my heart, a panel about Western literature that has inspired Japanese cartoons. This doesn't just mean Nippon Animation World Masterpiece shows, either! Lots of crazy stuff you never knew existed or didn't really feel the need to know existed awaits your eyeballs.

And of course Friday night at ten PM you must not fail to attend JAPANESE ANIME HELL, the original crazy clip show highlighting the weird and wacky, the failures and the fantastics, the disturbing and the damned paraded across the screen for your entertainment.

So if you happen to be anywhere near Georgia in the next week, you owe it to yourself and to future generations to attend this year's Anime Weekend Atlanta! Once it's over I promise regular posting here at Let's Anime will resume with all possible speed. Isn't that right, Inflatable Prince Planet?

2009 is Showa 41 - listen along with CYBORG 009

2009-08-16T13:11:00.005-04:00

Found in a MANDARAKE store in Tokyo by Tim "Starblazers.com" Eldred, this CYBORG 009 Asahi Sonorama single is, if you happen to be my brain, something that is constantly playing in the background at all hours of the day or night. I'm a big CYBORG 009 fan. I like the cartoony big-foot Shotaro Ishinomori style, I like the angsty, turned-into-fighting-cyborgs-against-our-will story, I like the bizarre monster combination enemy cyborgs they're thrown against, and most of all I like the fact that American fans of the show are thin on the ground so there isn't a lot of competition when it comes to grabbing CYBORG 009 toys or books at the anime cons (not that there's a lot of 009 stuff at anime cons these days).

As we will remember from the last time I wrote about CYBORG 009, the series is about nine people from all walks of life who are kidnaped by the evil Black Ghost and turned into cyborg soldiers with various powers and abilities. They rebel against the Black Ghost and spend three movies, three television series, dozens of manga volumes, and one Asahi Sonorama single battling for the peace of the world.

The cool thing about this disc is that it's from 1966 and uses the theme song and the basic story from the contemporaneous Toei feature- but instead of cheaping it out with production art from the film, the "book" part of this "book and record" set features all-new Ishinomori artwork. At least it's not artwork I'd seen anywhere before, and I think I'd remember seeing a lot of these illustrations somewhere in my, ahem, sizeable collection of 009 books and memorabilia.

Thanks to the miracle of my turntable and the Internet you can now listen to this Asahi Sonorama record your very own self! Side one is here and side two is here. Remember to set your computer to 33 1/3 RPM for maximum enjoyment!

So cast your mind back to 1966 and enjoy the story of Cyborg 009 and his comrades in cybernetic arms as they struggle to defend us against the Black Ghost! Feel free to sing along with the theme song if you know the words... I believe everybody can handle the first nine lyrics.

Spaced Out Japanimation, Man

2009-07-24T12:53:00.004-04:00

Back in the misty ages of the past - we're talking the 1990's- when the twin trip-hammer blows of POKEMON and SAILOR MOON had blasted an American pop conciousness already reeling from the art-house opus AKIRA and the cries of disbelief as entire divisions of college sophomores entertained their dateless peers with sensual, late-night screenings of LEGEND OF THE OVERFIEND and NINJA SCROLL... there came a time when the Eighth Seal was opened and THE TRUTH was revealed to America's home video marketing executives.

This TRUTH was, of course, that we'd now reached a point in Western civilization where people would buy DAMN NEAR ANYTHING that had a Japanese cartoon character on it. I'm talking skateboards. "Hook-Ups" T-shirts. Comics drawn in the "manga style" by Americans. And, of course, videos! Videos of new anime releases, videos of anime movies, and videos of anime TV shows from twenty years ago that have been through the "public domain" mill so many times that the "public" is looking desperately around for somebody to take over the copyright just to get it out of the "$1.99 Movies" bin at the Wal-Mart to make way for Dorf golfing videos and remaindered copies of "Batman Forever".

But how to sell goofily-dubbed primitive Toei super robot cartoons to the sophisticated American retailer? One word - packaging.

And that's how Parade Video (distributor of, among other things, the incredible Peter Sellers film THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT) came to unleash SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION on the world! Yes, SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION, the amazing 4-tape set that satisfies ALL your Japanimation needs,as long as your Japanimation needs include "buying a Christmas present for that nephew who will NOT SHUT UP about something called "Japanimation". How many kids asked Santa for, say, GUNDAM WING or ESCAFLOWNE videos, and instead found SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION under the tree? Many a forced grin and a stammered "Thanks, Granpa!" would be heard on Christmas morning that year, I can tell you!

Sold through your snappier mall video outlets like the late, lamented Suncoast Video, SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION stands as a testament both to the staying power of cheap, public domain video AND to a public's brief but intense love affair with those big-eyed Japa-heeno cartoons. Not to mention the "throw it all up there and slap a gradiated logo on it" design aesthetic of the 1990s, where minimalism and taste were abandoned in favor of FLAMES!!! and METALLIC SHEEN!!! If there isn't a van out there with this artwork airbrushed on the side, I can only ask "why not?"

And yet, SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION is not without its charms. This 4-tape set devotes one tape each to GRANDIZER, SPACEKETEERS, GAIKING, and STARVENGERS - all Jim Terry dubs from the seminal super robot TV package FORCE FIVE that entertained us all in the fall of 1980 when the world was young and we wanted nothing more than to climb into a flying saucer that jammed itself into a giant robot armed with "hydro-phasers" and "space thunder" like in GRANDIZER. STARVENGERS enlightened us all to the possibility of jet planes that combine to form super robots battling demons, and GAIKING asked the anime question, what if an alien planet was destroyed by a black hole and the aliens attacked Earth which was defended by a giant robot space dragon that launched a horned super robot piloted by people dressed as baseball players? What if? And SPACEKETEERS - well, SPACEKETEERS had Princess Aurora, whose beauty entranced us all whether she was dressed in her space miniskirt or her space prom dress. Missing from the SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION set is DANGUARD ACE, the series where Leiji Matsumoto really started working out his Velikovsky theories about tenth planets careening wildly through our solar system. But they only had room for 4 tapes in the set, so something had to go.

The subject of a wide early 1980s home video release from Family Home Entertainment, the FORCE FIVE shows could be found in episodic and compilation-film versions in your neighborhood video rental shops. A few years later incredibly cheap public-domain video releases with titles like "Robo-Formers" and "Zalo" began to appear in drugstores and discount shops across the land, poor transfers of FORCE FIVE episodes.

On first glance, SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION would appear to be just another cheap, 6-hour speed public domain copy of a copy of a copy release of our old Force Five favorites. But the surprising fact is that, even though these tapes are recorded in the penny-pinching SLP 6-hour mode, the transfers are actually pretty good. Better, in fact, than the video quality of the bootleg DVD sets that are floating around. When we consider that the FHE tapes are starting to disintegrate because of their age, SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION becomes a possible alternative to our other choice, which is the unthinkable possibility of NOT WATCHING SPACEKETEERS EVER AGAIN. And we can't let that happen.

SPACED OUT JAPANIMATION - exploitative bargain-basement video release? Signpost of a time when anime ruled the video stores? Or valuable part of your balanced Japanese cartoon collection? It's all these things... and more.

challenge to remember the go-bots

2009-07-07T11:01:00.002-04:00

Back in May at Anime North I sat in on the "classic anime" panel, where the topic of conversation sort of meandered amusingly, and we were rude to kids in the hall (not THE Kids In The Hall, just some actual kids in the actual hall) who were interrupting our important discussion with their tremendously annoying squeals. At one point, discussing the way Japanese toys made it over to North America in the 1980s sometimes without benefit of TV series support or any familiarity with the shows in question -a topic I've covered here before-, my befogged brain twitched and served up a tidbit of memory of a certain toy. Released as part of the "Go-Bots" line of transforming robot toys, this plaything was actually from SPACE ADVENTURE COBRA, the Buichi Terasawa manga turned into the TMS anime series all about Cobra and his Psycho-Gun and the various sexy ladies that help him on his sexy outer space adventures. Wow, I hadn't thought about that toy in a long time, not since I was in high school working part time at K-Mart and killing time wandering through the toy aisle marvelling at how K-Mart was selling Xabungle toys and Dunbine toys and who knows what else.

At any rate a couple of weeks later we were rooting through an antique mall and lo and behold, there it was, the "Go-Bot" in question. Five dollars and an inane conversation with the clerk about it being a "Transformer" later, and it was mine! Proof my brain is still the boss!

Given the name "Psycho", this space-age sports car was a proud addition to the mighty "Go-Bots" line of toys. But if the "Go-Bots" were all poorly-animated sentient robots who transformed into vehicles for the benefit of chortling, easily amused preschoolers, then why are there two human shaped people sitting in the passenger seats?

That's because this toy was originally known as the "Psychoroid", the passenger vehicle of the definitely-not-for-preschoolers Cobra, a freebooting space adventurer with a powerful laser gun built into his left arm, a sexy robot companion, and a taste for the full-figured gals that exist only in the mind of Buichi Terasawa.

Bandai licensed the toy out to Europe who took out the missile launchers, renamed it the "Future Machine", and happily passed it on to America, who were pleased to get yet another transforming robot toy to cram onto the overstuffed shelves of toy stores across the nation.

With a few clicks and turns this sporty speedster becomes an amazingly clumsy robot that barely looks as if it can stand on its own, let alone help Cobra or the "Go-Bots" battle in the far flung world of the future.

Cobra inspired an interesting line of toys as seen here captured in photos from "My Anime" magazine.

Who wouldn't want a toy of Cobra's utilitarian spaceship "Turtle", as well as a toy Psychogun to wear on their very own arm? The schoolyard bullies will definitely respect you once you start waving that Psychogun around.

Also released as "Go-Bot" model kits were two mecha from the Tatsunoko series MOSPEADA. One was an Alpha Fighter relabeled as good "Go-Bot" leader "Leader One", and the other was a Mospeada Cyclone bike renamed as "Go-Bot" villain "Cy-Kill". You know, because he's a motorcycle, and he's evil. That's the kind of subtle understatement we've come to expect from American cartoons of the 1980s. And yes, I'm aware "Go-Bots" were based around a Japanese toy line called "Machine Robo", except for the ones that were from "Diaclone", and that some of the "Machine Robo" toys became "Go-Bots" and some became "Transformers". And I totally do not care. Toy lines that aren't based on cartoons about Psycho-Guns and/or sexy space ladies are of no interest to me.

So, farewell to the "Go-Bots"! So long suckers! Give my regards to the "Rock Lords!"

JUST DOING THIS TO MESS WITH OUR HEADS

2009-06-24T10:53:00.004-04:00

Wouldn't it be great if Kodansha's "Osamu Tezuka Manga Complete Works" editions were in English? Well, they kinda are.

Yes! A charmingly typewritten synopsis of his classic shojo manga PRINCESS KNIGHT! True, the rest of the comic is in Japanese, but it's a start. Is there more?

AMBASSADOR MAGMA aka SPACE GIANTS! All right! So, how different is this from the Space Giants show we enjoyed as children?

Yeah, that's pretty different. For one thing, token Caucasian reporter "Liz" isn't even mentioned! Hey, what about KIMBA THE WHITE LION, you know, JUNGLE EMPEROR?

No, that's not Santa Claus there, it's Hige Oyaji and a grown-up Kimba - now named Leo - bravely facing the elements atop Mount Moon! A grown up Kimba?? What the heck?

Yes, the original manga goes places NBC would not dare to enter. At least not in cartoon form. But enough of these popular Tezuka works - did Kodansha release Complete Works editions of his more, shall we say, obscure manga?

Yes! Yes they did. JET KING, the story of an alien boy who can change his shape at will to better defeat evil, has a spoiler right in the English synopsis, so don't read it! Also in this volume, HIKARI is the story of a boy with crazy hair and two handguns who fights gangsters. Based on a true story.

But what about ASTRO BOY? I can hear you now, where's TETSUWAN ATOMU? Okay, here's your MIGHTY ATOM already.

This volume contains the story "The Three Magicians", which was one of the first Astro Boy stories I was ever exposed to, as it is also the subject of this LP:

Those three magicians get around.

Somebody should take the hint and get to work giving this classic Tezuka manga some actual North American releases; PRINCESS KNIGHT would sell like cotton candy at the fair and who would pass up a chance to own the original stories behind SPACE GIANTS and KIMBA THE WHITE LION? Not me! In the meantime, I suppose we'll have to be content with 30 year old typewritten summaries.

ROKUSHIN GATTAI GOD MARS!!

2009-06-09T09:50:00.004-04:00

Six enormous colorful super robots erupt from hiding to protect Takeru Myojin, a 17-year old member of the Crasher Squad who, in reality, is actually a space alien named Mars from the planet Gishin with super ESP powers sent here to destroy the Earth! Will his fellow Crasher Squad members let their suspicion and mistrust of Takeru ruin their friendship? Will Emperor Zule succeed in killing Takeru and detonating the Earth-destroying bomb hidden inside the super robot "Gaia"? Will Takeru's twin brother Marg resist Zule's mind control before he's forced to battle Mars to the death? And will Takeru/Mars realize his six super robots will combine to form the Six God Combination God Mars, the most powerful robot in the universe? The answers to all these questions may be found in ROKUSHIN GATTAI GOD MARS, the 64-episode 1981 series from Tokyo Movie Shinsha that raised the bar for colorful, well-designed super robot animation as well as heart-rending cosmic sibling melodrama.

One of TMS's few robot anime titles (the others include their 1980 remake of TETSUJIIN-28 and 1983's SUPER DIMENSION CENTURY ORGUSS), it quickly downplays the "enemy robot of the week" formula in favor of cosmic soap opera, and the melodrama and tears continue right until the end of the series. MARS, a 1976 Shonen Champion manga series by pioneer Mitsuteru Yokoyama, drew on the science fictional ESPer hero themes explored in his earlier works such as BABEL II and THE NAME IS 101, spiced with flavors of the giant robot guardian motif originated in his TETSUJIIN-28 and GIANT ROBO series.

TMS continued the evolution in GOD MARS. Where there was once one super robot guardian, GOD MARS now gives us six separate super powerful giant robots that combine into one ultra-unstoppable mechanical deity, the centerpiece of a shiny, colorful space opera that captivated audiences around the world.

The story? 17 year old Takeru Myojin is a member of the Crasher Squad, the rapid-reaction space unit of the Earth Defense Forces in the future year 1999. Troubled by strange dreams, confronted by mysterious assassins from outer space, Takeru learns his real name is Mars. As an infant, he was sent to Earth from planet Gishin as part of a secret plan by its evil Emperor Zule. Possessed of super ESP powers, Mars can summon the gigantic robot Gaia, which in addition to being your typical super strong robot, also contains a super bomb capable of destroying the entire planet Earth! The emperor's plan is thwarted, however, because Takeru rejects Zule and Gishin, instead choosing to defend his adoptive home planet alongside the Crasher Squad - Mika Hinata (girl), Akira Kiso (chubby guy), Asuka Kenji (captain), Naoto Izyuujin (the cool guy), and Namida (audience-identification kid), all led by Commander Ohtsuka (exactly the same character from TETSUJIIN-28, right down to the pot belly and moustache).

Luckily for Takeru and the Earth, his real father on Gishin secretly sent five other robots to Earth. Awaiting Takeru's summons, these five robots - Sphinx, Uranus, Titan, Shin, and Ra - slumber in locations across the globe but when Takeru commands "ROKUSHIN GATTAI!", they burst forth from their hiding places and combine into GOD MARS.

With a reputation built on anime adaptations of high-profile manga including shojo titles (ROSE OF VERSAILLES), sports drama like AIM FOR THE ACE, and the long-running adult comedy LUPIN III, TMS was known for bright, stylish animation with an international flair. ROKUSHIN GATTAI GOD MARS would be no exception. The show practically vibrates right out of the TV with the brightest, cleanest, cheeriest color palate since that time the NBC Peacock dropped acid at a wild Technicolor corporate party. The skies are impossibly blue, the trees are vibrantly green, rockets blast with clouds of flame, ray-guns scintillate and sparkle. The Six God robots aren't wasted in some tedious rainbow motif but each have their own color schemes and visual identities, and the God Mars combination is distinctive and friendly, a big clunky multicolored skyscraper of a robot that must have been a bitch for the animators. It's a series that caught American anime fans' eyes when it was nothing more than opening credits on a compilation tape; even jammed together with hundreds of other OP titles from hundreds of other similar super robot cartoons, GOD MARS stands out.

Thematically GOD MARS also excels. Abandoning the traditional 8 year old boy audience entirely, GOD MARS adopts melodramatic space opera storyline full of tragedy, loss, and heartbreak, embodied in its fan-favorite character, Takeru's shy, retiring, dreamy twin brother Marg. Held in the palace of Zule on Gishin, Marg telepathically warns his brother of impending danger until Zule brainwashes him for use as a living weapon against Takeru in a tragic battle of brothers. The first third of the series is filled with angst and more than a bit of sloppy emo brotherly emotion as both Mars and Marg agonize over the fates that have kept them from a normal sibling relationship. Meanwhile, Takeru's pals in the Crasher Squad and the EDF begin to realize that Mars is a space alien related to the other space aliens who are destroying Earth, and also, if he dies, the whole world goes boom. So there's a lot of suspicion, soul-searching, moody moping, and protective custody. Meanwhile the girl Gishin super-ESPer ace Rose swears to defeat Takeru, but eventually realizes that not only is Gishin wrong to attack Earth, but as one of the few speaking female roles in the show, it's up to her to provide some hetero non-incest romantic interest; so we're treated to a half-hearted romance between Rose and Mars. This in no way dimmed the Mars/Marg relationship, which would inspire reams of disturbing twincest fan fiction and set the template for a generation of dreamy boy-love dreams.

The show makes a brave attempt at romance between Mars and Rose, but you can tell their hearts really aren't in it, especially as a late-series plot point involves Rose being possessed by the spirit of Marg! It's a shame because Rose is one of those starts-off-evil but later-becomes-good characters with one of the few real character arcs in the show, and deserves to be more than a beard. Nobody takes the Rose/Mars hookup seriously, the nonexistent romance between Mrs Myojin and Commander Ohtsuka is more believable.

The 64 episodes of GOD MARS are divided up into three distinct sequences; the Gishin Chapter, the Marume chapter, and the Earth chapter. As the fight with Zule wraps, Earth finds itself smack dab in the middle of one of those fugitive space-princess sagas as Flore arrives, a refugee from a war on planet Marume, where the evil emperor Giren has conquered the planet next door. Sought by both Giren and the mysterious space pirate ship "Frontier", Flore is given asylum on Earth, and just like what happened when the United States gave asylum to the Shah of Iran, Earth is attacked by both Giren's space fleet and by the Frontier, captained by the mysterious Gasch. Luckily for all concerned Flore has super ESP powers. Takeru and the Crasher Squad travel to Marume and involve themselves in the civil war between two peoples defined by their magnetic orientations. No, seriously.

Emperor Giren and Flore battle psychically

This 'Marume Chapter' is really curious; we're treated to Gasch's space pirate ship which is equipped with sails and masts and bowsprits, one of the lead figures in the Marume war is a religious leader we can only refer to as the "Space Pope", there is an extended combat sequence where guys on skis battle tanks and airplanes, and the power level of God Mars is amplified to such an extent that Takeru can stand on the surface of a planet hundreds of light years away and call his robot protectors from Earth, who arrive within minutes to fill up air time with yet another repeat of the Six God Combination Robot Combination Sequence, two solid minutes of animation that can be used and re-used and re-re-used every episode.

Gasch and Flore battle psychically

The Marume saga wraps with peace breaking out among the twin planets and with Takeru and the Crasher Squad learning that Emperor Zule is once again threatening Earth from beyond the death dimension, or some such Kirbyesque nonsense. And thus begins the Earth Chapter. The writers realized they'd written themselves into a corner with the awesome, unbeatable power of God Mars, and so Takeru/Mars is hobbled by psychic handcuffs that drain his life force every time he yells "ROKUSHIN GATTAI!".

The ZULECUFFS!

Only the mysterious space-surfing Rose Knight can show up in the nick of time every episode to distract the villian of the week long enough for Mars to save the day! Yes, years before Tuxedo Mask was rescuing Sailor Moon, the Rose Knight was pulling the same kind of lazy-writers duty in GOD MARS. Who is the mysterious Rose Knight? I wonder if it's actually the character named Rose in disguise?

There, just spoiled the show for you.

A GOD MARS compilation film was released in 1982 and it's that movie which familiarized most American audiences with the show. And "familiarized" is probably too strong a word, as judging from the reviews the movie left most viewers confused and slightly irritated, a natural reaction to any film that shoehorns 25 episodes of action into 95 minutes and hands it to a continent of people who aren't already familiar with the concepts. GOD MARS remains a footnote of the 1980s anime boom, albeit one with staying power; GOD MARS got its own OVA remake in 1988 (featuring a girlfriend for Marg!) and a back-to-basics OVA adaptation of MARS was released by KSS in 1994. Among North American anime fans GOD MARS is mostly known these days for being the subject of some really well designed toys and dreamy boy ESPer fanfic.

Which is a pity; because GOD MARS is an entertaining show. Even if you just want to sit back in the couch and let the Crasher Squad's space attack plane zip through the impossibly blue skies to the tune of the "God Mars" theme song, the show is so colorful, so visually appealing, and so well animated (in parts) that anybody who enjoys animation will find something to like about at least part of it. Had GOD MARS been on American televison in the 1980s I predict it would have been a hit or at least a fondly remembered cult classic; Europe got a good chunk of the show and it's still fondly remembered over there. The closest North America ever got was the TMS/NBC coproduction MIGHTY ORBOTS, a five-god combination robot controlled by clean-cut non-twin Rob Simmons and his robot little sister Ohno. ORBOTS was directed by Osamu Dezaki, creating hands down the best looking American network Saturday morning cartoon ever, though hobbled by typical focus-group approved American cartoon scripting.

know the difference.

It may very well be true that there are vast chunks of GOD MARS that are tangential to the main storyline, if not outright nonsensical digressions. I mean, seriously, space popes?! But all the recycled robot combination sequences and tacked-on plot extenders can't hide the power of GOD MARS - the struggle of Takeru Myojin to move beyond his tragic past and find his place in the world. And if that place is to be the super-ESPer master of an immensely powerful six-god combination robot, then so much the better for us all.

Farewell, Rose! Farewell, Mars!

i am terribly sorry.

2009-05-26T10:45:00.003-04:00

Still in crazy busy mode. Anime North went well and there was much classic anime discussioning, but I still have obligations to fulfill and miles to go before I sleep, or at least before I get a free couple of hours to write something on this blog. In the meantime you should go out and purchase this:

It's the latest issue of Otaku USA magazine, featuring a big article by yours truly all about Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999, with extra sidebar material by Tim "Star Blazers" Eldred! Additionally there's work by the always great Darius Washington, Mike Toole, Daryl "Destroy" Surat, and others much more talented than myself. So don't let my lazy behavior keep you from wallowing in 1970s Japanese cartoons, go buy magazine! Talk at you soon!!

the quiet time is not so quiet

2009-05-08T11:23:00.003-04:00

Apologies for my lack of blog here for the past few weeks. I've been busy as heck on a few real-life projects that have taken my time and energy that otherwise would have been spent talking about thirty-year old Japanese cartoons, and for that I am deeply sorry. At any rate here's what's been going on instead:

This weekend is the Toronto Comics Arts Festival which I am a volunteer at. It's two days of indy cartoonist stars and legends of comic art meeting the public at the Toronto Public Library Main Branch - and it's free! So if you have a free couple of days it's well worth your time.

Two weekends later:

That's right, it's Anime North, Canada's number-one Japanese animation festival! I'm on staff at that show as well. Additionally, I will be on a "Classic Anime" panel Saturday at noon, and Sunday at 1pm I will be delivering an illustrated lecture on the influence of Western literature upon Japanese animation (meaning: Captain Future, among other things). And Saturday night... well, Saturday night is special.

That's right, Anime Hell returns to Canada for one night only of cerebral-cortex-crushing video madness. Followed by TOTALLY LAME ANIME: AFTER DARK!! Don't miss it.

And then I go to a wedding and then May is over and I spend June goofing off. Er, I mean, writing for Let's Anime!! Of course. See you then!

What Would Jesus Watch - (cartoon edition)

2009-04-18T10:48:00.003-04:00

SUPERBOOK!

FLYING HOUSE!

SUPERBOOK!

FLYING HOUSE!!

SUPERBOOK!!!

FLYING HOUSE!!!

TILTON!!!!!!!!

SUPERBOOK EASTER!!

FLYING HOUSE SALOME DANCE!!

TILTON!!1!!

Whew... glad that's settled.

SPECIAL BONUS: WHAT BIBLE EDITION STARRING ANIME CHARACTERS WOULD JESUS READ?
The Flying House Bible, of course. Starring Corky!

And this makes Tilton happy.

Remember kids - Superbook and Flying House say JESUS IS JUST ALL RIGHT WITH THEM!

(actual dialog in this scene: "Hey it's Jesus!!"

This is of course not to be confused with the religious animation of Hikyou-Kisei Studios, including their famous show Genki no Bakagai no Eluron.