Hey next Friday I’ll be at local Cincinnati anime convention “Sugoi Con” I’m not doing any panels this year, unfortunately, got to busy with school and didn’t want to dump more work on myself. I am working on some panel ideas, so hopefully next year I’ll host about 3.

Once it’s done I’ll do a little con report with a group of people and post it in podcast form.

Untill then I got a few things in the tailgate I’m working on

1 a huge retrospect on a super obscure title that only I know about (automatically making my opinion correct, see what I did there?) “Himitsu no Akko chan 2”

2 I’m re-writing my review for Giant Robo, I just have more things I want to say about it. That will also be a big retrospect extravaganza.

Then Im planning on revisiting a lot of titles and reviewing them, namely Gunbuster and Nadia, it will be a while but once I’m caught up with life problems I’ll get back into writing and editing this shit.

But any way, if you see some blond nerd in his 20s ranting about weird shit say hi!

Ps one of the panels I’m working on for next years con, will be a Giant Robo panel, awesome

Hey guys! its been a while, I got college and all that jazz, don’t worry Im still kicking, I’m working on a big retrospective on a forgotten classic Himitsu no Akko Chan 2. As well as a lot of other cool gems. Until then I decided to dig up some old reviews, some of them pretty crappy, and I’ll have to rewrite, but this one seems okay, so cool new entry! injoy

Ah, Crayon Shin Chan, one of the most iconic Japanese cartoons for kids, right next to the green jacket Lupin III, and Doraemon. However Shinnosuke Nohara never could make it big here in the states, varies companies tried localizing the show for American kids, even getting big 90s voices to play the characters, a lot of Rugrat voices, Simpson voices, but the show was impossible to edit down, the difference between the standards for what’s okay for Japanese kids and American kids is night and day. A few years back FUNimation tried to make a punch up dub for adults on cartoon network’s adult swim, with minimal success. Tis the fate of many Japanese kids shows. However that doesn’t stop bootleg VHS tapes and online torrents from showing the hijinks of the Nohara family. Shin Chan was a pretty low brow show targeting a family audience, the art style is…well pretend you never seen South park or the Simpsons, and then look at those shows, that’s what looking at Shin chan’s art is like, its really weird, kind of crappy looking, but it grows on you and is undeniably charming. Yoshito Usui, the creator of the comics, based Shin chan on his own self as a child, and the eccentric things he would do as a kid. (that must have been some childhood this man had)  The show involved Shinoske with his family, his fellow friends at kindergarten, and all the crazy situations he ends up in. The show is kind of like a strange com  In the year 2001bination of The Simpsons, South park, Rugrats, and Japanese pop culture. While there is a bit of social satire that can be quite intelligent, its mostly known for its toilet humor, and charming characters. However in 2001 the creators released a now classic film in a line of stramline films based on TV anime. (Think Pokemon movies, Dragonball Z movies, theres a million of them once every year) The film was called “Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Adult Empire Strikes Back”

The film starts with Shin, and his mother and sister, arriving at an amusement park, when all of the sudden things turn into a Tokasatsu movie and his dad transforms into a sentai hero, in a few minutes its revealed there actually at a theme park were you can film yourself on a movie set reenacting your favorite show as a kid. The 20^th Century museum features dvd boxsets of tv shows of the 70s, old tv guids, magazines, everything nostalgic to a middle-aged Japanese person, and everything boring to a young Japanese kid. Over the course of the film its reviled that the theme park is part of a plot to hypnotize the adults to go back to their child mentality. One morning all the adults in japan start to act like kids, and the real kids aren’t sure what to do.

For such a low brow show, this film is unbelievably smart and clever, and it ends up being just as heartwarming as it is funny. While as smart as this film is, it’s still the same old Shin chan, with all the slapstick, toilet humor, and clever satire the TV series was known for. What the film ends up creating is quite possible the greatest film for kids and parents to watch and experience together. The way it handles the feeling of nostalgia for parents and the reaction of their kids in the films is to completely fleshed out perspectives that one can relate strongly to either.

On the technical side the film is pitch perfect, it’s great animation for its time, and not an ounce of distracting CG, and unlike the more recent Shin chan movies, the characters aren’t battling with the scenery, the character designs fit well with the backgrounds and the animation. The editing is superb, the music is very appropriate, and the voice acting is just as great as ever. Hearing Akiko Yajima as Shinnosuke is always hilarious in its own right, it’s such a funny voice.  The comedy is also top notch, the writers are really on their A game, there’s so much great slapstick, and clever puns and in-jokes throughout the script. On top of that there are a ton of jokes in the foreground and background that you might not notice in your first viewing. It’s also important to mention how Japanese this show is, unless your super knowledgeable about Japanese pop culture and its society, a lot of jokes might go over your head, but you will still get a lot out of it.  While it isn’t necessary to have seen the TV series to get something out of this film, you will miss some in-jokes based on the characters established relationships, and personalities, but it’s a good start for new comers of the franchise. It also gives you your fix on all of the characters and fun relationships they have with each other, you see Shin and his family, his friends, and individual relationships as well, and they all feel very in place, nothing feels to long or to short. The Film has a tone of great highlights, from Shin trying to pick up friend women, the interplay between his friends and parents, even a car chase that would put the blues brothers to shame. It seems to have everything you could ask for and more in a Shin chan movie.

The theme of longing for your past and choosing to live in a fantasy world over the real world is a powerful theme in japan especially, but it also means a lot to Americans as well. The more I think about it, the more I realize it’s the same central theme as Satoshi Kon’s Paranoia Agent. Oh man did I just put Crayon Shin Chan on the same level as the master Satoshi Kon?  However it’s true that this is a clever movie, and it may not handle the themes with the same maturity or subjective surrealism as a Satoshi Kon film, it does handle them responsibly and in an intelligent way that can still be understood and fallowed by kids and adults alike. It also adds an interesting perspective from the kids side of things, of all the anime that tackles this subject I haven’t seen one that analysis the new generations perspective quite like this, it’s says that if you change the world to what it was like when you were a kid, it takes away the childhood of the next generation. All of the sudden it stops just being about facing your own reality, it also becomes about letting this generations children have their own childhood, life, and memories. Its these two perspectives that make the film perfect for all audiences.

If you see a film based on a tv series by a now popular director, such as Miyazaki with Lupin III Castle of Cagliostro, or Mamuro Housoda with the 2 Digimon movies, you notice there really good, but they are very much the directors movie, more than the franchise’s movie. However with Shin chan, this is clearly a Shin chan movie, it just happens to be a really amazing shin chan movie, you can really feel the love the creators had for these characters, and how much they wanted this film to entertain families who were fans of the show and comic. There’s a scene before the film’s climax of Shin’s dad going through a montage of his life starting as a kid and heading to his present, it’s a quiet beautiful scene that to this day I still can’t get through without tearing up a bit. (I did not just admit to crying during a shin chan movie) Its scenes like this that keep the film from being to clever for its own good, or being better than it has any right to be, It feels genuine; it feels important to these characters.

I find that with Shin Chan, and this film in particular, you go through fazes of different enjoyments as you get older. As a kid you like it because it’s silly, and the toilet humor makes you laugh, as you get older you notice the more adult jokes and then that makes you laugh, then once you’re a snobby teenager, you go “oh this isn’t as intelligent as I thought it was blah blah blah…” But then you reach another age were you have a whole new appreciation for its cleverness, its characters, and the brilliant comedic timing and satire. It’s a shame I can’t own this on a legal DVD, but hey I had a bootleg copy before, and I have a bootleg copy now, nothings stopping you from obtaining this film, all it takes is hard drive space and broadband.  It’s a classic for a reason, one to looks back on years from now, and reflect on who you were before, and compare to how you are now. It stirs up a feeling of nostalgia, and the acceptance of the present, and you come back into reality refreshed. While I can’t say everything in the Shin chan franchise is still good, I can say that this film is just as good and relevant today as it was when I first saw it. What else can you say, its Crayon Shin chan.

Where to get it download link

Oh shit a new Space Battleship Yamato!!?!!?!

For those who don’t know Yamato is one of the biggest anime titles of all time, it was the first anime that brought in an older audience, and the first time this new medium called TV manga was renamed into Anime. Not to long agoe there was a very successful live action movie done in japan.

And now its being remade! I have to say, 2012 is gonna be the year of the remake, we got new Gundam, new IdeOn, new Megazone, those new Eva movies, and now Yamato! Since anime’s batting average for remakes has been pretty good, Im not to worried. I think it’s a great idea, due to the new intrist in Yamato due to the movie, this could get a lot of people back into anime in japan, and a lot of new people can get Into Yamato stateside.

But what will they do? Well as any fan could tell  you, behind the scenes Yamato production was a mess, full of animation mistakes rewrites, cutting the show short, so theres a lot they could do for the remake. For one, Id wanna see the Captain Harlock subplot play out like it did in the ps2 game, and finnaly let Leiji Matsumoto tie his universe together, with a new Harlock movie it would be a good idea to tie them together. But mostley I just want a fun high production value Yamato that stays close to the themese and characters of the original, hopfully these older shows being remade will broaden anime’s interest into a more mainstreme audience, and anime can get back on track and return to a what everyone was hoping it could be back in 2002.

ANN

So the Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Gundam manga adaptation of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Gundam anime is getting an anime……

This seems like a realy shady way to get around remaking the original Gundam, since I’m pretty sure Tomino will never die.

I actually really like the manga, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko who draws it, also directed the 3 original Gundam compilation movies, one of the rare instances were the movies were better than the series, so the manga fallows through by having a lot of scenes that do the story more justice. So I think this means we will have something new to show regular anime fans who are interested in Gundam but aren’t to familiar with it, we can say this, then Gundam Unicorn, so I hope this project goes through

So we’ll see some nice updated character designs, from the same designer, maybe a Gundam Unicorn look, and some top notch animation, I think this sounds awesome. The manga is pretty faithfull, so just think of this as Yes there remaking Gundam, Gundam NEEDS things like this, every time I recomend Gundam I say go back and watch the 3 compilation movies from 30 years agoe. Now I can say watch this, then watch Char’s Counterattack, then Gundam Unicorn, if you want more then Zeta and Double Zeta, then some OAVs like 0080 War in the pocket, 8th MS team. And for the realy curious the original movies or series.

So the real Gundam is back with vengeance, I say this is time for celebration, now lets hope Viz re-releases the manga

Scanlation

or do a search for some used copies on amazon

Black Jack is getting another manga series….. I always get scared when they do this.  Anime news network

Now to get this out of the way, Black Jack is probably my all-time favorite manga, I don’t like to say absolute favorites, but if I had to pick one that would be my stock favorite.

Much like Tezuka’s other works, it’s deceptively complex, and as a result the characters are difficult to get right, even in the best of BJ anime. As a result many of the Black Jack remakes have been very very different from each other.

Black Jack has been handled by hentai artists, to seinen writers, to Go F*ckin Nagai! So let’s sit down and see how one of Tezuka’s most iconic characters has been handled in manga.

 I’ll talk the most about the remake that actually has scans you can find.

Black Jack - Kuroi Ishi (Dark Doctor) by Kenji Yamamoto

The only other thing this guy did is a manga called Chaosic Rune, why is it for manga adaptations they always get a guy who has such a small background?

This one is kinda weird, Black Jack is portrayed as a psycho looking, pissed off guy, to be fair in the manga he does have a sinister grin a lot, but this is his stock face.  The stories are pretty much untouched, they just have different artwork, and all the girls that show up have gigantic tits. The artwork itself isn’t to bad, the surgeries are detailed enough, the Tezuka stars are recognizable, but I prefer the Tezuka style artwork much more, the characters have a more human wormth in the original artwork, but I do enjoy seeing updates to Tezuka characters, but unlike say Pluto, all this is, pretty much, is changing the artwork. And adding more tits.

There’s also a new character added, a Chinese kong fu loli nurse sidekick for Dr Kiriko, she was added for more fap service to serve as a parallel to Pinoko. That’s an interesting idea, but I think Black Jack having a companion with him is one thing that separates him from Kiriko, making Black Jack more human by comparison. However you could argue the fact that Kiriko isn’t realy a “bad guy” so having a companion of his own would better reinstate that.  Now while we don’t see that much of her, aside from small scenes of her kicking ass and giving the stink eye, in her defence she’s kind of an interesting character. I would have liked to see more of her relationship with Kiriko, how did they meet, why does she work with a euthinasist? Im kind of interested in that so I wish the author had taken a few more libirties, perhaps made a whole story just about those two characters and buld on something. That would help to make this series stand on its own more.

The stories they cover are pretty good, usually some with interesting side characters, and the ones that are really dark. A lot more gore and death then what many are used to with Black Jack. It even remakes stories involving Black Jack’s revenge, a darker aspect that hasn’t been done in any of the BJ anime.  However the crazy amounts of tits thrown in can get distracting, you pick up Black Jack to get absorbed in the drama and characters, then you see all these plastic bimbos thrown in every couple of pages. I don’t see the point, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

                Overall I would give this remake about a B, if I was a useless reviewer who gave ratings to subjective reactions. (Sorry anime news network I still love you) but Id say stick to the real Black Jack, or watch either of the two anime.

I don’t get that many chances to read these Tezuka manga remakes to often, so I do appreciate getting the chance to check some of these out. And out of all the BJ manga remakes, I do like this one the most, others include

The Go Nagai BJ anthology,

Go Nagai actually does have a cameo in the original Black Jack manga in one chapter. Go Nagai does weird things like through in tits, more violence, but I think he does his own stories. Go nagai is still a mad scientist after our hearts so do check his out.

Black Jack Neo

The artwork looks to ….creepy, I dunno, from what Ive seen this doesn’t realy add anything new to the mythos so probably not worth looking into

There’s also an anthology called Black Jack ALIVE and Black Jack M, there pretty much old Tezuka stories re imagined by a bunch of different manga artists, its fun to look through and see all the different interpretations of the characters.

This blogger does a good overfew of the magazine link

 Then finaly a populer seinen manga inspired by Black Jack called SAY HELLO TO BLACK JACK

This one is pretty cool, it analysis the corruption of the medical industry, and a doctor slowly becomes a parallel to Black Jack

So here’s hoping this next remake will turn out to be something worthwhile, since its Black Jack of course I’ll probably review it when it comes out, I’ll have to import it since I know for a fact no one will scan it in.

                What do you think of when you hear Sanrio? Hello Kitty right? Maybe some cool people out there remember the Unico movies, because of Tezuka’s involvement. I think much like the marketing of Walt Disney pictures, we think of these things like cute children icons, while being fashionable to boot. But much like Disney, Sanrio films are the pinnacle of horror and tragedy, none more representative then the 1978 Chirin no Suzu.

                Chirin no Suzu, or ringing bell as it was called in English, was a 45 minute movie played before a longer feature, this was used all the time back before there was much on TV and a none existent home video market, to get the kids into the theater with their parents. The film starts out with our cute little lamb, Chirin, or Bell, as he frolics in the meadows, plays with gofers, it’s a charming whimsical scene seemingly strait out of Bamby. Chirin’s mom tells him to never go past the fence because of a big scary wolf lurking in the mountains. Whenever Chirin is lost his mom listens to the sound of his bell on his neck to find him. One day the wolf breaks into the sheep’s den, Chirin still sleepy isn’t sure what is going on, but when he fully wakes up he realizes his mom is killed. In desperation he chases after the wolf and intends to kill him. However having no means to kill the wolf Chirin instead begs the wolf to make him into his apprentice, so that he can be strong and live without fear.

                That’s about the first half of Ringing bell, it’s difficult to talk about this without just retelling the whole plot, but Chirin is very much like an old fashion fairy tale, where you could describe the story in a few sentences. Of course also like an old fashion fairy tale, it’s incredibly bleak, yet teaches you a life lesson.

                The direction is top notch, even though its only 45 minutes, it doesn’t feel rushed, or dragged out, it flows together so perfectly, as if it was made as long as it would take to tell this story. The beginning of the film and the end of the film are drastically different looking, but only if you’ve seen screenshots out of context, they don’t feel like two different movies, the film just drastically gets darker and more grim as it goes on.

                The music really adds to the haunting and disturbing atmosphere, it feels like being a child and discovering the dark and cruel side of nature for the first time. Chirin discovering that sometimes bad things happen for no reason, and the weak are killed by the strong, and when you make certain decisions sometimes you don’t get a happy ending. If there is anything remotely similar to a light at the end of the tunnel it’s that the film also conveys the circle of life, showing that even if your eaten by a stronger creature, its okay because you’ve been made into food for another creature which eventually dies and becomes food for something else. That’s a very eastern outlook on life, I have to wonder how most mainstream American audiences must have thought if they bought this on VHS back in the 80s.  One thing is that Chirin has good intentions, he wants to be strong and live free, but his end goal is a bad goal, changing from a nice lamb to a killing wolf, because of this choice he makes things don’t get to go right in the end.

                This actually has an English dub from the 80s as well, and it was left completely intact, no edits to be found here, and also realy good performances, the voice effects for Wolf sound really god damn terrifying.

                Ringing Bell is an example of what Id call “mature animation” even though its meant for little kids, and if you’re an animation fan of any kind you should seek this out. However should your kids? That’s up to the parent, but if you don’t want to shelter you childrens life to much, maybe ease them in with films like this, sometimes films like this can prepare them for the real world when they get older, or hell even watch more films targeting their age. So definitely check this out and deside for yourself

Where to get it Via torrent link

“Surrounded by a cynical public and corrupt, manipulative State leaders, the Royal Space Force (RSF) is largely viewed as a joke as well as a waste of precious money and resources. After a chance meeting with a young, empathetic woman re-encourages cadet Shiro Lhadatt to become the first man in space, the RSF cadets and a team of aging scientists rush to complete their epic launch before the military uses their space program as bait to start an all-out war.” — Anime news network

                There once was a time when studio Gainax was special, when they were young and full of zeal, bring out so many classics. As a bunch of part time college students with a love for anime, science fiction, and special effects. They still churn out really good material every few years, but if you look at their early work, there was something about them, they had such zeal and promise, such enthusiasm and experimentation. They were a risking, they weren’t the most responsible with money, but they had passion that was unmatched before and after. Even if they didn’t make money, they made animation because its what they wanted to do, not because it paid the bills.

                Hiroyuki Yamaga was in his early 20s when he wrote and directed this film, that’s something that’s difficult to take in, being in my early 20s myself, the thought of making something this good is something I could only imagine doing in my whole lifetime. That’s apart of the reason this film is so special, it’s what it represents, that there was a time, when amateurs could get something made like this. The group of college students shopped around their short animations to various studios, Bandai being so impressed by their talent gave them 80,000 yen to make whatever they wanted. This could NEVER happen today, it could only have been made in 80s Japan. During this time, young promising talent could spread their wings and get creative.

                Royal space Force has possibly the single greatest world building I have ever seen in a film, the world Gainax created has its own countries, culture, religion, games, history, hell even their own forks.  Even the names are unworldly, like our main character Shitotsugh Lhadatt. Your thrown into a world very similar to earth, but just a bit off. If I were to compare their world to our own in some way it would be similar to an alternate 1930s Asian country.

                The world of Royal Space force is so real it practically lives on the screen, it’s so detailed and well thought out, you can see why this film took 5 years to finish. So much ideas, imagination, and thought went into this, its something so rare to see.  The way society responds to the space program, through protest, advertisement, propaganda, is all very realistic, it’s easy to believe all of this reacting would actually happen.

The story perfectly encapsulates the generation Gainax came from, very much the first “second generation” of anime creators. The characters in the space force resemble the creators of this film, how no one took them seriously, how they were all lazy, sitting in a room watching a projector, until they prove to the world that they’re special, and they can contribute to the world. It’s a very personal film for everyone working on it. You see this kind of theme in Gainax’s later works like Evangelion. Gainax grew up watching things like Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Mobile Suit Gundam, they pride themselves as being the biggest Otaku in japan, but you could never tell that from this film. It is so unique, not a single common trope seen in anime at the time, even the music was composed by people who don’t work in anime. They wanted to create something new and worthwhile.

                The film was made by part time college students, but it is still one of the most gorgeous animated films I have ever seen. There was a time in anime when backgrounds looked like that, when animation had such an intense line density. If you listen to the commentary track the director will say how there’s a lot of amateurish mistakes, like dusty cels or a scene’s cel photography was off, but you couldn’t tell unless you really look for them.

This is definitely a film you need to watch more than once, there’s just so much to it. If you absolutely hate it, maybe you don’t need to see it again, but if you are at least willing to see it a second time, I recommend you do, because this is a film that gets better the more you watch it. Years after I first seen it, I’m still noticing new things. It’s not a perfect film, it has its flaws, but its enthusiasm, the passion behind it, and its creativity are unmatched, still remaining one of the greatest animated films ever made.

Were to get it LINK

In a dystopian future, most of mankind has obtained indestructible mechanical bodies, however they are crazy expensive, so a large chunk of humans are living in poverty, with a lack of food being made for flesh and blood humans. Tetsuro Hoshino lives as an orphan in the boondocks of earth, years after his mother was shot for sport by ‘Count Mech’ the hero of the mechanized people. Tetsuro wishes to aboard the Galaxy Express 999 (three 9) were it will stop at planet Andromeda where mechanical bodies are given away for free, so he can get a body where he will never grow hungry, age, and will be strong enough to kill the Count.. After failing to steal a pass for the space train, he meets a mysterious woman, Maetel, who offers him a free eternal pass aboard the train, on the condition that they travel together. Whether Maetel has airier motives or not becomes irrelevant as the two become friends and meet people on other planets, whose lives have been affected for better or worse because of mechanical bodies.

                Leiji Matsumoto puts a lot of personal experience in his works, basing characters on himself and people close to him, he draws a lot of influence on his childhood for this work, growing up in poverty gives a very realistic take on the films subject matter. Showcasing unsettling images of skinny mothers breastfeeding their children while wearing rags, this is something Matsumoto saw a lot as a kid, it comes off feeling very real even though its animation.  The original story was inspired by a classic Japanese fairy tale, Night on the Galactic railroad, (later became an anime film in 1984) a story of two friends traveling through space on an old fashion train. The romantic image of riding a old fashion train, while staring at the sea of stars out the window, is incredibly prominent in 999. Leiji Matsumoto gives a lot of his Samurai-Western-space opera elements in this work that you see in Yamato and Harlock, (he created the genre before Star Wars surprisingly) The shoot outs are exciting and beautify animated, the genre blending builds a great backdrop for the story and themes.  Galaxy Express 999 is just as timeless as the fairy tale it was inspired by, the animation for being made in japan strait out of 79-80 looks amazing, some of these scenes are a part of Kanada’s best work. The designs are never dated by having weird peso future corded phones, or 70s fashion, it all fits in its own world. It’s also a showcase of just how talented old animators were, japan used to be well known for their mechanical animation, nowadays a lot of these scenes would all be CGI.

The film still has Rin Taro as the director, Leiji matsumoto as one of the writers, and Yoshiyuki Kanada as the key animator, but this time they are given much more time to work on the project, and a lot more freedom due to what you can show in a film vs. what you can show on TV.  Rin Taro fans are pretty split about his body of work, but when he does a Matsumoto work or a Tezuka work, he adapts their style for film or TV perfectly, none more true than for 999, the direction and animation style, capture Matsumoto to a Tee.  The orchestra by Nozomi Aoki is very appropriate for the scenes, the big emotions in the film are met with sweeping iconic scores, Yukihide Takekawa composed the theme songs, which play off the film’s adventuress side, creating a song that wasn’t heard in anime at the time, keeping the film from being dated.

                The story is beautifully condensed and adds a lot of changes that actually improve the source material. For example, in the first episode of the tv series Tetsuro’s mother is killed by count mech, Tetsuro meets Maetel, and then Tetsuro kills Count Mech, and The two go on the Galaxy Express, all in the same episode. Its good but a little rushed, the film has Tetsuro’s mother killed in a flash back, and apart of him wanting a mechanical body is to get revenge and kill count mech. This adds a great character motivation. Along with Tetsuro being a few years older and having a more realistic character design, as opposed to his TV counterpart. The film also focuses more on early one-shot characters and has them stay as a supporting cast. It doesn’t lose anything great the TV series and manga has, a perfect example of condensing source material into a film. Throughout the film Tetsuro meets many people whose lives have been changed because of mechanical bodies, many of them for the worse, Tetsuro slowly begins to question his choice to get a mechanical body. The theme of what it means to be alive is further analyzed through Tetsuro’s experiences, and the people he meets. Even though the film is around two hours as opposed to say, 100 episodes, it still gets the powerful themes and message across.

                Captain Harlock is also a supporting character in the film, I’m not going to go into all the bizarre continuity problems, because I’ll be here all day, so let’s just say Harlock and his series and characters are “adapted” to fit in the universe of Galaxy Express. If you never seen a Leiji Matsumoto work before, you will not be confused in anyway, this film really works as a good introduction to Leiji Matsumoto’s mythology, Captain Harlock is just naturally a cool character, he works as a cool side character, but I guarantee you will be interested to see some of his stories once you see him in this film. However for all the cameos nothing overshadows the main conflict, or characters, Tetsuro and Maetel are the once you’re going to be most interested in throughout the film. Tetsuro has become the arc type of young male heroes seen later in anime and Matsumoto’s work, he’s easy to identify with, but also a very interesting character to observe as well, seeing him go through changes and affecting people he meets all work for the better of the story. As for Maetel, The less we know about a character the more fascinating we often find them, Maetel is no exception, she is a very mysterious, and that is expressed in her personality and character design, just paying attention to her body movement and expressions to certain events give you small hints to her secrets. When you finally do learn about her it doesn’t disappoint, and you also start to notice a lot of hints the movie gives when you re-watch the film.  The side characters are also fun to watch, the conductor, the waitress Clair, Harlock and Emeraldas, and even all the crowds on each planet add for flavor.

Special mention should be made for the old 90s dub by Viz media, it is very charming and the voices match the characters very well considering it was the 90s. For my money it has the best voice for Captain Harlock in English, Scott McNeil, which is saying a lot considering that over 11 actors have played the man. While I prefer the Japanese language, since that’s what I’m used to with these characters, the dub works really well to show new comers who aren’t used to subtitles, and young kids. Now that this dub is revived for the new DVD release, it can work for a new generation of fans.

The film is a self-contained story and works really well on its own; however there is a sequel “Adieu Galaxy Express 999” it does a wonderful job at advancing the characters, and raising the stakes in the story, you learn a lot more about the characters, and the universe they inhabit. Other than the fact that you have to have seen the first film to understand it, I think the sequel is even better than the first film. The second film further analyses the theme of not being shackled down by your parents’ ideals, it also does a better job at finishing the relationship ark between Tetsuro and Maetel, so the second film is required viewing even though the first film is self-contained. There’s also a third film made in 1996 that works as a sequel to the TV series or the films, but it ends on a cliff hanger and its really hard to find, but hey if they ever make a 4^th movie track that one down.

                 The idea of turning a popular franchise into a film is nothing different, but there is something undeniably special about this film. Galaxy Express 999 is a classic of Japanese animation, every time I see it I notice something new. It’s one of the best works by Rin Taro and one of the few Matsumoto works that comes off as uncompromised, and now that Discotech is re-releasing them for the first time on DVD in America, you owe it to yourself to buy these films. The journey is ruff but wonderful, the sound of the train’s whistle will never leave your heart.

Where to get it 1 http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/9tlHZRg4DmSErYGtau/browse/item/91867/4/0/0

the squeal  http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/9tlHZRg4DmSErYGtau/browse/item/91868/4/0/0

looks like I got the last cheap copy of ALL OF BLACK JACK artbook on yesasia, maybe I’ll scan a few pages

              One thing that I love about anime is its diversity, it range in style in both visuals and the stories it can tell, unlike what tokyopop would like you to believe anime is diverse. Nothing helps represent this fact then anthology pieces, things like memories, neo Tokyo, Genius Party, and of course my favorite Robot Carnival.

            Robot Carnival is a collection of short films with the common theme being robots, put together by Katsuhiro Otomo the creator of Akira, maybe he hasn’t made anything better than Akira, but I’d say he has great success with anthologies. Robot Carnival is seen by many as the anime equivalent of Walt Disney’s Fantasia, comparing the two is a good way to show the difference between American animation with Japanese animation.

Opening

         The opening segment is directed by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo, it shows us a desert barren city, similar to a star wars setting. When this desert sand dune looking contraption shows up and destroys everything, killing and maiming everything in site. A horrifying concept but it’s a big carnival with giant letters spelled out in English “ROBOT CARNIVAL” showcasing extraordinary animation, we see a tone of cool designs, and fluid complex animation, from robot conductors robots playing music, robot ballerinas, that explode, and a shit tone of confetti and fireworks. What we see is beautiful destruction, mixing mayhem with whimsy and a beautiful iconic score. This segment is what I would say separates anime from Disney, by way of we would never see something like this in American animation.

Franken’s Gears

            This segment was directed by Koji Morimoto, he worked with Satoshi Kon on Magnetic Rose segment from memories, and some cool studio 4C stuff. Franken’s Gear is sort of a robot Frankenstein story, it’s a crazy scientist making a robot, and the robot imitates the scientists movements, the scientist trips and falls, and the robot falls on the scientist and kills him. That’s it. These segments, fraken gears in particular are more of an animation showcase, then anything else, and the animation for Franken’s Gear is phenomenal, the intricate movements all of the weird robotic mechanical parts, moving around is a blast to look at. This segment isn’t one of my favorites but it is pretty cool and fits in realy well.

Deprive:

                Robot Carnival isn’t what I would call timeless the way fantasia is, but when you’re the 80s you don’t need to be timeless, and Deprive is one of the most 80s things I ever seen. With our Go Nagai like hero, The Dunbine character designs, and the shiny robot action. Deprive is directed by Hidetoshi Omori, who aside from this did mostly key animation, he’s a great animator but when put in charge of directing a series we get Zaizen Jotaro. This segment is really good, but not to memorable, I like it when its on but then I forget about, it’s like a short popcorn movie.

Presence:

                Directed by Yasuomi Umetsu the creator of Kite, kite is polarizing, I say the R rated cut is definitely worth watching, but he hasn’t made anything worthwhile as of late. However Presence is easily one of the best things he’s ever made. It’s one of 2 segments that features dialog. It’s about a toy maker in a loveless marriage, who wants a feminine women. In a secret barn of sorts he’s building a robot girl, and finds she starts to gain human emotions. This one is one of my favorites, it has this really eerie and haunting feeling, a part of this is the great score its with, and the eerie dialog spoken by the characters, its almost hypnotic in its delivery and execution. The insane detail in this animation is crazy, the folds in clothing the rotoscoping uses make the character movement very, very fluid. Like just about all of these segments the concept works as a short but probably wouldn’t sustain itself over a feature length movie or tv series, but it works as a fascinating 15 minutes.

Star Light Angel:

                    Directed by Hiroyuki KITAZUME, the character designer for Gundam Char’s counterattack.  This segment is easily my favorite out of all of the robot carnival shorts, the story is about these two teenage girls going to a robot themed amusement park, one of the girls is waiting for her boyfriend to show up, but when he does it turns out he was dating the other girl, broken hearted she runs off, when o boy her age in a robot costume goes after her to give her the charm she dropped. They go through a flight simulator ride that reflex the emotion of the person riding it, it seems scary but soon becomes fun when the robot catches her. However she gets angry when she sees the star shaped charm he tries to give back to her, so the ride turns into an evil robot, and the good guy blows it up. This segment has a whimsical fun nature to it that is representative of what I love about anime, it has this wonderful nostalgic 80s feel, without any cynicism. It feels like a mix of Macross, and Ghibli, with flight sequences, 80s fashion, and a fun whimsical nature. It’s a showcase of how good 80s anime was.

Cloud:

Directed by Mao Lamdo, who made……uhh I never heard of this guy, and after doing research the only thing he did was this segment from robot carnival, Im gonna guess he’s an airbrush artist. This segment I cant say I realy like, I mean I’m glad it exists, but it feels inappropriate and not a good fallow up of Starlight angel. Its basically a Tezuka looking robot boy walking, and walking, and……………walking, while clouds in the backround form weird shapes. I appreciate it, but I got to admit I usually fast forword through this one.

A Tale of Two Robots

Directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo, hes mostly an animator, but worked on things like Golden boy, FLCL, Roujin Z among others. This one is a strait up action comedy, a parody  of the brave Japanese youths fighting off foreigners. It’s a weird steampunk feudal era japan story. The other segment with dialog, it’s a great fallow up to the rather boring Cloud segment, so its nice to have it right after. Its like spending an hour in a hot tube and jumping into a pile of snow.

Nightmare

       Directed by Takashi Nakamura, an animator whose been around long enough to work on Yatterman, hes also chuck from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. I like this segment a lot, its got this cool eerie Magoras Mask, ekibob krane feel to it. With weird robot demons, and mischief destroying a city, as we fallow a character that Im told is a characture of Rintaro, but looks more like ikibob Krane.  This segment is a cool showcase of designs and animation that works as a great final for the film.

Ending:

Directed by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo. The Robot Carnival is stopped by a little hill in the desert, and soon falls apart, we then see flashbacks showing it was at first used as entertainment but then whent crazy on its own and started blowing things up, all while the credits go by until the epilog shows up

Epilogue

            Years later a man discovers an orb in the desert and takes it home to his kids, it’s a small robot ballerina playing the robot carnival song and dancing and shining. The  kids are amazed with a look of wonder at the whimsy of this small toy…..THEN IT EXPLODES!! And a giant the End appears where the house was. Oh otomo you sick basterd

           And that’s Robot Carnival, a tone of fun to watch and definitely something to show people who are on the fence about anime, or at least older anime, no region 1 dvd exists and the region 2 is out of print, but theres a great torrent to download, so check out this movie, and make sure you watch it in Japanese since the streamlinbe dub thought it would be cool to rewrite all the dialog in the 2 segments with dialog.

Where to get it http://www.bakabt.com/142087-robot-carnival-ssp-corp.html