Lost World of Anime

Lost Anime Review: Maris the Chojo/The Supergal (Rumik World)

2010-07-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Maris the Chojo/The Supergal (Rumik World)
English Distribution Company: US Manga Corps (Central Park Media, USA). Manga Entertainment (UK)
Release Date: 11 November 1992 (USA), 11 July 1994 (UK)
Format: NTSC VHS Subtitled and Dubbed, NTSC Laserdisc Subtitled and PAL VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 48 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Rumik World: The Chojo (The Supergirl)
Japanese Production Date: 1986

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
While humanity has seemingly successfully ventured out into space and mingled with other alien races, crime is still a universal problem. Maris of the Special Police division of the Space Patrol, is chasing after a bunch smugglers. After cornering them in a space station, she takes them out with her bare hands giving them a beating they won't soon forget. On board her ship with her partner, the nine-tailed fox creature named Murphy, she accidentally damages the ship beyond repair just by leaning back in her chair. This is the third ship she's wrecked. For you see, Maris is a young woman with a problem. She is from the planet Thanatos, and people from that planet have the strength six times that of normal humans. Thanatos exploded when Maris was a young girl and the entire population was forced to evacuate. The problem is that to everyone else, the Thanatosians seem super human and generally destroy everything in sight with little effort because on other planets things aren't designed with their strength in mind. Most Thanatosians have to wear restraints to avoid damaging things. Hence the reason why Maris has yet again destroyed her ship. She wasn't wearing her restraints.

Despite her latest mission being a success, her salary is docked to pay for the destruction of her space craft. While she was looking forward to a pleasant holiday which was scheduled after the mission, she is forced to work during her entire time off just to earn a bit of money. This includes her applying some "subtle pressure" (some would call it blackmail) to tourists to use her as a "Human Taxi", much to the embarrassment of her partner. Things take a turn for the worse when her parents call. Her alcoholic father has damaged another store after his restraints came loose. She has to forward all of her hard earned cash to them and get another advance from her employer. But not before she accidentally destroys the dingy hotel she is staying at by turning off the taps in the shower too hard, causing the pipes to crack and flooding the hotel. The Special Police division of the Space Patrol naturally reroute her advance to pay for the damage to the hotel.

But things are actually starting to look up for Maris. She's got a new assignment which entails her rescuing Kogane Maru, a son of a high ranking official who is also a billionaire. He has been kidnapped and being held on a the planet Moroi, though by the photos set by the kidnapper, you wouldn't think he's been kidnapped at all. Maris pins all her hopes on the fantasy that if she rescues him, she will stealing his heart and her money worries will be over. However when she finally reaches the planet's orbit she is confronted by a space fighter piloted by one of the kidnappers, Zombie Sue, an old acquaintance. Before Maris joined the Space Force, she was a wrestler named Vampire Maris. Maris had previously fought Sue and won (as Sue isn't from Thanatos and hardly as strong). But both girl's careers ended when wrestling went out of favour with the public, hence why both of them are presently in dire positions. Surprised at seeing Maris again, Sue has a desire to extract some revenge from this incident.

After a short fight, Sue shoots down Maris' ship and crashes on the surface of the planet. Maris and Murphy eventually trudge through endless deserts to reach the nearest town, where they find their Boss waiting there. After reducing her salary to even less to pay for her fourth wrecked ship, he sends them off to Moroi again. This time Maris manages to infiltrate the kidnappers base, but is captured by Sue, who challenges sue to a wrestling match to the death. To make sure Maris won't beat her, Sue has placed a lock on Maris' restraints so she can't take them off. The situation is dire. Sue will end up killing Maris unless Murphy can steal the remote control for the lock to remove the restraints so Maris can fight back.

History and Review:
This is the second episode in the short "Rumik World" OVA series, based upon short manga stories by Rumikio Takahashi ("Ranma ½", "Inuyasha"). While I've never been too fussed over some her longer and more famous works, I do prefer a lot of her shorter stories, but I also am a big fan of "Masion Ikkoku". It's really easy to see why she is the most popular and highest selling female comic book artist on the planet. Her short story anthologies collectively known as "Rumik World" (or "Rumic World" as it is spelt in the English language version of the manga) are probably one of my favourite works in her large catalogue of manga. While enjoyed reading "The Supergal" as a manga, to be totally honest, this anime adaptation to be one of her weakest stories. The original manga was first published in 1980 in Shonnen Sunday and first published in English in 1992 in the "zero" issue of Viz's Animerica magazine. The next year it was published in graphic novel format by Viz in the "Rumic World" anthology.

I understand that Takahashi was never a sci-fi writer or artist, and this shows in the original manga version of this story (this story is a comedy really), however I was really struck at by the fact a lot of the character designs have a 1970's feel, especially with the aliens, despite this anime being made in the mid 1980's, and the mecha designs reflecting the time period. However I felt the real problem with this show is the plot. Upon the first viewing of the is OVA, I felt that it plodded along for most of length, until the crash landing and subsequent journey through the desert of Murphy and Maris which was tedious. At the time I thought the OVA could have been cut down to 30 minutes which would have been a much more snappier and better flowing show. Upon my umpteenth and more recent viewing of the show, I found that while it does seem to flow fairly well, the show just isn't all that interesting. The main problem I had was the obsession with how "frightfully dull" being the working poor is. To a degree it feels like this is commentary from a middle class person. Or maybe I'm just over analysing this show. However it is clear that being poor is being satirised here. Even Maris' hairclip is a Yen symbol. Oddly this seems to be a quite a common theme in quite a few anime I've seen that date back to the 1980's and in particular the 1990's. Maybe it was just the times, the mid 1980's, Gordon Gekko's "greed is good" and all of that. Despite my dislike for the story, I did quite like Maris' partner Murphy. Being a nine-tailed fox from Japanese folk tales, he can naturally transform (often in multiples of nine), which adds some humorous diversions to the story.

There's a really cute treat for Rumikio Takahashi fans with sharp eyes in this show. In the beach scene on the planet Maris and Murphy take their holiday is filled to the brim with cameos from Takahashi's "Urusei Yatusra". A number of "Star Wars" characters, including Darth Vader, a speeder bike trooper and R2-D2, also make odd cameos in a run down town on the planet Moroi. Another quasi-cameo comes in the form of the second kidnapper who looks like the twin brother of the helmeted Char Anznable from "Mobile Suit Gundam". The other clever thing about the anime is the credits, which run over fake "outtakes" from the OVA. I believe this was one of the first, if not the first animated show, Japanese or otherwise, to do this. The original Central Park Media (CPM) release was titled "The Supergal", which was a completely stupid move on CPM's part as DC Comics is very particular about it's properties, and they were soon forced by the company's legal department to change the name to "Maris the Chojo". The dub, done in England by Manga Entertainment, was another CPM/Manga co-funded production. In it Murphy has an Irish accent, just as all nine-tailed foxes apparently have. Manga sensibly renamed the OVA "Maris the Wondergirl" for UK release.

When all's said and done, this is just a average OVA from the 1980's. For a Rumikio Takahashi anime it is really mediocre and quite disappointing. I did however find it fairly entertaining, if a little too long in spots. The sci-fi/babes and mass destruction/wrestling thing had been done before and better in anime in the form of the "Dirty Pair" TV series in 1985. The laughs that usually inhabit most of Takahashi's manga where surprisingly mostly absent in this OVA. There are many anime based on Rumikio Takahashi's manga that are so much better than this OVA (in fact almost all of them are better). I'd only recommend this title to die hard Takahashi fans or fans of 1980's anime. Everyone else should just stick to "Ranma ½", "Urusei Yatusra", "Inuyasha", "Maison Ikkoku" or any of the other titles in the "Rumik World" series.

Rumik World: The Chojo ©1986 Takahashi Rumiko/Shogakukan. Cover artwork ©1992, 1993 Central Park Media Corporation and ©1994 Manga Entertainment Ltd.

Lost Anime Review: Patlabor the Mobile Police: The Original Series

2010-04-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Usually I focus only on older deleted releases, but when I read on a forum about the absurd prices this show was going for in the second hand market, despite the fact it sold really badly when it was in print, I knew had to write something up. It's one of my favourite shows, so don't expect a balanced review. I have a website on this series, so I've kind of regurgitated a lot of material I have previously written. I know, a bit lazy, huh? Sorry...

Patlabor the Mobile Police: The Original Series
English Distribution Company: US Manga Corps (Central Park Media, USA)
Release Date: 8 October 1996
Format: NTSC VHS Subtitled and NTSC DVD Dubbed and Subtitled
Runtime: 7 episodes x 30 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Patlabor the Mobile Police (Kido Keisatsu Patlabor). [Renamed "Patlabor: Early Days" for every Japanese video re-release after 1995]
Japanese Production Date: 1988 - 1989

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In an alternate 1998, Japan looks similar except robots, called Labors, inhabit the landscape, doing menial constriction work and the like. The biggest construction site in Japan is the controversial Babylon Project, which is designed to reclaim land and eventually fill Tokyo Bay. However militant environmental groups such as the Beach House used protest and sabotage to try and halt the progress of the project, mostly using Labors for their dirty work. Add in other organised crime groups using Labors for criminal activities. Thus came the formation of the Special Vehicles Unit Section 2 (SV2). This section used Patrol Labors (or Patlabors for short) to combat Labor crime. The only problem is that some inside the police force and the public seem to treat the SV2 as a joke and think they are a money pit. In fact the SV2 is generally seen as a place to send the more difficult members of the police force, a dumping ground. The SV2 hanger is stuck upon on a lot of reclaimed land in the middle of nowhere, and the first division's Labors aren't up to scratch. Most of the time disaster and bad press seem to follow them.

However a second division is about to be created. Unfortunately the team seems to be a bunch of misfits. Noa, a girl that loves Labors a little too much; Asuma, a cadet who was forced to join the force by his father who runs the biggest Labor manufacturing plant in Japan; Ota, a gun maniac; Shinshi, a hen picked husband; and Hiromi, a gentle giant of a man. Leading this squad is Captain Gotoh, a man who seems rather laidback, but is quite a strategist and an excellent cop. Unfortunately their new Patrol Labors (or Patlabors) are stuck in traffic, and they are forced to do some weeding around the hangers. Soon they are dispatched to apprehend an armed terrorist Labor, but first they'll need to retrieve their Patlabors en route to the crime scene from the middle of a traffic jam. After a rather disastrous pick up, they head off to trap the Labor in Ueno Park, but both Ota and Noa's Labors are attacked, losing a head and an arm off their Labors respectively. Asuma tells Noa to turn her rage back on the criminal. In the second episode the mayor of New York is coming to Tokyo to inspect the Babylon Project. All of the Tokyo Police force is assigned to protect the mayor including the SV2. To help the SV2, the New York Police force has sent Kanuka Clancy, an American-Japanese woman who immediately causes suspicion amongst the SV2, and much interest amongst most of the male squad members. The SV2's mission is mainly for show, but they soon find themselves in the middle of a terrorist plot.

In episode three, a series of incidents occur in Tokyo Bay including a damaged undersea cable, and a car being pulled off a pier. Could this be the work of an actual sea monster? Detective Matsui of the Metropolitan Tokyo Police Department asks Captain Gotoh for help. SV2 mechanic Shige and head mechanic Saksaki help pilot a remote control Labor, to search for what caused the incidents. The Labor is destroyed, and Shige is convinced that the monster exists. The SV2 are given orders to kill the monster, however they discover something even more bizarre. The fourth episode has Division 2 called upon to help with a hostage situation at a video shop, but Ota's temper gets the better of him and he blows away half of the shop as well as stopping the criminals. Gotoh decides that his team need retraining and sends them back to the academy. They arrive but strangely there are no cadets there. The team decides to take a bath, but the water soon fills what looks like blood. They later discover that it is in fact paint from a paint bullet, which bizarrely scares the instructor. Later that night, Ota is haunted by a ghostly girl who only says "Don't shoot", and the others see a Labor with a skeleton pilot that seems to be roaming the grounds. The next day, Noa and Asuma ditch their training to go to the local shop. There Asuma meets the shop owner, an old man he knew when he was a cadet training at the academy. The old man tells him that an accident occurred several months ago. A young woman who was one of the spectators at a mock battle was hit and killed with a paint bullet from a Labor gun. Is the academy really haunted by her spirit?

The two part finale begins with the Second Unit on vacation. Most of the team have a place to go except Gotoh, who just seems to want to hang around the office with Division one’s leader Shinobu (whom Gotoh is besotted with), and Asuma who decides to go to his father's factory. After discovering that his father’s company is building a prototype military Labor, Asuma is disgusted and decides to leave. After annoying several other SV2 members and discovering that he really isn’t welcome at their homes, he calls Noa to visit her, except she lives in Hokkaido, and he'll have to catch the train to get there. Meanwhile in Tokyo, a truck runs a road block. A military Labor fires at the police cars that give chase, destroying them all. Back at the SV2, Gotoh lets on to Shinobu that the real reason that he has stayed behind; some very suspicious men are watching the SV2. But soon the watchers discover they’re being watched and speed off in their van. Pre-empting their moves, Gotoh asks Sakaki to take one of the Labors back to the factory. Later that night, Gotoh calls Shinobu outside her house. Gotoh discovers that a military Labor was stolen and ran a road block. With the Japanese military in the middle of war games, it will take several days for them to account for all their Labors. Are the military trying to stage a coup? Gotoh asks Shinobu to help him in his plan to thwart it. The next day, military rebels invade Tokyo. They take over the SV2, but Gotoh has already shipped out the Patlabors back to the factory via the bay, away from the prying eyes of the men who have been spying on them for the last few days. Shinobu and Division 1 are at Police HQ and are blocking the path of the military. She states she won't move until the siege is over. Noa and Asuma watch the situation on TV, and like the rest of Division 2, rush back to Tokyo to help.

History and Review:
This show was one of the first, if not the first anime to have robots in a realistic setting. They’re just construction equipment for the most part, ordinary industrial equipment. The focus of this show is squarely on the characters, not the mecha. The robots come a distant second, even though they’re always in the picture. Up to the late 1980’s robot shows had always been rather fantastical stories, with transformations and gung ho characters, usually teenagers. Even “Votoms” which shows robots in a fairly realistic military setting, was set in a sci-fi fantasy world with a paranormal sub plot running thought it to its conclusion. The Patlabor concept began as a pet project of manga artist Masami Yuuki (“Assemble Insert”, “Birdy the Mighty”) in the very early 1980’s. The development of the show began as a reaction to Yoshiyuki Tomino (“Gundam”, “Dunbine”) robot shows which included multiple character deaths and plenty of teen angst. After the best part of over half a decade, numerous people had been involved in the show’s development manga artist Tamato Aki and sci-fi novelest Kou Hiura. But still the show was rejected by anime studio Sunrise (who would ironically end up animating the Patlabor TV series). However by luck and after a rewrite which toned down the sci-fi elements of the show, Bandai picked up the series and decides to produce it as an OVA series.

The staff gathered for the task of creating the show was like a who’s who of top anime talent of the time. Mamoru Oshii (“The Sky Crawlers”, “Ghost in the Shell”) was director, Kazunori Ito ("Ghost in the Shell", 1990’s "Gamera” films) was script writer, Yutaka Izubuchi ("Dunbine", "Gasaraki", "Rahxephon") did the distinctive mecha designs and Akemi Takada ("Kimagure Orange Road", "Creamy Mami") did the character designs. Along with Masami Yuuki (whose Patlabor manga ran parallel with the release of the OVAs and continued for eight years after), this group, of artists was collectively a loose company called Headgear. “Patlabor” was Headgear’s only output. In fact the only real reason why the five of them formed a company was they could have complete creative control over the show and that Bandai had specifically requested they do so. There are several key elements to Patlabor which make it really stand out from other robot anime and contribute to its success. The previously mentioned realistic setting (only 10 years into the future), robots used in mainly mundane ways and of course the focus on the characters. Having recently watched the series again just recently, I was really struck at how well developed the characters were right from the first episode. The likeability of the characters and the stories are key elements to the show’s popularity in Japan.

Most anime fans would be most familiar with the more popular theatrical movies (released in 1989, 1993 and 2002 respectively) which directly follow on from the OVA series. What surprises people the most when they watch the OVA series or the Patlabor TV series and follow up long form new OVA series, is that the majority of the stories are comedies. The movies are hard boiled political dramas laced with philosophical discussions and few high tech action sequences. The difference between the two is a bit jarring for new viewers. And there is some really off kilter stuff in here. After the first two episodes which are for the most part a pretty conventional way to introduce the characters, mecha an setting (well apart from almost no robot action until the final act of the first episode), we have an episode which is entirely a parody of the original 1954 “Godzilla” film and a horror story parody/thriller. The series then changes gear radically with a two part complex political thriller which has elements in the military attempting a coup d'état in Tokyo, which mirrors the plot of “Patlabor 2 the movie”. In mid 1989, a seventh OVA was made in part to promote the then forthcoming first Patlabor movie. This time the relatively unknown Naoyuki Yoshinaga (“Parasite Dolls”) took up the role of director and the series went into another direction with a more action orientated focus. He would later helm the TV series and follow up OVA series.

Central Park Media’s (CPM) treatment of the parts of the Patlabor franchise they had the rights to (both OVA series and the TV series), was quite frankly a dog’s breakfast. Unlike the majority of the titles they released in the mid 1990’s, none of their Patlabor releases were dubbed. I think this really killed off a fair bit of interest in the title. It wasn’t until mid 2001 that CPM decided to dub Patlabor and release in on DVD. However it was done at an excruciating slow rate with the entire franchise taking nearly five years to be released. And even then, the last 12 episodes of the second 16 part OVA series were not dubbed. A real kick in the pants to those who were collecting the series to listen to the dub, but at least the show had been released in its entirety. Sales were reportedly quite bad for CPM. However the original OVA series was released complete with an English dub in a fantastic two disc set in 2003. And there are some great special features in the set two with the major one being audio commentary by Mamoru Oshii, recorded exclusively for this set. On it he humorously explains that he only took the job because he had been out of work and literally had to pay the rent, and he hated the character of Kanuka so much he wanted to remove her from the show, but was voted down by all the other members of Headgear. I recently discovered that the DVD box set of this show was selling upwards of US$245 for rather worn copies on the second hand market. Absurd really, as it was a fairly poor seller and it original retail price of less than US$30. Though, as you’d expect, the animation has naturally aged with the passing of over two decades the series still stands up to modern anime in terms of story telling and the excellent development of its characters. If you’ve only ever seen the first two movies, the original OVA series will fill in a lot of blanks. Even though it’s classed as a robot show, Patlabor is much closer to the slice of life genre. Unless you plan to get old subbed VHS copies of this series, unfortunately you’ll have to shell out big dollars to get the show on legit DVD. This is yet another anime franchise that unfortunately didn’t receive the prase it should of from English speaking fandom (outside of the first two movies that is).

Patlabor the Mobile Police (AKA Early Days) ©1988 - 1989 Headgear/Emotion/TFC. Cover artwork ©1996, 2003 Central Park Media Corporation.

Farewell Carl...

2010-04-19T00:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 17th April, Carl Macek died of an apparent heart attack. Some younger anime fans may not know his name, but Carl was an extremely important figure in getting anime into the mainstream culture of the English speaking world during the late 1980’s and into 1990’s. Macek originally worked as a collage librarian and as the curator of the Archive of Popular Culture at California State University at Fullerton until the early 1970’s. Due to his work he became an expert on comic books and ended up leaving his job and joined a student in selling comic books by mail order. The company eventually became the American Comic Book Company and was a commercial success. In the early 1980’s he opened up a gallery which sold art and memorabilia from films and animation. Of course this included anime cels. A representative from Harmony Gold was looking for a particular cel from an anime which Macek had. This chance meeting led to employment with the company and his biggest achievement, Harmony Gold’s “Robotech” TV series. After Harmony Gold tested the waters by releasing a three episode tape of “Macross” 1984, he joined this series along with two unrelated anime, “Southern Cross” and “Mospeada”, to create the 85 episode “Robotech”. Successful beyond Harmony Gold’s wildest dreams it spawned toys and a number spin off with various degrees of success, and fuelled an interest in anime in the many kids who saw the series on TV across the world. The following projects Macek helmed, “Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years”, “Robotech II: The Sentinels” and “Robotech the movie” were complete bombs.

It was at a special screening of “Robotech the movie” at the 2nd Los Angeles International Animation Celebration in July 1987 (to a sell out crowd, despite being labelled a bomb by its US distributor) that Macek met Jerry Beck. Both had an interest in Japanese animation and in 1988 formed Streamline Pictures. Their first release was a theatrical distribution of “Laputa: The Castle in the Sky” in 1989. However the title that changed everything was “Akira”. Released in the US in 1989, it became a cult classic worldwide via Streamline’s English dub. "Akira" changed how western audiences saw animation. He brought anime out of underground fan scene into the mainstream. Next, Maeck went for the home video market and released a number of anime film and OVAs such as “Fist of the North Star”, “Wicked City”, “Vampire Hunter D” and “The Castle of Cagliostro”. Although AnimEigo and US Renditions had begun releasing tapes at around the same time, Streamline was marketing their titles directly at a mainstream audience, unlike boutique publishers who aimed at the small but established fan market. Certainly a great deal of the product was from the action genre, and they were arguably exploitation films for the most part, however I don’t think you can argue that the greater majority weren’t high quality titles.

Maeck aimed at the mainstream, and for the most part this meant dub only. He was often criticised for his views on how anime should be treated for an English speaking audience. He famously said once that his adaptations were improvements on the originals. At the Anime Expo ’92 he said that he marketed anime towards a mainstream audience that “live in trailer parks watching TV and eating fish head sandwiches”. Anime fandom at large hated Maeck, especially during the mid to late 1990’s when Streamline dominated the market. But it was the release of the “Robotech the movie” that brought about some of the first negative fan reactions against Macek. At the Creation Convention in San Francisco in the summer of 1986, (which Carl Macek was a guest of), a two page typewritten pamphlet called "Is Carl Macek the Anti-Christ?" was distributed by fans. The main point of the pamphlet was a protest against Macek's editing of "Megazone 23", though the resulting mess of a film was mostly due to interference from the film’s distributor, Cannon, and wasn't entirely Macek's fault. He even received hate mail and death threats, despite the fact the great majority of his post Harmony Gold English adaptations were very faithful to the original material, and unedited. He even tried numerous times, unsuccessfully, to get “Nadia: Secret of Blue Water” on to US TV.

Macek was also the co-founder of Spümcø, the studio headed up by John Kricfalusi. Created in 1988, the same time as Streamline, the studio is best known for “The Ren and Stimpy Show”. Macek left the company in 1990 to concentrate on Streamline Pictures, just before “The Ren and Stimpy Show” hit the big time. In 1995 Macek sold the company to Orion Pictures where the company continued to release new titles under Macek's direction. In subsequent years, Orion Pictures went bankrupt, leaving a couple of titles Streamline had acquired unreleased in the US market (such as "Space Adventure Cobra", later released by Urban Vision in 1998). MGM then acquired the Orion's catalogue including Streamline and repackaged the titles again without adding any new titles to the Streamline catalogue. Over the years companies like Best Film and Video and Image have sublicensed titles from MGM and re-issued them, but when those contracts ran out the company was dead.

But Macek went on to be an independent film producer, writing the screenplay for “Lady Death” as a consultant on “Heavy Metal 2000” (he originally wrote the 1981 book “The Art of Heavy Metal: Animation for the Eighties”). He also directed a number of English dubs for ADV Films, most notably “Aura Battler Dunbine” as well as writing English scripts for various Viz anime such “Naruto” and “Bleach”. His last work was a novel and a screenplay called “War Eagles” based on an unproduced film treatment.

Although a number of anime fans hated him, and all though it made some really strange and what could be perceived as insulting remarks about anime and it’s English speaking fans, there is absolutely no way anyone can deny that he didn’t positively influence anime in the English speaking world. While other broadcast anime before and after “Robotech” did help popularise Japanese animation, “Robotech” became a world wide phenomena and an important stepping stone for many anime fans today. The release of “Akira” in English was even more important as well as Streamline Pictures marketing of anime in the home video market. Without both of these happening, we wouldn’t have the fandom or anime industry we have had over the last 20 years. We wouldn’t have had the explosion of fandom in the 1990's. “Robotech”, “Akira” and anime in the home video market being bought by a mainstream audience not only changed how people’s attitudes to animation in the US, but also in just about every English speaking country on the planet. Because of this, I salute you Carl Macek. Thanks for everything Carl, rest in peace.

However as a tribute, and because I am the proud owner of an original UK VHS copy of “Robotech the movie” (which I bought for the grand sum of £5), I shall be watching this travesty of a film in his honour this weekend, even though I know he hated the film with a passion.

Lost Magazine Review: Animag

2010-04-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Animag
Publisher: Animag, Pacific Rim Publishing Company, Malibu Graphics
Format: Magazine
Genre/Type: Anime, some manga, convention coverage
Years Active: 1987 - 1993
Issues Published: 15

History and Review:
As the 1980's wore on, anime in North America became more and more popular almost by stealth. In the mid 1980's, a group called Animation of Nippon Inter-Mediary Exchange, or A.N.I.M.E. for short, had sprung up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and by 1987 up to 200 people were showing up to monthly club meetings. Out of this group in October 1987 emerged the first issue of not only one of the first professional fan published English anime magazines, but arguably one of the all time best, Animag.

Started primarily by Matthew Anacleto, Ann Schubert, and Dana Fong, soon more familiar names would join the staff. As of the fourth issue, Trish Ledoux of Animerica fame, became editor. Other future Viz staff joined the team including Toshifuma Yoshida, Mark Simmons and Julie Davis. Other US anime notables such as Toren Smith and Frederick L Schodt contributed to the magazine as well. With this roster of talent, as you can imagine the articles were were very detailed and very well written. The articles were very useful to most fans as most could not speak Japanese, and fansubs or even commercial video tapes, let alone a US anime industry actually existed. For a lot of fans the only time they saw anime was on laserdiscs imported from Japan, or on snowy multiple generation video tapes, or on TV as "Robotech" or "Star Blazers". The magazine was an absolute godsend to fans.

Originally only about 32 pages long, it soon ballooned to 50, then to 70 by it's final issue. Apart from very lengthy and detailed articles with episode synopses, the magazine expanded to include news from Japan and the US, a manga column, a column devoted to mecha, a plastic model and garage kit column and a column called "Anime Ja Nai" which was usually a humourous look at anime. For the most part, the magazine stayed black and white during it's entire life. Occasionally there would be colour inserts such as posters. Manga inserts would also appear from time to time, but these were always promotional tie ins with comic companies. One of the most amazing things about the magazine was the cover. Unlike some magazines that just use promotional artwork supplied by anime companies, nearly all of Animag's covers were painted by US fans. A lot of them, especially the early covers, are just spectacular and I'm sure a lot of Japanese anime magazines would be proud to have them on their front cover. Published alongside Animag was the newsletter Ronin Network. This was a newsletter that contained fan club information as well as giveaways and additional anime news. On occasion it appeared as an insert in Animag. Unfortunately due to rising costs, the newsletter disappeared after a few issues.

For such a small fan based magazine, they sure got a lot of big names for interviews. Anime legends such as Leiji Matsumato and Hideaki Anno were interviewed as well as smaller players in the anime industry. One of the things I noticed about the magazine was the focus on mecha and other related 'shonen' type anime. There were the usual articles on Hayao Miyazaki films, but practically no 'shoujo' anime or manga. I find it a bit strange, but was probably due to the times and the fact a lot of anime fans were interested in sci-fi type anime, rather than the staff ignoring the genre.

Animag survived the 1980's and continued on until early 1993. At that point a lot of the staff left to join Viz Comic's new commercial anime magazine Animerica. Matthew Anacleto soon became editor again, but the magazine didn't last too long after that. The magazine had changed publishers several times, and allegedly the magazine had been sued by a publisher whom they dumped (which also led to the publisher dumping Markalite magazine which in the process killed the magazine off completely). Also one of the ex-staff had threatened to sue the magazine over the use of a photograph. It was too much for the magazine, and it imploded. It's very unfortunate and ironic that an anime magazine of such calibre would disappear at the moment anime conventions, fandom and an industry had just stated to make it's presence noticed by the community at large, and that anime in the US would continue to expand seemingly without limits until the mid 2000's when finally the bubble burst.

While Anime UK/FX is my favourite English language magazine of all time, Animag comes a very close second. Though it didn't have the slickness in terms of design like Anime UK/FX, it has great substance. The articles were brilliant, and I still refer back to the magazine form time to time. It seems as with time and with the increased popularity of anime, the quality of writing in anime magazine decreased. Anime magazines may have looked great in the mid 2000's when anime had reached its commercial peak, had bonus DVDs, posters, centrefolds (yeah, they're really useful), but a lot of them weren't worth the paper they're printed on. These publications (now mostly defunct) that masqueraded as anime magazines for fandom had paid adverts that often appeared as articles without any disclaimers and articles and reviews that were usually pretty shallow and lacked depth. The companies who published these magazines sometimes promoted their own products and agendas blatantly. Letters published in these magazines usually praised them. We never usually saw critical letters, constructive or otherwise. Anime fandom in the 21st century is a quite a different beast to fandom in the late 20th century. Maybe it's because fandom is much a younger demographic than that of 20 years ago, and that information on anime is immensely much easier to find today. Coupled with the undeniable fact that the internet killing off magazine publishing, there's no room for a magazine like this in today's modern world. Call me an old fashioned man, but I find the passing of magazines like this to be rather sad. There is something about having a magazine in your hands to read and discovering new shows and facts about that that makes magazines like this special. You can’t replicate that experience with the internet. Bottom line is if you love good writing and old 1980's mecha shows, try to hunt down some old copies of this magazine. It'll be totally worth your while.

Animag ©1987 - 1988 Animag. Animag ©1988 - 1991 Pacific Rim Publishing Company. Animag ©1991 - 1993 Malibu Graphics.

General Babble and New Releases of Old Tokusatsu

2010-04-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

I know I haven’t done a thing with this blog for a while. Got a bit lazy really. A long, long time ago, this blog was actually a website that ran off and on for about three years. I was thinking of resurrecting the site and dumping the blog, but after a doing few tests and trying to redesign the site, I came to the conclusion that blogging is a lot easier and more fun.

One of the problems with doing reviews about items that are out of print, is occasionally some of these items come back into print, which kind of invalidates the review. What I used to do with my old website was to take down reviews of titles that had been released. I think I’m going to be doing this now for the blog. So it looks like I’ll be taking down my Gamera film reviews;

A US company called Shout Factory, will be releasing the first eight Gamera films. The first one will be the original 1965 “Giant Monster Gamera” which will street 18 May 2010. The disc will feature a 12 page booklet with an essay by the late director Noriaki Yuasa, a photo gallery and trailers. It’s anamorphic DVD with Japanese dialogue and English subtitles only (no Sandy Frank dub).

Also of note (though I never got around to reviewing it) is that “Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot” will also be released on DVD in the US. This is the 26 episode 1967 live action Japanese TV series “Giant Robo” based upon the manga written by Mitsuteru Yokoyama of “Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor)”, “Babel II”, and “Sally the Witch” fame. Unlike the 1990’s OVA series, this show is much more in line with Mitsuteru Yokoyama manga. The OVA used a number of characters from his other works. The 1960’s English dub does change most of the names, and the DVD will probably not come with a Japanese language track or subtitles, however it is a load of fun. MGM gained the rights to the show after Orion Pictures went bankrupt in the late 1990’s (they only managed to release 10 episodes of the series on VHS). This release will be made available “manufactured on demand” DVD-R box sets only available from Amazon. The show isn’t available yet, but you can sign up here and Amazon will send you out an email when it goes up for pre-order.

Hopefully next weekend, things will be back to normal with some reviews of out of print stuff. I’m currently in the process of writing a number of reviews. I want to have a few spare ones up my sleeve.

Lost Anime Review: Voltus 5

2010-03-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

Voltus 5
English Distribution Company: Hi-Tops Video (USA), Video Classics (Australia)
Release Date: 1983 (USA), 1984 (Australia)
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed, PAL VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 72 mins
Edits made to English Version: Yes
Japanese Title: Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V (Chodenji Machine Voltes V)
Japanese Production Date: 1977

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
An alien invasion force from the planet Boazainia prepares it’s attack on planet Earth. Although every single nation on Earth in conjunction with the Space Defence Force bravely try to fight the invaders off, they are soundly defeated by superior Boazainian weaponry. However at a secret earth base, five young people, Steve, Bert, Little John, Jaime and Mark are in engaged in training using various combat techniques such as shooting from moving motorbikes, martial arts, horse riding, ninja techniques and battle with sharks (very useful when fighting an alien invasion). The leader of the project, Dr Smith along with Mrs Armstrong, Steve, Bert and Little John’s mother, suddenly order them to cease all training. A little miffed at how no one has actually explained what this training was for nor why it was suddenly cancelled, the five teenagers demand to know what is going on. They are soon taken to an island, which opens up to reveal a secret base. Inside they are shown the Earth’s ultimate weapon; Voltus 5. It is a huge humanoid robot built in secret from plans by Steve, Bert and Little John’s father, Dr Armstrong to stop the Boazainian invasion. Much to their surprise, the five teens are quickly ordered on board the giant robot which separates into five separate ships. Though they initially have difficulty pilot their separate craft, they soon are instinctively able to control them as they have apparently had flight simulation training.

The Voltus 5 team’s very first mission to destroy the Boazainian saucers that are devastating the planet. However the leader of the Boazainian invasion, Prince Zardos, has taken note of the Earth’s fight back with a giant robot, and sends out one of his beast fighter robots to attack Space Defence Force headquarters. The Voltus 5 team responds and after a long fight transforms into their robot form and destroys the beast fighter with their laser sword. This enrages Prince Zardos who vows to search for Voltus 5’s base and attack them. Later as Mrs Armstrong visit’s her husband’s grave site, she recalls back to a time many years ago when her husband took off to contact the planet Boazainia in an attempt to persuade them to not to invade. If he didn’t return, he asked that Dr Smith initiate the Voltus 5 plan. He also told his wife to consider him to be dead. However on the planet Boazainia, Dr Armstrong is actually alive and well. Along with a sympathetic Boazainian general who is against the Emperor’s regime, a resistance force has been formed amongst the slaves on the planet and is gaining momentum. Finally the rebellion is about to take place. At midnight a large group of slaves including Dr Armstrong forcibly take two dozen Boazainian fighter saucers and begin to navigate their way back to Earth.

On Earth, Prince Zardos is ropable with underlings lack of progress at defeating Voltus 5. He sends out a new beast fighter robot, the Super Hornet. Once again the Voltus 5 team fights off the new menace. And although it seems impervious to all attacks, Voltus 5 takes it out with its laser sword. Prince Zardos’s next plan is to take Commander Robinson of the Space Defence Force hostage and to destroy the Voltus 5 base with the Space Defence Force missiles. Cleverly disguised as delivery men, a platoon of Boazainian soldiers manages to infiltrate the headquarters of the Space Defence force telling the guards on duty they have a present for Commander Robinson from his daughter Jamie of the Voltus 5 team. The commander thanks his daughter via telephone for the present just before the Boazainian soldiers begin their attack. However as Commander Robinson is a ninja, just like his daughter, he throws shurikens at his attackers and escapes to an underground floor below via a secret passage under his desk. After the base is under their control, the Boazainian soldiers fire wave after wave of missiles at the Voltus 5 base, only to have Voltus 5 destroy them all. But the attack doesn't stop there. Another beast fighter robot, a falcon attacks Voltus 5. Knowing that her father is in danger, Jamie takes off to save him leaving her team mates in the lurch. She eventually saves him, but he is angry that she left the battlefield. However he gives her new orders to capture the leader of the Boazainian soldiers who have invaded the base. But the leader escapes and Jamie returns to her team to finish off the Falcon beast robot with an injured leg. She has learned her lesson about teamwork.

Sometime later, Dr Armstrong and their remaining group of rebels from the planet Boazainia arrive in the solar system, headed for Earth. However the Space Defence Force mistakenly identify the saucers as another Boazainian attack and send out Voltus 5 to deal with them. In the meantime Dr Armstrong and his band of rebels have to deal with a Boazainian fleet that has just arrived. Many of the saucers that escaped are destroyed taking the rebels lives with them. Soon Dr Armstrong is eventually captured by the Boazainians. When Voltus 5 finally arrives on the scene, they are confused to find a beast fighter and a Boazainian mobile base instead of an invasion fleet. While they take down the beast fighter in their usual fashion with the laser sword, the Boazainian mobile base commander throws up more confusion when he uses Dr Armstrong as a hostage. Naturally Dr Armstrong’s sons, Steve, Bert and Little John are quite surprised at the fact their father seems to have survived. However they have doubts as if it just a plot by the Boazainian commander to trick them into surrendering and that the Dr Armstrong is just a robot made to look like their father. They may end up killing their long lost father just to defeat the Boazainian mobile base.

History and Review:
“Voltus 5”, more commonly known as “Voltes V”, has had quite a number of adaptations in English and quite a large and faithful following amongst English speaking fans, though mostly those in the Philippines. The original version of “Voltes V” was aired in 1977 to 1978 in Japan and is the second series in the “Robot Romance Trilogy” which also included “Combattler V” and “Daimos”. Like the previous entry in the series, “Combattler V”, its core cast was made up of a five person team. By this point in the 1970’s, the sentai 5 person team (pioneered by "Gatchaman" in the early 1970's) had become a staple in Japanese pop culture, both in anime and tokusatsu such as Toei’s "J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai" series. Tadao Nagahama who later directed the first half of “Rose of Versailles” was the director of “Voltes V”. Supposedly Nagahama’s research into the French revolution for "Versailles” led him to work in elements of revolution into the final few episodes of “Voltes V”. While the TV show never made it in a syndicated format in the US in the 1970’s, it’s toys did in the form of Mattel's Shogun Warriors toy line.

The show’s first English adaptation was in the very late 1970’s in the Philippines of all places. An incredibly popular show in the Philippines, it spawned a huge array of merchandise exclusive to the region such as comic books and even covers of the show’s main theme song. However its success was also its downfall. It has been widely reported in anime fandom circles that President Ferdinand Marcos had the show taken off the air in 1978 due to its violent content and the fact the ending included the people of the Boazainian empire revolting and overthrowing their dictator. Hey, you don’t want to give the public any ideas now! However I’ve read that there is more realistic reason why it was taken off air. Ferdinand Marcos’ two government owned TV station were being whipped in the ratings by the privately owned TV station that aired “Voltes V”. This lead Marcos to ban several top rating TV shows such as “Voltes V” and “Charlies Angels” because he believed that the violent content in the shows had a negative effect on children (a nonsense argument still used by conservative groups today). Well, I suppose you can do whatever you like when you’re a dictator.

The Philippines English dub of this TV show eventually made its way out of the country via tape trading and led to it being viciously flogged as bootleg fodder for a the best part of two decades in the USA. As a result of nostalgia, the show made a return in the 1990’s in the Philippines with a legit VCD release and a follow up compilation movie called “Voltes V: The Liberation” in 1999. “Voltus 5”, the version being reviewed here, is a different kettle of fish altogether. Although it uses exactly the same character names as the Philippines English dub, it is a completely brand new dub seemingly recorded in the US. I suspect that the US production company, 3B Productions, either sublicensed the dub from the Philippines and weren’t happy with it, and decided to re dub it, or Toei considered the names from the Philippines dub to be the official English names for the cast. This compilation, which runs a short 72 minutes, is edited from four episodes, 1, 2, 9 and 18, of the original 40 episode series. Like a lot of compilation movies this makes the the flow of the story a little bit jerky. Also with that many episodes cut, there is a whole lot of story missing which leads to some gaps in logic. For example in a latter part of the tape, Little John suddenly appears with a robot octopus sitting on top of his helmet. It is never explained in this tape the whole back story of the robot Octo-1 (Takko in the Japanese version) which makes his appearance rather perplexing to an audience who have only seen this compilation.

"Adequate" is probably the best way to describe the dub. I've certainly heard a lot worse. Obviously professional actors were used, but I think they were watching the clock a bit rather than concentrating on giving a stellar performance. Let's face really, is some two bit actor going to really put that much effort into dubbing "some Asian kid's cartoon"? Plus this was the early 1980's, not the early 2000's anime boom. In short the dub is functional and more than listenable. You really can't expect much more than that. The release of this tape was only limited to a VHS release in the US and a highly obscure release by Video Classics in Australia. As a child I do recall seeing a lot of Video Classics releases in my local video store, but I never saw this tape. I have the US tape. By the way Video Classics also released the extremely obscure English language version of the anime film "Future War 198X". That film was only released in English in Australia and I've never seen a copy of it anywhere. Although "Super Robot" shows from the 1970's are deliberately over the top and melodramatic, they sure are a lot of fun. Though I enjoyed this tape, I think I would have rather seen the original series. The editing, while professionally done and quite seamless, really doesn't help the flow of the story and the acting is only so-so. The tape is extremely hard to find, so your best bet to obtaining a slice of a legit English version of "Voltes V" is probably the English dubbed Philippines VCD set of the original series.

Voltes V ©1977 Toei Animation Co./Sunrise/TV Asahi. English adaptation ©1983 Modern Programs International, S.A. Cover artwork ©1983 Hi-Tops Video/Heron Communications, Inc.

Lost Anime Review: Blue Sonnet

2010-02-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

Blue Sonnet
English Distribution Company: US Manga Corps (Central Park Media, USA), Manga Video (UK)
Release Date: 7 September 1994 (USA), 10 February 1997 (UK)
Format: NTSC VHS Subtitled, NTSC Laserdisc Subtitled and PAL VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 5 episodes x 30 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Red Fang: Blue Sonnet (Akai Kiba: Blue Sonnet)
Japanese Production Date: 1989 - 1990

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Sonnet Barje grew up in the slums of an unnamed US city. After being treated in an extremely cruel manner by a group of men, she discovers that she has the power of telekinesis and end up disposing of her abusers. Later she is rescued by Dr Merikus and she is transformed into a cyborg for the “evil organisation” Talon. A test in the Arizona desert where Sonnet takes on and defeats a platoon of tanks and helicopter gunship, shows she can take on whole armies with the use of her heightened ESP all by herself. Dr Merikus sends Sonnet to Tokyo to investigate a girl named Lan Komatsuzaki. Dr Merikus believes she is the “Red Fang”, an “Esper” from a long line of Ancients who possessed incredible powers. Sonnet transfers into Osei High, Lan’s school, where Sonnet gains a reputation as being a “super lady”. She can speak seven languages, tops all classes and is great at any sport. Lan however feels a certain unease about Sonnet and is wary of her. When she tells her guardian, investigative journalist and author Jin Kiryu, he laughs it off. He has taken care of Lan since she was small, and reminds her that her abilities as an Esper are a gift and though she should show anyone her powers, she isn’t a monster. However Kiryu is aware that something inside Lan is changing her.

To test the hypotheses that Lan is an esper, Sonnet begins to create a series of accidents to force Lan to show her power. Sonnet telepathically drops a large neon sign on top of Lan and her friend Naru as they walk to school, but Lan moves the sign reflexively with her powers, out of harm’s way. This leads Lan to be more suspicious of Sonnet. Later that weekend Naru, Lan and her step brother Wataru head to the Japanese Formula One race as they got free tickets from Kiryu who was unable to attend due to work. In one of the corporate boxes above the general seating, Sonnet devises another accident in which she makes one of the race cars veer out of control and crash. This causes a chain reaction of accidents and eventually one of the race cars is flung high over the safety barrier into the crowd and into the path of Lan, Naru and Wataru. Lan almost subconsciously calls her powers to fling the car to the top of the corporate boxes, out of harm’s way. However Wataru has been badly injured. A man named Shuichi Torigai helps the group and goes with them to the hospital. Lan tells the ambulance officers that she has the same bloody type as Wataru and offers her blood for a transfusion. Soon Wataru’s condition is stable. Torigai warns Lan to be careful of Sonnet as he leaves. She is rather surprised at this advice and tells Kiryu that she feels that Sonnet is after her.

Sonnet believes she has confirmed that Lan is the Red Fang, but Dr Merikus arrives in Japan to find out for sure. He is greeted at the airport by representatives of Talon’s Japanese front, Azumi Industries. But upon travelling to the company’s experimental base in Narita, a group of bikers force them off the road and attempt to take Sonnet hostage (because as we all know, Japan is full of violent “Mad Max” style bikie gangs that attack people constantly). After making sure there are no witnesses present, Dr Merikus gives Sonnet the go ahead to dispose of the bikers. This display shocks the two representatives from Azumi, however they are also impressed. On a hunch, Kiryu begins to investigate Azumi Industries after he learns that they are researching psychic powers as well as cyborg technology. The investigation takes him out of town which gives Talon a chance to pounce on Lan. Dr Merikus gets Azumi agents posing as policemen to trick Lan into thinking Kiryu has been hurt in an accident and take her out on a ship. There they lock her up, and Dr Merikus tells her that if she doesn't teleport, a time bomb will explode killing her and destroying the ship. While at first she panics and resists her captor’s request, eventually Lan teleports and escapes at the last second before the bomb explodes. Dr Merikus has now confirmed she is the Red Fang and proceeds to the next stage of his plan.

Knowing that Talon is after them, Kiryu decides to take Lan to an Esper expert, Dr Onagara. Although initially dismissive, Onagara is convinced of her power when Lan senses his granddaughter Yumi watching her, and later his horribly disfigured daughter Yuri, also an Esper. Onagara suspects that Lan has a hidden personality and she is suppressing her powers. After a number of tests where in one she leaves his house in ruins while under hypnosis, he concludes that she has complete control over her power. It's only recently that it has become more powerful. This due to the fact that she is finally 'developing' as a woman (she's 17 but has only just gone through the final stages of puberty). Through the hypnosis, Lan also discovers that when she was young is was involved in a plane accident and was raised by wolves for the first few years of her life! Unfortunately for Dr Onagara and his guests, Talon agents including Sonnet and Dr Merikus surround the house and take Lan and Kiryu forcefully. Dr Merikus orders them to kill Onagara, his assistant and his granddaughter, but Sonnet, who is beginning to question his tactics, secretly stops the bullets from killing them. The Talon agents set the house ablaze, but Onagara's assistant, daughter and grandchild are saved by Wataru and Torigai (or as Wataru nicknamed him, Bird). Bird reveals himself to be a prototype cyborg that Dr Merikus created. He rebelled and now fights against Talon. Meanwhile Lan and Kiryu have been taken to a secret laboratory. Talon wants to make clones of Lan so that they can have an army of Espers to do their bidding, and forcibly remove ovum from her to be planted into two surrogate mothers and a mechanical womb. Bird, Yuri and Wataru attempt to hatch a plan to rescue Kiryu and Lan.

History and Review:
I first saw this series around 1996 when I started to get into anime quite heavily. I saw an advert of a local anime club, and I just wanted to come along to see some “Patlabor” TV episodes (the first film had just been commercially released), but they were also screening the first tape of “Blue Sonnet”. I watched the first three episodes and I was hooked. This show plays like a well written B-grade/exploitation flick. There's gratuitous violence, a bit of fanservice and nudity, 1970's-like superhero elements (a la Tatsunoko superhero shows like "Hurricane Polymar") and it's just completely over the top in just about every aspect. The oddest thing I discovered about this series was that was based upon a shoujo manga. Yes that's right. It began in the shoujo anthology “Hana to Yume” in 1975 and eventually finished in 1989. The manga which the OVA itself is based upon is actually called “Akai Kiba (Crimson Fang)” and the story is taken from an arc called “Blue Sonnet”. The manga was written by Masahiro Shibata whose only work published in English has been “Sarai” which was published by Comics One. From what I’ve seen the OVA, like the manga does have a load of violence and nudity in it. Girls love exploding heads and naked women apparently. It’s kind of hard to fathom really. But maybe not. I mean look at the violence and bloodshed in CLAMP's "X" manga. However I suspect the producers of the “Blue Sonnet” anime may have decided to up the violence and nudity content to make it more appealing to male viewers.

Even though Sonnet is the bad guy, you really feel for her, especially after the opening sequence which shows her back story. She's been abused sexually, raped and is forced to be a prostitute. Of course she violently kills the evil men that did this to her with the use of ESP. During the series Sonnet begins to change after she goes to school for the first time and realises what a normal life is like. She begins to question her life of violence and killing. The opening animation also shows Lan attacking Sonnet with her powers. This unfortunately doesn't happen in any of the episodes. Lan is just a normal reserved girl, except for the fact she has ESP, but she never lets anyone know she has it. She only uses it when she's in danger or upset, and then it's used almost subconsciously. As the manga was rather long, it’s no surprise that there's a lot of storyline compacted into the five episodes, so with this review I had to cut out mentioning a lot of the minor characters and incidents that appear in the show. There's some real beauties. Dr Onagara's daughter, Yuri, helps out Lan when the Talon agents attack Onagara's house. Her back story is great. She was living with her boyfriend and has had a daughter with him. Yuri is a strong Esper, and Onagara wants her back to perform experiments on her. She won't go, so he tells the boyfriend about her abilities, and he leaves her. Absolutely depressed she attempts to kill Onagara and then throws herself on a fire. She is saved by Onagara's assistant, but due to injuries from the fire ends up a mute, blind and horribly disfigured for life. In another short sequence Lan has reoccurring nightmares of herself being carried nude by black hooded men towards a satanic looking altar. My absolute favourite scene though occurs in the fourth episode. Lan tries to escape from the lab with one of surrogate mothers. They head down a chute to escape guards and end up in a big vat of dismembered body parts and dead foetuses. Later, still trapped in the vat, the surrogate mother goes insane and cuddles one of the foetuses screaming that it's her baby and no one can take from her. Truly top grade horror-exploitation there. Still with all the horror and gratuitous exploitation-like atmosphere, the show never seems to take itself seriously. This is why it works so well.

The only real negatives of the show are the animation which isn't that spectacular for its time, especially for an OVA series, and the lack of a conclusive ending. Will Lan and Bird continue to fight Talon? Will Sonnet finally rebel against Dr Merikus? Annoyingly these questions aren't answered in the anime. Like a lot of short OVAs based upon long manga series, it seems to be a ploy to get people to buy the manga to see what happens next. This OVA was released by Central Park Media (CPM) at a time when they had a dubbing deal with Manga Video in the UK. Manga dubbed a lot of their early titles, mainly because it was cheaper I suppose. Dubs like "Project A-ko" and "Dominion Tank Police" were a part of this deal. For whatever reason Manga didn't take on this project until two years after the US release. CPM didn't release it dubbed in the US either. It's a bit unfortunate as it's a really underappreciated anime.

Even though it may look like another needlessly violent anime that distributors jumped on in the early 1990's because of that fact, it is a really good show. It's origins from a shoujo manga probably helped the series have more depth than it would of had if it was an original screenplay. I really love this show so much that it was one of the anime which inspired me to review these out of print gems. The show hasn't been re-issued on DVD in Japan, so it looks like this is another anime title that will be lost forever. It's such a shame really. Like a lot of older obscure OVA series, "Blue Sonnet" is a hard anime to recommend to people. New fans will probably get turned off by the animation. Old fans might dismiss it as another overly violent anime that western anime distributors jumped on to make a quick buck. It's anything but that. It's a strange mix of violence, B-grade action, horror with elements of ESP and shoujo manga. It's a completely unapologetic action/horror series that's incredibly fun to watch. If you want something completely different from your average 1980's OVA anime, hunt down a copy of this series.

Blue Sonnet ©1989 - 1990 Masahiro Shibata/Hakusensha/Mushi Pro/NTVM Corporation. Cover artwork ©1994 Central Park Media Corporation and ©1997 Manga Entertainment Ltd.

Lost Anime Review: Genesis Surviver Gaiarth

2010-01-22T23:18:00.000-08:00

This one took a surprising long time to write, so I’ve decided to have a bit of a break for a little while and focus on some other projects. I should be back in March at the latest.

Genesis Surviver Gaiarth
English Distribution Company: AnimEigo (USA), Anime Projects (UK), Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand)
Release Date: January 1993 - 20 April 1994 (USA), September 1994 - 28 Nov 1994 (UK), 1997 (Australia and New Zealand)
Format: NTSC VHS and Laserdisc Dubbed and Subtitled, PAL VHS Dubbed (Australia and NZ only) and Subtitled (UK only)
Runtime: 50 mins (episode 1) 45 mins (episodes 2 and 3)
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Genesis Surviver Gaiarth (Sosei Kishi Gaiarth)
Japanese Production Date: 1992 - 1993

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
A young man named Ital lives a rather idyllic and peaceful life surrounded by nature on the small farm where he lives. Since he was small he has been raised by a War-roid named Randis and trained to be a solider as war has been raging on the planet for sometime, though there seems to be no signs of it in Ital's immediate world. One day a group of robot soldiers is spotted on their radar. While Ital believes that he is more than capable to take then on, Randis locks him in a storage area against his will while he confronts the group. There Randis does battle with a "Beastmaster" who is after someone named Sakuya. She was supposedly Randis' partner, however Randis claims not to know anyone of that name. The two of them face off, and Randis is severely beaten in battle with one of his arms being blown off. Meanwhile Ital has broken out of the storage area and finds the farm mostly on fire and all of his animals dead. He attempts to charge into battle, but Randis throws his dismembered arm at him, knocking Ital back onto a dam. Randis is destroyed by the Beastmaster whom leaves the the farm in an uninhabitable state. Later Ital saddened by the loss of the robot that raised him, reluctantly prepares to leave his home, determined to kill the Beastmaster.

In his travels, Ital happens upon what he believes is group of imperial soldiers hunting down republican robot units in battle. Up ahead he spots a hidden republican Autobase and it seems that the imperial soldiers are being set up to be caught. Ital attempts to warn them, but their young female leader Sahari is rather annoyed at his interruption. However the Autobase, which looks like a giant mechanic millipede, swallows Ital whole as he saves Sarahi from also being swallowed. In reality Sahari and her group are not soldiers but scavengers. As she looks back as the Autobase leaves she reprimands one of her group who suggest Ital deserved what he got. She is grateful that he warned and saved her. Meanwhile Ital explores inside the Autobase and discovers a broken down Imperial War-roid amongst the junk, not too dissimilar to Randis. Though the old War-roid has deliberately shut himself down, Ital manages to get him online again, though the robot is unresponsive. Guard robots inside the Autobase are altered to Ital's presence and begin to attack. The old War-roid leaps into action and begins to take out the hostile force. In the midst of the fighting, the Autobase is destroyed in an explosion. Ital is later awaked by Sarahi's robot horse. He has somehow survived the aftermath Autobase explosion. Beside Ital is the old War-roid. He explains that he has no memory and he can only recall his name, Zaxon. After some discussion, Zaxon decides to follow Ital's quest to hunt down the Beastmaster.

Ital and Zaxon come across a small city, but the authorities take them into custody as they can find no records on either of them. They are later taken to the city's councillors, who tell them much to their surprise that the war has been over for nearly a century. While the councillors are rather taken with Ital's story of the rouge Beastmaster, they are rather offended his travelling partner is called Zaxon. This was apparently the name of a heroic War-roid fro the war one hundred years ago. The leader and protector of the city, a War-roid named Warlock, decides to let both of them go in spite of the councillors' protests. Still it is decided that both of them will be locked in the watch house overnight. In the morning they are set free and Sahari, who had seen them entering the city the night before, is waiting for both of them. Sahari wants to make a deal with Ital in an attempt to make him join her group. He certainly proves his worth to the rather sceptical scavengers when a fight, stared by Sahari, breaks out in a bar they are in. The group escape and head to their hidden hideout when Sahari persists in getting Ital to join her scavenging group.

But later that night, the Beastmaster and his robot army attack the city. The city's protector which the entire populace relies on, Warlock puts up a brave fight, but is defeated. In Warlock's final moments, he gives Zaxon access to the city's data base so that he will have the knowledge to beat the Beastmaster and also so he may regain the memory he had lost. Both Ital and Zaxon fight together to attempt to defeat Beastmaster. In the second OVA, both Zaxon and Ital have joined Sahari as mercenaries. They head to Metro City where a mechanical beast is wreaking havoc underground in a mine. There they encounter and with some difficulty defeat what is known as a Kampfdraken, a huge multi-headed dragon-like guard robot. Behind the beast they discover a pool a of water which Zaxon, in a almost trance like state, walks over to and summons a large metallic sphere from it's depths. The sphere opens to reveal a young woman. However not is all that it seems. She is not a human, but what is known as an Elf, and synthetic man man creature. While the elderly councillors who run the city are happy that Kampfdraken, they ask the group to leave the city as soon as possible and do not want the Elf anywhere near them. She awakens and reveals herself to be Sakuya.

History and Review:
This three part OVA series (note that “Surviver” is purposely spelt incorrectly) is one of the more popular titles that strangely never got released on DVD in the west. And this is despite the fact it was released in just about every English speaking market. It's very typical of AIC’s OVAs of the time (though it’s really more of an Artmic produced series) with a candy coloured palette. The show is like a blend of fantasy, sci-fi and post apocalyptic world genres. In a lot of ways it’s very much like the “Ladius” OVA which I previously reviewed. However “Gaiarth” has had a serious dose of post “Bubblegum Crisis” style cyberpunk. But like almost all anime with a cyberpunk edge, this show doesn't really have a dark storyline like the majority lot of western cyberpunk does. In fact there's a lot of light moments and even a fair bit of comedy, even though the plot itself is pretty dramatic. I've read other reviews that criticise the first episode as being too drawn out and for taking nearly an entire episode to set the story up. However I didn't mind this at all. The entire episode kept my interest and there was a lot of action all the ay through. The run times of each episode are a bit unusual at a minimum of 45 minutes each. At the time most OVAs ran a standard 30 minutes, but the additional runtime allows a the story to fleshed out a lot more.

The staff for this show is almost like a roll call of the late 1990's and early 2000's most innovative and creative players in the anime industry. Story writer and co-director for this show is none other than mecha designer extraordinaire Shinji Aramaki. Anyone who has even just casually glanced at the anime section in the last half decade would be familiar with his work. The two CG animated "Appleseed" films, while not exactly favourites of mine, are easily his two most famous works in the west to date. Though to old school anime fans, we probably best remember him for the mecha he designed during the 1980's such as the Garland from "Megazone 23". Hiroyuki Kitazume provides the character designs as well as co-direction with Aramaki for the first episode. He's probably most well known for this character designs on "Gundam ZZ" for the ultra cheesy "Star Light Angel" segment of the omnibus OVA "Robot Carnival". While "Genesis Surviver Gaiarth" really hasn't aged gracefully, one thing really struck me while watching it recently. It really is a template for a lot of the AIC productions that followed it. In particular "Moldiver" and to a degree "Armitage III" seem to be direct descendens to this show in a design sense.

While this show was released just about everywhere in English, it never made it to DVD. Back in the early 2000's, AnimEigo did state they were planning to release the show on DVD, however that never eventuated. In Japan Geneon did reissue the show on DVD in 2003, however it is now out of print, and the disc contained neither the English dub nor subtitles. While not the greatest OVA series ever made and certainly not the deepest anime I ever saw, I find it a bit saddening that anime fans rarely even mention this show anymore. I think it's truly an anime that has been lost to fandom. Admittedly the show doesn't really kick into full gear until the second episode when out band of heroes finds the "Elf" named Sakuya, and the whole post apocalyptic/lost technology thing has been done to death. And the lead character Ital is a bit too naive to be totally believable. However when I watch this show, there's something about it that makes it really entertaining. It is rather shallow and and about as substantial as fast food, but once in a while, like fast food, it is fun to consume something like this. All of the characters are quite likeable, the story is a lot of fun and the mecha is beautifully designed. If you are trying to track this how down, expect to do a bit of hunting as copies are becoming rather difficult to find. Just remember when watching it, it's not a masterpiece, it's just meant to be a big piece of dumb old fun.

Genesis Surviver Gaiarth ©1992 - 1993 Artmic/Toshiba EMI. Cover artwork ©1993 - 1996 AnimEigo, Inc., ©1994 Anime Projects (UK) and ©1997 Madman Entertainment.

Lost Tokusatsu Review: Gamera Vs Guillon

2010-01-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Gamera Vs Guillon
English Distribution Company: Celebrity Home Video, Neptune Media (USA), Toshiba (Japan)
Release Date: 25 September 1989 (USA, dubbed version), 11 October 2001 (Japan)
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed and Subtitled, NTSC DVD Subtitled
Runtime: 82 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Gamera Vs Giant Monster Giron (Gamera tai daikaiju Giron)
Japanese Production Date: 1969

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In the early evening two boys, Aiko (played by Nobuhiro Kajima) and his gaijin friend Tom (Christopher Murphy), who is staying overnight, spot the saucer through their telescope and decide to investigate, with Aiko's little sister, Tomiko (Miyuki Akiyama), tagging along. However Aiko and Tomiko's mother gets wind of thier plan to go out at night and stops them. Naturally young children should not have dreams or adventures and astronomy is not proper pursuit in life (way to crush children's dreams "mom"). Undeterred, the trio take off on their bikes the next morning in an attempt to find the UFO. Another adult gets in the way though, Kon (Kon Omura), the local bumbling policeman whom chastises them as Aiko is letting his sister ride on the bike with him (plus no helmets, but this was the '60's and no one cared about that stuff). Eventually the group heads for block of uncleared land where they think the saucer has landed. After finding and chasing a rabbit, Tomiko accidentally happens upon the saucer in a clearing. Despit Tomiko's warnings not to do so, the two boys board the craft to see if anyone is aboard. Tom stupidly presses a few buttons which causes the saucer to rise above the ground. Soon the boys find themselves in space with a meteor heading straight for the ship. Luckily Gamera shows up and knocks it out of their path. But Gamera later attempts to stop the saucer flying deeper out into space. The boys are confused as to why he would do that, but soon the saucer picks up speed and leaves Gamera far behind.

During the trip, possibly due to the saucer's rough and almost disastrous landing, the boys are knocked unconscious but soon wake to discover that they are on an alien planet that isn't too dissimilar to Earth. They seem to be near what looks like a base of some kind. Suddenly a giant silver Space Gyaos appears and begins to destroy the base's buildings. Surprisingly a nearby river begins flowing backwards and the riverbed splits open to reveal another giant monster. It is a strange looking creature with a blade-like head. It's battle with the Space Gyaos is short as it slices up and dismembers its body. When the blade headed monster crawls back into the crevice in the riverbed, it closes up and the river starts flowing again. The boys decide to explore the buildings and eventually come to a strange room where two human like women in silver suits appear. The introduce themselves as Flobella and Baebella and they tell the boys that they have reached the planet Terra. The planet is in the same orbit as Earth, but is on the opposite side of the Sun, therefore no one on Earth can see the planet. Terra was controlled by computers, but a malfunction created monsters (obviously the IT section weren't available that day) and the planet was doomed. There was a mass exodus but the spacecraft crashed, leaving only Flobella and Baebella as the planet's sole inhabitants. The girls use the blade headed creature, Guillon, to fight off the monsters. Worse yet is that a rather fast moving glacier, unseen to the audience, that will destroy the base within five hours.

The alien women tell the boys that they had sent out a scout craft to to find a new planet and it landed on Earth. When they recalled the craft they were very surprised to find them on board. The plan is to escape Terra and take the boys with them back to Earth. The boys are left alone in a room while the odd alien duo prepare their ship. But secretly the aliens have other plans. As their ship can only carry two people, they decide to use the boys as "rations". After interrogating Aiko via telepathy, they treat the boys to doughnuts and milk which are laced with a sleeping agent. The alien women then shave off Aiko's hair in preparation to cut his skull open and eat his delicious brain, but Gamera arrives on the planet and begins his attack. The women leave the boys and fire a missile at Gamera in retaliation, but it does not harm him. Guillon is then sent out and after a long and fruitless fight, Guillon throws hidden shuriken weapons from his blade into Gamera's flesh. Gamera then falls into bottom of the alien ocean, apparently defeated and possibly dead. Meanwhile Tom has awakened and has discovered the alien's horrible plot. He awakens Aiko and they plan their escape.

On Earth, Tomoko is having trouble trying to get her mother to believe that the boys were taken away by the saucer as she believes such things are just made up stories (if Frederick Valentich was alive now, he'd be crying). Tom's mother, Elza, doesn't even seem to be phased that both boys have been missing for some time. It's only when Tomoko hides in Elza's car that she eventually listens to the little girl's story and starts to take the situation a bit more seriously. Eventually the alarm is raised and bumbling cop Kon races to the scene of the saucer landing in an attempt to find the missing boys. Tomiko's story is later vindicated when reports of the same saucer surface and both mothers become quite concerned.

History and Review:
Truly this has to be one of the oddest Gamera films in the 1960's series. By this time monster films were trying to break out of the clichés they had created themselves, but were hampered by dwindling budgets. By 1965 plots in monster films concerning aliens had appeared, and this plot device was used (in fact overused) quite regularly until monster films began to disappear altogether in the mid 1970's. While this trend began with "Great Monster War" (AKA "Godzilla Vs Monster Zero" or "Invasion of the Astro Monster") in 1965, Daiei only felt the need to resort to this tactic for the film previous to "Guillon", "Gamera Vs Viras" in 1968. That film also contained a mass of footage from the the three previous films due to budgetary constraints. Luckily in "Guillon", only a minimum of footage is recycled from previous films (mere seconds really). But the resulting insane nature of the film, due to the combination of creativity born out of near desperation and a low budget is quite apparent, with elements like brain eating alien women and blade headed monsters who dismember their enemies. In fact the budget was so low that instead of building a new monster as per the script, they just painted the Gyaos suit (from the 1967 film "Gamera Vs Gyaos") silver.

Gamera's antics where also bizarre and at times out of character with the behaviour of the monster in the previous films. During his final fight with Guillon (named after the guillotine) he swings around and around on pole attached to a building like he was doing gymnastics on parallel bars. In another sequence Guillon's shurikens have embedded themselves into Gamera's arms. As he seems to dance in a futile attempt to get them out, Tom remarks "Look, Gamera's Go-Go dancing!". The sets and special effects are pretty shonky, the acting, mostly from the two boys but especially from Tom, is wooden and the story is simplistic to point of being non-existent. But high quality production values is not what the core of this movie is about. Really, all that this film is boils down to is a stupid little monster movie that's mostly wish fulfilment for boys. The main theme here is that the kid's stories are vindicated despite the adults (mostly parents) not initially believing them. For the most part it succeeds. Personally I thought the earlier films "Gamera Vs Barugon" and "Gamera Vs Gyaos" were much superior and more technically competent, but this one is so odd that in places it really entertained me and I had some fun with it.

The actors are also quite interesting in this particular film. Kon Omura once again appears in a Gamera film, this time as a bumbling cop who's the only one that believes Tomiko's story that the boys were taken away by a UFO. Kon is probably best known for his comedic work, but also stared in "Tora-san's Love in Osaka", one of the films in the long running Tora-san series. Yuko Hamada who played Aiko's mother interestingly played Torizo in "Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Hades". We also have two American actors, Tom (Christopher Murphy) and his mother Elza (Edith Hanson), who where purposely cast in the film to generate overseas sales of the film. This is also one of those rare Japanese monster films that has two English dubs, one by American International Pictures (AIP) who named it "Attack of the Monsters", and one by Sandy Frank, who's best known for "Battle of the Planets". While the AIP version cut out a lot of the monster violence (which to be fair was unusually violent and bloody for a kid's monster film), the Sandy Frank version is uncut. This version was released by Celebrity Home Video in 1989. Neptune Media's US subtitled VHS release from 1999 is excellent. As per usual, they have presented the film uncut in glorious widescreen with subtitles only appearing in the "black bar" at the bottom of the screen. Like the previous "Giant Monster Gamera" tape, this one is also presented in a hard-shell black plastic keep case. The reverse of the cover has interviews with Kon Omura and the film's director Noriaki Yusaa as well as an introduction to the film from David Kalat who wrote "A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series". The tape also includes the Japanese theatrical trailer, which surprisingly has many alternate scenes and dialogue which doesn't appear in the final cut of the film. American International Pictures TV promo for "Attack of the Monsters" and a short promotional stills gallery are also included. In 2001 the movie was released in Japan on DVD with optional English subtitles by Toshiba. Like the previously reviewed "Giant Monster Gamera", this disc is presented in glorious anamorphic widescreen and includes the unsubtitled theatrical trailer and interview with director Noriaki Yusaa. Like the other discs in the series, the subtitle translation is a little simplistic and "economical", however it's more than passable. The disc was also released as part of a second half box set of Gamera films which also included a Gamera figure.

While I think this film is quite fun and did like it for what it was, I have found that with repeat viewings I became rather bored with it. The film is definitely a product of it's time. It's a 1960's kids film and the special effects are of the bargain basement variety. It really doesn't hold up very well against today's giant monster films, or even those which came before it. There are definitely better Gamera films from the era, but unfortunately these are really hard to come by in their original language format. Unless you're willing to spend some time in tracking down the now out of print Japanese 2001 Toshiba DVD releases of the films which all came with English subtitles (except for the 1980 film "Super Monster Gamera" which did not have optional subtitles). I've also read that some sources claim that this film is in the public domain because Kadokawa Pictures purchased Daiei a number of years ago and for some unknown reason US law does not recognise this. This is of course a load of bullshit and really just a pathetic excuse to keep bootlegging the movie, as Kadokawa probably doesn't have the resources to track down those who pirate the film. Essentially, if you see anyone trying to peddle any English language version film which I haven't talked about here, they're criminals living off someone else's work. I was absolutely flabbergasted to find a copy of Neptune Media's VHS of this movie for sale on one site for US$129. There is no way in hell this film is worth that much money, plus you can buy the Japanese subtitled disc for much cheaper. While this film is great improvement on the terribly mediocre "Gamera Vs Viras", the previous film in the series, it's still quite a lacklustre feature. It's a film that I would recommend only to those who love 1960's monster films, no matter how bad they are.

Gamera Vs Guillon ©1969 Daiei Co Ltd. Cover artwork ©1989 Celebrity Home Video, ©1999 Neptune Media Inc and ©2001 Toshiba Digital Frontiers.

Lost Anime Review: Kochikame the movie

2010-01-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

Kochikame the movie
English Distribution Company: Pony Canyon (Japan)
Release Date: 19 July 2000
Format: NTSC DVD with Japanese Dialogue and optional English and Japanese Subtitles
Runtime: 95 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: This is the Police Station in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward The Movie (Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo The Movie)
Japanese Production Date: 1999

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Good for nothing middle aged police officer Kankichi Ryotsu (or Ryo-san to his colleagues) has been chosen via computer as a "robber" for a drill at a local bank. But due to Ryo's nature he has decided not to follow the script, and make the drill much more "realistic" by stopping staff from setting off the alarm and actually taking wads of cash from the bank. This horrifies everyone including his robbery partner and fellow police officer, the long suffering Yoichi Terai. After Ryo deliberately lets Yoichi get splattered with a paint dye bomb so he can get the bank's money, he escapes giving his waiting colleagues the slip. However Ryo happens across a real bank robbery where the two bank robbers have taken one of the employees hostage. Ryo fires blanks at both the robbers from a machine gun that had been confiscated from a gang the previous week. The robbers are shocked and drop their weapons which gives the waiting riot squad a chance to arrest them. But Ryo's commanding officer, Daijiro Ohara, is as per usual livid at him. There is no time for Ryo's punishment as the robbers have left a time bomb behind which has five minutes until it detonates. Ryo rushes in to defuse it, but ends up entangled in it's wires. He tries to commandeer a passing bus in an attempt to have the device explode in a distant and safe place, but the driver refuses to leave. As a result with both of them at the wheel, the bus cuts a swathe of destruction through the city and eventually ends up on it's side to avoid hitting a temple. Luckily for Ryo the station's motorcycle cop, Hayato Honda, was following the bus and he hops on Hayato's bike as they make a beeline for an isolated spot where Hayato unceremoniously dumps Ryo and flees. Ryo makes a futile attempt to remove the bomb from himself and then neutralise it, with the only result being that his pants fall down. But suddenly a helicopter lands a young woman cuts one of the wires stopping timing device on the bomb.

Later the next day, Ohara is chewing out Ryo, but he makes an excuse that she should be on patrol and quickly rides off with his boss shouting at him. Unfortunately for Ryo the townsfolk have heard of yesterday's incident, one in a very long line of disasters for Ryo, and they loudly criticise him for it. So he cycles out further to he gets to Ueno park. There he reminisces about his childhood days spent there, until he discovers that the temple in the park has been replaced by a gaudy hotel. Disgusted at it, Ryo throws a small rock at it, and much to his surprise the entire building collapses. However this disaster wasn't Ryo's doing for once. It is the work of Bentan Mask, a mysterious terrorist who gave a warning via the internet of his intent to destroy the building. The department has invited Lisa Hoshino from the FBI (the same woman who defused Ryo's bomb) to help investigate the crime and to help thwart any future attacks. Ohara orders Ryo to attend Lisa's lecture on dismantling bombs, in which the disinterested Ryo falls asleep. Lisa punishes him by programming her bomb defusing robot, Dandy, to dismantle his chair, which sends the sleeping Ryo crashing to the floor. Incensed at this, Ryo challenges Lisa to duel with his robot, Densuke the 28th. Naturally Ryo's odd looking robot loses.

Lisa's lecture turned robot competition is interrupted by an emergency callout. Bentan Mask has sent another waring to the police. This time his target is the Shinatora Moonlight building and it will be bombed at midnight. Like the previous hotel complex, this one is owned by the Shinatora company. The police have hypothesised that Bentan Mask may be out to get company CEO Torazo Shinatora. Torazo has suspected links to criminal activities, but has managed to dodge any charges that have been levelled at him. Much to Ryo's disgust, Ohara has ordered him to be Lisa's partner on this case because no one will miss him if he's killed by the bomb. Upon arriving at the building, the reluctant partners find charges in the pillars inside the building, and then search for the timing device. However due to Ryo previously kicking Dandy several times (even though it's made of titanium alloy which hurts his foot every time he kicks it), it's drive shaft is broken and it cannot reach the timer. Ryo lifts the heavy robot above his head, but slips which causes the robot to short circuit the timer advancing the detonation time to just 40 seconds. Lisa, Dandy and Ryo escape in the nick of time as the the building is reduced to a pile of rubble. However the police spot a safe in junk pile that was once the Moonlight building. Inside are hundreds of thousands of yen in banknotes and Torazo is arrested on suspicion of tax evasion.

Despite the positive result in charging Torazo, Ryo is yet again chastised by Ohara. Ryo believes it is all Dandy's fault and breaks into Lisa's trailer to graffiti the robot. Unfortunately he is caught red handed and even after viewing closed circuit TV footage which clearly shows him writing on the robot, he claims that someone who looked like him broke in and committed the crime. Ohara can't take anymore and confines him to the police dormitories for two weeks. Ryo's work colleague, the young, rich and handsome officer Keiichi Nakagawa, visits him and is utterly astounded to find him digging tunnel underneath his room. He says that according to a magazine article he read (actually from a 1968 issue of Shonen Jump) that a shogun's gold is buried somewhere below. Keiichi has to leave Ryo to his own devices as Bentan Mask has sent off another warning. This time it's a Shinatora industrial area. Lisa and Dandy are about to go in to find and defuse the bomb. But a worse problem arrises when a group of children tell them that they were playing hide and seek in the building and one child cannot be found. Luckily Ryo who has been digging all this time manages to dig through the floor of the industrial area. Ryo helps find the child, while Lisa strangely is able to stop the bomb without dismantling it. To get the child out, who was trapped under a number of pipes, Ryo decided to remove them. This has weakened the whole structure of the building which promptly falls apart around them. But all three of them escape via the tunnel Ryo had dug. Shinatora is in trouble again, as due to it's destruction the industrial area has been exposed as an illegal toxic waste dump. Some in the police department are also getting suspicious of Lisa as so far she has been unable to stop any of Bentan Mask's destruction.

History and Review:
Oddly, like a number of the most popular and highest rating anime on Japanese TV, "Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo" (shortened to "Kochikame" by fans and later the producers of the show) has been pretty much ignored by fans in the west. One of the main reasons for this was the TV series never got a release on Laserdisc or even a later release on DVD. Therefore in the mid to late 1990's when this show was released, the fansubbers didn't bother with it. That's a shame as the show is really funny. To back up just a bit, the "Kochikame" TV series which ran from June 1996 to December 2004 for a total of 367 episodes (though there was a one off anime special created in 1985), is based on an extremely popular manga by Osamu Akimoto. The manga has been running continuously in Shonen Jump since September 1976 which makes it the longest ever running manga without a break. So far it has reached 167 volumes of manga and sold over 135 million copies. Never heard of it? Can't say I'm surprised. For some reason a lot of the extremely popular mainstream manga and anime never make it in the west or are complete flops. Hence the reason why you can't buy "Sazae-san", "Chibi Maruko-chan" or "Doraemon" on DVD in English or see them on TV. I think for the most part they're "too Japanese". It's much easier to market sci-fi or fantasy anime which have universal concepts and storylines.

Though the story picks up some three years in the anime's broadcast run, for the most part you can watch this film without knowing anything all about what has happened in the past. First we have Kankichi Ryotsu, or Ryo-san, a lazy, undisciplined mono-brow cop who would rather think up get rich schemes and play around rather than do any real police work. In fact he's always getting himself and his other colleagues in trouble or difficult situations. The storylines usually revolve around Ryo inventing a new gadget or some other money making scheme and pulling rich boy police officer Keiichi Nakagawa into helping him when Ryo's in financial dire straights. Other characters which regularly feature (but aren't all that important to this film) include Reiko Akimoto, a half French, blonde and busty lady police officer, and like Keiichi also comes from high society. Also to understand the final reel of the film, I have to make mention of the character Ai Asato or Maria as she known to work colleagues. Or should say as he is known to his work colleagues. Maria is a transvestite police officer who loves Ryo, but obviously the feelings aren't mutual. Excusive to the anime are two young female police officers Komachi Ono and Naoko Seisho. As you can tell from this film they both love to tease and ridicule Ryo and his schemes. There are bunch of other characters in this show, but none have particular relevance to this film, so I'll omit them from this review. The entire series is mostly confined to the Katsushika Ward of Tokyo (hence the literal name of the show in English; "This is the Police Station in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward").

In the very early days of DVD, a small number of anime in Japan was released with English subtitles, of which some were really odd choices. In 2000, possibly because the film had been translated in an attempt to sell it to various international markets, Pony Canyon released this movie with English subtitles. Strange really, as none of the TV anime or the manga has ever made it into English. However despite the fact the disc was English friendly and most DVD players have or can have region coding easily disabled, the show really failed to make a splash amongst English speaking fans, even with those who regularly imported Japanese DVDs. I think that's quite a shame because as I've said before this show is really funny. While the main plot has to do with a mysterious bomber named Bentan Mask, this is nothing more than a excuse to cram in a ton of absurd jokes that have nothing to do with any aspect of the storyline. I have to say that for this most part this works really well. There's just gag after gag coming at you from all directions. Finally at about the two-thirds mark it does slow down to resolve everything and you could say at this point things get bogged down a bit. However the climax to the film and the whole absurd build up is hilarious. While the show is supposedly set in the late 1990's and the surroundings and technology confirm that, you can't help feel that it has a distinct 1970's feel, especially in the way some parts of residential Tokyo are portrayed. Probably not too surprising as the manga orginally began in the mid 1970's. Being that this a comedic police show, I suppose comparisons to "You're Under Arrest" can't be helped. I suppose that the two shows are similar, though I think "Kochikame" would appeal to slightly older audience. I noticed that both the "You're Under Arrest" and "Kochikame" movies were both released in 1999 and oddly both have plot points which specifically involve rasing the Kachidoki Bridge in Tokyo! There's also a bit of a nod to Masamune Shirow as the robot Dandy is obviously modelled from the Fuchikomas in his "Ghost in the Shell" manga.

Pony Canyon issued the film on DVD twice, once in 2000 in CD jewel case packaging and a second more standard DVD case in 2004. Despite the popularity of the series in Japan, both versions have been deleted. I have the oddly packaged CD jewel case version (which quite a number of early Japanese DVDs were released this way). It includes a "making of" and several trailers and TV spots as well as cast and crew biographies. Unfortunately none of these features are in English. The disc also includes an 8 page booklet, which like all inserts in Japanese DVDs, shows how the menus works, and amusingly clearly shows where the DVD's "Easter Egg" is located in one of the menus (it's an additional TV spot for the film). While hardly a classic film, "Kochikame the movie" is yet another title that against all odds made it out in the commercial market in English, then was promptly ignored. I think this is really unfair. If a comedy as long and laden with Japanese pop culture references as "Keroro Gunso (Sgt Frog)" can be marketed in English, then this show could easily be also. While the movie has one small scene at the very end which would require previous knowledge of the show, the rest of the film can be watched without knowing anything about the manga or TV anime. This sadly out of print DVD offers a small glimpse into the wider world of "Kochikame", and disappointingly I don't think I'll ever be able to see that world in English.

Kochikame the movie ©1999 Fuji Television Network•NAS. Cover artwork ©2000, 2004 Pony Canyon Inc., Japan.

Lost Anime Review: Hummingbirds

2010-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hummingbirds
English Distribution Company: Western Connection (UK)
Release Date: 24 April 1995
Format: PAL VHS Subtitled
Runtime: 74 mins
Edits made to English Version: No (except opening and closing animation edits)
Japanese Title: Idol Defence Force Hummingbird (Idol Boeitai Hummingbird), Hummingbird '94 Summer (Idol Boeitai Hummingbird '94 Natsu)
Japanese Production Date: 1993 - 1994

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
For some unknown reason the Japanese government decides to outsource the defence forces. The only people mad enough to pick up the baton are the entertainment industry. This means that the air force is now entirely comprised of singing idols. Each week the TV programme "The Best Guy" ranks idols using pilot skills and even record sales. A new group of sisters collectively called Hummingbirds are trying to break into the scene. Mina, Uzuki, Satsuki, Yayoi and Kanna Torishi are trying their luck for the first time on the show, being "targets" for boy band SNAP (a thinly veiled parody of real boy band SMAP). However the boys aren't very good shots, and the middle sister Satsuki is so frustrated she attempts to make her plane hover vertically, so that the SNAP boys can easily lock on to her and "shoot" her down. However this naturally puts a great deal of stress on the plane's engine and it begins to spiral out of control downward. Luckily Satsuki pulls out in time. The show's producer, Kudo, is quite interested in the girls performance, despite of, or perhaps because of Satsuki's brain explosion. He arranges a meeting with the Hummingbirds' manager, Hazuki, also the girl's mother, where the two of them nut out a deal to make a record and music video to make them into idol superstars.

But Satsuki is a little uneasy at the idea that she will be the focus of the group. Her real goal is to win the best pilot award and follow in the footsteps of her pilot father who disappeared while on a mission some eight years ago. Still the dancing and singing lessons and training begin in earnest and soon they are ready to make their debut. However standing in their way is the manager of SNAP, Yajima. He deliberately attempts to sabotage their debut by forcing the girls to wear animal costumes and performing in old clapped out Phantom F-4 jets, while out on a mock sortie against SNAP. While the girls reluctantly comply, they take out their revenge on the SNAP boys by locking on to all four of them to "shoot" them down in less than a minute. Taking a different tact, Yajima tries to wine and dine Hazuki into letting him manage the Hummingbirds, however she isn't having a bar of it. Meanwhile the girl's idol career is really taking off with concerts, music videos and strange Japanese TV programmes invading their hotel room and waking them from their sleep early in the morning. But the main job of the Hummingbirds is self defence of Japan's skies. The girl's grandfather has completed their rather futuristic customised planes (which suspiciously look like the craft from "Thunderbirds"). They're now completely ready for their idol debut on "The Best Guy". In fact they're featured in a special section of the show called "Spotlight Corner" and will be performing their new single.

However when the girls reach the tarmac to board their planes for the show, they are shocked to discover that someone has attached bombs to the landing gear on their planes. The bomb squad will take 40 minutes to arrive, by which time the TV show will be over. About to pull out, Satsuki rallies the group saying she won't give into intimidation. Kudo for some unknown reason knows how to dismantle bombs and radios instructions to the girls. Naturally they discover the bomb is a fake and the girls take off just in the nick of time to perform their single, much to the displeasure of Yajima who had the fake bombs planted. Later at home, the Hummingbirds are called out to defend Japan against invading aircraft above Tokyo Bay. But the girls have to deal with Kudo and his cameraman offsider who have taken off in a helicopter to obtain footage of the girls in action for a music video. One of the enemy aircraft shoots at Kudo and it's up to Satsuki to save him.

In the second OVA on the tape, an idol swimming competition on the USS Enterprise is interrupted by an invading plane. The Hummingbirds take off to investigate only to find that the pilot in question is an invited guest. However the guest takes it on himself to challenge the Hummingbirds and in particular goes after an unwilling Satsuki. The second eldest sister, the tomboyish Yayoi, locks on to the guest and gleefully "shoots" him down. When the guest lands on the USS Enterprise, he reveals himself to be the handsome Goro Kato, a top pilot once under the command of the girl's father. This causes a ruckus in the Hummingbirds camp and Hazuki even tries to recruit him, though the girls are decidedly unimpressed. Goro has in fact been recruited to train Yajima's new pilot duo Reiko Hosokawa and Hitomi Nakajo, who form the curvy and sexy pilot team the Fever Girls. Both are rather peeved off the Hummingbirds closeness to Goro and decide to challenge them to a beach volleyball match. While the Fever Girls lose the match by a point to Yayoi and Satsuki, they do win the "Nice Body" competition. The duo won't give up and train hard to beat the girls. However Goro has some dastardly tricks up his sleeve, none of which impress the Fever Girls who, despite their highly competitive nature, want to fight fair and square.

History and Review:
First up, I want to give a disclaimer; I love this stupid show to death. I have all four OVAs on laserdisc as well as a rare aftermarket Japanese LD box, the two disc DVD box set, an artbook, a rare glossy fan event programme for a public screening of the second OVA and bunch of other odd merchandise. So don't expect a balanced review of this title. Essentially this show is nothing more than part of a multi media project for a five woman singing group, oddly enough like the anime also called Hummingbird. The group was made up of Kotono Mitsuishi (who played Satsuki), Sakiko Tamagawa (Kanna), Yuri Amano (Yayoi), Fumie Kusachi (Uzuki), and Hekiru Shiina (Mina). Of those five, Kotono would be the most famous in the west. She has played Excel in "Excel Saga", Murrue Ramius in "Gundam Seed", Misato Katsuragi in "Evangelion" and in her most famous role, Usagi Tsukino and her alter ego Sailor Moon in the series of the same name. Sakiko although not a well known name in the west, would most recognisable to fans as the voice of the Tachikoma in "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex", "Pirotess in Record of Lodoss War" and Natsumi Tsujimoto in "You're Under Arrest". In four short years, the group pumped out a huge catalogue of items including 14 albums, four singles, two concert videos, four cassette dramas, two pocket novels, three CD-ROMs and of course four OVAs. And while some sources say that the OVA series was based off the novels by "Irresponsible Captain Tylor" author Hitoshi Yoshioka, the fact is there is less than a month's gap between the release of the first novel and the Hummingbird's first album (and the release of the first OVA was only two months after that). One can only assume that the singing group, anime and novel were all planned at the same time. In fact my artbook contains pictures of a recording and photo session for the Hummingbird voice actresses with the dates of these sessions being December 1992, a whole six months before the release of the first novel.

The series itself is quite frankly totally inane. It's dumb, it's silly, even superficial and maybe just a cynical ploy to help the singing careers of five women and to sell a lot of merchandise. However it is a big stupid load fun like a lot of 1990's OVAs, and can be surprisingly quite clever and is very funny most of the time. Like Macross, we have a defence force and idol singers, but this time it's played for laughs. Everyone involved knows the show is silly and is having fun with the concept. Funnily enough "Macross 7", released two years after this video series, was somewhat similar with a band who defended against enemy attack by flying in Valkaries and singing. The "Hummingbird" anime's story focuses mainly on the middle sister Satsuki, but there are moments dedicated to all of the sisters. As the ages of the girls range from 12 to 19 and with a number of personalties between all five, there is probably a girl here to please any guy. And with all of the insert songs and concert scenes (as well as the merchandise tie ins), of course the show is squarely aimed at the idol otaku. There's quite a few fan service shots but unlike a lot of modern anime it's relatively tame. Addition of the Fever Girls in the second OVA does increase the amount of fan service substantively. There are numerous parodies in the show and some are quite clever, but as about as subtle as a brick through a window. The boy band SNAP are of course based upon the popular band SMAP, and the "Thunderbirds" planes the Hummingbirds fly don't even attempt to disguise their design origins. They even launch in a similar manner to the classic British "Supermarionation" show. Even the girl's family name, Toreishi, is a pun which sounds like "Tracy" in Japanese (Tracy is the name of the family which ran International Rescue in "Thunderbirds"). "Humingbird" was latter parodied themselves in the TV series "Martian Successor Nadesico". The Howmei Girls (the five female assistant chefs aboard the Nadesico) have more than a passing resemblance to the anime Hummingbirds.

The English subtitled version from UK company Western Connection contains only the first two OVAs. The other two OVAs in the series weren't released until a few months after the UK tape was released. The worst thing about the UK tape is the edits to the closing animation on the first OVA and both the opening and closing animations on the second. First they removed the end credits to the first OVA, but then also cut the opening to second OVA, removed the ending of episode two and stuck the opening of episode two on the end of the OVA. Seamless it ain't. There's a prologue before the opening credits on episode two, and the opening theme song begins before the opening animation starts. The sloppy editing with the music abruptly stopping is incredibly jarring. There were two reasons why this was done, both explained by translator Jonathan Clements. In "Anime FX" magazine in 1995, in his article on music translation, Clements explained the ending was cut because he had received a video tape from the company which had audio through one stereo channel only. As some of the solo singing of the girls was panned into left or right channels in end song on the second OVA, he couldn't hear the lyrics to the whole song, hence he couldn't translate the whole thing, therefore the ending was cut. But several years later in the book "The Anime Encyclopaedia", co-authored by Clements, the entry on "Hummingbirds" tells a different story. Western Connection had apparently decided to get a "discount" from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and thought that messing up the opening and closing credits in the process was a smaller price to pay. The BBFC would charge more to classify a title if there were two or more episodes on a tape.

Not only do we suffer the opening and closing animation edit nonsense on this tape, but like all of Western Connection's releases, this one not only has the usual slightly mistimed subtitles, it also has some bizarre production credits. After the ubiquitous subtitling credit from company head Sahsa Cipkalo (for whom quality control wasn't a high priority) and the Jonathan Clements translating credit, two odd subtitles appear; "Waste of space: Miki", and straight after; "and Branco had a good laugh". What the hell is up with that?! Am I watching some crappy little fan subtitled tape or a professional release? Honestly, what sort of professional video company does that? Oh that's right, I forgot I was watching a Western Connection tape. They aren't professionals. The packaging is the usual; slapped together artwork and the synopsis from Anime UK. The artwork isn't too bad, the picture is stretched on the front, and text covers Mina's face.

Again this title is one that is hard to recommend to others. Some will find it hilarious, others will hate it. If you enjoyed the singing in "Macross" (especially "Macross 7") and bishoujo aircraft titles like "801 T.T.S. Airbats", you're probably going to enjoy this title. I do love trash like this and enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately it was never picked up for distribution in the US, and with the focus on newer shows and with the bottom falling out of the market big time, it's highly unlikely to be in the future. Pioneer in Japan released a two DVD box set of all four OVAs in 2001 with single discs release separately a year after (sadly without English subtitles and all versions now out print). Despite the video looking a bit crappy, I thought it was a good buy, but I love this show to bits. Unfortunately if you want to legally see this show in English, hunting down the increasingly rare UK release is the only way you will be able to see it.

Idol Defence Force Hummingbird ©1993 - 1994 Hitoshi Yoshioka/Ashi Production/Toho International. Cover artwork ©1995 Western Connection.

Lost Magazine Review: J-Fan

2009-12-27T02:28:00.000-08:00

I wasn't going to do a review this week as I only got back from the South Coast today (where it rained continually from Christmas Eve until the day after Boxing Day - today. It's usually hot as hell at this time of year, so maybe I should be thankful. Still I wanted Xmas dinner at sunset on the beach like usual), but I went and did my shopping this afternoon (fridge was naturally empty) and all the chores are done around the house, so I did this one up in an hour or so.

J-Fan
Publisher: Ebony Publishing Ltd (UK)
Format: Magazine
Genre/Type: Anime, manga, some Japanese culture coverage, some convention coverage and manga insert
Years Active: 1995
Issues Published: 2

History and Review:
Throughout the 1990's, the decade was littered with a second wave of publishing of English language anime and manga related magazines. The first wave, which was from the mid to late 1980's, brought us indispensable gems like Animag, Protoculture Addicts and Anime-zine. The third wave, which began in the early 2000's, and unfortunately looks like to be the last, brought us a number of very commercial and arguably shallow and disposable fare such as Anime Insider, Newtype USA and the rather uneven Otaku USA. The 1990's did bring us some must read magazines like Anime UK/Anime FX and Manga Mania/Manga Max, as well as ones verging somewhere between very good and "this is a blatant advertising pamphlet" such as Animerica. It was quite apparent in the second wave that a number of publishers felt they had to appeal to both to the hardcore anime fan as well as an emerging general audience, thanks to companies such Manga Entertainment in the UK and Streamline Pictures in the US. Both had major success in getting anime into the hands of mainstream video renters and buyers. Naturally publishers saw that a niche in the magazine market could be filled. A number of anime related magazines started this way in the 1990's. Most did not see the decade out, but worse was the fact the majority didn't get past publishing more than a few issues.

This is one such magazine; J-Fan. Never heard of it? Well I can't say I'm surprised at all. Admittedly I only came across the magazine in a second hand book store a few years after it was first published. There is practically no information at all about the magazine in any of the usual sources I use for research, and they include some really obscure publications and info. The magazine began in late 1995 and was published by an obscure outfit called Ebony Publishing in Cornwall, England. Unlike Anime UK, from the start the publishers were able to get J-Fan into newsagents and therefore were exposed to a much wider audience. It was also smack right at the height of the "Manga Videos" (otherwise known as anime) craze in the UK, so the magazine had a fantastic opportunity to do really well. It was similar in terms of content to both existing UK anime/manga magazines and was in full colour with about 66 pages per issue.

The debut issue, which came out in November 1995, was a bit of mixed bag, especially when comparing to the already established anime/manga magazines in the UK market; Anime UK and Manga Mania. The editorial and news section compiled by editor Steven Weller comes of like a rather amateurish fanzine, especially with a constant conversation going on within the news section between three staff members under the pseudonyms of Peach, Vega and Goku. The following page on a convention in Galsgow, while well written, is very hard to read with a rather horrible yellow font on a purple and black background. A similar problem can be found further along in the manga reviews section. The other problem I had with the magazine was the reviews, which seem rather amateurish when compared to the reviews in the two UK commercial magazines that were in competition with this one. However the articles here are quite good, with an exceptional one on Hayao Miyazaki, and a very good article on "Kishan Heidan". There's also a decent article on "Project A-ko" and a couple of fun short pieces on "Dragon Ball Z" merchandise, clichés in anime and matching various anime with planets to create "The Anime Solar System". A small pictorial review on a Japanese culture event in London and fanzine reviews round out the magazine.

To my surprise the second and final issue, released in December 1995, is an improvement on the debut. While I still think the news section and anime reviews are still a bit crap, the art design makes everything a bit more readable and enjoyable. The issue contained some really interesting stuff including a rather good cover story on "Irresponsible Captain Tylor", an article on the somewhat obscure manga "Hentai Kamen", an exceptional article on anime is marketed in the UK and two interviews; one with Koichi Ohata (who infamously bought the world "M.D. Geist" and "Genocyber") and one with the English and Japanese voice actresses for Ranma. Though that last one would probably be classified as an article. Other interesting stuff included a rundown of a Birmingham anime convention, and what was to be the first in a series of articles on Japan. Other regular features in both issues included collector cards (which I unfortunately didn't receive), some really well done fan art, mostly of the satirical variety and the manga "Dodekain" by Masayuki Fujiwara. The manga, originally published in English by American comic company Antarctic Press, is a bit of a shocker and I'm unsure why they even bothered with it. It's a really dull robot and monster manga in the vein of Go Nagai, though it's hardly as good as his work.

J-Fan also had a few contributors that would be familiar to Anime UK and Manga Mania readers. Jim McLennan and Jim Swallow were both regular contributors to J-Fan's competitors. I'm not sure why the publishers thought they could take on the two already established anime/manga magazines in the UK market. By late 1995, both Anime UK and Manga Mania were in newsagents. There was no way the magazine could beat the vast breadth of knowledge and talent that both competing magazines had. Plus both were bankrolled by mid to large sized publishers who had good promotional budgets to push the product. To be completely honest, both magazines beat the hell out of J-Fan in terms of articles, reviews, manga (Manga Mania only, Anime UK never ran manga), writing, art layouts and just about everything else. The only thing I read online about this magazine was a confirmation on a Usenet anime newsgroup that the magazine had predictably ran into money problems and it had ended at issue two. Seriously, this is why I never take up subscriptions with these kinds of magazines. At £21 for a year's worth of magazines, and only being delivered £4.50 worth, I'd be a little be miffed if I paid a full subscription. J-Fan is yet another cul-de-sac in the world of anime magazine publishing. However I do find it a little bit depressing that magazines like this disappear off into the ether, to be forgotten forever by anime fandom.

J-Fan ©1995 Ebony Publishing Ltd.

Lost Anime Review: Ai City (Love City)

2009-12-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ai City (Love City)
English Distribution Company: Western Connection (UK), The Right Stuf International (USA)
Release Date: June 1995 (UK), 11 July 1995 (USA)
Format: PAL VHS Subtitled, NTSC VHS Subtitled
Runtime: 87 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Ai City (Love City)
Japanese Production Date: 1986

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In what seems to be a near future New York City, a car containing a private eye in his mid 30’s, Raiden Yoshioka, a younger man named “K”, a girl named Ai and a fat cat named “T” are being chased by a group of bikers. K, Ai and T have just escaped from Fraud tower and their pursuers on bikes have been ordered to capture Ai. After a vicious attack on the car, most of the bikers end up crashing into a fuel tanker and die in the resulting explosion. Like the audience watching this film, Raiden is confused as to what is going on, but K only replies by telling him that he wouldn’t understand even if he told him. Raiden is rather miffed at this non answer, but quietens down when K recites a long list of facts about him, letting him know that he knows Raiden’s history. Suddenly the leader of the bike gang, a young woman named K2, who is actually a psychic soldier from a corporation known as Fraud, appears floating above their car. She picks up the car with her psychic powers and throws it violently into the ground. However K has teleported the occupants safely with his own psychic powers, then attacks K2, seemingly blowing her into another dimension and causing a rift in the dimensional space. After K explains to Raiden that he and Ai have fled from Fraud, K2 manages to escape the dimension she was trapped in, but seems to have developed amnesia as a result.

Meanwhile Fraud leader Mr Lee, has instructed his staff to close the dimensional rift and orders his officer J and two “tuned men” to capture Ai and K. But Mr Lee has another problem. One of his former associates, Lai Lo Ching, has decided to assassinate him and take over Fraud. Mr Lee manages to survive the attempt, but Lai warns Lee that a catastrophe will befall him. In the meantime the three escapees and K2 head back to Raiden’s office with him. K explains that Ai is in fact a clone of his girlfriend. Both had apparently been abducted and changed into psychic warriors, called Headmeters, by Fraud. However K's transformation was deemed to be a failure. K's story is cut short by J and the two tuned men as they attack Raiden's office. K takes on J directly while the rest flee. But a tuned man is waiting in the lift for them. K2 destroys him with her psychic powers and the resulting explosion spills out on to the street, dispersing a crowd that had gathered to watch K and J fight. Upon seeing J, K2's memory begins to return to her, but decides she is more in love with Raiden and decides not to help J. J has captured Ai and is about to return to Fraud when giant heads begin to materialise out of the ground, taking Ai, K2 and the remaining tuned man in their mouths and levitating away. This is the work of Lai Lo Ching, who also attempts to kill J.

Raiden and K manage to escape attacks from the remaining giant heads on a vespa, and with the aid of a suspension bridge, K manages to leap aborad the head carying Ai and Lai Lo Ching. Lai tells K that Ai is a "trigger" and is some sort of monster that could destroy the world. Via psychic control, he attempts to force K to strangle Ai, but K gains control and in the process of thrying to increase his control on K, Lai accidentally destroys the head they are travelling on, with Ai and K seemingly falling to their certain deaths. Lai, who seems to harbour an alternate personality that is in conflict with him, destroys the city block Ai and K fell into, just to make sure neither could survive. Raiden believes everyone is dead and wanders through the rubble of the city block. Much to his joy, K2 is found alive inside one of the now dead giant heads which crashed to earth. And soon the pair find K carrying Ai. K is horrified that he may have killed Ai, however has survived. But there is no time for any reunion as a robot suddenly appears to attack the group and take Ai. They give chase, but J and the tuned man are waiting for them at the end of the street. This time however K manages to kill J and K2 takes the tunned man prisoner. After K's failed attempt to chase down the robot, he, K2 and Raiden take off to Fraud Tower and break in to rescue Ai. However what they will find will change their understanding of their city and themselves and will put into question as to what is real and what isn't.

History and Review:
As with a lot of the titles I review, I did some research on the origins of the film. First thing I was really surprised to discover that the flim was based on a manga, as almost none of the English language reference material I have on the film makes mention of that. This film is based upon a short two volume Seinen manga published in 1983 in Magazine Super Action and written by the relativley unknown Shuho Itahashi (Cyber 7) who went under the pseudonym SYUFO for this manga. And like a lot anime films of the time, there is probably a bit of debate as to if this film is really an OVA or a cinema release. The information I have seems to indicate that it was released as an OVA first, then in July 1986 it was released on a double bill with the first "Gall Force" film. The film is also one of those rare times where it was released first in the UK before a US release, albeit only by a month.

I'm probably not the first to say this, but this film is really quite confusing and surreal. At times it's a little hard to comprehend what is going on or why. Right from the start there is no explanation as to what is happening or why. We are gradually filled in, but with giant fighting heads, a rather garish colour scheme and design and other odd elements, such as Lai Lo Ching's bizarre appearance it does feel a bit too over the top. What I found most frustrating is that it seems a lot of important elements in the manga are dispensed with in the film. This is really annoying as it would have made the film a hell of a lot more coherent. For example in the beginning of the film we have no idea how Raiden met Ai and K. In the manga Raiden picked them both up as he was suspicious of them when they claimed they were father and daughter (also in the manga Raiden is a police officer, not an ex police officer who is now a private eye as the film depicts him). Other changes or omissions include the meaning of the letters and numbers assigned to the psychic warriors, the fate of the original Ai is never really explained and K2's origins and the man she falls in love with are completely changed.

Knowing this, I really think the film suffers from these changes. I can accept that maybe some changes were necessary so a script could fashioned into a film which ran about 90 minutes, but it just feels disjointed and confusing for a good deal of it's length. Some of the design choices are also quite bad. The one I had the most problem with K2's wearing a Playboy bunny outfit for last half of the film. One would have to question why a woman would pick out such an outfit to wear, and also why a normal fashion shop would have such an item in stock. The cat T played a slightly bigger role in the manga. In the movie he just seems to be there for no reason. A number of small character roles have also been deleted when they they could have added more to the story and made the film more coherent. I think the film should have had a slightly longer running time so that character's backgrounds could have been expanded to let the audience in on what had happened without any of the rather annoying surrealism. The other thing which struck me was the film looked much older than it's 1986 production date. The designs and especially the candy colours made it look like something from the early 1980's or even the late 1970's. Though to be fair, the film is sort of stuck in that mid 1980's transition period of Japanese animated cinema where at one end you have the old hyper coloured sci-fi romps of films like "Galaxy Express 999" and "Space Adventure Cobra", and the hyper realism of a new generation of Japanese animators that brought us films such as "Wings of Honneamise" and "Akira".

Speaking of "Akira", I have read in reviews where people claim that show feels like a rip off of that film. I think that is probably a bit unfair. Admittedly the manga was written a year after Otomo had started "Akira" and on the surface it does have similar design elements, however both stories could not be more different. While I have criticised this film quite a lot, I did find it entertaining. The best part for me is the part of the film where we find out the real story of what is going on behind Fraud, though again it doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you seriously think about it. The climax to the film which immediately follows explanation of the story of Fraud and Ai is a bit of a mess and irked me a bit, as well as the cop out of an ending. While I have read some reviews which think the ending is clever, to me it looked as if the writers had no idea how to finish the show and threw up the idea at the eleventh hour. In the end this film was a little too mediocre for my tastes. There was some really good ideas here, but I think that a lot of good material from the manga was incorrectly jettisoned by the script writers. What we are left with is, while quite visually arresting and quite entertaining for the most part, a rather empty vessel. I think that's a real shame as the basics are present here for a really fun and engaging action/adventure story. While the film did get a (now out of print) DVD release from Toshiba in Japan in 2002, I highly doubt anyone would be interested in releasing the film in English again.

Ai City ©1986 Toho Co., Ltd./KK Movic/Ashi Production. Cover artwork ©1995 Western Connection, ©1995 The Right Stuf International, Inc.

Lost Anime Review: Galactic Pirates

2009-12-12T12:52:00.000-08:00

Galactic Pirates

English Distribution Company: Western Connection (UK)
Release Date: 31 May 1994
Format: PAL VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 6 episodes x 25 mins (edited into three 50 min episodes)
Edits made to English Version: No (except opening and closing animation)
Japanese Title: The Enemy are Pirates: Banquet of Cats (Teki wa Kaizoku: Neko no Kyoen)
Japanese Production Date: 1989

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Apollo, an alien cat who talks and can control minds, is rather angry that his bird shaped snacks won’t fly like they do in the commercial. He is interrupted by his work partner, Latell, a normal human who is angry Apollo’s constant snacking and him eating a box of chocolates given to him by a girl. A fight ensues and the space relaxation centre they're at is damaged, and the air, as well as everything else, is almost sucked into space. Believe it or not, these two are officers in the Pirate Control section of the Galactic Police. They are ordered by one of the lower ranking officers Marsha, a young female cadet whom Latell has an interest in, to report to their boss. Marsha hates Latell, but loves Apollo, even though it's plainly obvious to everyone Apollo is the worse of the pair. Upon arriving at his office, their boss promptly sacks both them due to their last case in which they caused almost a million dollars worth of damage and hundreds of complaints were made. Latell attempts to protest, but Apollo controls his emotions so he doesn’t do anything crazy, like shooting Apollo. Apollo quickly decides that if he can’t hunt down pirates he’ll become one and takes off. Before Latell gets a chance to pursue him, his boss gives him a disc which contains details on a new mission for them both (despite the fact he's just sacked them).

Apollo steals their space craft, Dola, who is a class A intelligence ship. But Latell manages to get on board before he launches. Tired of the gluttonous cat, he vows to kill him for losing their jobs, but soon quietens down when Dola tells him that there's no record of them being dismissed from the Galactic Police. Latell’s mission is to investigate pirate connections with the Titan Movie Company, of which Apollo has apparently been asked to play a role in a 3D movie they are making. Dola warps into what they initially think is a 3D movie theatre. Instead of a fake 3D projection of a battle, real pirate fighters begin to attack them. Dola is hit and they are forced to land on Titan. Latell and Apollo infiltrate the studio and discover the owner, Santos, strapped to a machine. Strangely he is beginning to turn into some sort of dragon-like creature. It’s the work of the C.A.T. System 86, an old forbidden computer system that invades people's thought processes and can even turn people into other things, in this case a dragon. Latell and Apollo are attacked by what initially just seems 3D characters from a movie. They are in fact robots controlled by pirates. They soon discover a pirate ship which they believe is owned by the "Phantom Pirate" Yomei, but it launches before they have a chance to stop it. However they soon somehow manage to escape with Santos, kill the pirates they are fighting with in the studio and force the pirate ship to crash in the city, with a little help from Dola.

Later Marsha travels to Titan to deliver a holographic message to Latell and Apollo from their boss. After bizarrely explaining why he pretended to fire them (because the Titan Movie Company wanted to make Apollo a star?!), he explains that Yomei is planning to take over the solar system using the C.A.T. System 86. Only problem is that it is very unstable, almost uncontrollable and can even effect intelligent craft like Dola. However a man named Katz, who is working with the pirates has managed to make the system controllable. Their next mission will be to the Tohungas crater on Mars where Yomei is believed to be. Much to her surprise, the message also informs Marsha that she has been promoted to lieutenant and will be joining both of them on the mission. However before they take off Apollo spots Yomei’s offsider, Jubilee, and decides to follow and arrest him in a illegally commandeered supply truck. He discovers he is going to kill off Santos to stop him from talking, but Apollo thwarts his plans and sets off a bomb in his car. However this doesn’t kill Jubilee, it only makes him mad. This puts Apollo in a situation where is staring down certain death, however Marsha and Latell rush to save him. After a lengthy chase unfortunately Jubilee escapes with Yomei and the other pirates.

On Mars, the three Pirate Control offices end up playing baseball with the local Counter Crime police group (with Dola playing as well of course). Naturally this a very clever ruse to hide the fact they’re here secretly to discover the pirate's C.A.T. System 86. Due to their dislike of each other, fights break out between the two teams. Eventually weapons and power suits are in use and it degenerates into complete chaos as the local police fight themselves by accident. However peace somehow prevails, and at the end when a commemorative photo is taken, Latell discovers that the Counter Crime police are beginning to turn into cats. Latell orders Apollo to mind control both him and Marsha so they won’t transform. As they travel to the city, they find everyone has turned into cats. Even their ship, Dola is literally now a cat (albeit a flying one). Due to a factional split in Yomei’s group, the pirates have decided to use the Tohungas crater on Mars as a test ground for the C.A.T. System 86. The only other person not to have turned into a cat is a lieutenant called Petoria from the Counter Crime police group, whose utter disgust for Apollo has stopped his transformation. The situation is desperate. They must find out where the C.A.T. System 86 is on the planet and switch it off before it's too late.

History and Review:
Unless you were a fan of anime and living in the UK in the mid 1990's, I wouldn't really be surprised if you've never heard of this series. Oddly enough in 1996 or so, I originally discovered the series in a mainstream video rental shop in the southern suburbs of the city I currently reside in. This is rather strange as the show has never been released in Australia. Upon closer inspection it was quite obvious that the tapes for rent were copies (i.e. bootlegs). It seems as if the owner of the video store had copied the tapes and colour photocopied the covers off someone so he could rent it out. It wasn't until two years later when I came across a VHS fansub of the series that I actually watched the show. The show is based upon a series of novels (eight currently) by award winning Japanese sci-fi novelest Chohei Kanbayashi of "Yukikaze" fame. Unlike that anime, "The Enemy are the Pirates" is more comedy and action based, very much in the same vein as "Dirty Pair". With the short number of episodes, most people would assume that this show is an OVA. Not so, it's a TV series. Only two months after the station opened for business, satellite pay TV station Asahi Newstar screened the six part "The Enemy are the Pirates" one episode a day between 26th December and 31st December 1989. It was later given a three part video release (two episodes per tape/laserdisc) in 1990.

The series is quite silly and illogical at times, but it is pretty darn funny. But at the end of the day, it's not what you'd call a memorable title. It's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. This version of the show though destroys most of the elements which made the original version fun to watch. The central problem here is clearly is the English dub. This rather obscure English dubbed version was made in the UK in in the early 1990's by Atlantic Post Productions and Quiet Storm Ltd with the usual cast of American and Canadian ex-pats and British actors putting on American accents. The dub was in part commissioned by Spanish based European distribution company Ucore for the Japanese copyright holder, Kitty Films. As previously stated, I have been lucky enough to have seen the the series in its original language a number of years before I acquired these dubbed tapes. I thank the lord for that because if I had only seen the dub, I would have had a very hard time following the storyline. With such awful scripting and at times quite dull monotone acting, the English dub makes the show pretty much incomprehensible a good deal of the time. Probably the best part of the dub is the part of Apollo, played by an actor who thought he should sound like he came from the set of a 1970's blacksploitaion flick. There's some truly (possibly unintentionally) hilarious dialogue from the character. At one point Apollo states that he'll join the space pirates because he'll be able to "...eat anything, just like a honkey". I had to rewind the tape a couple times just to make sure I heard that right. The English script writer and translator, who goes under the bizarre pseudonym of "Dr. D. Shoop", obviously loved the words "shit" and "arse" (though that should be "ass" as everyone has an American accent). Not five minutes go past without either word being said.

The dub seems to be hated universally. During the Kitty Film panel at the 1993 Anime Expo, Helen McCarthy stood up and voiced her displeasure of the dub while the panel played a tape of it. Everyone in attendance applauded her apparently. Maybe I'm being a bit narky here, but perhaps people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, as Helen had a hand in both the UK only released dubs of "Cat Girl Nuku Nuku" and "K.O. Century Beast Warriors". Most sane people would say neither of those are the epitome of fine English dubbing. In fact most would say both dubs were rubbish. Oddly the very next year when in came to reviewing the series Helen stated in Anime UK magazine that the show was "...dubbed adequately, if a little stilted". In fact the series got a generally positive review. Strange, considering her outburst at the Kitty Film panel the pervious year. If the copyright is correct on these tapes (which I have a feeling it wasn't), Kitty Film had been trying to sell the series for three years before oddball UK anime distributor Western Connection picked it up and released the entire series in May 1994. The only changes they've made was their patented "snip-snip" to the opening and closing credits on each of the tapes to obtain their discount from the British Board of Film Classification (it's more expensive if companies submit a tape with multiple episodes on it). So six episodes became three. Well at least the editing looks a little more professional than some of their other releases. Surprisingly the artwork and design is quite nice on all three tapes. For whatever reason, the tapes claim the show "18" rating, but the BBFC states they gave the title "15" and "PG" ratings. I am baffled as to why Western Connection would deliberately label their tapes "18".

One of the more unusual things about this show is the music. What a lot of people in the west don't know is that if you're a rock or pop star and your career dies, you can always head over to Japan and make some cash there (hence the term "Big in Japan"). Sometime in the late 1980's ex-members of Saxon, Iron Maiden and Uriah Heep formed a band called Air Pavilion, headed over to Japan, and performed the opening, closing and insert tracks to the series. They make that lovely light-weight 'hard rock' that commercial 1980's era FM radio stations that had "black thunders filled with icy cold cans of coke" roaming your local city, just loved to play. So in other words the music is of the big-haired 1980's hard rock variety, but it's a change from keyboard heavy J-pop sung by 14 year old Japanese girls who will be burnt out and on the pop idol scrap heap by the time they're 19. You know, I've probably made this show sound worse than what it truly is. In its original format, it's a pretty funny little series, but this English version is quite horrid. Very occasionally the acting is good, but the majority of it is truly shocking and really not helped by some rather clunky dialogue. The series was released as a box set on DVD (now out of print) in 2003 in Japan by Pioneer, but did not come with the dub or English subtitles. So if you really want a legit copy of this series in English, these tapes are the only way to get it, as I highly doubt this show will be released ever again in the west.

The Enemy are Pirates: Banquet of Cats ©1989 Chohei Kanbayashi/Kitty Film/Mitsubishi Corporation. Cover artwork ©1994 Western Connection.

Lost Anime Review: Mean & Mercenary

2009-12-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well OK, I got this done a little faster than I expected, so here it is. I was planning to do multi-part look at Manga Video in Australia looking at every title they released (ah, memories...), but this will do for now. Bonus points if you can guess which anime the screencaps come from (though the last one is a bit of a dead giveaway).

Mean & Mercenary

English Distribution Company: Manga Entertainment (UK)
Release Date: 17 March 1997
Format: PAL VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 47 mins
Edits made to English Version: Yes
Japanese Title: Angel Cop, Crying Freeman, Cyber City Oedo 808, Fist of the North Star, Ghost in the Shell, Goku Midnight Eye, Mad Bull 34, Street Fighter II, Violence Jack, Wicked City
Japanese Production Date: 1986 - 1995

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Story? Plot? You have to be kidding me. There's nothing of the sort on this tape. Instead, here's the copy from the cassette cover;

"The Hardest Hitting Fight Sequences from Leading Manga Videos.

A giant warrior obliterates an army by turning his body into pure steel, crushing his enemies into the ground. A deadly psychic uses construction rivets as high-velocity ammunition, spreading carnage across Tokyo with the power of her mind alone. An enhanced cybercop faces a lethal robotic solider amongst the towering gantries of future Japan...

You've seen the films - now get ready for a stunning compilation of the best, the fastest, the most explosive fight sequences from Manga's hottest videos. No waiting, no mercy, no surrender, just a fistful of blood-soaked swordplay, brutal assassinations and bone-shattering martial arts. Chun Li takes on Vega, Kenshiro battles Raoh the Conqueror, Sengoku squares up to the cybernetic ghost of Yoshikazu Amachi in a fight to the death - classic moments of pure combat, backed by hammering music and edited at a pace that will knock you spinning.

Mean & Mercenary is fifty minutes of raw mayhem, including clips from Violence Jack, Ghost in the Shell, Street Fighter II, Cyber City Oedo 808 and much, much more. Are you ready to rumble?"

Uh, no, not really...

History and Review:
I'm a little unsure on where to start with this one. As you can see from the description, it's compilation tape of various violent scenes from Manga Entertainment's UK label. So it at it’s very essence it is a "violent anime porn video" as such; there's absolutely no plot whatsoever, no set up or explanation. Just a heap of violent scenes taken out of context from the original anime. It's gratuitous to the extreme. Cut between short rapidly edited montages of random acts of violence and carnage from select "Manga videos" are various scenes from a number of anime put out by the company with short titles telling us which video they're from. Unless you had seen the anime in question, you would have no idea what was going on or why. It's like chopping out all the acts of violence in every Quentin Tarantino film and presenting them as a compilation. It's just mind numbing to begin with and boring by the end. The compilation ends with the final fight from "Fist of the North Star", though the sequence grinds to a halt and the video’s credits roll way before the scene from the film is meant to end.

Those who live outside of the UK, Australia or New Zealand maybe wondering why the hell such a tape was created for the UK market. Essentially it was the logical conclusion when you consider how anime was marketed in the UK by Manga Entertainment and their (then) parent company Island Records. In the early 1990's buoyed by the success of their release of "Akira" in the UK video market, Island set up the oddly named "Manga Video" to release more anime. Exploitation was the key to the success of the company and it showed in the very first title they released on the label; "Fist of the North Star". While I will gladly accept the fact the company released some great titles like "Patlabor" and "Wings of Honeamise" most of their output was rather dodgy. And though I freely admit I enjoy titles like "Mad Bull 34" and "Angel Cop", both are nothing more pure exploitation films in an animated serial format. In fact a number of titles that Manga tried to release ran afoul of the then notoriously conservative British Board of Classification. "Urotsukidoji: Legend of Overfiend" and "Violence Jack" were significantly cut to achieve an "18" rating. "Crying Freeman", "Ninja Scroll", "Mad Bull 34" and "Angel Cop" also had to be trimmed slightly to achieve their "18" ratings. Manga even had the audacity to attempt to get "La Blue Girl" passed the censors, but predictably failed. No amount of editing was enough to give them the green light to release the title and it remains unissued in the UK to date.

Island's exploitative marketing of these titles as well as the general nature of them lead to a brief but loud condemnation by the Fleet Street Tabloids. "Ban This Filth!" they cried (yes, that was an actual headline which ran in one of the tabloid papers). With their marketing of anime (or "Manga Videos" as they became known amongst the general public, as pretty much they were the dominant company selling this stuff) as full of sex and violence as well as aiming for the lowest common denominator (testosterone filled teenage boys), anime fans in the UK were generally hateful of the company. Add in some rather subpar UK made dubs with added profanity which wasn't in the original versions, and a very public spat between Anime UK magazine editor Helen McCarthy and Manga head honcho Andy Frain, well relations became a bit strained with the hardcore fans. But it didn't really matter to Manga as the general public were the ones buying the tapes. Island, as you'd expect, cleverly ran the company like it was a record company than one selling videos. The managed to get their titles into record store chains such as HMV and Virgin whom traditionally didn't sell videos. At one point in the late 1990's, small glossy promotional booklets came with Manga’s tapes. In one section the booklets hilariously featured a laboured justification that "Manga" meant animation in Japan. While on a purely technical and very pedantic level this could be seen as correct, it still doesn't make it less stupid to literally call a video company "Comics".

So after all that bitching about Manga Video, I better get back to the point; this video called "Mean & Mercenary". I suppose if a record label is going to release videos, you'd better expect a compilation somewhere along the line. A self fulfilling prophecy really. But it seems that Island didn't understand that while it's a great idea to make a compilation out songs from albums, it doesn't work well at all for films. From start to finish the video is just awful, especially with the added minimalist hardcore techno soundtrack by Silverfish (aka Alex Silverfish, the recently deceased British DJ Alex Oppido) which only makes watching it more painful. One can only wonder why this compilation was made, as all of the videos were pretty high sellers for Manga and had been released for a number of years. It's like having all of Stanley Kubrick's films on DVD, then buying a compilation of scenes from those movies. What would be the point? I think I can safely say that Manga are single handedly responsible for a whole generation of people in the 1990's who think Japanese animation is all about sex and violence (and called "Manga Videos"). Unlike the US, they were pretty much the dominant force in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It's like if one company had the monopoly on American films and only released Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese films. While they're great, they're hardly representative of the diversity of American cinema. This video encapsulates how Manga saw, promoted and released anime in the UK (and by default Australia and New Zealand as most video companies sourced material from the UK) in the 1990's. It's truly awful and I'm kind of glad that era is dead and over.

English Language Sources for Anime in the Compilation:
Angel Cop; R1 bilingual DVD from Manga Entertainment (USA) [Out Of Print]

Crying Freeman; R1 bilingual DVD from ADV Films (USA) [Out Of Print, new DVD to be released by Discotek in 2010]

Cyber City Oedo 808; R1 bilingual DVD from CPM (USA) [Out Of Print]

Fist of the North Star; R1 bilingual DVD from Eastern Star (Discotek, USA)

Ghost in the Shell; R1 bilingual DVD from Manga Entertainment (USA), bilingual Blu-ray from Bandai Entertainment (USA) and R4 bilingual DVD and Blu-ray from Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand)

Goku Midnight Eye; Dubbed and Subbed VHS tapes from Urban Vision (USA) [Out Of Print] and Dubbed VHS tapes from Manga Entertainment (UK, Australia and New Zealand) [Out Of Print]

Mad Bull 34; Dubbed VHS tapes from Manga Entertainment (US, UK, Australia and New Zealand) [Out Of Print, US tapes uncut]

Street Fighter II; R1 and R2 bilingual DVD from Manga Entertainment (USA and UK) and R4 bilingual DVD from Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand)

Violence Jack; R2 censored DVD from Manga Entertainment (UK) and uncut subtitled VHS released by Critical Mass (USA) [Out Of Print]

Wicked City; R1 bilingual DVD from Urban Vision (USA) and R4 bilingual DVD from Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand, disc contains both Manga UK’s dub as well as the Streamline dub)

Angel Cop ©1989 - 1994 Ichiro Itano/Soeishinsha. Crying Freeman ©1988 – 1994 Kazuo Koike/Ryoichi Ikegami/Shogakukan/Toei Animation Co. Ltd. Cyber City Oedo 808 ©1990 – 1991 Madhouse/Japan Home Video. Fist of the North Star ©1986 Buronson/Tetsu Hara/NSP/Toei Animation Co. Ltd. Ghost in the Shell ©1995 Masamune Shirow/Kodansha Ltd./Bandai Visual Co., Ltd./Manga Entertainment. Goku Midnight Eye ©1989 Terasawa Pro. Co. Ltd./Toei Animation Co. Ltd./Scholar Publishers Inc. Mad Bull 34 ©1990 - 1992 Kazuo Koike/Noriyoshi Inoue/Shueisha Inc./Pony Canyon Inc./Magic Bus. Street Fighter II ©1994 Capcom Co. Ltd. Violence Jack ©1986, 1988, 1990 Dynamic Planning/Soeishinsha/Japan Home Video. Wicked City ©1987 Hideyuki Kikuchi/Tokuma Shoten/Video Art/Japan Home Video. Cover artwork ©1997 Manga Entertainment Ltd.

Lost Tokusatsu Review: Fugitive Alien/Star Force

2009-12-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

Yes I know, it’s been a while. I’m currently working on another anime related review and about half done with it. I’m planning to post it sometime during the week rather than later on the weekend (for those who aren’t interested in the review below).

Fugitive Alien/Star Force

English Distribution Company: Celebrity Home Video (USA), Xtasty Video (UK)
Release Date: 5 November 1987 – 28 June 1988 (USA), 1987 (UK)
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed, PAL VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 105 mins, 103 mins
Edits made to English Version: Yes
Japanese Title: Star Wolf
Japanese Production Date: 1978

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In an unspecified time on a future Earth, a band of invaders called the Wolf Raiders from the planet Valnastar wreak havoc on the planet, stealing valuables and killing civilians. In the chaos a Wolf Raider named Ken (played by Tatsuya Azuma) is ordered to kill a child (in an astonishing coincidence is also called Ken) by his unnamed colleague and close friend. But Ken (the Wolf Raider, not the kid) refuses to do so and accidentally ends up killing his colleague when he attempts to stop him from killing the child. Ken is now on the run and ends up stealing one of the Wolf Raider's ships to head back to his home planet. However other Wolf Raiders have seen what he has done and attempt to shoot down his getaway spacecraft. Ken realises the situation is hopeless and decides to eject from his stricken craft and self destruct it. Luckily he is picked up by an Earth patrol ship named the Bacchus 3.

Its captain, the overweight and alcoholic Joe (Jo Shishido), and its crew attempt to discover where Ken is from after he tries to flee. Ken makes up a story saying that he is an astronomer and the crew, obviously all quite gullible, fall for the tale. But the rather sloshed Joe is suspicious of him. Soon the Wolf Raiders discover that Ken has been taken aboard the Bacchus 3 and they attack the ship. Captain Joe realises that he cannot win and attempts to out manurer them. Seeing that situation is dire, Ken forcibly takes control of the ship and flies it through a asteroid field to escape the raiders. Afterwards Joe knocks out Ken for his trouble (well he did forcibly take control of the ship...). The Bacchus 3 then returns to its base on Earth. There Joe discovers that the Raiders have killed his daughter and though his wife has survived, she is on death’s door. Ken awakens in the base’s hospital and again attempts to flee. He spots the Bacchus 3 and decides to steal it and return home. However Joe is waiting for him in the cockpit and pulls a gun on Ken. A scuffle ensues but Joe gains the upper hand. Joe knows that Ken is a Wolf Raider and is quite angry at his deceit, especially in the wake of the death of his family. But Ken explains his situation and Joe is sympathetic. Joe then decides to let Ken join his crew, but threatens him if he doesn’t behave.

The planet Karano is being attacked by the Wolf Raiders and Joe and his crew have been assigned a mission to help the planet. But Joe’s crew is a little upset that Ken has mysteriously become a team member. However despite grumbles from the crew, they begin training for the mission. In particular crew member Rocky (Choei Takahashi) isn’t happy with Ken’s placement in the team and decides to attack him with a, um, forklift. Because Ken repelled the attack, Rocky sees this as proof that Ken is a Wolf Raider. But Joe makes up an absurd lie saying that Ken is from a distant constellation from where humans have gained super strength just by living there. Naturally Rocky is a little sceptical of Joe’s drunken ramblings. Finally the crew set off for their mission and Joe and crew member Dan (Tsutomu Yukawa) get down to negotiating a price with the planet's military for their services. However the none too bright Ken leaves the ship despite being ordered not to, and ends up killing a couple of military guards after fighting with them in a bar. Ken is ordered to be executed by the Karano military which Joe has to accept as he is in delicate negotiations.

But Joe doesn’t leave him the lurch. In fact this is a bit of good luck as the crew’s secondary mission is to rescue Colonel Yurulen, a military member of the Wolf Raiders who is also in the same gaol as Ken. Yurulen is privy to information about an ultimate weapon on the planet Sesar, which the crew of the Bacchus 3 have been instructed to destroy. Unbeknownst to Ken is that he has several mini nuclear devices on his uniform which Joe instructs him via a hidden radio (also on his uniform) to destroy his cell’s bars and to rescue Colonel Yurulen. But not only will Ken have to break out of gaol and rescue Yurulen, he will also have to deal with his girlfriend, Rita (Keiko Mari). She has just been given a mission by Valnastar ruler Lord Halkon, to kill Ken whom she has just discovered has killed her brother. Yes that’s right, Ken’s best buddy and comrade was his girlfriend’s brother.

History and Review:
“Star Wars” can certainly be blamed for nearly all of the science fiction that landed with a thud on TV and in cinemas from 1978 onwards. Studio and TV executives had dollar signs in their eyes and wanted the next “Star Wars”. While some of what was produced was quite inventive and highly original, the greater majority was utter trash. Just about every country had a go at the sci-fi genre including Japan. In fact like the west there was an absolute deluge of the stuff. A lot of the more palatable stuff was anime, but there was a number of tokusatsu movies and TV series made including the rather awful movies “War in Space” and “Message from Space”. Naturally Tsuburaya Productions, creators of the Ultraman franchise, also decided to make sci-fi live action TV series. I suspect the search for available material to turn into TV series or films was rather scarce in Japan as a number of western sci-fi novels were adapted into anime or live action special effects shows. This included the show these two video movies were compiled from; "Star Wolf". Edmond Hamilton's 1967 to 1968 novellas, "The Closed Worlds", "The Weapons from Beyond" and "World of the Starwolves" for the basis for for the show. I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect the adaptation was fairly loose and free. Hamilton's "Captain Future" also got an anime adaptation from Toei in the same year as "Star Wolf" and Tsuburaya Productions had previously adapted "Captain Future" for their 1967 series "Captain Ultra".

The 24 episode "Star Wolf" series doesn't stack up very well at all when compared with it's American counterparts such as "Battlestar Galacticta". Despite having a wealth of special effects background experience dating back as far as the granddaddy of Japanese special effects films, 1954's "Godzilla", Tsuburaya Productions' effects on this show are pretty damn awful. Space ships that are at times transparent and two sets of star fields, travelling in opposite directions from each other are common effects errors through out the series. Every time the Bacchus 3 speeds off at hyper speed, the pressure inside the craft's cabin is represented by blowing air into the actor's faces at high pressure. I'm not sure if this was intended to be humorous, but the actors with distorted faces due to air being blown on them just adds to the whole show's ultra cheap look and feel. Designs are also pretty shoddy. The helmets that the Wolf Raiders which for some unknown reason have blonde wigs attached to them. It is really, really hard to take them seriously as a terrifying band of alien raiders. The make up on the Wolf Raiders and in fact just about everyone from Valnastar (except Ken and Rita) is just a whitish face paint. This makes them look a little like zombies from a George Romero film.

In 1986, Sandy Frank of "Battle of the Planets" infamy acquired the "Star Wolf" series and proceeded to cut down the series into two feature length "films". Both films have footage culled from the first thirteen episodes and the final episode. As you would imagine, Frank's adaptation only makes things worse. With so much material cut of the show and what seems to a real lack of care from the writers, editors and producers, at times it's a little hard to follow what the hell is going on. At one point a scene complete with the same dialogue is repeated twice in a row. The dialogue is moronic and lot of the time clearly contradicts what is happening on screen. Early on Rocky questions how Ken could survive in space with out a spacesuit when clearly he is wearing a space suit. In one of the most hilarious and stupid exchanges of dialogue Rocky exclaims outside of a secret base "It's not going to be easy, getting into this place", to which he replies to a crew member's question of how they will gain entry he says "Easy!". Add in embarrassing elements from the original like the space ship's analogue dials which measure things like "Space Speed" as well as numerous and quite blatant Star Wars rip offs, this adaptation is just forgettable B-grade garbage. Possibly the only saving grace in this whole debacle is the presence of Miyuki Tanigawa as the Bacchus 3 crew member Tammy. I'm still unsure of her role on the ship as it is never really explained, but hey, she's quite pretty and cute (which probably was her role in the series anyway). Unfortunately after this TV series she only appeared in such "high quality" direct to video films such as "Rapeman 2", "Angel of Darkness" and "Zero Woman".

These two video movies originally came in the late 1980's in the UK and US when the video market was desperate for product. To entice renters and buyers, the companies that released the tapes had fantastically nonsensical by-lines on the covers such as "Only His Hairdresser Knows for Sure" and "Black Hole in Space Holocaust Leads to Massacre In Star Wars". If anyone knows what the hell both of those mean, please tell me. Unsurprisingly both videos have never been reissued on DVD. However they have been bootlegged in the UK by a company called 23rd Century. These DVDs are just a straight dupe of the UK VHS tapes and look pretty woeful. Both video movies were also rightly lampooned in the third series of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000". To sum up both features; they suck. Really hard. Now whatever you think of Japanese sci-fi and special effects shows, I believe that there are some really, really outstanding and fun ones out there. Some are as easily as good or even better than their western counterparts, but I find it absolutely frustrating that hardly any of them make it to the west in English. Instead we end up with utterly forgettable trash like this. I also have to question what the hell was up with Tsuburaya Productions in the late 1970's as there seemed to be a lot of absolute junk from the studio during that period. A total waste of time. There's much better things to do than tracking these sorry excuses for entertainment down.

Star Wolf ©1978 Tsuburaya Productions. English adaptation ©1986 Sandy Frank Productions. Cover artwork ©1987 - 1988 Celebrity Home Video (USA) and ©1987 Xstasy Video (UK).

Lost Anime Review: Ladius

2009-10-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

Ladius
English Distribution Company: Western Connection (UK)
Release Date: 30 April 1995
Format: PAL VHS Subtitled
Runtime: 48 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Demon Frontier Legend Le Deus (Makyo Gaiden Le Deus)
Japanese Production Date: 1987

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
"Ladius" is set in a world which may be our own, sometime in the distant future; partly post apocalyptic, partly filled with futuristic technology and part fantasy setting. A young man named Riot and his two companions Spica and Seneca, who are artificial life forms called Plana who take the shape of human girls, have obtained an Eye of Zalem. Riot is in search of five of these "lenses", that will give him the power of Rido. Long ago a race known as the Quall hid away a power that could bring people back to life or cause death and destruction. Five lenses that control the "Zalem" that will give the user the power of Rido. These lenses were given to the last five remaining descendants of Zalem. Riot is desperate to obtain the power because his sister is in a state of suspended animation after being involved in an accident. He believes it will give him the power to bring her back to life. In the Shirale Valley in the house of a descendent of Zalem, a group of cyborgs collectively known as Demsters rough up the elderly occupant named Randal and his son to discover who they gave their lens to. After Randal's son succumbs to their violence and tells them they gave the lens to Riot, the Demsters kills both of them they set out to find Riot.

Riot and the two girls have travelled to the town of Zigoa to meet a young woman called Yuta La Caradeen in the local bazaar. She works as a kind of soothsayer. Riot hands Yuta a letter in which Randal asks her to give him her lens. However before any negotiation can begin, the Demsters attack them and eventual end up destroying most of the shop. But Spica and Seneca manage to get the Demsters to retreat after letting off smoke bomb-like weapons called Hiss Candy. Yuta is furious at Riot as her shop is pretty much utterly destroyed and she presents him with a damage bill. However Riot tries to smooth out things by saying that if she lets him take the Eye of Zalem, she will be rich once he finds Rido. She makes a deal with him; he can have the lens, but only if she can travel with him to the ruins of Zalem.

Having been defeated, the Demsters return to their leader, Kaiser. Annoyed at their failure, he send them out to capture both the lenes and more curiously Yuta. Kaiser believes she may be a link to Zalem. After travelling quite a distance and going to a local beach to swim, Riot and girls camp for the night. Riot explains to Yuta that the ancient Quall civilisation discovered the natural, limitless energy source that is Rido. But because of its power, they decided to seal it away. The next day they arrive at the ruins of Zalem which are next to large lake. While searching for the entrance, the group are attacked by the Demsters, this time in giant robots. They take Yuta and hold her hostage. They demand Riot give them the lenses in exchange for Yuta, however the Demsters renege on the deal and once they have the lenses in their possession they shoot missiles at Riot and leave him for dead.

The actual entrance to Zalem temple is located in a large cavern under the lake, where the Demsters hand over Yuta and the lenses to Kaiser. However Kaiser is unable to enter the temple and realises that he needs Yuta to do so. He tells her, much to her surprise, that she is actually a descendent of a Zalem priest. She refuses his demands to open the temple, so he hypnotises her to make her navigate through the temple according to his will. However Riot, Spica and Seneca are all alive and well, and are about to mount a rescue plan to save Yuta and foil Kaiser's plans.

History and Review:
Look, as you can tell from the synopsis of this one shot OVA, this show is pretty derivative. A cocky hero, check. A cute girl check. Two cute arse-kicking ditzy side-kicks, check. Evil white haired villain, check. Evil, ruthless cyborgs, check. Giant robots, check. Plus baddies who need a lot of killing to be truly dead, clichéd and cheesy anime dialogue, and to top it off it's set in a quasi post-apocalyptic/fantasy setting. Yet despite all of that, I really liked it. It's been executed with quite a lot of style and flair. I think the producers knew they weren't making a masterpiece, so they've just gone for pure fun. And it delivers in spades. I mean yeah it's trash, but it's quite entertaining trash. Sometimes you just want a show that you can just watch without thinking, and this is it. But the best thing about it is that it doesn't insult your intelligence. The animation and designs are excellent (reminiscent of other 1980's anime OVAs such as "Dangio"), and the staff manage to pull off a great little one shot OVA that keeps you entertained for the entire length of the show. The only real problem I had with this title is that the titular robot, Ladius, doesn't appear until the last 10 minutes of the show. Also I felt that a number of minor plot points were never resolved in the end, but I guess when you have big robots fighting and big pretty explosions it just doesn't matter.

While there isn't a great deal of information to be found on the show, I discovered that it was directed by Hiroshi Negishi. Some of his more famous creations include "Master of Mosquiton" and the "Saber Marionette" series ("Saber Marionette R", "J", "J to X"). And he has also directed shows like "K.O. Century Beast Warriors", "Knights of Ramune & 40", "Misaki Chronicles", "Tekkaman Blade", "Sonic Soldier Borgman", "Burn Up W", "Shadow Skill" OVAs and "Amazing Nurse Nanako". So it seems like he's had a really spotty career which includes a lot of trash but certainly a fair few quality titles. Take that as a warning or complement as to the quality of "Ladius". Also on board for this OVA is screenplay writer Hideki Sonoda who has mostly done work on the "Pokémon" movies and TV series. Also working on the screenplay was Hiroyuki Kitakubo, who has had an amazing career. He helped with animation on "Urusei Yatsura" when he was only 15, was director on the first OVA in the infamous "Cream Lemon" series, and directed "Blood: the Last Vampire", "Roujin Z" and the "A Tale of Two Robots Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion" segment from "Robot Carnival".

The only English language version of this OVA is a subtitled VHS tape released by Western Connection in the mid 1990's. I have written about this odd UK company before and their penchant for licensing strange titles, usually from Toho's catalogue. Quality issues as per usual are a problem with this tape. Apart from the low quality VHS tape used, subtitle timing is a major problem. Though not quite as bad as some of their other titles, the majority of subtitles appear late, early or occasionally not even appearing at all. Is it really that hard to time subtitles? Honestly. The packaging only shows two small pictures on the back of the cover which are both of the robot Ladius, plus as usual synopsis taken from UK anime magazine Anime UK/FX, but unlike other tape covers from the company, this time the magazine's work goes uncredited. I suspect that Western Connection and Anime UK had some sort of deal going on, as Jonathan Clements translated for both. But I wouldn't be surprised if Western Connection just didn't steal the text from the magazine. If you're wondering about the cover, no, there's no nudity at all in the OVA (that's Yuta, with big hair that she doesn't have in the OVA), only on the cover. It's the same cover the Japanese LD and VHD versions had (VHD - Video High Density discs; an obscure 25cm disc format developed by JVC and first marketed in 1983).

I really like stuff like this but I think it's a bit of an acquired taste, so I'm a bit wary of recommending it. If you like 1980's anime and giant robot OVAs like "Dangio", try to get a copy. This show was released while Western Connection was gasping it's final breaths (in fact I believe it was the second to last anime title they released), so it's rather hard to find. Unfortunately this show never got a re-release on DVD in Japan or anywhere else in the world, so unless you're willing to import a copy off Yahoo! Auctions Japan using a deputy agent for a ridiculous amount of money, the UK tape is the only legal way to get it. I was looking for additional info of this show, and to my surprise I found very little at all. Due to a VHS release in the 1990's by Italian video company Yamato, most of the information I found was in Italian. There wasn't even a great deal about the show on Japanese sites. I feel a lot of these old OVAs are just going to disappear and never be seen again. The OVA market created some weird and wonderful shows and some great experimentation that we don't see now days. The format is practically dead now, and a lot of this older material is going to be gone forever. Sure, most of it isn't the pinnacle of anime, but it'd be nice to save some of it from obscurity.

Ladius ©1987 Toho International/Ashi Production. Cover artwork ©1995 Western Connection.

Lost Anime Review: Noel's Fantastic Trip

2009-09-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

Noel's Fantastic Trip

English Distribution Company: RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA)
Release Date: 1985
Format: NTSC VHS and Beta Dubbed
Runtime: 70 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Noel's Marvellous Adventures (Noel no Fushigina Boken)
Japanese Production Date: 1983

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Noel lives on a island floating in space which is inhabited by numerous animals including a small talking dog named Pup. While Noel is quite content with life, Noel still has daydreams, such as being a country girl (complete with musical accompaniment). At this point, especially if you had read the back of the video cover which states Noel is male, most viewers would probably be questioning why a young boy would want to live as a girl doing domestic chores in a rural setting. Well, that’s because Noel is a girl. Making sense so far? No? Oh well, you're not going to like reading the rest of this review... After this slightly gender-bending musical interlude, Noel has a fantastic thought. The sun must be hot, so she decides take some ice cream to him. So both Noel and Pup take off in their plane in to outer space. In her travels she sees the space shuttle, the space station from “2001” A Space Odyssey” and of course the Space Cruiser Yamato. No, seriously. The Yamato. The Argo from "Star Blazers" for crying out loud.

Noel soon comes across a planetoid and communicates with the inhabitants at a distance using the tonal sounds from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Noel interprets their response as an invitation to land. Once there, the brightly dressed inhabitants greet her warmly and the president of the world explains the name of their planet is called Gaudy and people dress, uh, gaudily. The reason for this is because best dressed person on the planet becomes the president and is loved by the people. Noel and Pup are treated to lavish banquet and a fashion show, which leaves Noel a little bemused. Noel explains that on her planet people don't feel the need to dress up in expensive clothes to feel loved by others. You can just be yourself and people will like you for who you are (awww....). Upon hearing this, the king has a revelation and takes off all his clothes. In fact he orders everyone else to do so (including Noel) and states that people should be judged on how nice they are. With all of this near nudity distracting her, Pup reminds Noel of their quest and the two of them leave Gaudy.

Finally Noel and Pup reach their destination and the sun thanks them for the ice cream. The sun is concerned at the smog blocking his view of the universe and suspects that it is coming from a nearby planet. Noel is determined to find the source and heads off to a near by planet which is the probable source. But upon arriving, she and her plane are nearly engulfed by a cloud of smog, so she dives into the ocean. Hey if her plane can fly unaided in the vacuum of space, why not underwater? Enjoying the aquatic life float past her and Pup, the Beatles in their Yellow Submarine make an unexpected and head scratching appearance (well look, there's been a lot of copyright infringement in this movie so far, so why stop now?). This prompts Noel and Pup to sing (another bloody) song. At the end she exclaims "This time we sang for them!".

Continuing on with her journey and to avoid Apple's lawyers from suing her, she travels through the ocean and notices a lot of the fish are sick. She is then attacked by a sludge monster and makes a panicked SOS for help. This is picked up by the super school on a nearby planet. Yes, a super school, full of young animals who seem to learning how to become supermen. The teacher decides that best person for the job is Super Zoomer, a superhero whale. After a sequence of slapstick, Zoomer gets flies off and saves Noel and Pup by eating all the sludge. Noel thanks Zoomer and heads off to a nearby city which seems to be the source of the smog. There Noel meets a little fox child, Bobo, who tells her that the factory is the cause of the problems. In another musical interlude we told a somewhat depressing tale of how people have to work in the factory to make the things they want and the smog is a direct consequence of that. Meanwhile footage of animal children playing happily in a polluted city and in a junk yard full of scraped cars plays over the top. Oh, dirty evil consumerism. All children who are watching this; feel bad about how humans destroy the world! Bobo is a coughing and spluttering mess who can't go outside because of the pollution. Naturally Noel has a solution to the problem.

History and Review:
Before we delve into the weirdness of this kid’s film, a look at its history and origins is needed. After the title card of this film, you’ll notice that a massive credit informs us that the film is produced by Ikura. So who or what the hell is Ikura? Well she’s actually a popular Japanese folk singer (though all of the songs featured in the film are pop songs really) who’s been releasing music since the early 1970’s right up until the present. Seeing as there is practically no information about her in English, I'll give you a full rundown. Iruka (whose real name is Toshie Kanbe), which means dolphin in Japanese, was a nickname given to her in collage. She’s released over 40 albums including one with her father, Toshio Hosaka in 2005 (called "Any Key Ok!!" if you're looking for the album). He was a saxophonist in a popular 1960’s Japanese jazz band called Stardust. As you can see musical talent runs in the family with her son Touma Kanbe also being a musician. Iruka has also written a number of children’s picture books, mostly published in the late 1970’s. Which brings us rather neatly into this part of her career; animated films.

Possibly due to the fact she had written several children’s books and was a popular and prolific singer/songwriter, somehow she or someone else got the idea to create a film based on her characters and using her songs. From what I’ve been able to dig up on this film (and there isn’t much info floating about) Iruka created the story, did the character designs, voiced Noel, performed all of the songs and wrote seven of the nine songs on the soundtrack (most of the songs are new, two are from a previously released Ikura album from 1978). Oh and her son Touma, who was three at the time plays the dog, Pup. In addition to this, another short animated film played as double bill in Japanese cinemas with this movie, “Iruka's Christmas: Jeremy's Tree”, based upon Iruka’s 1980 picture book, with music and narration by Iruka as well.

For what is a children's film, "Noel's Fantastic Trip" is utterly bizarre. As explained before, there's Noel's quest to give the sun some ice cream, the super hero whale and copyright infringement galore. One of my favourite sequences comes right before the end of the film, where after Noel solves the pollution problem, we are treated to a musical number involving choreographed dancing toddlers, with one of them leading a platoon of tricycle riding toddlers through a Jurassic era landscape (because meat eating dinosaurs and babies are just a prefect pairing) then through a city. It makes absolutely no sense. As mentioned, there's a ton of musical sequences in the film. About eight or nine songs in total. The greater majority have absolutely nothing to do with the film's storyline. These sequences can be rather surreal at times (as if the rest of the movie wasn't) with a lot of repeated animation which leads me to believe the budget on this film wasn't all that large. The English dub, directed by Peter Fernandez (of "Speed Racer" fame), keeps all of the songs intact, with someone or some company called "Charlotte Ruse Music" creating new lyrics for the songs. I can only assume she just made up the lyrics based upon what was showing on screen. It certainly seems that way. The English songs are mostly OK, but having heard parts of the originals, they're not as good. The main theme of this film, which is really rammed home during the second half is environmental. For some parts of it I really suspected Greenpeace was scripting the film. There's much harping on about clean energy in the Jurassic-tricycle-toddler sequence. I'm surprised that the somewhat rabid environmentalism wasn't toned down for the English dub.

This is seriously one weird film. Initially I was rather bemused at the oddness and a little frustrated at all of the songs, however in my second viewing for some bizarre reason I partly enjoyed it, again mostly for it's oddness. I have to question why a film as strange as this and obviously a vehicle for an artist completely unknown outside of Japan, was chosen to be released in the US. I have always suspected films like these ones are unwanted parts of big package deals, or companies just pick titles out of a catalogue, not realising the horror they've just acquired. This film is probably one of the weirdest anime titles I've come across that was intended for children. If you have a child in your life, they might enjoy this film, that is if they don't fall asleep during the songs. Adults might enjoy some of the weirdness and pop culture references, but it's quite juvenile and those damn songs can be grating at times. This strange little film is yet another puzzling piece of anime released in a time of odd English dubbed children's films in the 1980's, before greater western awareness of anime.

Noel's Marvellous Adventures ©1983 Iruka Office/Toei Company, Ltd. English adaptation ©1985 Turner Program Services, Inc. Cover artwork ©1985 RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA).

Lost Magazine Review: Anime UK/Anime FX

2009-09-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

I originally wrote this review in 2004 for the old defunct website version of this blog. I was going to just slap up that review, but I've done a lot of revision on it to make it far more accurate. Only about 20% of the original review remains. I was missing volume 1, issue 11 of Anime UK, but managed to pick it up on eBay this year. So happy to finally have a complete collection of this magazine.

Anime UK/Anime FX
Publishers: Peter Goll (Sigma Colour Ltd), AUK Press, Ashdown Publishing
Format: Magazine
Genre/Type: Anime, manga, some tokusatsu (live action special effects) and Hong Kong cinema, convention coverage and misc Japanese pop culture coverage
Years Active: 1991 - 1996
Issues Published: 29

History and Review:
In June 1990, anime fans Helen McCarthy and Steve Kyte began to publish the Anime UK Newsletter as an information and contact point for the emerging British anime fandom scene. This was the beginning of a major wave of Japanese animation that hit the UK in the 1990's. Within a year Island World Communications (which later launched the Manga Video label) had released "Akira", and the first British anime convention was held. One of the newsletter's first subscribers, Wil Overton, showed the newsletter to his boss, publisher Peter Goll, who liked it so much offered to publish the newsletter as a magazine. Helen, along with art designer Wil Overton, artist Steve Kyte and publisher Peter Goll launched Anime UK magazine in late 1991. Along with it's two professional North American anime magazine counterparts, Animag and Protoculture Addicts, it became one of the most popular and in my opinion the best English language magazines ever produced.

The magazine started out as a rather glossy black and white magazine with a full colour cover with artwork usually by Steve Kyte. Over the course of two years the magazine went from a short 32 pages, ballooning to 58 pages in a bi-monthly format. In 1994 it won a Tezuka Award for best English language anime magazine. And it's not hard to see why. The articles were always extremely well researched, in depth, and very well written. Two of British anime fandom's best writers were working for the magazine; Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements. Both of them wrote (and still continue to write) excellent articles that both a novice and experienced fan can read. Other writers including Jim Swallow, Carl Horn (Animerica), Peter Evans and Fred Patten (Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics) also wrote some brilliant articles. One of the things which made it a hit amongst fans worldwide was that the magazine wasn't restricted to anime that was released in the UK. The news section mostly concentrated on Japan, the UK and US, but there was news of releases from Europe, occasionally Australia and even South America got a mention once in a while. There were articles about US released anime and manga, Japanese music, films, tokusatsu (special effects TV and movies), games, model kits, books and sometimes Hong Kong films. Best of all there was very in depth articles on anime that weren't even released in English at that time. The magazine also had a great news section, and a big fan section with letters, fan artwork, fanzine reviews and a pen pals column.

Another great aspect was the artwork of Steve Kyte. A really great artist, he did most of the original artwork in the magazine, though from issue 10 onwards the magazine used mostly promotional artwork from Japanese studios. My favourite work from him was his "A Oishii" (Ah, Delicious) column, a pictorial cooking column would you believe, where he shared a simple recipe using a different set of characters from a particular anime every issue. Later issues had various artists showcasing their artwork as well as their recipes for the column. Kyte also created Anime UK's own mascot, a cute mouse girl named Ne-chan (short for Nezumi).

In 1994, McCarthy whipped up a frenzy of anger in the UK scene when she wrote an open letter to anime and manga fans across the UK in protest to Island World Communication's application to trademark the word "Manga" for their Manga Entertainment video label. She felt that this could jeopardise the release of a comic, magazine or company that wanted to use Manga in it's title. Andy Frain, then director of Manga in the UK was livid and sent out a rebuttal open letter. Frain also pulled all advertising of Manga Video products from Anime UK and refused to send the magazine any video review copies of their releases. According to McCarthy he refused to discuss the matter with anyone from the magazine. In the same year, Anime UK licensed the three part anime OVA series "KO Century Beast Warriors" and released it on VHS, with an English dub directed by Jonathan Clements. It was their one and only video release. One can only assume that it wasn't a big seller. The second OVA series of the anime never made it to UK shores, though both KO Beast OVA series were released in the US by the Right Stuf in 2003 (with a new English dub of course).

1995 saw greater distribution of the magazine into newsagents across the country, as well the comic book shops and small US distribution that had been going on since it's inception. By March it published under it's own AUK Press with the magazine now reaching 68 to 72 pages per issue. With the new found audience, it republished Steve Kyte's very informative A to Z of anime. August saw a switch to professional publishers Ashdown Publishing, who published many niche magazines and a change in name to Anime FX, to reflect that it was more of an international magazine, not confined to the UK only. The magazine also went monthly and full colour during this period, which only added to it's appeal.

While I love this magazine, there was a couple of negatives against it. One minor one was McCarthy constant use of Japanese words. Most of the like "anime", "manga" and "mecha" are fine, but "chara", meaning "character" always bugged the hell out of me, and it never took off as a commonly spoken word amongst anime fans like the other three I've mentioned. But this big one was reviews, particularly the ones published in the magazines latter two years. Never in my life had I'd seen so many negative reviews in one spot. While not as scathing as reviews in UK manga anthology/anime magazine Manga Mania/Manga Max, there were a few shockers. While McCarthy and especially Clements are the main culprits, Julia Sertori in the final issue of the magazine takes the cake. In her review of the final OVA of "Oh! My Goddess", absolutely disgusted by the way Belldandy is portrayed and how Keiichi saves away madly to buy her a ring, she claims that the "Urotsukidoji" anime is more honest. Huh? Then she flies off into a bizarre feminist rant about how Belldandy is a "model of conservative housewifery". Jeez, lay off reading "The Female Eunuch" for a while Julia. I don't know if she just doesn't understand the cultural differences or hasn't got a romantic bone in her body. Other fan favourites such as "You're Under Arrest" got a blasting too. Sure these shows aren't the pinnacle anime, but they were never the bottom of the barrel z-grade trash the reviewers made them out to be One wonders what they would have thought of "Love Hina" and other predictable "harem" anime.

In February 1996 rumours started to circulate the magazine had met it's end. David King of Ashdown Publishing made a couple of extortionary posts to Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.anime claiming that he had put the magazine on hold while they decided to what to do with it. One plan he had in store was to publish it in the US with new staff. He claimed that the magazine lost him £60,000 in 10 months and that anime wasn't viable in the UK, despite the fact four video companies where releasing over half a dozen titles a month. He also claimed the Anime FX had a "ludicrously expensive London office, numerous members of staff and hanger-on's, with convoluted expense accounts". From many people's perspectives including McCarthy and Kyte this was rubbish. They had a dinky, cramped office and were only paid a grand sum of £800 a month each to cover the entire costs of the magazine as well as their own wages. As you can imagine both of them felt that they'd been cheated. Ashdown had seemingly taken their magazine by force, something they worked so hard to establish and create. It's a bit weird to think that an anime magazine would lose more money and be a lower seller than Ashdown's other titles which were dedicated to subjects such as teddy bear collectors and parrot breeders. Despite claims that Ashdown would relaunch the magazine, it never happened. The magazine's last issue was March 1996.

In an era where internet usage was quite low and anime was still fairly hard to come by (but improving with each year that passed), this magazine was a godsend to English speaking anime fans over the world. Not only were the articles very well written and researched, the artwork was stunning, especially in the magazine's final two years when it went full colour. The fact it concentrated not only the UK scene, but the US, Europe and occasionally Australia as well as new titles coming out Japan just made it a must read for fans. McCarthy became the editor of fellow UK manga anthology/anime magazine Manga Mania from 1996 until Jonathan Clements took over the magazine in 1998 when it was revamped and renamed Manga Max as well as losing it's manga. I believe this magazine is truly the greatest English magazine ever published. With anime magazines becoming rarer than hen's teeth in this age, I truly miss this magazine and am saddened that nothing has come close to fill the void (well, maybe Manga Max almost got there).

Anime UK ©1991 - 1995 Sigma Advertising Services Ltd. Anime UK ©1995 AUK Press. Anime FX ©1995 - 1996 Ashdown Publishing Ltd.

Lost Anime Review: Junk Boy

2009-09-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

Junk Boy
English Distribution Company: Manga Entertainment (USA and UK)
Release Date: 24 September 1996 (USA), 14 October 1996 (UK)
Format: PAL VHS Dubbed, NTSC VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 44 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Junk Boy
Japanese Production Date: 1987

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Ryohei Yamazaki, an oversexed but enthusiastic young man, is on his way to an interview with Japan's biggest selling men's magazine "Potato Boy" (or "Poteto Boy" as its written on the magazine cover in the OVA). After daydreaming about a sexual encounter (and in the process humping a Colonel Saunders statue outside a KFC) and harassing and leering at a number of women, he finally arrives at his destination, with only seconds to spare. While being asked a rather complex question about domestic and foreign affairs, he begins to fantasise about the rather attractive woman on the interview panel. Mumbling to himself and salivating, and eventually hugging and rutting her as well as obviously being aroused, there's no doubt that he has failed to land the job. Worse is the fact his friends tell him the woman he was fondling in the interview was Yuki Oda, the editor of the magazine and is one of the most highly respected and powerful women in the publishing industry. Much to his surprise (and everyone else's) she hires him to work on the magazine.

The following day he shows up at the office, making everyone feel uncomfortable and disturbed at his lust for sex as well disrupting their work. Yuki gives him the job of going through the nude photo sets for the magazine. Like in the interview, if he gets an erection, the photo is fit for the magazine, if he's flaccid, it's out. Naturally he adores this job. But the staff photographer rushes into the office saying he lost his assistant for an important shoot with an singing idol who singing career is in the dumps. Although annoyed he has leave his photo grading work, Ryohei is soon pretty happy when find out the model in question is Kanda Mika, a girl he adored when was a kid. The photo shoot isn't going well and Mika isn't into it. Ryohei is disgusted at her attitude, and explains to her that when he was a kid he loved her and, ahem, regularly masturbated to her music videos and pictures (can't believe I wrote that...). Naturally women love to hear about this stuff and she becomes incredibly aroused and the photographer is impressed with the shots he's getting.

After the very successful photo shoot, Yuki is so impressed with Ryohei that she promotes him (to what level or job, we're never told). He manages to screw up any chances of a further promotion when he re-writes a ton of articles he was only meant to be proof reading with his own lurid input. At a staff meeting the next day, Yuki brings up the fact that the magazine's publisher wants them to do a puff piece on the massage parlour Soaplands. They want to write it up so badly it won't be published, however Ryohei, as eager and over enthusiastic as ever, begs her to do the story. She relents and lets him do it just to get him out of her hair. Once there, he is treated to a young woman named Marion who bathes him and uh, does the other little extras the establishment provides. Ryohei excitedly comes back to the office with completed story. However he does not realise that the girl at the massage parlour was in fact the famous undercover journalist Aki Sawamoto who was sent to do the story by Yuki. Ryohei suffers a double blow to his self esteem with the rejection of his article and Aki claiming that his "performance" at the massage parlour was hopeless.

Ryohei begs Aki to give him a chance to make it up to her and follows her around for an entire day. She refuses to budge and give in, and at the end of the day eventually states that she's never felt any pleasure at all in her life. Ryohei now feels it is his duty to "make her feel something" and sets about to give her the most romantic night of her life. But the very next day she is due to fly out to Libya for her next story. Will she agree to Ryohei's request to make it up to her?

History and Review:
I have never liked this genre of anime at all really. I find most sex in anime rather unrealistic and the women completely unrealistic. If I'm going to watch some soft porn, the live action stuff is much more palatable. I can say the same for sex comedies as well, though I find they're usually poor in all mediums. One of the more notable exceptions is "Golden Boy", the 1990's OVA series where a oversexed young man finds himself in various part time jobs, with a bevy of beauties for him to perv at. Usually he gets himself in trouble, but by the end he lauded as a hero and a genius, and impresses the hell out of the lead girl. More or less "Junk Boy" is somewhat similar, with two notable exceptions. First it's much more reliant on the actual sex act than "Golden Boy" ever was. Where as Kentaro (the lead of "Golden Boy") never actually gets any sex or leaves before the woman can even make a move, Ryohei is getting it all the time. And secondly, because of this and the general crudeness of the show, "Junk Boy" has none of the charm of "Golden Boy".

The teenage dream of working at a men's magazine is well exploited in this show. Gee, I know I wanted to sort through the shots from photo shoots in Penthouse magazine when I was a much younger man (a long time ago before the internet started throttling the neck of the publishing industry). Although I kind of wonder why in Ryohei's interview the panel asked him for his opinion on foreign and domestic policy. Since when was knowing that important to work on a girlie magazine? The way women are treated and how they respond to sex is pretty hilarious, though bordering on the misogynistic at times. Yes I 'm sure if you tell a fallen pop idol that you wanked over her pictures when you were younger, she'll be all over you like a rash. In the same category is Ryohei's rather clichéd and groan worthy way he goes about trying to seduce Aki. Really, it's all juvenile male fantasy and not much of it is based in reality. I also thought that Aki, a journalist who seems to have based her career off of Hunter S. Thompson, was rather unbelievable as well. But the main problem of the show is Ryohei himself. He's such a pervert and a rather an unlikeable character all round. As he leered and licked his lips at a passing girl on a bike just before the show's title card, I felt really repulsed by him. His attempt to "make it up" to Aki at the end of the OVA does not redeem his character at all.

Manga artist Yasuyuki Kunitomo began this series in 1986 and it ran a total of 18 volumes which is pretty impressive considering the subject matter. Unsurprisingly Kunitomo's titles are mostly of the Seinen genre, but are usually dramas that focus on men from middle class corporate backgrounds who have stressful situations in their lives. It looks as if this manga is is a bit of a departure for him. Back to the OVA, it oddly contains a very short mock commercial for an energy drink just before the final scene. It is wholly animated by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (of "Wicked City" and "Ninja Scroll" fame) who is credited as a guest animator. I have no idea how this is segment related to, or why it was included in the show. The only link is the character in the advert gets an erection like Ryohei. I must also point out that there is a Yaoi manga named "Junk!Boys" confusingly serialised in a magazine named "Junk! Boy". Both have no connection whatsoever to this OVA or the manga it is based on. It also has no connection to the 1990's TV series "Maze" whose catchy end theme song had the lyrics "Don't Touch Junk Boy Mada Mada Lonely Boy". Seriously, I've read where people get "Maze" mixed up with this OVA!

Surprisingly the English dub is quite good. Directed, like almost all of Manga Entertainment's early dubs, by Michael Bakewell in England using American actors and British actors putting on American accents. The three leads, especially Ryohei, are very good, though some of the secondary cast are below par. Seeing as Manga Entertainment was mostly all about releasing exploitative titles, this OVA seems perfect for their catalogue. Overall I think "Junk Boy" is rather mediocre and horribly exploitive with little charm. However I laughed a number of times and enjoyed a fair bit of it, while feeling a bit guilty at the same time. Repeat viewings of the title however have made me rather less than enthused about it. If you're expecting something like "Golden Boy", than forget it. This show is nothing be pure juvenile crudeness with few redeeming features. It borders more on the edge of soft porn than it does sex comedy. Unless you're a teenage boy your time is probably best spent elsewhere.

Junk Boy ©1987 Yasyuki Kunitomo/Futabasha Company/Victor Entertainment Inc. Cover artwork ©1996 Manga Entertainment.

Lost Anime Review: Slow Step

2009-09-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

I have way too many VHS tapes lying around. So many weird titles. Surprisingly quite a few are from long defunct UK company Western Connection, who originally released foreign films then made the move to anime before packing it in not long after. They were only in it for the money and didn't care about quality, however UK fans got a lot of esoteric stuff because of them. They certainly released a fair few titles that never made it into any other English speaking country.

Slow Step
English Distribution Company: Western Connection (UK)
Release Date: March to May 1995
Format: PAL VHS Subtitled
Runtime: 5 episodes x 45 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Slow Step
Japanese Production Date: 1991

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Minatsu Nakazato is a teenage girl in high school who's a bit of a tomboy with a no-nonsense kind of attitude. Her childhood friend Shu Akiba is making subtle hints that they should become girlfriend and boyfriend and the coach on her softball team, Satoru Yamazakura, is a lecherous creature always making lewd comments at the girls. A young man named Naoto Kadomatsu one day tries to ask her out on a date, but she just ignores his advances. She is later disgusted to find out he tries the same lines on nearly every girl he meets, but is bemused when he backs off if they say yes.

One morning Minatsu witnesses a hit and run from the bathroom window. She reports the distinctive car to the police, but later sees it parked on the street. She runs into a café to report the car but doesn't realise that the occupants, who are yakuza, are listening to her every word. They escape, but later follow her home and decide to silence her on the rooftop of the apartments she lives in. Luckily she is saved by Kadomatsu, whom she later finds out is a boxer. A few days later Minatsu decides to go out, but sees the same yakuza members are outside and are still after her. Not wanting to give up, she disguises herself with a wig and glasses. Unfortunately Kadomatsu spots her, and tries the same lines on her, not realising it’s Minatsu. She rejects him again, but he eventually falls in love with her and asks Minatsu (out of disguise) if she can organise a date with her. She decides to go on the date disguised in an attempt to end the matter, but makes things worse and ends up giving him a fake name to go with the disguise; Maria. Complicating matters is Minatsu's belief that Kadomatsu is dying after misinterpreting his fainting spells and his comments about him having limited time.

Meanwhile Yamazakura is trying to get the school tough girl Ayako Sawamura to join the softball team. She's smitten with the coach, but doesn't want to play softball, despite her obvious talents. Akiba notices this and decides to make up a contract with the Yamazakura and Sawamura. If she joins, he has to go out on dates with her. Minatsu somehow ends up going on double dates with Kadomatsu and Akiba, and always switches between herself and the Maria persona so that she doesn't get caught out. Unfortunately Coach Yamazakura's young niece Chika discovers her changing and decides to blackmail her. Chika is has been under the care of Yamazakura since her mother died. Since Yamazakura isn't very good with the housework or cleaning, she has to do it herself. She decides she wants a break and forces Minatsu to cook a meal. Bemused by the attention, Yamazakura drives her home afterwards, but Sawamura accidentally sees them driving home together. You know this is going to cause trouble.

Even worse is to come. Chika accidentally lets slip that Maria and Minatsu are the same person, and the two boys Akiba and Kadomatsu, decide to make another contract and fight for her in the boxing ring. The loser will give up Minatsu. Unfortunately for the boys Minatsu doesn't like the idea of two men fighting over her.

History and Review:
Although Slow Step seems to have a rather convoluted plot, it's really easy to follow and is so damned funny. Based on the manga by Mitsuru Adachi ("Short Program", "Touch", "H2") like a lot of his other works, "Slow Step" had a great mix of romance, comedy and sports. Rather than going for typical high school romance, Adachi flips the entire scenario around and comes up with something very unique. I particularly like the way he gets Minatsu in deeper and deeper trouble with seemingly no way to get out of the situation. I also like the additional elements of the lecherous teacher (played by Akira Kamiya who previously played Ryo Saeba in “City Hunter”, perfectly cast for this part) and the sukeban (tough girl) which add a lot of interest to what could have been a real standard love triangle set up. The ending and Minatsu’s final choice are really not what you’d expect from this type of show. On the initial viewing of the OVA, I felt everything was a little too rushed and too neat. But having seen the show again recently, I can now see the subtle hints of how Minatsu came to her decision. Partly I feel it’s a little too hard to swallow the concept that a high school girl would make that choice. Also having a school girl under contract to date a teacher is slightly icky concept, even if the show is a comedy. But in the end the characters and situations just win you over. And Adachi's distinctive jug-eared character designs are so delightful.

The first thing people do when they hear that these three tapes exist is make sounds of astonishment. Yes that's right, in the middle of the 1990's in England, at the very highest peak of popularity of the "Manga Videos" era where "Guyver", "Mad Bull 34" and "Fist of the North Star" were king, one company, the infamous Western Connection, decided to release this title. Subtitled as well, when dubbed tapes were the dominate force. In this climate how do you think a romantic sports comedy would have gone down with the video tape buying public? One word; awful. According to Jonathan Clements it was the worst selling anime title in the UK until the "Kimagure Orange Road" OVAs were released a year or two later (with the TV series never being released in the UK). Also Western Connection didn't make many copies of "Slow Step" either. Released during the twilight years of Western Connection, this title played a big part in their downfall. With the public weaned on Manga Entertainment's monopoly of anime in the market, which was mostly of the exploitative kind, Slow Step's mix of romance, softball and boxing turned a lot of UK anime fans off. Western Connection's usual poor handling of their product was also to blame. Apart from their ubiquitous mistimed subtitles, they also cut out the ending animation of episode 3 and the opening animation of episode 4 to make it look as if there was only one episode. The reason why? The British Board of Film Classification would charge them more if there was two episodes on the tape, a lesson learned from the first volume. The synopses on the three volumes were mostly taken from an Anime UK (later called Anime FX) magazine article by Julia Sertori, which they falsely credited to Helen McCarthy.

The second most extraordinary thing about this release is that it's an Mitsuru Adachi anime. So very little of his work has ever made it into English. Apart from this rather rare three VHS tape release, the only other work of his to be released in English is his manga "Short Program", released by Viz in 1999. As Adachi's work is beloved in Japan and has a small but quite dedicated following in the west, you really have to wonder why western anime and manga publishers have ignored his work. The length and age of titles like "Touch" and "H2" probably are off-putting. But then again during the frenzy of licensing of which sometimes included long, odd and plain unsellable titles in the mid 2000's (like all of "City Hunter" and "Marmalade Boy" for instance), you have to wonder why so very few of his titles didn't make the leap into English.

Despite practically not receiving any recognition at all during its initial release, "Slow Step" is an excellent comedy/romance/sports OVA series. It's mostly a romance/drama but there's tons of comedy in the show to break it up so it never comes anywhere near being melodramatic. The sports part of it stays in the background and only becomes the focal point of the show in a few sequences. The longer than normal length of the OVAs let a lot of story to be packed into a very short time frame comfortably, but some may feel the conclusion is a bit too rushed and not entirely realistic (which is probably the only negative in the whole show). It’s pretty much impossible to find copies of this show and unfortunately I doubt we’ll see it again in English. If you spot a set of these tapes on eBay, snap them up, you won’t be disappointed. This title comes highly recommended.

Slow Step ©1991 Mitsuru Adachi/Toho/Youmex/OB Planning. Cover artwork ©1995 Western Connection.

Lost Anime Review: Robot Carnival

2009-08-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

I really wasn't planing on taking a break as big as this, but these things happen (I've been working on a couple of other projects). Finally decided to tackle some more reviews, except the one I was working on, "Ultraman", got a re-release, so I dumped that one and sat down to watch;

Robot Carnival

English Distribution Company: Streamline Pictures (Orion Home Video, USA), Kiseki (Australia), Beam Entertainment (Japan), Dai Won (Korea)
Release Date: 1 December 1991 (USA), 1995 (Australia), 25 November 2001 (Japan), 24 November 2004 (Korea)
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed, NTSC Laserdisc Dubbed and Subbed, PAL VHS Dubbed, NTSC DVD Japanese Dialogue with English Dub and English and Japanese Subtitles, NTSC DVD Japanese Dialogue with English and Korean Dubs and English, Korean and Japanese Subtitles
Runtime: 90 mins
Edits made to English Version: Yes (Reordering of segments and minor end credit changes to some versions)
Japanese Title: Robot Carnival
Japanese Production Date: 1987

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
An omnibus OVA, this film contains nine shorts about robots. The opening and closing segments tell the story of a giant decrepit monolithic carrier which ploughs through the desert taking out a small village. Once a giant circus-like attraction, it is now a forgotten relic with it's automated robots unintentionally killing, wounding and destroying anything in their path rather than original purpose of entertaining. But its time is coming to an end. "Franken's Gears" is the retelling of "Frankenstein", though this time the Doctor builds a robot, which mimics him a little too closely. "Deprive" is a rather conventional sci-fi story where a young girl is kidnapped by an invading band of robots. Her own personal servant robot goes on a quest to rescue her. In "Presence" a man married with children feeds his complex about women into the creation of a very human like girl. However the creation proves to be a little too human as she develops a conscience of her own.

"Star Light Angel" is a light shoujo-esqe story of two girls enjoying a day at a robot themed amusement park. When one of them introduces the other to her new boyfriend, she realises that he has been dating both of them. The other girl runs off, dropping an earring that her boyfriend gave her. However a robot, who is smitten with her, decides to return it to her. Possibly the oddest film of the lot, "Cloud", is an arty abstract piece which follows a young robot boy walking through scenery of clouds. "A Tale of Two Robots Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion" is about a mad foreign scientist trying to invade Japan in the 19th century in his giant robot. A group of local teens use their own wooden robot (actually constructed for a town parade) to defend the city. However the battle is slow and becomes absurd due to the technological constraints of the time. In "Nightmare (Chicken Man and Red Neck in Tokyo)", at night in Tokyo when everyone is asleep, the city taken over by various strange looking robots and machines. A drunken man awakens to find these machines everywhere and is chased down by one of the robots who seems to be a lookout for the machines.

History and Review:
While some consider the 1970's as the golden age of Japanese animation, the 1980's saw some real milestones and a number of more experimental and avant-garde anime being made. The early 1980's also saw the birth of the direct to video anime or OVA (Original Video Animation). Despite some claiming "Robot Carnival" is a theatrical feature (though it was screened on the independent cinema circuit in the US in 1990), in Japan it was an OVA release. Though I suspect it may have had a very limited theatrical release after it's initial video release. Japanese movie programmes for the film do exist.

The film itself is a real surprise. Instead of using well known anime directors, most had only experience as key animators and character designers. The biggest name here is Katsuhiro Otomo of "Akira" fame. His contribution, the opening and closing segments, are great bookends to rest of the film. As with a lot of his work, there is a lot of black humour with the juxtaposition of the horror and terror of the Robot Carnival machine mowing down an entire village, and the joy and fun that the carnival is supposed to and did bring in as seen in it's previous working life. Some versions of the film only credit Otomo, while others also correctly credit Atsuko Fukushima as co-director. She is probably most famous for being a key animator on "Kiki's Delivery Service", but also went on to direct the opening segment of another omnibus film Studio 4°C's "Genius Party". Speaking of Studio 4°C staff, one of their most famous staff members, Koji Morimoto, directs "Franken's Gears". He was director for the films "Fly! Peek the Whale" (released in the UK in the mid 1990's), the "Magnetic Rose" segment of "Memories" and the brilliant short film "Noiseman Sound Insect". Probably the biggest name other than Otomo here is Yasuomi Umetsu. He is most (in)famous for his girls, guns and sex OVAs such as "Kite" and "Mezzo Forte", but also was a very in demand character designer in the 1990's for OVAs such as "Gatchaman" and "Casshan". His segment, "Presence", is probably the most beloved of all. One of only two segments with any dialogue, it follows the story of a family fan who secretly builds a human like girl, but then rejects her when she becomes too human. Very thought provoking, sad and even a little creepy at points.

Most of the films here while mostly experimental look like anime of the period. But Mao Lamdo's odd "Could" sticks out like a sore thumb. Based on his own picture book, "Snow and the Young Boy", the entire segment is nearly all black and white and mostly focuses on a young robot boy walking along while clouds and wild weather swirl behind him. Most reviewers find this segment the most boring, which is fair enough. It really doesn't seem to belong in this group of shorts at all. It would probably work better as a separate animation aimed at the arthouse crowd rather than to anime fans. You have to wonder if the producers chose the wrong man or if he didn't quite understand the brief he got about the project. "Deprive" by Hideotoshi Ohmori is also one not liked by fans. However I don't mind this segment. The passing of time has aged it substantially, but I guess I'm sucker for 1980's animation, and this segment pretty much has all of the stereotypical elements of sci-fi anime of the mid 1980's. More liked however is Takashi Nakamura's "Nightmare (Chicken Man and Red Neck in Tokyo)", based upon the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from Disney's "Fantasia". Anime fans would be familiar with Nakamura's works such as "Fantastic Children" and "A Tree of Palme", both of which he created, designed and directed.

My own personal guilty pleasure and favourite from this film would have to be the "Star Light Angel" segment. This was directed by Hiroyuki Kitazume who at the time was most famous for being the character designer for "Gundam ZZ". In fact the two-timing boyfriend of the two female leads looks an awful lot like Char Aznable. Apparently there a lot of cameos of characters he designed for other anime in the segment, however the only one I picked up was the incredibly blatant Tetsuo Shima and Akira cameo (from "Akira", obviously not designed by Kitazume), who walk right up to the camera. According to the soundtrack liner notes, the segment is inspired by A-ha's "Take on Me" music video. Though I think it's much cheesier than that. It's so 1980's and so happy, gay and full of colour. It couldn't be more gayer if it stared Julian Clary. For me it's the best short of the entire film. Rounding out the collection is "A Tale of Two Robots Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion" which supposedly a parody of propaganda films of the 1940's. Like most of the directors here, Hiroyuki Kitakubo who directed the segment, has had quite an amazing carer. He helped with animation on "Urusei Yatsura" when he was only 15, was director on the first OVA in the infamous "Cream Lemon" series, and directed "Blood: the Last Vampire" and "Roujin Z". Another big name, Yoshiyuki Sadamato (of Evangelion fame) provides the character designs for the segment. Besides "Presence", this is the only other segment to include dialogue. Streamline, who produced the English dub, were criticised by many who claimed that the accents for the Japanese characters were slightly racist.

The quality of the production on all segments is quite amazing for a direct to video production. Almost all of the shots in each segment are animated at 24 frames per second, the same as big budget Disney films. In most anime you're lucky if you get 8 frames per second of animation. Almost every shot is incredibly fluid and detailed. The subject matter, while quite commercial, isn't exactly what you'd equate with box office success especially when you view the entire film from start to finish. A lot of the films are rather abstract and even quite arty. You have to wonder why and how this film got the green light. However projects such as this weren't so uncommon in the 1980's. Films such as "Angel's Egg", "Neo Tokyo" and others were being made and sat along side more commercial fare. The entire soundtrack for the film is also a highlight. Joe Hisaishi who has scored all of Hayao Miyazaki's films wrote the music for all of the segments except "Cloud". Though all synthesiser based, the music is quite amazing and fits all of the pieces quite well and gives the entire film a coherency.

The treatment of the OVA in the US in particular has been quite strange. For some unknown reason segments in at least two video versions of the film are in a completely different order than the original Japanese. The original OVA released in Japan had the segments in this order;

1. Opening
2. Franken's Gears
3. Deprive
4. Presence
5. Star Light Angel
6. Cloud
7. A Tale of Two Robots Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion
8. Nightmare (Chicken Man and Red Neck in Tokyo)
9. Ending

For some unknown reason in the US and Australian VHS versions, the order is changed slightly;

1. Opening
2. Franken's Gears
3. Star Light Angel
4. Deprive
5. Cloud
6. Presence
7. A Tale of Two Robots Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion
8. Nightmare (Chicken Man and Red Neck in Tokyo)
9. Ending

And on the US Laserdisc version released in 1993, the order is completely different;

1. Opening
2. Star Light Angel
3. Cloud
4. Deprive
5. Franken's Gears
6. Presence
7. A Tale of Two Robots Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion
8. Nightmare (Chicken Man and Red Neck in Tokyo)
9. Ending

On the liner notes, the US Lasersdisc order was explained as thus; "Each segment was produced as a separate short film and the sequence as it appears on this laserdisc, differs from the original Japanese and American VHS home video releases. It has been approved by Kazufumi Nomura [producer of the film] as the correct viewing sequence optimized for laserdisc". Huh? I'm sure Japanese Laserdisc releases have the segments in the same order as the Japanese VHS versions (as are the Japanese and Korean DVD versions). There are other minor changes in some versions of the film. The US and Australian versions omit some of the closing credit animation/stills (as to remove the kanji credits, the Japanese end credits do appear as a bonus on the US Laserdisc) and for some reason on at least the Korean DVD version of the film, a small segment at the end of "Presence" where the picture fades to black and the flapping of wings can be heard for 30 seconds afterward has been deleted. The Korean DVD is annoyingly cropped for widescreen but is in 4:3 widescreen format, not 16:9 anamorphic. I believe this film was all shot in open matte (i.e. 4:3 format) and is presented on the Japanese DVD in open matte 4:3.

When Japanese studio A.P.P.P. made it's debut into the US market with the label Super Techno Arts, it announced that "Robot Carnival" would be coming to region 1 DVD. A little while later it sourced ideas from American anime fans about which directors it should use for a planned sequel to the original film. However neither was realised. Like all of their projects they released or attempted to release in the US, legal and copyright problems dogged them, and the company quietly folded in 2008. Anime fans were however able to import either the Japanese or Korean DVD versions of the film, both of which had Streamline's old English dub and subtitles. Though the subtitles were actually "dubtitles" and followed the rather liberal English dub script with added lines where there was silence in the original (especially with "Presence"). However since this movie is nearly free of dialogue, most of it could be enjoyed without the need of a dub or subtitles. Both countries DVDs came in special additions with a 100 page booklet with interviews of almost all of the directors and selected design sheets and story boards. In Japan a single DVD release was also issued. Sadly all DVD versions of the film were deleted not long after their release.

"Robot Carnival" is an amazing film from an era of Japanese animation which we will probably never see the likes of again. Even though one or two of the shorts might be of lesser quality, the film as a whole package is pretty astounding. Besides Studio 4°C's small output, there are very few experimental films or even regular anime made now days that hasn't been thoroughly market researched and has planned otaku themed merchandise as a tie in. Also the animation quality in this film is absolutely amazing and easily trumps just about every thing made in the last couple of years. I couldn't image any producer giving a bunch of relatively untested animators a shot at directing a high budget concept short film today. It's a shame this film has slipped into oblivion due to legal disputes. Hopefully one day they'll be resolved and English speaking fans will be able to see the film again.

Robot Carnival ©1987 A.P.P.P. Cover artwork ©1991, 1993 Streamline Enterprises, Inc, ©1995 BPS Video Services, ©2000 Beam Entertainment and ©2004 Dai Won Entertainment.

Lost Tokusatsu Review: Giant Monster Gamera

2009-06-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

Giant Monster Gamera
English Distribution Company: Celebrity Home Video, Neptune Media (USA), Toshiba (Japan)
Release Date: 6 September 1989 (USA, dubbed version), 11 October 2001 (Japan)
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed and Subtitled, NTSC DVD Subtitled
Runtime: 79 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Giant Monster Gamera (Daikaiju Gamera)
Japanese Production Date: 1965

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In the Artic Circle, a Japanese expedition are en route to a Eskimo settlement. Upon reaching the village, the expedition spots a group of unidentified planes. Soon one is shot down by a US Airforce fighter and it explodes into a nuclear mushroom cloud. A giant turtle like creature appears from the icy waters and destroys the expedition's ship. The Eskimo chief tells the head of the expedition, a zoologist named Dr Hidaka (Eiji Funakoshi), that the creature is called Gamera and he hands him an ancient stone with a carving of the turtle creature on it. Dr Hidaka and his team members are soon rescued and he announces the existence of Gamera to the world and that the creature is from the lost continent of Atlantis.

Like all giant monsters, Gamera is soon heading for Japan. In Hokkaido, a young boy named Toshio (Yoshiro Uchida) lives with his father and sister in a lighthouse. Toshio loves turtles, but is reprimanded by his father and sister when he keeps taking his turtles to school. They force him to let the turtles go. As Toshio is freeing his turtle, Gamera closes in on the lighthouse. Toshio tells his sister and his father, then climbs up into the lighthouse tower to get a better look at Gamera. Gamera smashes the lighthouse, but manages to save Toshio when he sees him dangling from the handrail.

The armed forces are having no luck battling the monster as their weapons have little to no effect. Gamera eats flames and are his main source of energy, so therefore the bombing only makes him stronger. The government realises the weight of the situation and enlist Colonel Sanders look-alike, Dr Mursae (Jun Hamamura), to help. Instead of Hokkaido Fried Turtle, he suggests that they use a new weapon that the army is developing, a weapon that can freeze Gamera and slow him down. The plan swings into action as the army lure Gamera atop a small mountain. There they bomb him with the freeze weapon which seems to work as Gamera slows down. The second part of the plan blows up part of the mountain he is resting on to flip him over on to his back. Gamera like other turtles shouldn't be able to move once he's on his back, so he will be stuck, unable to move and eventually die. Unfortunately the army didn't figure on Gamera being jet powered. He spins around on the back of his shell until he takes off like a flying saucer, and in the process solves most of the flying saucer reports in Japan.

After taking a world tour flying over the most recognisable landmarks in the world, Gamera returns to Tokyo to level the city. The government now puts it's last resort "Z Plan" into action. This involves putting Gamera into a rocket and sending him to Mars, but first they have to get him to Oshima Island where the rocket is. This involves leaving a trail of fire from the mainland to island to lure him there, but a Typhoon is headed toward the island which threatens the plan. Add to this the fact the turtle loving Toshio has run away from home and stowed away on one of the supply ships heading the island. The boy desperately wants to stop Gamera from being killed.

History and Review:
In 1963 and into 1964, Japanese film studio Daiei set about making a film called "Daigunju Nezura (Swarm of Rats)". The as you can imagine, the plot was about a bunch of genetically engineered giant rats that invade a city and start munching on people. Though around 400 feet of mostly special effect sequences had been shot, the film was abandoned. The problem was the live rats they decided to use in conjunction with the models. The had problems breeding them and top it off the studio had been infested with fleas and ticks setting off complaints with residents living nearby. With a hole in the studio's release schedule it was decided to make a low budget monster film, this time with a giant jet powered turtle.

This odd little giant monster film went on to spawn 6 sequels during the late 1960's and into the very early 1970's when Daiei eventually declared bankruptcy. Gamera was the only giant monster to ever threaten Toho's Godzilla series in term of popularity. Shot on a puny US$100,000 budget and on black and white film stock, the film looks pretty good. The effects are nearly as good as Toho's bigger budget Godzilla films, and the model plane shots are the stand out effects in the film. The acting and dialogue are pretty good too (but not brilliant). One of favourite parts of the film is the continuing relationship between expedition photographer Aoyagi (Junichiro Yamashiko) and Dr Hidaka's assistant Koyko (Harumi Kiritachi). He makes it very clear he enjoys her company and even calls her his good luck charm, but Koyko doesn't want a bar of him. It's hilarious, but unfortunately like a lot of similar films not enough time is devoted to developing the human characters in the film.

Knowing that the Godzilla films were a big hit in the US, Daiei inserted American actors into the film in hope of getting a US distributor. Most of them can't act for crap. The main English actor, a military general who thankfully only appears on screen for a few minutes, is seen most of time reading his lines woodenly from a piece of paper! A lot of awful "Engrish" is also spoken by the Japanese cast including the very Japanese looking Eskimos. Toshio's father and sister also display some rather cruel Japanese 1960's era traits regarding the upbringing of children which is quite funny to see in this film. Oh Toshio, the poor kid is so focused on turtles and it's the only thing he has in his life, yet the two of them are hell bent on erasing anything to do with the subject from his world.

There's been a few releases and English adaptations of this film. In 1966 there was an English dub released called "Gammera the Invincible" which like the 1956 dub of the original Godzilla film, had additional scenes and actors inserted. I consider this to be a different film to the original Japanese version, so I'll be ignoring all video releases of it. In 1987, Sandy Frank (of "Battle of the Planets" fame) dubbed the film and released it uncut. This made it's way to home video in the US in 1989. Then in 1999, Neptune media released an amazing subtitled VHS version of the film in it's original widescreen format. The tape comes in a hard-shell black plastic keep case, which is a bit unusual for US VHS tapes, as most come in cheap card board slips. The reverse of the VHS slick contains a short write up and history of the film by Stuart Galbraith IV who wrote the book "Monsters are Attacking Tokyo!" and a message from the late Noriaki Yusaa who directed most of the Gamera films. Godzilla fan and writer August Ragone also provides a synopsis on the back of the video. Gamera's biography also appears on the reverse of the slick.

Now you would think with the bad treatment of these films over the years, and the lack of subtitled releases of Japanese special effects in the US market, fans would be swarming to get this release. Nope, not a chance in hell. You see Neptune Media naturally wanted to protect their investment and sent out some "cease and desist" letters to bootleggers who were still making illegal subtitled copies of Gamera films. Fans reacted negatively, and a lot of them didn't buy the tapes. Yeah, brilliant. Why support a legit industry when bootleggers can provide you with crappy tapes at a fraction of the cost? How dare Neptune Media try to protect their interests that they've poured thousands of dollars into! This crap is another reason why I despise certain sections of fandom. The movie was also released in Japan on DVD in 2001 with optional English subtitles by Toshiba. This is a fantastic disc which naturally contains the trailers for the film, all in glorious anamorphic widescreen. The subtitle translation is a little simplistic and "economical", however they're quite good. The disc was also released as part of a half box set of Gamera films which also came with booklet in which has two articles and number of still shots from the aborted production of "Nezura".

Overall, it's a pretty good little film. Not as good as some of the Godzilla films of that time period, but surprisingly better than some of the weaker films in that series. The black and white footage is quite atmospheric, especially in the arctic scenes, and also actually manages to disguise a lot of it's low budget nature. The only negative aspect of the film is the rather woeful but thankfully brief gaijin acting. While this incarnation of Gamera might not be as slick or the 1990's films (which are superior to anything Toho has ever done with Godzilla), it's certainly a very well made and one of the more enjoyable films in this much maligned genre. In fact this film is one of my personal favourites in this genre, though I do like some the earlier Godzilla films more. But if you're out for pure nostalgic fun and 1960's city destroying mayhem, track down this version of the film.

Giant Monster Gamera ©1965 Daiei Co Ltd. Cover artwork ©1989 Celebrity Home Video, ©1999 Neptune Media Inc and ©2001 Toshiba Digital Frontiers.

Lost Anime Review: Great Conquest: The Romance of Three Kingdoms

2009-05-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve had this tape for a number of years, but only watched it about two months ago. Oddly I can’t find any other review for it.

Great Conquest: The Romance of Three Kingdoms

English Distribution Company: Streamline Pictures (Orion Home Video, USA)
Release Date: 21 February 1995
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed
Runtime: 119 mins
Edits made to English Version: Yes
Japanese Title: Romance of the Three Kingdoms Chapter 1: Dawn of the Heroes
Japanese Production Date: 1992

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In the Han dynasty under Emperor Ling in China (around 180AD onwards), corruption has flourished and the people have grown tired of it. A rebellion under a group named the Yellow Turban Rebels flourish, but they soon become an unfocused mob who pillage villages. A young peasant man with royal ties named Liu Bei is helping to bring a pack of horses to the local governor when they are attacked by a group of Yellow Turban Rebels. But he manages to give them the slip by driving the herd straight down the middle of the bandits. This act of bravery impresses the governor and he offers his daughter, Li-Hau, to him though he gratefully declines. Later that night the Yellow Turban Rebels attack the village and take the governor's daughter. Liu Bei manages to rescue her and hides from the rebels. Before leaving, she makes him promise that he will return to her.

The following day, Liu Bei meets a brawny man named Chang Feu who wishes to volunteer to join the fight against the rebels. Chang is about to be arrested for peddling, but Liu Bei makes up a story about meeting him to buy his food to save him from being caught. The two of them strike up a friendship and Chang introduces him to Kwan Yu, a wise man who is fed up with corruption in this era. After bounty hunters attempt to capture Kwan for killing a corrupt government official, the three of them decide to join forces as brothers and volunteer to fight to rebels. However not all goes to plan and they are told off by higher-ups in the army after feeding refugees their rations. But they later redeem themselves in the eyes of the army as they defeat a band of rebels who have slaughtered a platoon of army troops.

Liu Bei gains a reputation as a master strategist because of this and is given a governorship of a small township. However an inspector arrives and because Liu Bei doesn't get the inspector's subtle hints he wants a bribe, the inspector attempts to force a false confession out of one the town elders that Liu Bei is embezzling money. In a drunken rage, Chang Feu beats up the inspector, but Liu Bei saves the inspector and lets him go. Liu Bei resigns from his governorship and the three decide to part ways knowing that the inspector will go out of his way to have them all arrested and executed. The three of them vow to meet in a year’s time.

But they become disenchanted with disbanding and decide to rejoin and affirm their allegiance soon after. Meanwhile Emperor Ling has passed away and infighting in the court over which of Ling's children should succeed him. In the chaos a man named Tung Cho takes over the government in a coup d'état. The captain of the royal guard, Ts'ao Ts'ao, attempts to assassinate him, but is caught soon after. Surprisingly he is released by a sympathetic provincial officer, Cheng Kung. But afterwards Ts'ao Ts'ao kills his uncle and his family in the mistaken belief they are going to kill him. Cheng Kung regrets freeing Ts'ao Ts'ao, and sets about to murder him, but choses not to after much thought. Ts'ao Ts'ao soon builds up an army to fight against Tung Cho using a falsified royal edict.

History and Review:
This rather unusual anime release is the first film of a trilogy released in Japanese cinemas in the early 1990's. The film is based upon a 14th century Chinese novel written by a man named Luo Guanzhong. Boy, is it an epic novel. It spans 120 years of history, has 800,000 Chinese text characters and 120 chapters. It is considered to be one of the great four novels of Chinese literature. Like "Journey to the West", this Chinese story is popular in Japan, with numerous manga and anime adaptations, including a 1991 TV series based upon a manga version by Yokoyama Mitsuteru (of "Giant Robo and "Tetsujin 28", AKA "Gigantor" fame). Numerous video games including the popular "Dynasty Warriors" have also been based off the novel.

I believe this particular adaptation covers approximately one third of the novel and ends just before a pivotal part of the novel, the lead up to the Battle of Red Cliff. The English adaptation was done as a co-production between Enoki Films (infamous for retitling anime they're the agent for in the US) and Streamline Pictures. I suspect this title only got a US release due to a lot of pushing and prodding by Enoki. The dubbing, done at the usual Streamline/Harmony Gold studio, Intersound, is as per usual pretty good with the usual suspects from various Harmony Gold and Streamline dubs present. One of the odder additions to this particular dub is narration by the late Pat Morita (Mr Miyagi of "The Karate Kid"). His inclusion seems to be nothing more than a sales promotion tool. But Morita does quite a fine job regardless. However the problem with this dub is the rather stiff dialogue (which was an understandable choice given the setting of the film) which takes quite a while to get used to. For the most part the dialogue does fit the setting, but there are occasionally some odd choices of more modern words such as "posse" which sounds really out of place in ancient China. The other problem with this English adaptation is that at least 15 minutes have been cut from its runtime. As far as I can figure out most of this relates to violence, however a few whole scenes have been trimmed. Apart from "Windaria (AKA Once Upon a Time)", this film was the only title in Streamline's catalogue that had been edited.

As for my own personal opinion of the film, I had quite a few problems with it. First is that it covers a great deal of material in a very short time. For the first third of the film this is fine, as the film mainly focuses on the three main characters. However after this point we are introduced to a mass of characters, some of which only get brief screen time. Adding to this is the dullness and sameness of the character designs. At one point I was little confused at the character I thought was a eunuch was being entertained by dancing girls. It made no sense to me why a eunuch would enjoy that, but then realised that I got one military general confused with another. Apart from the designs of the characters, the other problem with the film is that it goes off onto little tangents and subplots which can be hard to keep track of. It took quite a bit of concentration on my part to keep interested in the film. But the politics, backstabbing and betrayals kind of drove me mad after a while. I found I could not relate or completely understand some of the character's motivations. In particular I had problems with Lia Bau's mother who seemed to place his promise to his only recently met acquaintances over the safety and wellbeing of her own son. The story rams home the idea of bonds and unbroken promises between men over everything else, which seems really old fashioned for a film released in the early 1990's.

I would suspect those who had better knowledge of the source material would get more out of this movie than me. The lack of the two concluding films being commercially available in English is also disappointing as it seems the story improves after this film. And although there are some really good battle and action sequences and at times quite a good story emerges, in the end it just didn't do it for me. I think the film's downfall is twofold; the rather uninspired and too similar character designs and the complexity of the story. It's quite a chore to get though. The first time was pretty hard, but with the second viewing I was mostly off elsewhere in my mind rather than taking in what was happening. This is all a bit disappointing as not much anime of this sort is actually released in the west. It also stands out like a sore tooth in the Streamline catalogue along with "Twilight of the Cockroaches". There's nothing else like it. I have searched and searched, but I can't even find one review of this film anywhere in English which initially surprised me. But thinking about it, would many anime fans be interested in a film like this today let alone back in the 1990's? The answer is sadly probably none. But this is not due to the genre, more the fact the film isn't all that interesting. And really, with the amount of superior historical Chinese cinema epics that have screened in western cinemas and are available on home video, why would you pick this film over those?

Lost Anime Review: Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko

2009-05-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Another old review from my site. This was one of the first reviews I did, so I’ve added a lot of new information and revised and rewritten a fair chunk of it.

Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko

English Distribution Company: The Right Stuf (USA)
Release Date: 10 June 1997
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed and Subtitled
Runtime: 70 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Dream War Chronicle Leda (Genmu Senki Leda)
Japanese Production Date: 1985

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Yohko Asagiri is a young girl in high school who has a crush on a classmate. Believing she is in love, she writes a song on the piano, records it on her walkman and decides to confess her love to him. While walking down a boulevard while listening to her song on her walkman, Yohko spots him but freezes as he walks straight past her. She is unable to say or do anything. Suddenly a light surrounds her, and she is transported into another dimension. There she has a vision of a strangely dressed man who menaces her and asks her to give him the “Heart of Leda”. Soon she wakes and finds herself in a strange alien world. A cylindrical floating object chases Yohko around, but thanks to the local wildlife she manages to escape. But somewhere in the chaotic journey she has lost her prized walkman. Luckily a dog walks up to her with the walkman in his mouth and asks if it is hers. Yohko is more than a little surprised that an animal has just spoken to her. He introduces himself as Lingum and explains that she has arrived in a world named Ashanti. Recently a mirage has appeared in the sky of a world that they call Noah, a world that Yohko knows as the Earth.

Lingum asks her what the walkman does, and she shows him how it works. When Yohko hits the play button, she and Lingum are briefly transported back to Earth and then back to Ashanti. Somehow the song on the walkman has acted as a transportation device between the two worlds. Yohko is a little depressed that seemingly she cannot return home permanently, but Lingum promises he’ll help her.

From out of nowhere, a group of warriors attack them and steal the walkman. Like the man before in Yohko’s dream, they call the walkman the “Heart of Leda”. As Lingum and Yohko flee from the scene as the warriors attack them, Yohko gets caught inside a giant flower which swallows her up whole. Inside the flower Yohko transforms into a scantily clad warrior with new powers and a transforming sword. She defeats most of the warriors, then with Lingum chases after the ones who still have her walkman on borrowed transport. The group speed off towards a giant floating fortress, but soon the chase ends when Lingum and Yohko accidentally crash into a giant robot like golem who is fighting off robotic drones sent by the flying fortress.

The flying fortress eventually enters a massive floating castle and the drones are destroyed by the golem. A young girl emerges from the stone giant. She calls herself a Leda Warrior and her name is Yoni. She explains that Yohko was chosen to be a Leda Warrior and that the man that Yohko saw in her dream was Zell, and wants to revive the power of Leda. Yoni takes them back to a derelict ancient shrine and upon hearing Yohko’s story, she finally understands why Zell wants the power of Leda. He is planning to invade the Earth. Ashanti and the Earth were once side by side, but the goddess Leda sealed off both worlds to each other after wars had started. Zell is attempting to break through the dimensional wall but is unable to, even with the “Heart of Leda”. He concludes that he needs Yohko to make the device work, and he orders his minions to trick them into coming to the castle so he can capture Yohko.

History and Review:
Not long after the Original Video Animation (OVA) format came into being, some really unusual and creative one shot anime features were made. The whole set up of this particular OVA seems a little derivative with elements such as a bog standard fantasy setting, ordinary people developing powers in a fantasy world, evil lords wanting to take over the Earth and of course fan service outfits. However the actual execution is pretty darn good. The use of the then latest must-have technology, the walkman, kind of dates the show straight away, but you can kind of forgive that. Like a lot of OVAs and films of the period, the animation has a higher cel count that a lot of anime made today, and the designs are great. Some of the animation, especially in the action sequences, is very similar in style to that found in "Birth" (AKA "World of the Talisman" or "Planet Busters"), which was released a year before this OVA. The difference being "Leda" is a much better OVA than "Birth". Also there’s small bit of surrealism and experimental animation inserted into the show, especially with Yohko’s dream sequences. There used to be a lot of experimentation with camera work and animation in early 1980’s anime, but by the end of the decade it had pretty much disappeared which is quite unfortunate.

The story is pretty daft and silly, but I’m a real sucker for 1980’s anime, especially OVAs, and it’s done with such style and flair you can’t help but love it. It’s a really fun 'no thinking required' kind of show, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. The only real problem I had with it was probably a little too short and story felt a little compacted to me, but that’s a very minor complaint. This OVA was also shown theatrically in Japan for a short period in 1985 and from the bit of research I've done, it seems as if the title was pretty popular in Japan with about 30,000 videos being sold. In particular it had a following amongst female fans, which seems a little odd seeing as we have two scantily clad girls as leads. "Leda" also apparently inspired both OVA series "Fandora" and "Dream Hunter Rem" which began the following year, and was an influence on the video game "Valis: The Fantasm Soldier". It was reported in a number of anime magazines that the studio who made the OVA, Kaname Productions, was set to make a sequel to "Leda". An image album was produced and released to promote the sequel, but the bankruptcy of the studio ended any hope of the production becoming reality.

For the English dub, unfortunately Toho International decided to do it themselves. Anybody who has had the misfortune to hear their dub of “Macross Do You Remember Love?” and their English dubs of the 1990’s Godzilla series will know what I’m talking about. I suspect that the same mystery Hong Kong studio that dubbed those Toho films I mentioned were responsible for this dub too. It’s a pretty horrid affair. Luckily the Right Stuf created a subtitled VHS version, so that your brain doesn’t melt from the bad dialogue and horrendous acting of the dub. But even those who bought the subtitled version are not completely spared the dub's horror. Toho International’s sales reel for the OVA which includes that wonderfully stilted English dialogue appears at the end of the tape. You have to wonder sometimes if Toho hate their own product. With English language dubs this bad, do they want no one who speaks English to see their films? I honestly don’t understand why they treat their own products so shoddily.

This is one great little OVA that not many people have even heard of. Though it was released on DVD in Japan for a short time a number of years ago, but now is long out of print. Yep, another great little anime that’s probably going to be lost forever in a sea of bad modern day love comedy clones and other totally generic and uninspired anime constructed from focus group results and "hot trends", that are being thrown at a public that just seems to want "shiny new stuff". If you you've had enough of the sameness which seems to be the bulk of modern anime and also have a liking for 1980’s anime, seek this title out immediately. The unfortunate thing about anime like this is that the original commercial VHS tapes just become more and more scarce as the years roll on, and anime like this just becomes a dim memory. If you do manage to come across tapes of this show, remember to buy the subtitled version only, even if you always watch dubbed anime. Honestly the dub is that bad.

Dream War Chronicle Leda ©1985 Toho International/Kaname Productions. Cover artwork ©1997 The Right Stuf International, Inc.

Lost Magazine Review: Animeco

2009-05-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

I promised about seven months ago that I’d do a magazine review. Well finally here it is;

Animeco
Publisher: Limelight
Format: Magazine
Genre/Type: Anime and some manga, local Hawaiian anime club coverage
Years Active: 1996 – 1998 (Previously published as an anime club newsletter)
Issues Published: 10

History and Review:
Animeco began life in 1987 as the Japanese Animation Society of Hawaii's newsletter. In 1996 it was decided by the club that the newsletter would be published as a commercial magazine by Hawaiian independent comics publisher Limelight. The first issue came out in early 1996 and was published every quarter thereafter. The magazine was black and white with a colour cover and most issues hovered around 32 to 36 pages long. Like other anime magazines, and because was born out of a an anime club's newsletter, you'd expect it to contain stuff like the club's programme schedule, a look at Hawaii's anime clubs, convention coverage and reports and reviews of videos, comics, music and games and of course fan art.

Well, it does contain all of that stuff, but this magazine was a little different from most other magazines of it's time. Where as others would generally only focus on anime itself, a great deal of Animeco was focused on the hobby elements of anime fan culture. There were a number of excellent and rather in depth articles including an extensive look at Comiket the largest doujinshi (i.e. amateur comic books) festival in Japan, a comprehensive series on shopping in Tokyo covering each district, an extensive article on the Yoyogi Animation Schools in Japan and an article on teaching in Japan. As Hawaii has a large Japanese population and thousands of Japanese citizens visit the islands every year, it's probably little wonder that the magazine had such articles. The language barrier wouldn't be much of a problem, nor actually catching a regular flight to Tokyo airport.

Other articles included a lengthy look at the English dubbing studio ZRO Limit Productions as well as the art of dubbing, a number of articles on anime music and Japanese pop music in general, caring for animation cels, constructing garage kits and articles on fan groups such as White Radish, Pinesalad Productions and Corn Porn Flicks. The fan group articles are a rather interesting inclusion. I can't really remember any other English language anime magazine covering such groups.

Regular features included "Toni-chan Explains it All" by Dr Antonia Levi which delved into the cultural aspects in anime and manga, and "But We Digress", which looked at anime on this new fangled thing called the internet. Quirky and intriguing one off articles included a short look at “Voltes 5” in the Philippines that involved Ferdinand Marcos banning the show from the airwaves, blood types of anime characters and their meanings and a short blurb on the demise of UK anime magazine Anime FX (formerly Anime UK). This last article is very interesting and provides a lot of insight as to what happened to the magazine. I’ve never seen such a comprehensive, well researched explanation anywhere regarding Anime FX’s end except in this article. The artwork for the magazine was of a very high standard too. The club had it’s own mascot, Annie-May Hitaka, and she was extensively used within the magazine, including the cover of each issue. Most of the covers were created by Lea Hernandez (comic book artist who also ran Gainax’s ill fated General Products USA mail order business in the early 1990’s) and comic book artist Robert DeJesus. Robert also drew the comic “Mechamorph” which occasionally appeared in the magazine.

Unfortunately things turned rather sour for the magazine when a man named K.J. Karvonen wrote a review for the book "Samurai from Outer Space", authored by fellow Animeco columnist Dr Antonia Levi. The book was an exploration into the themes of anime and how they fit into Japanese culture. Karvonen’s review, pathetically titled "Bad Book, Bad Book, What You Gonna Do?", tore into Levi's work with no mercy. In particular he lambasted her for calling dubs released by Viz and Streamline Pictures having "excellent dubbing", as if she was stating a fact rather than an opinion (which of course he didn't agree with). He also disputed her comment that anime fans were mostly made of Generation X (which at the time was most definitely true), wrongly stated the character in "Galaxy Express 999" was called Metal, because she's a cyborg, not Maetel (he embarrassingly corrected himself with another spelling and completely different origin of the name in the following issue) and that the English language versions of "Kimba the White Lion" and "Astroboy" weren't anime because they were dubbed and edited. Only the original Japanese versions were real anime, of course.

This absurdity led to a torrent of abuse on Usenet newsgroups, rec.arts.anime in particular, where Karvonen and in the process the magazine were corrected, heckled and made fun of. Karvonen added fuel to the fire by claiming he was a journalist and a "industry professional" despite not having any sort of degree in that field, nor actually having any experience working in the industry except writing for two fan based anime magazines. Still this did not stop him from boasting in public to his critics; "As a journalist, I'm much more famous than you" and "I have a certain right to speak for anime fandom; you do not", as well claiming those watched dubs were "functionally illiterate". His attitude irked many people which led many to boycott Animeco, even though his contributions to the magazine were limited to a two page column every issue. After the "Samurai from Outer Space" incident, Karvonen's column in Animeco, "Otakuland" became a bit of a bitch session with even more absurdities from him. One memorable column blamed the sale of dubbed videos for the demise of Streamline Pictures. I mean he must be right. Obviously it had nothing to do with Streamline's parent company, Orion Pictures, going bankrupt, did it?

Despite many letters and feedback to Animeco, the editor refused to get rid of Karvonen. The most ridiculous thing about this whole affair was that in the previous issue Animeco had already had reviewed "Samurai from Outer Space" and given it an exceptionally positive review. Why in god's name did they decide to publish a redundant second review that was so poorly written and researched and almost defamatory? It was a complete public relations disaster for the magazine. Ultimately this awful episode probably killed off Animeco. I can find comic book retailer solicitations for up to issue 12, but am unable to find any evidence that there were any issues actually published after issue 10. The magazine continued to have a life on the Limelight website, but there just seems to be mostly previously published material from the magazine on the site, plus it hasn’t been updated for many years. I think it’s a real disappointment that this magazine is mostly known for and associated with Karvonen’s lunatic rants, which is unfair as his mostly worthless contributions only total a few pages of ten issues of a great magazine. There was some really fantastic information in Animeco, most of which anime fandom seemed to ignore at the time. It's a shame things ended up this way for Animeco.

Animeco ©1996 - 1998 Limelight Publishing Co.

Lost Documentary Review: Cosplay Encyclopedia

2009-05-09T04:18:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different;

Cosplay Encyclopedia

English Distribution Company: AnimeWorks (Media Blasters, USA)
Release Date: 7 March 2000
Format: NTSC VHS and DVD Subtitled
Runtime: 60 mins
Edits made to English Version: None
Japanese Title: Cosplay Encyclopedia
Japanese Production Date: 1996

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In this “documentary”, we are treated to interview upon interview of mostly female cosplayers at what seems to be Comiket. Two sets of interviewers, one male with a camcorder by himself, and one with a cameraman accost mostly pretty young girls almost asking the same five or six questions with little variation (“what’s your character?”, “how much did it cost?”, “how long did it take to make?”, “what work do you do?”, “what do your parents/friends think?” – plus probably “what is your phone number?” and “do you want to come to a love motel with me?” – but these last two questions didn’t make it into the finished film). We are then treated to the girl posing with long pans up and down her body with horrible stock music over the footage. Three male cosplayers are also interviewed, very briefly with fleeting glimpses of their costumes.

In between this hard-hitting, Walkley-award-winning investigative journalism, Akemi Matsuzawa, whom the box copy claims is a former anchor woman on the Japanese TV programme “Tonight II”, takes a hard hitting look a cosplay shop called Chacott (well actually it’s practically an infomercial complete with a map of the location of the shop). We are also treated to Akemi wearing the top 10 most popular character costumes, which amusingly only one of the 52 cosplayers interviewed is actually cosplaying.

History and Review:
This is a bit of a strange and quite frankly half-arsed video release. If you don’t know, cosplay is short for costume play. It’s fans, in this case Japanese anime, manga and game fans, dressing up as their favourite characters. Though not exclusively a Japanese phenomena, this version of it has filtered down from Japan into western anime fandom. In less than a decade it has gone from a bit of a curio to being the most popular event in most anime convention. In fact it's quite rare for any convention held anywhere on this planet to not have some sort of cosplay element in its programme. I’m not 100% sure where the hell this video originated from. I can’t find any details on the production on any Japanese website. I have strong suspicions that it is some sort of late night TV special, but then again it could have been made as a direct to video release as well.

First up, the actual production values of this show are quite appalling. The camerawork, which I firmly believe was partly done on a high end camcorder, looks quite awful for the most part. The contrast is set too high for the interviews, all of which are filmed outside, which makes any costume which is whitish or light in colour look like a huge white blob with out any detail. On screen graphics are of the crappy 1990’s CG variety and the cheap stock music would probably work well on a porn film. The audio as well is really amateurishly recorded. In a number of interviews we cannot hear a damn word the interviewer is saying with sometimes the interviewee just replying to the question with a “Yes”. Even in the controlled environment of the cosplay shop, at times we can’t hear what questions Akemi is asking the owner.

The part of this video which makes it tolerable however are the interviews and how they sometimes elicit rather candid and funny responses despite the rather dull uninspired questions that are asked. Some of the girls are rather shy and don’t give too much away. Some are extroverts and revel in being interviewed by a total stranger with a camcorder. One young woman is completely embarrassed by stating that she spent well over US$1,000 on her costume (a fortune in the mid 1990’s, and expensive even now). Another says that her parents wouldn’t approve of what she was doing and that they asked her not to do “anything strange” before getting married. As you can imagine from a video shot in 1996, we have a lot of costumes from “Evangelion”, “Rayearth”, “Bakuretsu Hunter (Sorcerer Hunters)”, “Fushigi Yuugi” and even “Nurse Angel Ririka SOS”. Game characters also appear from “Soul Blade”, “Fighting Vipers” and “Battle Arena Toshiden”. For me, seeing these characters made me feel rather nostalgic for that time period.

OK, I admit, looking at the rather beautiful women in this video was rather nice (and the majority of them are rather pretty, with some real stunners as well), however with the camera panning up and down women’s bodies, some in rather fetishistic clothing such as school girl uniforms and those of Chocolate and Tiara from “Bakuretsu Hunter”, it does feel rather dirty and voyeuristic. Add into the mix a 13 year old girl cosplaying Asuka from “Evangelion” who pouts and poses sexily not only for this film’s cameraman, but other people as well. It’s a little bit creepy to be honest. But look, cosplayers can say what they want, for most male fans cosplay is about perving at a girl in skimpy clothing. Look at celebrity cosplayer Yunmao Ayakawa’s career (columnist for Otaku USA magazine). Just do a Google for her name and “Cosplex” to see what kind of cosplay pictures she poses for (and are NEVER mentioned in her bio in Otaku USA).

Akemi Matsuzawa’s inclusion in this video is rather pointless and dull to be honest. Her appearances only total about 15 minutes of the hour runtime. She spruiks the cosplay shop, dresses and poses (looking a little bored in spots) in ten ready made costumes, not really looking like the character she’s cosplaying most of the time. Back to the cosplay interviews, one of particular note is the almost unnoticed interview of Sailor Moon “cosplay celebrity” Barbie Tukino, whom I would imagine very few outside the cosplay world would even recognise. I must also note that yes, three men are interviewed in this video. However as they aren’t pretty girls, they get practically no time devoted to them or their costumes.

Overall this is quite a weird little video. I’m not sure who it’s intended audience is for. I think cosplay fans would be bored with it as it does not go into any detail about “costume design secrets” as advertised on the cover. However it does very, very briefly mention the history of cosplay in a short voice over at the start. I think the only thing this video is good for is perving at the sometimes gorgeous looking Japanese girls in rather revealing and sexy costumes. And even then, it’s pretty hit and miss.

Farewell CPM

2009-05-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

It was certainly a long time coming. On Monday 27 April 2009, Central Park Media (CPM) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. What this means is that they're no longer in business, and reportedly owe US$1.2 million to creditors. The company had been releasing not much all in the last couple of years, mostly just re-releases, but even those had dried up in the last year or so. How did it end up this way? The company began life in April 1990 and was founded by John O'Donnell. They mostly released documentaries. In July 1991 this changed with the announcement they were going to release anime titles under a new sub label called US Manga Corps. Unfortunately for some reason American fandom took offence at the first title being released; the rather tame hentai "I Give My All". The company bowed to fan pressure right away and cancelled the title (the company never did released it commercially, ever). In its place "Dominion Tank Police" became their first anime title. This is quite amusing when you thing about all of the hentai titles CPM's other label, Anime 18, has released over the years after this event, without anime fandom batting an eyelid or complaining.

They were a bit of a powerhouse releasing many great titles like "Slayers", "Record of Lodoss War", "Revolutionary Girl Utena", "Patlabor", "World of Narue" and bunch more. And who could also forget the amazing selection of trash they dished up to us like "Dog Solider", "Roots Search" and "M.D. Geist" which became the company's "spokesmecha" and corporate ID. In May 2006, the company made most of its staff redundant and was apparently on the verge of bankruptcy. There were a few new titles released as well as a huge number of re-released and re-packagings, but this slowed to nothing a year later. Finally this week it was all over. Personally I am going miss them dearly. A fair amount of my collection is made up of titles from their company. So today I'm going to do something a little different with the blog. Every one knows about the big titles the company released, but today I want to highlight some of the more interesting titles that they released that people rarely mention, if at all.

Tale of Genji
Release Date: 5 September 1995
Format: NTSC VHS Subtitled
Runtime: 105 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Tale of Genji
Japanese Production Date: 1987
Other Releases in English: None

Hikaru Genji is a commoner in the court of the Emperor in the Heian Period in Japan. His mother was the emperor’s lost his favourite concubine, Kiritsubo, who died three years after the birth of Genji, their only child. While Genji is considered to be a commoner, he still remains in the family under the non royal Genji clan. Over the years Genji becomes an extremely handsome and talented man, and has admirers all across the court. Although he has an arranged marriage to Aoi, his friend To no Chujo's sister, the boredom of his life gets to him, and he has many affairs with the women of the court which eventually leads to his downfall. This amazing movie is based upon the world's oldest surviving novel, "Tale of Genji", written by a woman named Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th century and was commissioned by Asahi Shinbun newspaper to mark its 100th anniversary. Directed by Gisaburo Sugii who has directed a diverse range of anime from "Touch", "Night on the Galactic Railroad" and "Street Fighter II: the Movie", he has sensibly decided not cram the whole one thousand page novel into a two hour film. Instead the focus is on chapters four to ten (there are 54 chapters in the novel). These chapters follow Genji as a young adult in the court and chronicle the affairs he has during that time. The film has a rather dream-like quality about it and is very beautiful, however those who are unfamiliar with original text may understandably feel a little lost and the slow pacing would also test a lot of people's patience. However it’s simply an amazing piece of art. This is truly a beautiful and scarce kind of film that goes against the norm in anime, in subject matter, pacing and just about everything. It is such a shame that very few anime films like this are made. Highly recommended.

Mermaid Forest
Release Date: March 1992
Format: NTSC VHS Dubbed and Subtitled, NTSC Laserdisc Subtitled
Runtime: 55 mins
Edits made to English Version: None
Japanese Title: Mermaid Forest (Ningyo no Mori)
Japanese Production Date: 1991
Other Releases in English: Dubbed VHS by Manga Video UK (Out of Print)

500 years ago, a group of Japanese fishermen venture out to catch a mermaid and consume its flesh. It is said that by consuming the creature’s flesh you can become immortal. However only one man survives, Yuta, the rest turn into horrible creatures and die. After wandering the Earth as an immortal man for many centuries alone, Yuta eventually comes across a young and naive woman named Mana who has also eaten the flesh of a mermaid and survived. In a costal rural Japanese in the early 1990’s Mana and Yuta are seeking work. But while on her own Mana falls off a cliff and is taken in by Dr Shiina who doesn’t want to help her, but drain her of her blood. In the 1930’s a young woman named Towa who was ill and was in the care of Dr Shiina was given a cup of mermaid’s blood by her sister, though the transformation wasn’t successful. She is neither monster nor fully immortal. Dr Shiina, who fell in love with her, now takes the lives of others for the blood that Towa must consume to keep living. But they soon discover that Mana is not actually dead and is in fact immortal. Yuta desperately tries to get Mana back and discovers the Shiina’s horrible secrets. I’m not a big Rumiko Takahashi fan, however she can write, that’s for sure. Here she takes on horror and it’s so elegant and beautiful with a lot of mysticism and legend blended in that is so common in Japanese horror. This is a beautifully atmospheric horror OVA which surprisingly has yet to be reissued on DVD in English, despite the recent TV series adaptation of the manga being released a couple of years back by Geneon in the US.

Otaku Unite!
Release Date: 7 March 2006
Format: NTSC DVD English Dialogue
Runtime: 70 mins
Edits made to English Version: None
Production Date: 2004
Other Releases in English: None

This is a bit of an unusual one. With the popularity of anime on steep incline from the mid 1990's onwards, it was inevitable that someone somewhere was going to make a documentary about it. Actually there's been quite a few made, mostly coming from the US. But for some reason very few seem to have made it to home video (or even TV broadcast for that matter). Eric Bresler's excellent documentary follows the development of anime fandom from the very early days to the period 2001 to 2003 when the bulk of this documentary was filmed. Highlights include archival footage from AnimeCon '91, the marriage of Robert and Emily Dejesus at the Anime Central convention in 2001 and Steve Bennet, who used to run the manga publishing house Iron Cat. He proudly shows off his Polaroid collection of waitresses from his visits to various Hooters restaurants. There are also interviews with a lot of the main players in the US anime and manga industry including Peter Fernandez, Corinne Orr (both voices actors who worked on “Speed Racer”, “Ultraman” and other 1960’s English adaptations), Scott Frazier (animator extraordinaire), Trish Ledoux (editor of Animercia), Carl Macek (of Robotech fame), Helen McCarthy (editor of Anime UK/FX), Fred Patten, Frederik L. Schodt (author of “Manga, Manga, Manga”), Robert Woodhead (AnimEigo founder) and even Asia Carrera (porn star and voice actress in several Nutech hentai releases).

The main focus of the documentary though is a fan named John Cook or DJ Johnny Otaku as he likes to call himself. He has an anime themed show on his local community radio stations, wants to become a voice actor and enters the highly competitive and rather political world of cosplay. Although this could have become rather exploitative as John is rather nerdy to say the least, thankfully Bresler doesn't take this path. Despite the horrible cover CPM gave this documentary, it's not some cheap laugh at anime and its fans. The film treats its subjects with respect and intelligence as well as giving an audience not familiar with anime fandom a chance to understand it. The documentary is coupled with a short called "Danger Can Happen" which is about “Kaiju Big Battel (sic)”, a group which puts on performances which are like a combination of Godzilla films, wrestling and street theatre. While this short is quite good, I wish CPM would have added it as an extra and not just slapped it on at the start of the main feature. This documentary should have been given a lot more exposure as it is really well made and very accessible to non-fans.

Shamanic Princess
Release Date: 13 June 2000 - 13 February 2001
Format: NTSC VHS and DVD Dubbed and Subtitled
Runtime: 6 OVA episodes x 30 mins
Edits made to English Version: None
Japanese Title: Shamanic Princess
Japanese Production Date: 1996 - 1998
Other Releases in English: None

Tiara and her familiar, a talking ferret-like creature named Japalo, journey from the Guardian World to our world to take back the Throne of Yord. It is a painting which has a balancing effect on the Guardian World. To complicate matters further it has been stolen by Tiara’s former lover Kagetsu and he is being aided by her best friend, Sara. Despite a number of confrontations, neither Kagetsu nor Sara will return the painting, so Tiara is forced to battle them both. However not is all as it seems as Kagetsu has a valid and very selfless reason for stealing the painting. This is another great little fantasy OVA series that seemed to be ignored by most anime fans when commercially released. Cleverly the first four OVAs deal with the theft of Throne of Yord, while the last two are set before the just before the events of the first OVA and focus on Tiara’s first familiar, Graham. There are lots of great magical battle sequences and more importantly a wonderfully engaging story. The designs are gorgeous too. There’s also the strange gimmick of using tattoos as a magical item. This was a short lived fad in the mid 1990’s, with the OVA “Tattoon Master” also on the bandwagon. When I watch a show like this, it just reminds me how much I miss the OVA format. A lot of great ideas were explored in short video series like this, which are either too lengthy for theatrical format or too short to be made into a TV series.

Blue Sonnet
Release Date: 7 September 1994
Format: NTSC VHS and Laserdisc Subtitled
Runtime: 5 OVA episodes x 30 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Red Fang Blue Sonnet
Japanese Production Date: 1989 – 1990
Other Releases in English: Dubbed VHS by Manga Video UK (Out of Print)

Sonnet Barje is an 'Esper' rescued by Dr Merikus, she is rebuilt into a cyborg for the evil organisation Talon. Sonnet can now take on whole armies with the use of her heightened ESP by herself. Dr Merikus sends Sonnet undercover to Tokyo to investigate a girl named Lan Komatsuzaki whom he believes is the 'Red Fang', an Esper with incredible powers. There Sonnet creates a series of 'accidents' with her ESP to test Lan out which leads to many deaths and the her brother being injured. As the series progresses Lan realises he power is trying to be scouted by Talon and with the help of her adopted father who is an investigative journalist, one of Dr Merikus’ cyborgs who rebelled against him, and a female Esper who was burnt beyond recognition in a fire, they set about to stop them. This show is essentially a well written B-grade/exploitation flick. There's gratuitous violence, a bit of fanservice and nudity, 1970's anime superhero-like elements (a la Tatsunoko superhero shows like "Hurricane Polymar") and it's just completely over the top in just about every aspect. The oddest thing I discovered about this series was that was based upon a shoujo manga published in “Hana to Yume” magazine during the 1980’s. Yes that's right. Girls love exploding heads, nudity and violence apparently. It's a completely unapologetic action/horror series that's incredibly fun to watch and is one of my favourites.

Negadon: The Monster From Mars
Release Date: 11 July 2006
Format: NTSC DVD Dubbed and Subtitled
Runtime: 26 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Great Planet Monster Negadon (Wakusei Daikaiju Negadon)
Japanese Production Date: 2005
Other Releases in English: None

A fantastic homage to Japanese giant monster films from the 1950’s to 1970’s, this short film takes the look of those films in just about every design aspect right down to film grain and film scratches. The plot is very simple; a ship is transporting a giant rock mined from Mars, when it seemingly malfunctions and crashes into down town Tokyo. Out of the rock pops a very pissed off giant monster who proceeds to napalm the hell out of the city. An old retired robot scientist, broken by the death of his daughter on one of his projects, springs into action by activating a giant robot he has hidden for several years, and then proceeded to give the monster an arse whipping. Though I haven’t thought much of the few CG features and shorts produced in Japan that I’ve seen, this film is pretty good on both a technical level and the story. Director Jun Awazu focuses the action on the mecha and monsters rather than humans. As evidenced by the CG animation in OVAs like “Gundam MS Igloo”, Japanese CG animators haven’t got the hang of humans, whom most of the time look like weird demented flesh puppets. Also included on this is disc is a two part short film series also by Jun Awazu which features giant monsters. These two films, which total about 10 minutes, probably served as a basis for “Negadon” and are much rougher around the edges.

Eventually I’ll probably write up proper reviews for all of these and more of CPM’s titles. But really, I’m going to miss this company. I don’t care if people bag them or say they only released trash like “Crystal Triangle”. They were an important part of the US anime landscape. I can’t imagine fandom without Utena, Patlabor, Votoms or Slayers. Thanks for everything CPM.

Lost Anime Review: Explorer Woman Ray

2009-04-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

I know it's been seven months since the last post. This blog is becoming more and more an occasional thing. Anyway I'm not going to promise anything anymore in terms of when I'll post, only to say I'm hoping that it’ll be much more regular.

One trend I've noticed is that seems to be a move by companies in the USA away from home video to free or pay per view streaming. I know a few of these titles are never going to make the jump from streaming to commercial home video, which is highly disappointing. Also companies like Bandai Entertainment and ADV Films seem to be only doing limited print runs of their new titles and then deleting them rather quickly (within a few months). This is especially true with some collected series sets. All of this is pretty depressing for any collector as anime seems to be becoming a little harder to acquire in hard copy format.

I’m also having a bit of trouble filling holes in my collection, especially in trying to find some out of print DVDs, which are either rare as hen’s teeth or hideously expensive. Anyway, for the moment I’m keeping myself busy hunting down old English adaptations of anime that were done in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. A lot of this stuff had obscure releases in the UK and just about nowhere else. Hopefully in the coming months I’ll be able to do some reviews on these titles. In the meantime here’s something not quite so obscure.

Explorer Woman Ray

English Distribution Company: US Manga Corps (USA)
Release Date: 29 April 1993
Format: NTSC VHS and Laserdisc Subtitled
Runtime: 2 OVA episodes x 30 mins
Edits made to English Version: None
Japanese Title: Explorer Woman Ray
Japanese Production Date: 1989

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In a small town in an unspecified South American country, archaeologist Dr Rayna “Ray” Kizuki arrives back at her house to discover two Japanese twins, Mami and Mai, rummaging through her belongings. After Ray threatens them to discover who they are and what they want, she mistakenly gets the impression that the twins want to give her a mirror, a lens like artefact from the ancient Ords civilisation. Ray has been looking for the artefact to continue the work of her missing grandfather. While having lunch in the town's market, the three of them unfortunately have a run in with Reig Vader, an unscrupulous archaeologist who wishes to exploit the ruins of the Ords civilisation which is said to hide secret lost technology and a mysterious power. Reig once worked under Ray’s grandfather’s guidance and he asks her to lend the mirror to him for his work. Ray despises him and his work and naturally refuses.

Unbeknownst to Ray, the twins are actually treasure hunters. They previously also had dealings with Reig, and he and his henchmen have been tracking them down to recover the mirror which they have stolen. The twins steal a map of Ords ruin which Ray has been studying as well as the mirror and set off to find treasure in the ruins. But the twins are cornered by Reig’s men who attempt to force the girls to give up the mirror. Luckily Ray arrives on the scene and manages to stop the artefact falling into Reig’s hands. In the ensuing chaos Mai is taken hostage with the mirror and Ray and Mami are forced to retreat. Meanwhile Reig and his men enter a ceremonial room where Reig sets up the mirror on an altar which fills the room with light. Nothing seems to be happening which puzzles Reig. Ray and Mami enter the room in a small hovercraft they had previously taken by force from Reig’s men. She explains that he has actually set off a weather machine which has created a typhoon around the ruins and will eventually destroy the entire structure.

In the second OVA Reig is undeterred by the destruction of the previous temple and forges ahead excavating a new Ords ruin. However Ray is hot on his case and is hell bent on stopping him. Ray remembers back to when she was young and she and Reig was working under her grandfather on a dig. Reig managed to save Ray from falling scaffolding, but later left the site which upset her greatly as she was smitten with him. The twins are also here, following Ray’s path to the ruins. Despite many of his men being killed in the process, Reig is determined to discover and exploit the secret of the Ords ruin. After a confrontation with Reig that leaves her feeling dejected and defeated, Ray teams up with the twins to thwart his plans.

History and Review:

This OVA series treads some pretty familiar territory; ancient ruins with mysterious sources of power, an evil man who wants to control that power, the swashbuckling archaeologist with a heart of gold who wants to stop him and the inevitable destruction scene where the evil man pays for meddling with power he doesn’t understand. Yes it’s all rather derivative and there isn’t much story or plot really (I found it a bit hard to write much in the "Story" part of this review on the plot). It really is like a Japanese take on Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider.

As per usual I did a bit of research on this title before writing this review. And as per usual with titles like this one (i.e. old obscure OVAs), I had trouble finding any decent information on it at all. One thing I did find quite in spades was quite a few bad reviews for this show. Most rated the show one or two out of five and one comprised of a very sharp, short and negative single sentence. I often wonder why people write reviews like this and half jokingly question if I have seen the same film as they reviewed. Look, “Explorer Woman Ray” would never win any award for any aspect of its production. The animation is pretty bog standard for the time, the character designs aren’t great and the story is pretty predictable. But for the most part I was entertained. The one thing I think anime does really well is exploitation and genre films. Let’s face it, anime does fall for the most part into either classification. The main objective of an OVA of this kind is to provide mindless entertainment, which it provides loads of. It's based on a rather unknown two volume manga by Takashi Okazaki. Okazaki is probably best known in the west for the long running “Elementalors” manga (also made into a one shot OVA), but even so I can bet most anime or manga fans would never have heard of the manga let alone read it.

Despite what other reviewers may say, I think there is quite a lot to like in this show. The first OVA begins with quite a decent and very well choreographed chase sequence as the twins are chased by Reig’s men on a moving passenger train. While there isn’t a great deal of character development in the show at all except for a brief flashback to Ray’s past which explains her relationship to Reig and fleshes out a lot of the back story. But the thing I liked a most about this show was the action. It’s pretty much non-stop for the first OVA and only manages to take a short breath in second OVA. However you can't ignore the fact there are some rather substandard elements to the series. The animation is quite ordinary for it’s time. It’s not bad, but it’s not stellar which is disappointing as AIC produced it who made some real gems in the mid to late 1980's. Also when compared with the manga designs, the anime character designs look rather subdued and much less visually appealing. The character, Johnson, who is Reig’s bodyguard, really got up my nose for some reason. He’s a dumb muscly American army guy, similar in looks to Guile from “Street Fighter II”. He doesn’t seem to do a lot except get beat up by Ray and even Reig’s own men. I also note that the Ords mirror looks extremely similar in design to the Guyver Unit (from the “Guyver” OVA and manga of course). The soundtrack is rather adequate but is reused over and over again and becomes a little repetitive.

Despite all of the problems I had with this OVA, the good stuff clearly outweighs any negatives. Having said that, do not go into watching this OVA series with any expectation that it is some sort of classic. It’s far from it. You’ll probably forget about it a day or two after you watch it. It’s pretty much just disposable entertainment, but quite fun disposable entertainment. And that’s enough for me. Not all anime has to be some sort of instant classic and there’s no reason why this title should be.

Lost Anime Review: The Adventures of Kum Kum

2008-09-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

Another brand new review. I'm aiming for one new review every two weeks with old recycled reviews in between. I've probably done too many anime ones. I'll see if I can do a magazine or manga review next time.

Adventures of Kum Kum

English Distribution Company: CIC Video (UK)
Release Date: January 1985
Format: PAL VHS and Beta Dubbed
Runtime: 4 episodes x 22 mins
Edits made to English Version: Unknown
Japanese Title: Wanpaku Omukashi Kum Kum
Japanese Production Date: 1975

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
In prehistoric times, over 10,000 years ago, a small Stone Age community called the Mountain People live in the shadow of an active volcano. Here a small number of family groups live harmoniously. There's just one problem; Kum Kum. He's a very mischievous five year old boy, the son of Strong Arm and Flora. Kum Kum also has a teenage sister named Wild Flower and a baby brother Tum Tum. As there is no school (this is the Stone Age of course), Kum Kum ends up playing and exploring with his friends Little Rock, Bumbles and seemingly the only little girl in the community, Butterfly.

In the first episode, "Catching the Clouds" an argument erupts between Kum Kum and Little Rock over the nature of clouds. Kum Kum thinks they're stiff like a beard, but Little Rock thinks that they're soft. Nobody seems to know the answer. None of the adults can say for sure what they are, not even the old man known as the Wise One and he's supposed to know everything! There's only one way the find out. Kum Kum and Little Rock separately take two sacks and walk up the side of Fire Mountain, the volcano which the Mountain People live beside, to catch some of the clouds which skirt the mountain. Unfortunately a violent storm is approaching, and Strong Arm and Little Rock's big brother, Jumbo, rush to save the boys from harm.

In "The Ostrich Egg" Kum Kum's stick throwing game causes havoc when his stick hits a hornet's nest and just about everyone is stung, except Kum Kum who hides in the river. Everyone is angry at him. Strong Arm feels responsible for Kum Kum's actions and asks the Wise One for a cure for hornet's stings. The only cure is to use the yolk of an ostrich egg. The problem is that they're very rare, so Strong Arm and Kum Kum go on a journey to find an egg. It becomes a bit of a father/son bonding exercise as Kum Kum leans how to hunt and both of them even have fight off a pack of wolves. Eventually after a few days with a fine father/son team effort, an egg is captured. However Kum Kum feels bad that the mother ostrich no long has an egg.

The third episode is called "The Sea Folk". Every year a costal tribe called the Sea Folk come to trade with the Mountain People. Kum Kum meets and befriends a girl about his age called Karo, which brings out the green eyed monster in Butterfly. After trying unsuccessfully to barter several items, Kum Kum meets Karo's father, Fisher. Kum Kum is curious about the ocean and agrees to go back with the Sea Folk and live with Fisher. But Strong Arm is opposed to the idea as naturally he loves his son very much. Fisher proposes that the fate of Kum Kum will be decided in the upcoming wrestling match between both men as part of the celebrations of the Sea Folk's visit. But who will Kum Kum barrack for? In the final episode on the tape, "The Rainbow Fish", the children discover a large fish in the river that gleams like a rainbow. The kids decide to dam the stream and catch the fish so they can have a good look at it, but the local soothsayer, Dark Eye, and all of the adults warn against catching it. But despite the warning, Kum Kum goes ahead and dams the stream to catch the fish. After a bit of trial and error the fish is caught, but eventually Kum Kum's conscious gets the better of him and he begins to think about letting the fish free.

History and Review:
Now this has to be one of the more obscure English dubbed anime to be screened in the west. "Naughty Ancient Kum Kum" was a TV series created in 1975 by the fledgling Sunrise studio, whom would only four years later would create the Gundam franchise. "Kum Kum" is a much simpler series, squarely aimed at young children. The stories are fairly simple; Kum Kum continually gets in trouble and has adventures, but most of it is of the mischievous and playful type, nothing too bad. The characters for the most part are quite good. Apart from the children, you have The Wise One who has all of his knowledge written down on stone tablets. There's also the soothsayer, Dark Eye, an old bedraggled looking woman who lives on her own the forest. Though the adults take her precognitions and warnings seriously, the kids don't take one bit of notice of her and even make light of her predictions. Little Rock's brother, Jumbo, is one of the more interesting characters in the series. He's the massive and mostly silent type. Most of the time he sits high in his lookout in a tall tree. Though we're never really told what he's looking out for. Finally we have Kum Kum's dad, Strong Arm. As his name implies he is the strongest man in the village, and pretty wise when it comes to raising kids.

One thing I've noticed after watching a lot of western and Japanese kids animation is that in Japanese animation they generally don’t feel that they need beat morals over the head of the audience. "Kum Kum" is the same. When Kum Kum or another character is presented with some sort of moral dilemma, the character just deals with it. They may always "do the right thing" but there is no fuss made over the decision as in a lot of children's animation the west. I have always found this really refreshing in Japanese animation. They don't talk down to their audience. But the main difference between other cartoons airing on TV at the time and Kum Kum is the nudity. Though there isn't too much in this tape, in the following episodes, Kum Kum's “little fella” makes quite a few cameo appearances during the show. Well, stone age people didn't have any underwear I suppose, but still I found it pretty amusing and quite unexpected. Also for a prehistoric show, surprisingly the creators didn't go for a more Jurassic look. There is one dinosaur in the show, Saurus, who is a rather placid Brontosaurus, but he hardly ever gets a mention in the show. There's also a group of strange little cute creatures called the Cheeky Squeakies. They are harmless little furry blobs with small legs, whom the children harass and chase most of the time.

The production of the show is quite interesting. As I've mentioned before Sunrise was the studio who created it, but more surprisingly was the fact Rin Taro ("X" TV series, "Metropolis") directed the series and Yoshikazu "Yas" Yasuhiko, who created the iconic character designs of the Gundam series only four years after this show, did the character designs. Yas' involvement to me is the more interesting of the two, as his designs are completely different to those of his latter work. The English adaptation of the series is also quite interesting. "Kum Kum" was dubbed in Australia by Paramount Pictures in 1977. It's one of the very few anime to be dubbed here. And a couple of the cast members would be rather familiar to most Australians. Keith Scott who did a lot of the male characters in the show is most famous in Australia for his imitations of famous politicians on the long running radio serial satire "How Green Was My Cactus". He also played the roles of the narrator and Bullwinkle himself in the live action movie "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle". Another well known actor appearing the show was Barbara Frawley who is most famous for voicing Dot in the many "Dot and the Kangaroo" animated features. For the show itself, dubbing was done in mostly very convincing American accents, though occasionally, especially from the actress playing Butterfly, an Australian accent slips in.

"Kum Kum" was screened in many English language markets in the late 1970's and into the early 1980's including the UK, Canada, Australia and even Indonesia. In the mid 1980's, CIC video released one tape containing the first four episodes, leaving the remaining 22 unreleased. According to the British Board of Film Classification database, a further eight episodes on two tapes were classified, so it seems that CIC had planned to release more tapes of the series. In fact I managed to snag a couple of rather rare internal reference tapes of "Kum Kum" from Ebay. One is the commercially released volume one, but the other is the unreleased volume two. Both come with time codes during the entire run of the tape and quite surprisingly full colour artwork. Below is a scan of the never released volume two;
"Kum Kum" is a great little show that had me thoroughly entertained from start to finish. Obviously it is aimed at kids, but gee, it’s a whole lot fun. Naturally at times it is rather simplistic both in terms of animation and story, but don't let that put you off. However it was a little too childish at points for me. Trying to find a legit copy is pretty much impossible, and then even trying to find an illegal copy is almost just as hard. Also information on this series is quite hard to come across, in both Japanese and English. Unfortunately this is yet another anime that seems destined to be lost and forgotten. It's such a shame.

Wanpaku Omukashi Kum Kum ©1975 - 1976 Sunrise Inc. English adaptation ©1977 Paramount Pictures Corporation. Cover artwork ©1985 CIC Video (UK).

Lost Anime Review: Dracula (Sovereign of the Damned)

2008-09-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

Another old review from my now defunct website;

Dracula (Sovereign of the Damned)

English Distribution Company: Mountain (UK), Vestron Video (USA)
Release Date: November 1983 (UK), 1984 (USA)
Format: PAL VHS and Beta Dubbed, NTSC VHS and Beta Dubbed
Runtime: 90 mins
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Emperor of Darkness - Vampire Dracula
Japanese Production Date: 1980

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
After being hunted out of his homeland of Transylvania, Count Dracula moves to Boston, some time before the end of the 1970's. He discovers a group of Satanists called the "Black Mass Cult" who are going to sacrifice a woman to be Satan's bride. Dracula plans to take the woman in revenge for Satan turning him into a vampire many centuries ago. But after tricking the Satanists and capturing her, Dracula falls in love with the woman and finds he is unable kill her. Her name is Delores and over the next year, she too falls in love with Dracula and has a child, Janus, with him.

Meanwhile, wheelchair bound Professor Hans Harker and Rachel van Helsing, whose ancestors were Jonathan Harker and Abraham van Helsing respectively, are sniffing out the whereabouts of Count Dracula so that they can put an end to his evil. They call on Frank Drake, distant relative of Dracula for help. Though Frank is initially unmoved by their plight, he soon comes around after a bizarre fight with Harker, while still in his wheelchair and being manoeuvred about by Rachel, and payment of $100,000. Frank is also motivated by the fact that he feels a stigma attached to him because he is related to the evil vampire. This motley band of vampire hunters is aided by a dog called Elijah, who naturally has the ability to sniff out evil vampires and wears a crucifix on his dog collar. But after roaming aimlessly around Boston for a year, they come up empty handed. What's more amazing is that none of the police officers in the city thought that a group consisting of dog with a crucifix, a young man with a shotgun, and a woman with a crossbow and silver arrows pushing an old guy in a wheelchair, roaming around the city for a year was strange. Or that they should have been brought in for questioning. Or have the lot of them sent to a mental health institution.

Soon Dracula and Delores receive a invitation from the Satanists to baptise their son Janus. Though Delores sensibly has some doubts about it, the Count decides that it would be a good idea, and thinks it could provide some protection against Satan. On their way to the Church of Satan, our favourite bunch of inept vampire hunters finally catch on to Dracula's trail and tail him to the Satanist's hideout. But the grand priest had previously received a visit from the dark lord Satan, and told him to lay a trap for Dracula. Dracula, Delores and Janus are soon trapped inside the church, and the bumbling hunters are left scratching their heads outside wondering what they should do next. The priest is angry that Dracula stole Satan's bride and attempts to shoot the vampire with silver bullets. Unfortunately he misses and shoots Janus dead. Dracula goes into a rage, kills the priest and destroys the temple with his bare hands. The vampire hunters manage to get inside and start their attack, but Dracula gets the better of them. But before can kill the lot of them, Delores pleads with him to stop. Grief stricken over the death of his son, Dracula turns into a bat and flies off.

With Dracula in hiding, the vampire hunters stalk Delores in the hope that he will return to her. One day on her regular visit to Janus' grave, Delores attempts to commit suicide by plunging a knife into her chest, but God (yes, that's right, God) appears and stops her. Then, in what has to be probably the tackiest, blasphemous scene I have ever seen in an anime, God resurrects Janus and turns him from a baby boy into a bizarrely Arian looking adult man, complete with a superhero looking garb and red eyes with no pupils. Janus the Marvel superhero tells his mother that has been sent on a mission to kill his father, then promptly turns into a bird and flies off. Delores is understandably a little upset that her dead son has been resurrected into some sort weird superhero, with a mission from God to kill the man, or vampire if you will, that she loves.

After a strange and rather piss-poor fight with his son, Dracula goes into hiding again, but Satan, who is absolutely ropeable with his stupid worshipers and Dracula himself, kidnaps Delores in an effort to lure him out. Dracula goes to rescue Delores, but Satan transports them both to Hell where he plans to make judgment on him. Although Satan makes Dracula mortal again, his other plans are foiled by Delores who for some bizarre reason seems to have latent superpowers. She wounds Satan and escapes Hell with Dracula. Both the vampire hunters and Janus decide that can't kill Dracula anymore because he's now mortal. Dracula then heads off to New York to get bitten by the vampire Lila so that he can become immortal again.

History and Review:
Forget "Don't Leave Me Alone Daisy", "Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight" or "Dog Solider". This piece of crap is the worst anime I've come across yet. It oozes with crapness. Sometime in the 1970's, Toei Animation negotiated with Marvel Comics to make anime versions of some of their titles. However the only two tiles which got past the development stage were the 1978 live action "Spiderman" TV series, (where Spiderman naturally had a giant robot in the tradition of a Toei sentai series), and a sentai version of “Captain America”, called “Battle Fever J”. But sometime in 1980, Toei thought it might be a good idea to animate Marvel's cult "Tomb of Dracula" comic series. Now I must admit, I have never read "Tomb of Dracula", but I've been told that it pretty much covers the first fifty issues of the series fairly faithfully. If that's true then I NEVER want to read this comic. "Emperor of Darkness - Vampire Dracula" debuted as a TV special on TV Asahi in August 1980. Never again was it seen or heard.

That was until some little half arsed company named Harmony Gold bought up seemingly random anime TV specials and TV series in 1983 and dubbed a few of them. Unfortunately this turd of a TV special was one of them. In its original form, this show is horrid enough, but when Harmony Gold got it's dirty little mitts on it, the pure awfulness of it all got magnified a thousand times. The English script and acting are of course pretty atrocious. But luckily we are spared from any dodgy Transylvanian accents from the guy who plays our favourite vampire. The annoying and almost always present narrator spews forth nonsensical lines such as Dracula being "unliving yet undead". "Robotech" fans again will be pleased to know that some of their favourites are here. Melanie MacQueen who played Lisa Hayes provides the voice of Rachel van Helsing, Dan Woren who played Roy Fokker does a ridiculous and unbelievable Frank Drake, and finally Reba West (AKA Rebecca Forstadt) who played the tone deaf Lynn Minmei does a small part as a Transylvanian village girl.

There are some truly amazing moments of insanity in this special. Apart from vampire sniffing dogs with crucifixes, wheelchair martial arts fights, holy resurrections and battles with Satan, one of the weirdest things in the plot of the film is that Count Dracula apparently has a heart that can love. At one point Delores tells Dracula that she can see love in him and that "with love together we can conquer Satan". A short sequence shows this "love" and includes scenes of Dracula taking Delores for a romantic walk in the park and out to dinner, with Dracula wearing his ridiculous cape with oversized collar which is about twice the size of his head. Yep, Drac's a good wholesome guy underneath all that blood sucking and evil persona. But more humiliation of Dracula's character was to come. While in New York in search the vampire Lila, he succumbs to his mortal hunger, and believe it or not, robs a couple on the street and then goes directly to fast food joint where he buys and eats hamburgers, doing all of this in his vampire cape! At this point in the film I wondered if there was a major drug problem amongst the staff at Toei during the late 1970's.

In the final act Dracula heads off to Transylvania, after buggerising around eating hamburgers in New York. Still a mortal human, for whatever reason his hands burn when he picks up a crucifix whilst trying to protect a bunch of kids in a village from zombie vampires. Since he's not a vampire anymore, I have no idea why the cross still effects him. It all ends with Dracula returning to his castle, and lo and behold apparently the air in his castle has made him a vampire again. Amazing. But not to worry, Hans Harker arrives in his wheelchair and stands up, despite being crippled, to fight Dracula for a bit, before blowing himself, Dracula and his castle up with a bomb hidden in his wheelchair. And all of this is set to a 1970's funk soundtrack.

This show is just fucking nuts. The scripting, dialogue and a lot of the acting is substandard and awful. Apart from making this show even less watchable and more insane than the original, Harmony Gold even changes some of the names, even though it's based on an English comic book in the first place. Amazingly there's a lot of blood left intact in Harmony Gold's adaptation. There's even some slight nudity with a shower scene still intact. Somehow this poor excuse for entertainment ended up on cable TV in the US in the early 1980's, then amazingly on video in both the UK and the US. It's also managed to achieve some sort of bizarre cult status, and can be found bootlegged just about everywhere. Original copies are quite hard to find, though why you would want one is another matter. Though admittedly, a lot of the situations and scenes in this show do provide a lot of unintentional hilarity.

I'm a bit tired of anime fans claiming mediocre shows like "Bounty Dog" and "Lilly C.A.T." are the worst anime has to offer. Those shows are masterpieces when compared with this abomination. Again I find myself questioning the sanity of those responsible at Harmony Gold who bought this piece of shit. I mean, Dracula falling in love and eating hamburgers? It's just mind numbingly stupid and dumb on so many levels. Did they just buy shows blind or what? There's no way I can recommend this show to anyone. It's so bad that you wouldn't want to inflict it on your worst enemy.

Lost Anime Review: Marmalade Boy

2008-09-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, now I'm getting back into the swing of things with a brand new review. Usually I'll wait till at least a few years after something has been deleted before I review it. But here is a fairly recent out of print title. A series that was unfortunately deleted only a a couple short years after it's release. Funimation said they were going to re-release it as they had a deal with Tokyopop, but that hasn't eventuated. It's highly unlikely we'll see this title on home video in English ever again.

Marmalade Boy

English Distribution Company: Tokyopop (USA)
Release Date: 27 April 2004 - 26 April 2005
Format: NTSC DVD Dubbed and Subtitled
Runtime: 76 episodes x 24 mins (TV), 30 mins (movie)
Edits made to English Version: No
Japanese Title: Marmalade Boy (TV), Marmalade Boy the movie
Japanese Production Date: 1994 - 1995

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
Miki Koishikawa is an ordinary teen girl living an ordinary life. After her parents return from a holiday in Hawaii, they both cheerfully announce that they're getting divorced. As if the shock of her normally loving parents parting ways wasn't bad enough, her parents then inform her that not only are they going to swap partners with the Matsuura's, a couple they met on their holiday, but all of them are going to be living together under the one roof! The absurdity of it all is too much for Miki to take. But still Miki agrees to have dinner with her parents and the Matsuura's. The Matsuura's son, Yuu, also attends. He makes an immediate impression on Miki. He's cute and the same age as Miki.

Although she completely opposes the arrangement, Miki finally relents and the two families move into a new house as one. And worse, Miki takes a dislike to Yuu as he comes off as a bit aloof and he likes to tease her. But soon she begins to fall for him, and Yuu seems to be reciprocating her feelings. Adding to the already complex situation is that Yuu will be attending Miki's school. The inevitable happens and the entire school finds out about the situation. Miki is living with a boy under the same roof! Eventually the misunderstandings are explained, but new problems arise as Miki's male friend, Ginta Suou, becomes jealous and suspicious of Yuu. Ginta's relationship history goes back to their first days of high school. Miki tried to give a love letter to Ginta in an attempt to express her feelings to him, but the letter was discovered by his friends, and Ginta had to deny any feelings for Miki in front of them, even though he liked her. Unfortunately Miki overheard the conversation and although things are eventually smoothed over, romance between the two of them seems destined to never happen. Well at least in Miki's mind. Ginta still feels for her.

The ghosts of Yuu's romantic past also come back to haunt him. His ex-girlfriend, Suzuki Arimi, whom he a relationship from his old school, shows up to steal him away from Miki. When she sees that the task is more difficult than she initially thought, she starts to date Ginta in attempt to make Miki jealous and to take her focus off of Yuu. But Arimi has to deal with her fellow schoolmate, Tsutomu Rokutanda, who has had a crush on her for a long time. Despite repeated rejections from Arimi, the not very bright Tsutomu keeps on trying to woo her. To make matters worse, Ginta is Tsutomu's cousin and a rivalry is already ongoing between them. The fact that Tsutomu now sees Ginta as a rival in love only intensifies things between them with Tsutomu making absurd challenges over Arimi to win her from Ginta, something that Ginta doesn't really want to deal with as he's not really interested in her or the challenges.

Yuu also has to deal with Suzu Sakuma, a very cute teen model whom Yuu meets on the set of commercial that Miki's mother asks him to co-star in. Suzu is smitten with Yuu and won't take no for an answer. She attempts to throw as many spanners in the works in Miki and Yuu's relationship. And if that wasn't bad enough, Miki and Yuu have to go to great lengths to keep their relationship secret from their parents. But a shocking discovery about one of the family members threatens to permanently end their relationship. As if Miki and Yuu's family life wasn't complex enough, Miki's best friend, Meiko Akizuki, is secretly dating her teacher Shin'ichi Namura.

History and Review:
When I went to my first local anime club screenings in the mid 1990's, this show was one of the anime that regularly screened. Now with the majority of attendees being initially weaned on sci-fi and action anime that was available in video stores, you can imagine that this shoujo romantic teen comedy show was bit of a shock to the system for a lot of us, me included. With age, maturity and further exploration of the many genres within Japanese animation, I have really come to appreciate this title and love it for its drama and characters. It began as a manga created by Wataru Yoshizumi (who also wrote "Ultramanic") in 1992 and was published in the shoujo anthology "Ribbon Magazine". The manga and the anime have a bit of a nutty set up to the story. I mean what parents in their right mind would do such a thing as to get remarried to another married couple and live under the same roof together? Amusingly most of the time the story portrays the teens as the ones with their heads screwed on, while the adults are a bit clueless, especially Miki and Yuu's parents.

Once you get past the absurd set up, this is truly a great show to watch. Throughout the entire 76 episode series, Miki and Yuu's relationship is tested at every turn. Once either Miki or Yuu fight off a potential suitor (who more often than not intentionally or unintentionally cause misunderstandings of rather innocent events), another shows up. For the greater majority of the series, this doesn't become boring as the characters have a real depth to them and situations are full of great drama, but thankfully not too overly melodramatic. Most of Miki and Yuu's rivals in love have great personalities and back stories, some of which diverge into their own little side stories not involving the main two characters. Suzuki Arimi and Ginta's relationship is one of the more pleasing side stories presented with Ginta caught between Miki, the girl he first loved and the more outgoing, cute and forceful Arimi. Arimi herself has a similar problem with Yuu, but soon sees Ginta's charms, even though their initial relationship is a ruse to make Miki jealous. But it isn't all teen drama. There's some adult drama with Namura's work colleague Ryoko Momoi. She has had a crush on him since they met in school, alas he's love and is a having a relationship with Meiko, one of his students.

There's also a ton of very well developed secondary characters who step up in an attempt to take either Miki or Yuu from each other. There's Kei Tsuchiya who works in the same ice cream shop as Miki and is a piano versos who has run away from his music career. Anju Kitahara is a sickly girl from Yuu's childhood who also threatens to tear Miki and Yuu apart. The show was a runaway success on TV and unsurprisingly material from the manga soon ran out and quite a few new characters and storylines appeared. The major one is towards the latter part of the series where an American exchange student, Michael Grant, comes to stay with Miki and Yuu. This leads into another arc where Yuu leaves Japan to study architecture at a school in New York which really tests the relationship. This is probably the weakest part of the series, mainly due to the rather shallow and unlikeable Michael and some of the American characters seem rather undeveloped. Unlike the other love rivals in the series, Michael seems really shallow and self centred with few redeeming features and isn't really believable as a character. Luckily the last few episodes return to some serious and very well done shoujo drama.

To be honest, it came as a real shock to me when it was announced that Marmalade Boy would be getting an English language release. It's the last anime I'd expect to get a commercial subtitled release, let alone an English dub. For whatever reason, Tokyopop dubbed the entire series and released it in four very attractive and solid boxed digipak sets labelled "The Ultimate Scrapbook". I'm not sure where the scrapbook reference comes from as there's no reference in the TV series to any scrapbook of any kind. Even the 30 minute 1995 movie which recounts how Yuu met Miki for the first time is included in the last box set. I find it to be some sort of a miracle that any sort of commercial English language release was even considered, let alone the entire series and movie being released. The Tokyopop version does have some audio problems on the Japanese side with a few episodes sounding rather muffled and one of the latter episode's video doesn't look too crash hot. But overall it's a great release. I don't think we could have expected better. The extras are virtually non-existent save for some Tokyopop created ones. One of the more notable ones is an audio commentary by the English dub cast. Usually I find most of these commentaries to be awful as nearly all the time the cast either has no idea of the background of the show (despite actually dubbing it) or they don't care and make light of the show in a nasty way. Well the commentaries presented on these discs are a refreshing change. While the cast do make a bit of fun of the show, it's done with respect for the material and most importantly it's as funny as hell. In one commentary, Miki's voice actor, Michelle Ruff, describes Miki's diary, which she always writes in at the beginning of the early episodes, as her "little book of neuroses".

Now apart from Meiko and Namura's rather, uh, unconventional and maybe illegal relationship, Marmalade Boy is pretty much "G" rated. There's barely a hint of sexual behaviour and only very, very vague references to sex, and then only very occasionally. Most of the time they're playing tennis when their not sorting out their mostly platonic relationships. It's all so middle class, neat and clean. However in 2005 a regional Florida TV station claimed that Miki and Yuu's parents were "swingers" after a couple of parents discovered their 11 year old child had borrowed the manga from the local library and complained profusely. Oh the horror. One would have thought that Miki and Yuu's parents were trying to help out their kids by making the divorce process less stressful, but no, it's all about sex. I read one blog defending the parents and TV station for airing the piece on the manga. But gee, let's call a spade a spade here. There is no excuse for crappy tabloid journalism on a subject that wasn't worthy of airtime. Who really cares what libraries have anyway. Plus it's not their job to disallow any material they have to lend to anyone of any age. One would have thought the parents of the child who borrowed the manga would have gone and talked to the library first, but no, off to the hack of a tabloid reporter they went. There's far, far worse things a kid could read than Marmalade Boy, but what do I know? I'm not a hack journalist looking for a news story on a slow day.

But back to the review, overall this is one fun little show. For some reason that I can't put finger on, I find shoujo manga is better at dealing with relationships than romance manga for men and young adults. Perhaps it is because they don't really dance around the issue, they get to the point. This is by far the best romance anime I have ever seen including "Kimagure Orange Road" and "Maison Ikkoku". My favourite part of this series is that it almost never stops to take a breath. Once one problem is solved another suitor steps up to try and put a spanner in the works. On paper you would think this would be repetitive and dull, but the majority of characters and situations makes it almost always interesting through the entire 76 episodes. Initially I did find it a little hard to get into, but once I got past the somewhat ridiculous premise, I found to be really fun. Though the series is a little hard to find, I would recommend searching it out especially if you like any kind of romance in your anime. It's a really under appreciated show that more anime fans should become acquainted with.

Marmalade Boy ©1994 - 1995 Wataru Yoshizumi/Shueisha/Toei Animation Co Ltd. Cover artwork ©2004 - 2005 Tokyopop Inc.

Lost Anime Review: Space Cruiser

2008-09-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, the idea was to do one review a week, either a redone one from the old website or a brand new one. OK, so that didn't happen. A few snags got in the way; I was completing a fairly big website, but mainly I was a lazy bum. One of the main problems with the website version of this blog was that for the VHS and LDs I was reviewing, I sometimes had no pictures or screenshots of the anime in question and no way could I take screencaps off either format. In the last couple of months, I purchased DVD recorder to preserve my VHS and LD
collection. This now means I can take screencaps off the DVDs I've created. Another problem solved.

There's been one slightly disturbing trend I've seen emerging. I'm finding I have a ton of material for this site (as I only review out of print material or companies and magazines that no longer exist). Even with my final couple of updates at the old site in 2006, I noticed a trend of companies deleting a fair wack of material which will probably never be seen again in English. From late 2007 and through 2008 we've seen a fairly substantial change in the US market for anime. ADV has been gutted with most of it's recent titles now being distributed by Funimation. Funimation now seems to want to make half series box sets the norm, with single disc releases becoming a rarity. There's also been a focus on subtitled box sets from smaller companies, while cheaper in the long run it does cut out any mainstream marketability. And Central Park Media continues to slip into oblivion with more and more of its titles going out print and not returning every month.

But despite all the gloom and fans running around like the sky is falling, there does seem to be a ton of quality anime being released in a number of genres. Though it may not be the flood of 2003 - 2005, it's certainly not a trickle. While I'm a little wary of what may happen to "packaged media" (i.e. home video. I'm not too enthused about downloading) in the long run, I'm certainly not too worried about its future over the next couple of years. And with that off my chest, it's now time to have a look at some old anime;

Space Cruiser

English Distribution Company: Derann, Video Gems/MIA (UK), Hughes Leisure Group (Australia/New Zealand)
Release Date: 1978, 1981, 1986 (UK), 1990 (Australia/New Zealand)
Format: 8mm rental film, PAL VHS and Beta, Dubbed
Runtime: 82 mins
Edits made to English Version: Yes
Japanese Title: Space Battleship Yamato
Japanese Production Date: 1974, 1977

Story (Contains Some Spoilers):
I know what you're thinking. You're looking at the video covers and pictures on this page and saying to yourself "this is just Star Blazers in an edited movie format". You'd be dead wrong if you thought that. In 1977, Westcape, the company that owned the rights to "Space Battleship Yamato" took the highly successful 135 minute movie compilation of the TV series, cut it down to about 90 minutes and dubbed it into English at a recording studio in Los Angeles. Work on the US version of the "Yamato" TV series, named "Star Blazers", would not commence until a year later.

For those who don't know the story of "Yamato", it goes something like this; In the year 2199 mankind is reduced to living deep underground when aliens from the planet Gorgon bomb the Earth with radioactive bombs, making the surface of the planet uninhabitable. Captain Okita makes one last stand against the invading Gorgons. The Earth battleships are defeated and
Okita retreats knowing that he one last ace up his sleeve he can use before giving up hope. Meanwhile on Mars, cadets Jason Kodai and Shane O'Toole investigate a crashed alien craft near their base. Instead of finding a Gorgon fighter, they discover the body of a beautiful woman with long blonde hair. She is holding a communications capsule. The two cadets bring the capsule to Earth defence headquarters to be analysed and translated. It contains a message from a Princess Starsha. She states she is from a planet called Iscandare and has sent her sister (who died and crashed on Mars) to Earth to offer them a machine called Cosmo DNX that can rid the planet of the radiation. Iscandare is 148,000 light-years away, but she provides them with plans for an engine that can take them to the planet and back to Earth within a year.

The Earth has no choice and no time to debate if she is genuine or not. Soon the radiation will reach the underground cities and they too will be uninhabitable. The Earth government decides to build the engine and fit it into the refurbished WWII battleship, the Yamato (which of course is now a spaceship). Soon a crew is picked, which includes cadets Jason Kodai and Shane O'Toole, and the ship is captained by Okita. The Yamato and her crew must battle their way through waves of seemingly never ending and increasingly ruthless Gorgon attacks on their journey. As they come closer to their destination, the crew of the Yamato is completely unaware of the shocking truth about the planet Iscandare.

History and Review:
When comparing this adaptation of with "Star Blazers" TV series, you can see some very noticeable differences. As you can tell from my synopsis, the names are quite different. The Yamato is the Yamato in this adaptation (it was called the Argo in "Star Blazers"), and the producers of this dub call the ship "Yamato" at every available opportunity. Even the movie's title card says "Space Cruiser Yamato". Obviously the UK and Australian distributors weren't comfortable with that name, and shortened it. A lot of the characters names are similar to their Japanese origins. Captain Okita (Captain Avatar in "Star Blazers") remains the same, but Susumu Kodai becomes Jason Kodai (Derek Wildstar). Daisuke Shima (Mark Venture) becomes Shane O'Toole for some unknown reason. The only other notable name changes are the Gamalons who become Gorgons and Analyser (IQ-9), who becomes Tobor. Yes, "robot" spelt backwards, a name previously used in the English adaptation of the 1963 black and white TV anime "8th Man". Another thing to note is the pronunciation of "Iscandar". In this dub it's IscanDARE, hence the reason I've written that way in the synopsis. Queen Starsha also gets demoted to Princess for no apparent reason. Fan favourite, Yuki Mori (Nova), practically gets no screen time at all during the film. All her major scenes have been cut.

The original 1977 theatrical cut of this film (supervised by Toshio Masuda who directed the Japanese sequences for the 1970 Pearl Harbor film "Tora! Tora! Tora!"), was probably a touch too long at 135 minutes. Editing it down to 90 or so minutes has actually improved the movie. Most of the battles have been cut out, but the "Rainbow Galaxy" arc and final battle on the Gorgon's home planet remain. Where as "Star Blazers" cut a lot of the violence out of the series, surprisingly there's a lot of violence in this adaptation. Two notable scenes that were deleted or edited for violence in "Star Blazers" remain in this film intact. The famous scene where Desslar shoots his aide, General Hisu (Krypt in "Star Blazers"), is there in all it's glory, and General Domel's (General Lysis) suicide mission to blow up the Yamato is shown completely unedited. On screen deaths of nameless minions are also quite common through out the film. Amazingly the highly conservative British Board of Classification rated the film "U" for Universal (meaning the film was suitable for all audiences) despite the violence. The biggest surprise is the footage this edit uses when the Yamato reaches Iscandare. When the original theatrical cut of the film screened on Japanese TV, it was deemed way too long and edited to a more sane length. To fill a gap in the film, new footage of the Yamato's arrival on Iscandare and the crew's meeting with Princess Starsha was created (pictured above). This time saving footage, which totally dispenses away with the sub plot of Jason Kodai's brother, Mamoru Kodai (Alex Wildstar), is hardly seen outside of the TV edit of the film, and I was very surprised to see its inclusion here.

The dubbing for the most part is surprisingly pretty good, and is just about on par with "Star Blazers". The only real issue I have is with the voice acting for the leader of the Gorgons, Dessler and his aide, Hisu. Whist every other Gorgon has a normal American accent, these two have bad Spanish accents. It makes no sense. The crew of the Yamato, especially Jason and Shane, are very gung-ho and vocal at times about "getting the Gorgons", which was a bit weird after watching both "Star Blazers" and the original Japanese film. This film seems to have had a strange history with English distributors. First Derann in the UK released the film as an 8mm film rental title in the late 1970's, then later on video. Video Gems reissued it later in the mid 1980's, which by that time "Star Blazers" had already screened in the UK. I was very surprised to find out the tape was also released in Australia and New Zealand. I have a UK copy (the Derann version) and I have never come across the Australian version until I saw it for sale on a UK website. Amusingly the UK artwork for the cover has Starsha’s ship coming out of the wave
motion cannon!;

Anyone who has seen either “Yamato” or “Star Blazers” knows this is a very, very bad idea. Any enemy attack and the craft would not survive for long! The cover also included several Analysers (IQ-9s) roaming about in space. I’m not sure what the artist’s intentions were there. I’ve read that this dubbed version of “Yamato” came before the Japanese theatrical release. Apparently when Japanese fans got wind of this English dubbed movie version and pleaded for a Japanese cinema release. Although I’m not 100% sure this is true, it sounds like a fairly plausible story and puts this version of the film in a unique place in the history of fandom in Japan. The theatrical release of the Yamato movie was one of the turning points for the beginning of anime fandom in Japan in the late 1970’s.

This is another one of those adaptations of anime that hardly anyone seems to know about. Honestly I really like this film a bit better than the original Japanese version that it's cut down from. I really don't like movie compilations of TV series that much. At least this one is quite entertaining and doesn't get caught up in any unnecessary detail or gives the impression that chunks of important plot are missing. The film is pretty hard to find, and I would really only recommend this film to die hard Yamato fans. For everyone else I'd recommend the "Star Blazers" TV series or hope that somebody puts out a subtitled version of "Yamato", which unfortunately looks highly unlikely at present.

Space Battleship Yamato ©1974, 1977 Westcape Corporation. Cover artwork ©1978, 1981 Derann Home Video, ©1986 AMT Video Gems/Enterprise Pictures and ©1990 Hughes Leisure Group.

Lost Manga Review: Spirit of Wonder

2008-04-05T02:38:00.000-07:00

I also did some manga reviews for my old site. Here’s a previously unpublished one from last year;

Spirit of Wonder
English Distribution Company: Dark Horse (USA)
Release Date: 1996 (Comics), 1998 (Graphic Novel)
Format: 5 comics, later compiled into one graphic novel
Pages: 150
Edits made to English Version: None, but manga only partly published
Japanese Title: Sprit of Wonder
Japanese Publication Date: 1986 - 1998

Story:
England is nearing the dawn of the 20th century. An industrial revolution has taken place, but in Bristol two inventors are about to make that period of history look like the stone age as they take a giant leap across space to the moon. Professor Breckonridge is a middle aged, and somewhat lecherous, scientist who lives on the top floor above a Chinese restaurant named Ten-Kai. His landlord and owner of the restaurant is a young Chinese woman whom everyone affectionly calls Miss China. Breckonridge never seems to pay his rent on time, though he always seems to have enough money for his absurd inventions. Despite Miss China's threats and frequent use of martial arts, things never seem to change. One of the reasons why Miss China hasn't evicted Breckonridge is that the other person who boards with him is a young man called Jim Floyd. Jim is the professor's assistant and a much more brilliant scientist than Breckonridge gives him credit for. Jim often helps out Miss China in her restaurant and is quite attracted to her, and Miss China feels the same way.

Breckonridge has failed to get any investors in his new project to go to the moon. He's up to ears in debt, including being behind in his rent yet again. Jim heads off to the market to meet his black market parts contract, the very pretty flower seller Lilly. Unfortunately China sees them together and gets the wrong idea. Later that night after Jim has helped China clean the restaurant, she asks him to have a drink with her. As the night progresses, China gets rather drunk, and the rather shy Jim attempts to give her a present for her birthday. But still angry at what she saw this morning at the market, she punches him and the present goes flying. Early the next morning, China awakens and is astonished to find the words "Happy Birthday to China" written on the face of the moon. She thinks she's dreaming, but Breckonridge tells her that he and Jim did actually go there. China is still in a state of disbelief, when Breckonridge asks her about the ring made of moon rock Jim gave her as a birthday present. She rushes to get the present, but she had already broken the ring during her previous night's bout of drunken violence. Jim and the professor check the papers to see what they say, but to their astonishment there is no mention of the message that appeared on the moon's surface.

The rest of the day doesn't cheer Miss China up. Nothing seems to go right for her. The townsfolk seem to avoid her because of the message on the moon, and a pick pocket knocks her over, when usually it's Miss China that dishes out the justice. Jim tends to her wound and remarks that it isn't usually like her to lose out to a pick pocket. China cries and shows Jim the broken ring. Jim asks her if she will accept another ring if he makes one. She is taken aback, but agrees. Jim asks her to meet him later that night for a trip to the moon.

History and Review:
There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of manga in English out there. I think it's quite fair to say a lot of them aren't worth the paper that they're printed on and a lot of them are rather samey. "Spirit of Wonder" is refreshingly different. It's very much a "slice of life" type manga, but the artwork is unlike most Japanese comics. It seems to be more western in its approach and style, and is incredibly detailed. The manga itself as a whole is divided up into three eras and totally separate story arcs. First is the Miss China arc, which is what Dark Horse has published. The first story of this arc, "Miss China's Ring" was animated as an OVA in 1992 (and also released in English, by AnimEigo in the US). Second is a set of stories focusing on a young woman named Windy, which set about 50 years after the Miss China stories. These are similar in nature to the first arc, set in the same place, and were partly animated in the second "Spirit of Wonder" OVA, "Scientific Boys Club". The third arc is based around a young Japanese woman named Maiko who works for NASA sometime in a near future world. It took manga artist Kenji Tsuruta around 10 years to complete the story (around 407 pages worth), and by the time it was published in English in 1996, it still had two years to run.

The Miss China arc is the only part of the manga that has made it into English. Only one thin graphic novel of less than 150 pages was published. Despite that, it is a great read. Though the stories are relatively simple and uncomplicated, they're really fun and never dull. One of my favourite elements is the mad inventions that Breckonridge and Jim come up with. The device which gets them to the moon is in fact something called a Space Reflex Telescope. So what they are actually doing is projecting a solid 3D image of the moon, sort of like a miniature version of the moon they can interact with, on Earth, so they don't even have to actually travel to the moon to explore it. Other batty, but ingenious inventions include teleporters and gravitational disruptors. But despite these amazing inventions, they only seem to be used for extremely trivial and quite honestly selfish purposes. The characters are really quite well fleshed out and work really well together. Lily, the flower seller, is quite a stunning blonde as well as being a black market contact for the parts that the boys need to build their inventions. She also deliciously teases poor Miss China whenever Jim takes an interest in Lily. Jim comes from a long line of rather eccentric inventors, but much to Miss China's disappointment he seems to take much more interest at times in his work than her. While Professor Breckonridge is pretty much a dirty old man, he's also a completely mad scientist with fantastically outlandish ideas.

The one real problem I had with this manga is the reliance of fanservice. While rather tame in the first story, in the remaining two it seems at times there only as a way to get China into revealing clothing, or completely out of it. To me I felt this cheapened the stories unnecessarily. The stories are really inventive and don't need it at all. The other somewhat disappointing aspect was the relationship between Jim and Miss China. In the first two stories he seems rather smitten with her, but the concluding story has him seemingly throwing the relationship away in favour of keeping his lab and experiments alive. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I really wish in the end he would have given it all up to be with her.

But in the end this is a definitely a great little read. It's not very taxing on the brain, and there was enough crazy inventions and romance (a little more would have been better) to keep me interested through out. Despite the apparent need by the author to get Miss China out of her clothes every chapter, this is one manga I can really recommend to just about everyone, especially if you're tired of the same old, same old on comic and book store shelves. It was originally published in five comics issues, but was later compiled into one graphic novel. Luckily there're pretty easy to find. Hopefully one day the remainder of "Spirit of Wonder" will be published in English. Though with the manga market skewered at the teen market and getting as many titles into mainstream book shops, it looks quite unlikely that this title will ever get a reprint, or be fully translated.

Spirit of Wonder ©1986 - 1998 Kenji Tsuruta/Kodansha. Cover artwork and translation ©1996 Studio Proteus/Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

Lost Magazine Review: Markalite

2008-03-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

My old website also looked at tokusatsu (Japanese special effects) stuff and old English language magazines. That's what the site was about; highlighting old English adaptations, magazines and defunct companies that were associated with anime and tokusastu that no longer exist. So here's another review;

Markalite Magazine
Publisher: Pacific Rim/Kaiju Publications
Type: Tokusatsu (Japanese Special Effects), minimal anime coverage
Years Active: 1990 - 1991
Issues Published: 3

One of the rarest types of publication is the one dedicated to tokusatsu (Japanese special effects) films. Over the years I have searched high and low for magazines like this, but generally come up empty handed. I did discover Asian Trash Cinema (later named Asian Cult Cinema), but I was rather annoyed at its misogynistic tone and its focus on degrading exploitation films. G-Fan didn’t hold my interest either and seemed to have a very narrow focus on Godzilla. But there was one Tokusatsu magazine that stood head and shoulders above everything else; Markalite Magazine (a Markalite is the dish heat-ray weapon that appeared in some early Toho films, “The Mysterians” being the most widely known film to feature it).

The magazine was stated by two of the most well known men in tokusatsu fandom in America; August Ragone and Bob Johnson in 1990. Even now, there isn’t a great deal of information about tokusatsu films and TV series in English, especially compared to amount of information and resources that anime fans have at their disposal. This is why I find this magazine so amazing. It is just jam packed full of accurate, comprehensive and detailed information about a subject that was extremely hard to come across in the US. And that’s a claim that many English anime magazines of the time can’t make. Certainly in some instances the information presented in those early publications wasn’t entirely accurate. It’s fair to say some of it was completely off the mark and rather misleading. But not Markalite. All of the three published issues ran around 96 pages and were practically filled to the brim of each page with interesting articles and information.

The debut issue had over 30 pages devoted to “Godzilla Vs Biolante”. There’s interviews with the director, the SFX director and even the man the Godzilla suit, Kenpachiro Satsuma. But it doesn’t end there; we also have a long synopsis of the film, comprehensive biographies of the cast, a look at the special effects and behind the scenes, a complete cast and staff listing and some great side bars about why Godzilla never destroys the Imperial Place and who the heck that scary guy with make-up on was who made a brief appearance in the film. It’s just amazing. Most of the stuff in this magazine you can’t find on the web today.

Other really interesting articles included a listing of every tokusatsu TV show from the 1950’s to 1990 (including air dates, episode numbers, production company, actors and director), the role of aliens in Japanese sci-fi films, the Ultraman series, Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla films and number of then current tokusatsu TV shows. The greater majority of these articles were extremely will written and researched and a joy to read. On the anime side of things there were a few articles, mostly about older anime such as “Gigantor” and “Kimba the White Lion”. Both were written by Fred Patten, who goes into minute detail about each one. Another contribution by Patten, an opinion piece about how anime in the late 1980’s didn’t stand up to what had come before it, which is pretty absurd, more so in hindsight. In the article Patten makes the claim that anime had gone down dramatically in quality since the introduction of the Original Video Animation (OVA) format, and things were never as good as they were in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. He cites the rather mediocre “Genma Taisen” (released as “Harmagedon” in the US) and the rather flawed and overly long “Phoenix 2772” as examples of great anime (amongst the Gundams, Macross’, Yamatos and Harlocks he mentions) which only makes it even more laughable. Yes, I suppose only crap was released after 1985; “Project A-ko”, “Megazone 23”, “Bubblegum Crisis”, “Kimagure Orange Road”, “Touch”, “Akira”, all of them trash. The article’s accompanying satirical cartoon has Astroboy smashing his way through an Ingram robot from “Patlabor”. Yeah, that was trash too, and that no good director Mamoru Oshii didn’t do much after that stinker. Oh, don’t get me started on the 1990’s. “Evangelion”? Bah, not that great. Yes, we should all be watching old anime from the 1960’s and 1970’s because it never got any better than that, apparently.

Unfortunately disaster stuck the company only after three issues. Their publisher had some issues with the anime magazine he was publishing, the great Animag magazine. They took their magazine elsewhere, and this must have been to much for the publisher financially, who delayed the publication of issue 4 of Markalite for over year. The editors of Markalite eventually threatened to sue and they got their layouts of the magazine back, which were left on the publisher’s porch, water damaged in a plastic shopping bag. After that, the publisher apparently skipped the state leaving the editors of the magazine $1,200 in debt and no way to contact the subscribers of the magazine as the publisher did the subscriptions and had all of the addresses. What an absolutely horrible way for any magazine to end its life. And rather demoralising for its creators and editors. Afterwards some of the material meant for issue 4 ended up online at the Henshin Online website and also in the newsletter “Henshin!”. “Kaiju Fan” was the successor to “Markalite”, but I still haven’t found any issues of that. For myself who has a bit more than a passing interest in tokusatsu TV series and films, I find it really disappointing that there isn’t magazine out there which deals in depth with it like Markalite did. Sure, the articles in “Otaku USA” are great, but still I’d like a 100% tokusatsu focused magazine which looked at old and new movies and series that I could pick up from my local comic book shop every time it came out. Sure “everything” is on the internet now days, but still I prefer reading a magazine and discovering stuff I’d never find out about otherwise. Markalite, I miss you dearly.