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It’s the end of an era, folks. Just shy of 20 years, it seems that The Anime Web Turnpike has finally closed it’s doors, meaning the site (and the mirror of the “classic” site they kept up purely for nostalgia’s sake) is now offline. For those of you who might be too young to remember, Anipike was THE website for anime fans back in the day. Before Google & Wikipedia, Jay Fubler Harvey started Anipike as a simple link directory for all the anime & manga related websites he could find—and it quickly grew to the place anime fans would go to to find fansites, image galleries, and news. You can read about Anipike’s timeline up until 2006, when the site tried to undergo a makeover under new ownership, here. Goodbye, Anipike. Thanks for the memories!

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mutuals send me #'s so i can make a post about you

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Gakken,Matchbox,Seven,CM’s Corporation,Megahouse,Toynami, and Beagle.

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Describe me in one word anonymously.

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One last happy thought

Build Fighters Try is the shoujo Gundam series I have been waiting for.

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So hey, can I get some feedback on this?

Weekly Anime Classics Episode 19: Otaku no Video

Lets talk about Gainax. I really REALLY don’t know what I make of this company.  Sometimes they’re artsy and experimental, sometimes they seem to long for yesteryear and sometimes they’re just perverts. But if there’s one thing for sure, Gainax gained a certain amount of street cred from being the anime studio founded for fans, by fans. So a heavily fictionalized story about Gainax’s founding, a tale of nerds being nerds, then deciding to turn it into a business, should automatically have some appeal right? That seems to be the reigning opinion anyway… But this OVA, if there’s any truth to it, kinda makes me hate Gainax.

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Weekly Anime Classics Episode 19: Otaku no Video

Lets talk about Gainax. I really REALLY don't know what I make of this company.  Sometimes they're artsy and experimental, sometimes they seem to long for yesteryear and sometimes they're just perverts. But if there's one thing for sure, Gainax gained a certain amount of street cred from being the anime studio founded for fans, by fans. So a heavily fictionalized story about Gainax's founding, a tale of nerds being nerds, then deciding to turn it into a business, should automatically have some appeal right? That seems to be the reigning opinion anyway... But this OVA, if there's any truth to it, kinda makes me hate Gainax.

Otaku no Video is a two episode OVA that goes from something that seems fun and familiar to giving me fits of rage in almost no time at all. I'm gonna do my best to explain this one.

Our hero in this story is Kubo, a college kid with a girlfriend and some talent for tennis. Kubo is out with some classmates when he runs into a high school friend named Tanaka who is a member of a sci-fi and anime club. The two catch up and Kubo is reminded of how fun and obsessive being a geek can be. He's so overcome by this revelation that he becomes completely absorbed by it to the point that he starts losing sleep, gives up tennis and his girlfriend leaves him. Not to be defeated and convinced that the world looks down on him for becoming a socially inept nerd, Kubo vows, along with Tanaka, to become an Otaking. (King of Otaku, get it?)

That was literally the first of the two episodes and its where it starts to get my goat. I love being a nerd as much as the next guy. And god knows I did some really embarrassing shit High School through early College, but that's the thing, you grow out of that. Kubo, instead, sinks into obsessive fandom, lets his life fall apart and then acts like he's being persecuted for his new life style after giving up his previous life of his own will and generally acting like a spoiled brat about it.

And yes, I know being a fan can mean some weird stuff. I collect toys and animations cels. I've been cosplaying for almost ten years now, I write this blog even, but this OVA seems to glorify dumping your entire well being simply to be a consumer.

This seemingly negative view of fandom seems to be perpetuated even by the OVA itself, not only in scenes where Kubo's explanations of his new life style are met with concern and depressing music, but also by pace killing live action segments. These "Portraits of Otaku" claim to be interviews with "Real Otaku" but are, in fact, staged by actors and friends of Studio Gainax. The narration over them treats these "Otaku" like some strange and foreign culture and, of course, only shows these "otaku" being as unappealing or ashamed as possible.

The second episode ventures into a weirder place. Tanaka and Kubo are barely on screen together in the first half, but they manage to turn their club into a garage kit business. So yay, they're finally doing something other than consuming. Sadly their dream is not to be. A banker convinces Tanaka to turn against Kubo shortly after Kubo tries opening a factory in China. (Is that still really a Garage kit at that point?) To add insult to injury, Kubo loses his job as the president of the company and, shock of shocks, the banker who arranged it is married to the girl who dumped him in college!

Destitute Kubo soon finds Tanaka again, who is now also jobless, but still obsessively sinking his money into anime goods and the two decide to try to be Otakings once again, this time by producing their own OVA, but since neither of them have any talent to begin with, they have some girl from their old company (she has two lines... like total) do all the work for them and they take credit for it. And it works. Years later, they open a giant otaku Amusement park and then... even further into the future, after the apocalypse apparently, they set off in this bizaare Macross-Gunbuster-Arcadia-Yamato ship to found the planet of the Otaku. And that's it.

Yeah, there's more weird live action segments, including Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno playing porn addict and even one where they basically pretend to assault some random nerd on his way home, but really that's it.

Yes there's a bunch of references and sight-gags about other anime, but this isn't like the much later Genshiken which seems to love that culture and the parts of it, this seems to really look down on nerd-dom as a bunch of blind consumer. Our so-called heroes only break that cycle by creating more things for other nerds to blindly consume. Kubo and Tanaka may not be looking down on these other Otaku but you'd be hard-pressed to tell me that the Gainax founders aren't.

This just makes me feel so skeezy every time I see it now. Like I love the parts that I can relate to. I can see myself in the college kids this series shows, but I don't feel like its laughing with me, I think its laughing at me.

Otaku no Video is very easily available. You can literally find it anywhere online for pretty cheap and Animeigo's release is pretty nice for what it is. I've got the old VHS though and I'll pass on other versions of it. We'll returns to my not so fuzzy feelings on some of the things Gainax has said later, but for now, Peace, love and doughnuts.

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Weekly Anime Classics Episode 18: 3x3 Eyes

People tend to think of me as the Robot guy.so it may come as a surprise that my favorite OVA is actually a horror-romantic-comedy. No really, this is it. (Along with its sequel OVA, I'll get into that next time.)

Lets look at something this week that manages to be funny, cute, exciting and genuinely creepy.

Based on the manga by Yuzo Takada, this story revolves around two characters. (Technically 3...) Pai is the last of a race of three-eyed immortals and she longs to actually be human, but she's mostly unaware of her demonic powers. This is because Pai is a separate personality the split from Sanjiyan, who remembers a terrible history that she wants to keep from Pai. To become human, Pai needs and ancient relic called the Ningennouzou, the statue of humanity, and in order to get it she enlists the help of Yakumo.

Poor down-on-his-luck Yakumo is working in a transvestite bar (don't ask) and only really wants to go on road trips with his bike gang. What he has no time for is anything related to the occult as he dad left him in Tokyo in order in order to study demonology. So when the mysterious Pai arrives wearing raged clothes and asking him to help her become human he wants no part in it. But when Pai's bet, a horrific looking demon bird with a human face gores Yakumo, Sanjiyan turns Yakumo into her "Wu," a conditionally immortal body guard who cannot be killed so long as Pai is alive. Yakumo is subsequently forced into a world he didn't even believe existed. Together with Pai, they might be able to become humans, but only if they can survive.

Wow this series is compelling. horror parts are legitimately creepy and don't shy away from gore, but this surprisingly doesn't hamper comedy. It helps that the leads are incredibly likable. The demonic threats they face and the disturbing situations they get into only make the great parts of these characters shine more. When the two do develop a romantic connection with each other, it doesn't feel forced, but quite real, even with only 4 episodes.

The supporting cast are all rather interesting and the good guys are all rather charming, while the villains are suitably gross and scary. Once again, the story accomplishes a lot with only four episodes, which makes the cliff-hanger ending all the more heartbreaking. I don't wanna spoil too much but I will say that once you connect with these characters, watching them suffer really hurts, and boy do they suffer.

Sadly this OVA isn't perfect. Some of the violence is a little too sexualized for some viewers and while I will admit it works to show how depraved the baddies are, it could ruin the experience for some. The thing that bugs me most though, is the sound track. Koaru Wada did the music and if you've ever heard one Koaru Wada soundtrack, you've literally heard them all. Bit of a letdown there, but so much else work that its hard to let that ruin things.

The Japanese cast is very solid. Who doesn't love Megumi Hayashibara? She's great as both of Pai's personalities.

There are two English dubs of this series. One done by the now defunct Streamline entertainment which I have never seen and a pretty fantastic dub produced by Gargoyles producer Greg Weisman which stars Christian Campbell (Reefer Madness) and several other big name English speaking voice actors.

Sadly, this series is quite out-of-print in either US release, but if you look for it, you can probably still get a good price on it. Worth your time and very VERY awesome.

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Ironiously Titled Anime Classics Episode 17: Giant Robo

So I have two favorite OVAs, moreso than the one we looked at last time which is saying a LOT. Lets look at one that had a lot of delays. There's something I can relate to right?  Oh....

This OVA is an epic about fathers and sons, insane martial arts, honorable villains and larger-than-life heroes. Lets talk about Giant Robo!

There world is in a new age of prosperity! Thanks to the Shizuma drive energy has become cheap, clean and easy to produce, but behind the scenes a secret war is being fought between two forces of ridiculous power. Trying to undermine the world, the nefarious forces of Big Fire and fighting to stop them, the Experts of Justice. Both the Experts and Big Fire have skills that are essentially super powers, but for reasons beyond explanation, both sides also employ giant mecha.  (Because why not?)  The Experts' newest trump card is the Pharoh-like Giant Robo, controlled by a 10-year-old boy, Daisaku Kusama, but even this great force is about to be counterbalanced not only by Big Fire's newest weapon, but by the rage of man who is certain he is acting in accordance with the wishes of his late father. Daisaku and the Experts must stop him or the entire world will be plunged into darkness.

So this series had pretty much everything on its side. Firstly its a love letter to Mitsuteru Yokoyama, the man who literally created the giant robot anime genre. This OVA, while named after his original manga, has characters and ideas from his entire body of work. Put in charge of this epic is one of the contemporary kings of super robot, Yasuhiro Imagawa. Imagawa's love for the over-the-top, passion-driven stories of anime's yesteryear made him the ideal director for this project and his signature is very present. This OVA is so much more than what it needed to be, as it is not just an animated love letter to Yokoyama, but also a moving tale of the relationship between fathers and their children with a healthy serving of EXTREMELY SUBTLE zen symbolism. (Which is probably the only subtle thing in this series.)

But the series, while praised by critics overseas, was not the financial success the studio was hoping for and for the remainder of the series run it was set back. In all the series took six years to finish its release in Japan. But at least the wait was worth it. What resulted was nothing short of grand. The Experts of Justice are all pretty awesome. Even if they aren't all well explored characters, although most of them are, not one of them doesn't get to shine gloriously at least once. Pretty much everyone has superpowers and once you accept that, its pretty great. (There's one guy who's plan is to punch giant spear the size of a skyscraper, and at that point you wont doubt that he could do quite a bit of damage.) Its worth noting, a lot of these characters die, but their deaths are almost always accompanied by heroic last words.

Surprisingly though, the forces of Big Fire are no less legendary. Not only do they have powers that match and often surpass the experts, but they are not all simply evil. While some of them are quite sadistic and brutal, others are quite honorable and even likable, but these characters all serve to better highlight how great the leads of this story are.

Our heroes are primarily Daisaku and Ginrei. Daisaku has a lot on his shoulders. He doesn't have the powers of the other experts, but he has Robo which his father entrusted him with and he has a strong sense of what's right which pushes him forward. Daisaku is responsible, but as he is still a kid he has a short temper and the other characters have a habit of talking down to him. This leads him to make some bad calls along the way and even when he does the right thing, the loss of his friends weighs heavily on his heart. Ginrei on the other hand is in her 20s and aside from acting as Daisaku's surrogate older sister, she is one of the Experts top spies. I want to say so much more about her, but I really can't without spoilers, speaking of which... lets talk about the main villain.

The big bad in this story is Genya, the mysterious son of Dr. Fogler, one of the scientists who created the Shizuma drive. He believes that his father wanted nothing less than the complete destruction of the Shizuma drive and is dead-set on following his father's wishes, even if it means making the world pay. This sets him up as a good antagonist for Daisaku (and Ginrei...) as Daisaku's is using Robo, because his father entrusted him with it. We have two epic forces clashing in the names of their respective fathers and it works extremely well.

Some of the other themes we see relate to a more classically Japanese virtues. The American-European perspective tends toward dichotomies. ie. Good vs. Evil, its one or the other. But Asian philosophy tends toward balance instead. Too much of one force is always a bad thing. I feel that we see that quite a bit in Giant Robo. We never see how the battle between the Experts and Big Fire started, but we know that the balance has been tipped at the beginning of the story and by the end, when that balance is off-set and normalized again, they're still going. The impression we get from Big Fire is that many of their leaders might not actually be that "bad" after all and it seems in the end restoring balance is more important than "good triumphing over evil." Although the ambiguous ending could just as easily be written off as a sequel hook for a follow-up that wasn't meant to be.

The animation and visuals in this series are great. Sometimes eerie, always retro and also very smooth. The music is memorable and enhances the scale of the story. While there sometimes might be too many characters and the situations continue to escalate into some true insanity, this all works. And its pretty damn near perfect.

Giant Robo is pretty easy to find on DVD, and its always affordable. The complete set even includes some hilarious spoof OVAs starring Ginrei which are also quite fun. This series is worth all the time it takes to watch and more than what you'll probably pay for it. Find it and enjoy it. Until next time, keep on spockin'.

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Weekly Anime Classics Episode 16: Gundam 0080

I have gone out of my way NOT to talk about Gundam. Mostly because I'm kinda famous outside of this writing for my somewhat lengthy opinions on the franchise. But today I wanna talk about a favorite of mine and maybe the best entry in an anime series that's still going strong after three and a half decades. So lets look at the one Gundam I feel everyone absolutely NEEDS to see.

So first I should introduce the Gundam franchise. Mobile Suit Gundam was a seriously low budget series created by Yoshiyuki Tomino inspired partly by a legitimate love of Star Wars and Tomino's own fixation on making mecha anime darker and a bit more realistic. Following a selfish immature boy named Amuro as a war forces him to both mature young man and awaken to his own psychic potential. Using the titular robot, the Gundam, Amuro fought against the space Fascist of Zeon who would be a recurring force throughout the franchise. While Gundam was initially a flop, it found a huge fanbase among highschoolers and college kids when it was syndicted and as a result the series was re-edited together with new footage into a movie trilogy and was followed a few short years later by two full length TV sequels, all of which were helmed by Tomino. In 1988, all of these plot points came together in one film, Char's Counter Attack. This film was an epic, that among other things, tied up almost all of the remaining plot threads of the earlier series and brought (violent) ends to most of the characters. While the film was mostly well received, Gundam fans has to wonder, was this the end?

Sunrise did not want this to be the case and in 1989, as Gundam turned 10, they set out to take advantage of the OVA boom with a  side-story to the original series. Fumihiko Takayama was brought in to direct, while Yutaka Izubuchi re-worked and updated several of the classic MS designs. The ever talented Haruhiko Mikimoto (of Macross fame) did the character designs.

So while Gundam has always been very character driven, this one is especially so. While the mech battles are furious and intense, this series focuses on two unlikely leads. The first being Al, a ten-year-old boy who lives in a neutral Space Colony, and is thus, unaffected by the war between the Earth Federation (Democratic guys located planet-side) and the Principality of Zeon (Fascists launching their attacks from space). The second being Bernie, a Zeon grunt who's never been good at much of anything. Al befriends Bernie after Bernie crashes his Zaku (the storm-trooper of Gundam) near Al's school and Al begins following the soldier around and discovers that Bernie has been transferred to the Cyclops Team, a Zeon special ops crew hoping to destroy the brand new Gundam that the Federation has been secretly building in Al's home colony.  Al finds himself helping the Cyclops team, while Bernie finds himself looking after Al. To complicate matters further Al introduces Bernie to the attractive young woman who lives next door, Chris. While she claims to be a desk worker, she's actually a test pilot for the new Gundam.

This little series is very strong. While there's only six half-hour episodes, there's a lot of story and a lot of great moments. The characters are all very real. Especially considering that most of the characters are we focus on are Zeon, its amazing how human this series makes them and in every series up to this point the Zeons have mainly been bad guys. But here we just see soldiers doing their jobs. This isn't about glory or upholding some lofty ideals, its fighting for the guy next to you and its very brutal. Al, Bernie and Chris are all fantastic characters as well. You sympathize with Al because he's being forced to see war for what it really is and it tears the little guy up. Bernie is relatable as he is not an ace pilot or really an ace anything, he's just a regular guy and that makes his overall part in the story all the more important in the end. I really want to talk about Chris though. You see Chris straight up kills several of the people we as the audience have been following in the story and despite this, there's no melodrama, no sense of betrayal. She was just doing her duty. Its not sugarcoated, its just how it is.

This OVA looks great. Mikimoto's character designs are timeless and unique, while Izubuchi's mecha look very solid especially when compared to the cartoony 70s mechs they are based on. The one completely original mech Izubuchi designed, the Kampfer looks like it belongs in Patlabor, but that can slide.

As I mentioned before, the action is sparse in this series, but when it happens it is brutal. Blood spray and dead bodies abound with the intention of both shocking the viewer and getting the idea that this IS what war is across. Its funny that despite the age of the protagonist that this is probably the most mature Gundam entry, but its not without its flaws.

The opening theme song of this series is not my cup of tea. The general soundtrack is a little odd actually. I think its supposed to evoke Al's own childishness, but its not exactly my favorite thing. The closing song actually fits pretty well though and I love the "War Photography" pics they use for the closing.

If you choose to watch the English dub, its actually quite good. David Hayter (yes, that David Hayter) is perfect as Bernie and Wendee Lee is pretty solid as Chris. The Japanese cast are also quite good, obviously.

This OVA is heart-breaking, smart and worth your time. As its a Bandai release though, its very out of print so grab it when you can. (I own it on VHS and DVD cause I'm old.)

Till next time, Peace, love and doughnuts.

[weeklyanimeclassics]

After two years. I finally finished this print for you! Nene, as well as a Press which I am working on were originally meant to be bookmarks, and their sketches were lying around on my computer for a long time! I just re - found them and finished a Nene for you!

Buy her here: http://wardorible.storenvy.com/products/7602902-nene-print

Note:the print does not actually have the glitch that is on the first image, that is just my computer being angry with me.

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Weekly Anime Classics Episode 15: Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade

I suck at this deadline thing. I'm gonna write something else along those same lines today, but lets get back to it with something either really appropriate on several levels. Firstly, it involves my favorite name to drop Momoru Oshii and its about PTSD... oh...

So this is another weird one in terms of background. This film is actually one of many sequels to an alternate history radio drama Oshii created in the 1980s. (And yes, I promise that I'll get back to non-Oshii things, but the man is just TOO fascinating not to talk about.) The Kerberos Saga, spanning beyond radio into manga, live action films, and eventually this anime film, to put it as simply as possible, follows waring, largely Fascist factions as they struggle for Japan's soul following Germany's victory, and subsequent occupation of Japan during WWII. (I'll cut myself off there partly cause it gets complicated after that and partly because there's a senior thesis about Japan as victims in revisionist history just waiting to happen if I let myself get started, so we'll leave that can of worms as is...) This particular film was not an entirely Oshii outing however. While Oshii penned the screenplay, this film was directed by Hiroyuki Okiura, who's resume is focused strictly on animation direction. (For the life of me, I can't find any other films he was the general director of, but his animation background is nothing to sneeze at with key animation work on Mospeada, Patlabor, The Venus Wars, Akira and even recently in Evangelion 3.33) Okiura is a fitting stand-in for Oshii, as his penchant for realistic character designs fits this bleak film all too well.

Jin Roh throws the viewer into a tangled political web, in a Japan were two military police factions, the Kerberos Corp and the Metropolitan Security Police are locked in a power struggle, both trying to deal with increasingly violent anti-government protests and trying to take each other out to gain absolute police endorsement from the Government. While all this is going on, one Kerberos armored policeman, Kazuki Fuse, is sent in to put down a protest by the anti-government Sect. During this skirmish, Fuse encounters a "Little Red Riding Hood," one of many young girls in a fairy tale inspired red cloaks who act as suicide bombers. After this woman explodes before his eyes, Fuse finds himself adrift and replaying the young woman's death in his mind. As a result, he shows signs of survivors' guilt, PTSD and a general lack of focus on his usually brutal work. Furthermore, his ability to be a "wolf," a loyal and brutal dog to this police state, is called into question.

Suddenly Fuse encounters Kei Amemiya, who claims to be the older sister to the same woman who's death he witnessed. As they get to know each other, Fuse finds himself the target of the Metropolitan Security Police. With his own emotions, along with several well armed police units, this film is both intense political drama and introspective character study and it works.

Good god Fuse is an interesting character. You see how brutal being a Kerberos Panzer Cop member can be. You get the feeling Fuse lost touch with his soul a long time ago. His life has been a constant stream of brutal violence so you get the idea of how upsetting watching a young woman explode in front of him really was. Meeting this woman's sister only further compounds the issue and as an audience, we are left wondering if Fuse  might reclaim what little humanity he has left.

The politics of the film are never on the center stage but they are played with a subtle brilliance that comes  with Oshii's writing. Despite this, Okiura brings a more focused direction to these Oshii's universe which retains a bleak dream-like quality that comes with those roots, but lacks some of Oshii's weirder mannerisms that make his films a less accessible to the average audience member. This is not to call the film simple though. Anything but. Its complicated and fully realized universe and characters make it on par with if not better than the best political thrillers. This is a very adult film.

That's not even including the violence, which is intense, bloody and very unsettling. But the violence was most haunting for me during one of Fuse's dream sequences. Using Little Red Riding Hood symbolism Fuse tries to rescue Kei from wolves only to realize he is part of their pack. The content is especially brutal and the Red Riding Hood theme, present throughout, only pays off more powerfully in an ending I will never forget.

I recommend this film. It hits heavy, makes you think and does all the things a good political thriller should. The animation has aged very well and it leaves me sorta excited for its upcoming Blu-ray re-release.

Jin-Roh was released by the now defunct Bandai entertainment but will be getting a rerelease from Discotek media later this year. Owning this film is certainly worth your time.

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Weekly Anime Classics Episode 14: Adeiu Galaxy Express 999 (A Guide on How NOT to make a Sequel)

Galaxy Express 999 is a pretty perfect movie honestly. I don't don't believe in perfect movies, but that one came really dang close. I covered it in a previous blog entry, but even that didn't really do it justice. Its a movie about so many things and the idea of growing up and the fleeting nature of youth. So a sequel would have to be about an older Tetsuro right? Right?

Adieu Galaxy Express 999 was the sequel to the original Galaxy Express 999 that had almost the entire staff returning. The cast was back, Matusmoto was, apparently, on board, and the animation was set to be stunning, and it was. The problem with this film lie entirely with the story and they come right out of the gate.

We meet Tetsuro on earth, right where we left him, but all is not well. A war has erupted between the machine people and the regular humans after the fall of Queen Promethea at the end of the previous film. Tetsuro is fighting in this war and he looks exactly the same as he did in the first film. He hasn't grown up at all. They don't make a point of this, but as mortality was such a major theme of the last film it seems reasonable to continue that theme into the next film. But no, Tetsuro is still young and before he knows it, he's called back the the Galaxy Express, at the cost of several of this comrade's lives. After being reunited with the conductor, Tetsuro finds Meatel again. She also looks exactly the same. (So much for all that talk about being a fleeting memory of Tetsuro's youth...) What follows is honestly a lot of rehashing things from the last movie.There's another female waitress robot like Claire from the first one, but this one's mean, unlike Claire. Tetsuro befriends another soldier who sacrifices himself, but this one's young, not grizzled like that last guy. Harlock's even back, because you can't have one of these movies without a Harlock drive-bye! (God I wish I was kidding)

It seems like everything in this movie happens to be shocking and dark or to rehash events of the last film. Hell, even Queen Promethea is back. That's right, everything about the ending of the first film is undone offhandedly by this one. Claire's sacrifice? Not so much. Meatel giving up her body to return to her real one? Yeah, that wont be returned to... at least not in the parts of this franchise I've seen.

There's really only one new element, Queen Promethea's new general The Black Knight. I'm not gonna lie. He looks ridiculous. Even by Matsumoto Universe standards. And on top of that, yes I'm just gonna spoil it, don't read past this if you don't wanna know, the Black Knight is Tetsuro's father. Its almost as if Empire Strikes Back was a popular movie. Also, because Harlock seems to have made a promise with literally every person in the universe, he is the only person aware of this, but promised he wouldn't allow Tetsuro to find out until Tetsuro could have a gunfight with Black Knight on hull of a space ship during a space storm... ...God I wish this was a joke.

So here we have it. A sequel for sequel's sake. Its just such a huge let down. Sometimes a movie is magical and really doesn't need a follow-up. But if, for some reason, you, as a film maker, are compelled to make such a sequel. Ask yourself why you're doing it. I realize that in the 80s and earlier, sequels could afford to rehash the previous film because not many people had home video assuming we're talking about a time it existed at all. Nevertheless, there were so many ideas that were never followed up on and that's really kinda sad.

Maybe the next review will be happier... and less Matsumoto-y.

Until then, keep on spockin' in the free world.

[weeklyanimeclassics]

Weekly Anime Classics Distributor Spotlite: Animeigo

If we're gonna talk about classic anime, I should probably let you know how to LEGALLY get it. Yes I know there's lots of downloads, streams and other such things around, but I would be happier knowing you actually bought you anime... please.... Just don't tell me if you don't okay? Maybe?

Anywho I wanna take the occasional break to talk about anime companies, both active and defunct, that brought over some of these classic shows. Lets start with one of my votes for the weirdest.

The first thing you need to know about these guys are they they were Effing PIONEERS.  Back in the early days when the idea of distributing any anime, let alone Japanese versions of it (even with limited edits) was unheard of. The late 80s marked the very beginning of this in the US though and in 1988 Animeigo came on the scene. The name "Animeigo" itself is a pun. "Anime," obviously being Japanese animation, and "Eigo," meaning "in english." Get it? clever right??? ( I can see your eyes rolling.) 

Anyway, what sets Animeigo apart from almost every other anime distributor is that they're still a thing. As in they haven't closed. They still put out titles today... Mostly samurai movies but still, why? Why did Animeigo last while so many of its sister companies are things I talk about in the past tense? There's a good reason. But it will drive you nuts.

Animeigo does anime releases almost entirely on a limited run basis. While they have a few perennial titles like Bubblegum Crisis (and its spin-offs), Otaku no Video and Riding Bean, it seems that Animeigo, has little interest in doing any more than meeting precisely what the estimated demand for their product will be. This is a great way to make sure things stay cost effective and that no money is wasted on videos no one is buying. It also means that anyone who isn't familiar with the title before its release will have almost no chance of picking it up. Now this keeps them in the black and Animeigo understands that they are catering to a niche market, but let me tell you, its a real bummer to recommend series they put out, especially Arcadia of my Youth and Macross which have become stupid expensive.

Animeigo is a pretty bare bones company. They did a dub back in the day with Bubblegum Crisis, but their current titles tend to be subtitled only. Honestly that's no shock. Since they tend to cater to older fans, with older anime, and that's what those fans tend to prefer, it fits.

I'll be talking about them a lot in the future and already have, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up.

[weeklyanimeclassics]

Weekly Anime Classics Episode 13: Arcadia of my Youth

Back when we looked at Galaxy Express 999, I promised not only that we would return to Leiji Matsumoto, but that we would, more specifically, be discussing the character of Captain Harlock. Harlock is, as we've mentioned before, Matsumoto's go-to romantic hero. A space pirate who travels the sea of stars righting wrongs and regularly facing down the impossible. When you have such a monumental figure, its very hard to give them a back story that doesn't undo everything great about them. Harlock is almost beyond a character, could a story that literally sets up everything about him really work? I'm so happy the answer is yes.

Directed by Tomoharu Katsumata, Arcadia of my Youth is one of the few Captain Harlock stories not directed by Rintaro, but this might be for the better. This is the story of Harlock's beginning. As he is not yet the character we've come to know, it might be best to come at him from another perspective and this film certainly does that. (If you're curious, Katsumata is mostly famous for adapting Go Nagai manga.)

In a far off future, but long before many of the events of other Matsumoto works, Earth has been defeated and occupied by the Illumidus Empire, green men with eyebrow beards who colonize planet by planet until they use up the resources of one world and, more often than not move onto the next one, forcing collaborators to destroy what remains of their previous conquest. As they finalize their conquest, one final Earth ship, the Deathshadow, makes a violent landing as it comes home. Its captain, Harlock finds humanity disenfranchised, weak and desperate for hope. And even when he finds himself in the about to fall into the pits of despair, finds hope in the voice of an old flame who has become a fugitive broadcasting messages of resistance and a ragged man named Tochiro, who's family has ties to Harlock's. With assistance and support from them, along with alliances with forged with the mysterious space privateer Queen Emeraldes and the Illumidus collaborators from the planet Tokarga, Harlock takes his first steps away from simply being a citizen of Earth and becoming a space pirate.

Like most of Matsumoto's work, this film is grand. In the tradition of heroic epics, there is nothing Harlock does that isn't portrayed as larger than life, but unlike some of his earlier appearances and almost all of his later appearances, this version of Harlock is untested and shows real signs of concern and even fear in the face of danger, but never fails to overcome it. He never hesitates to take action when the time calls for it, but he's not without emotion either. It really makes him work as a character and makes you want to see him progress, even before he wears the mantle of a pirate. Its also really hard to do an origin story that includes the the origins of almost all of the heroes trademarks, friendships, eyepatch, philosophy and all, but not once does it feel forces or happening because later continuity says it does, the flow is strong, but not necessarily naturally. 

So this movie is very plot driven. Not in the way were everyone defies their character motivations but rather in a way that puts focus on the themes and the ideas at play. Scenes transition at a break neck pace and not necessarily because the previous scene had a logical resolution. Despite this, the main themes still come through. The story uses some of its characters purely to move the plot forward, especially Maya, Harlock's star crossed love, but the story is still so strong that it really doesn't matter. The story also uses several sequences of flashbacks to show Harlock's ancestors in situations that either mirror or foreshadow the battles he will face. One of these is even an adaptation of one of Leiji Matsumoto's serial collection, The Cockpit. The other is... kinda uncomfortable.

Turns out Harlock's friendship with Tochiro goes back to their ancestors who met during World War II. Tochiro was an engineer studying in Europe and Harlock II was a Luftwaffe pilot. While he states that he fights as a way of showing his loyalty to his homeland there's a lot of themes at play that have made this move somewhat controversial. The Illumidus troop's occupation of Earth does mirror Germany's WWII occupation of Europe in many ways, but there are several elements that were also meant to critique the US occupation of Japan following the war. And you know what? That's what science fiction has always been best for. Sensitive topics need to be explored and while American viewers might not find it flattering, it says a lot about the culture this film came from.

The production values are fantastic for a film of the early 80s. The animation does reuse some footage, but it always moves fluidly and most of the movie looks very ahead of its time. There's a lot of love in the character animation. Maya is angelic and distinctly beautiful, while Tochiro is so expressive, its almost criminal. His face is just wonderful, it might even be the best part of the animation for me. All of the characters, including Harlock, have very expressive faces, but Tochiro's animation make him so much more than comedy relief.

The music is also very memorable. Some of it is agressively 80s anime music, but the instrumental theme song of the film has never left me since I first saw the film eight years ago. This is the kind of film that leaves a mark on you.

Can this film be cheesy? Yes. But its a romantic epic from a bygone era of anime that we really don't see anymore, save for a less-than-subtle homage from the end of Gurren Lagann. This is another film I really love and of course its really really hard to find. There was VHS release if you really need to go that route, but the DVD was a limited release from my good friends at Animeigo. We're gonna have to talk about them in detail later cause they are one weird company. Not gonna lie, the subtitles on their DVDs always look very unprofessional to me. Maybe they wanna replicate that fansub feel, but I've never been fond of that. But as that DVD was a limited release, its hard to find for less than $100. I wish I was kidding. Jump in it if you find it.

Until next time, Peace, love and doughnuts

[weeklyanimeclassics]

Weekly Anime Classics Returns: Macross: Do You Remember Love

Every so often, a remake comes along that is truly greater than its predecessor. This film is one of those. Now movie summaries of anime are no new thing. They were very big in the 70s and 80s, especially as home video wasn't widely available. On some occasions even, the remake was more beloved than the original, such as the Mobile Suit Gundam Trilogy, but what all of the films I described have in common is that the majority of the footage they used was from the TV series they were based on, with only some new animation. This film doesn't do that. While most of the same staff returned, the mechs and characters were completely redesigned and the film features entirely new animation. I'm also happy to say that this is one of my favorite movies ever and one of the most deserving anime ever to be called a classic.

Macross: Do You Remember Love is a retelling of Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which I covered before my column disappeared mysteriously into the internet ether. While this story is truncated and less complicated in terms of inter-character interactions, but it is no less emotional and in many ways is much more grand.

This version of the story eliminates many of the start up episodes entirely. The SDF-1 is already in space and on the run from giant Zentraedi, Hikaru is already a pilot in the Skull Squadron, and Minmay is already an established pop star. This allows the story to get going right out of the gate though and the opening shots of the film still send chills down my spine. The transforming Valkyries launching into the huge blackness of space, the scale of the battle, the music matching that scale perfectly and even the life like energy of finally seeing a Minmay concert animated on a feature budget, its a lot to take in.

As the film progresses though, we see that all is not as we saw it in the TV series and, for the most part, make it a great experience on its own. The most striking change is that we learn that the Zentraedi are not just trying to track down the Macross, but are also at war with the Meltlandi, the females giants of their species. The crew of the Macross, especially Hikaru, Misa and Minmay, find themselves in the middle of this galactic struggle and also in a love triangle that may shape the future of every civilization in this war.

Wow is this movie pretty. Haruhiko Mikimoto returns on character designs and while the characters look familiar, they all look a bit more realistic. For the most part, the women especially look more mature and very pretty. The guys look a bit softer, except for Roy who looks way more gruff. The Zentreadi look much more deformed, but it makes them much more alien. Although, it seems a little odd when one looks at how pretty Millia is. Then again, Quamzin appears as well, albeit briefly, and he's also still looking good. The mechs have also been updated subtley and they all look great. The animation in general is fluid, moody and incredibly lifelike.

The action is very fast paced in this film and the battle are breathtaking if not a little short and it even comes with 80s ultra-gore. Millia and Max especially steal the show whenever they fight.

The music is also suitably epic. If you don't like 80s soundtracks, it may not be your thing, but the background music assists at setting up the scale of the scenareo. Minmay's new songs are also great, the titular song, Do You Remember Love is especially memorable, as is the grand battle it is set against.

Macross best points have always been the characters though and our three leads, Hikaru, Minmay and Misa and explored very well. Hikaru doesn't waffle between the two girls in this version, and as a result, he ends up being less of a jerk overall. (He grows out of many of his other jerky qualities.) Sadly, Misa doesn't come off quite as strong in this version, but the older Minmay is much less immature in this version and while she still has her selfish moments, she pulls through even better than she was before.

Tragically, the other characters don't get nearly as much screen time and for the most part get little to no exploration. Roy's exit is not nearly as striking as it was in the TV series. Also Roy's way creepier here. While giving Misa and Hikaru love advice he comes off as really rapey. Its kinda really uncomfortable. Anime sexism was especially apparent in the 1980s, so that's not a huge shock I suppose.

Nevertheless, this is a very worthwhile film to view. Directors Noburo Ishiguro and Shoji Kawamori once again knock an anime out of the part and this is a movie that needs to be seen. Here's where the bad news comes in. A US release is harder to find than one for the Macross TV series, mostly because it, technically, doesn't exist. Macross: Do You Remember Love has never been released in its entirety to the English speaking world. There was a very bizarre cut of the film released by Celebrity Home Entertainment called Clash of the Bionoids. Bionoids not only features an English dub produced by Toho featuring no one who speaks English as a first language, but also has all of the ultra-violence and music sequences cut meaning that the plot makes absolutely no sense. No other releases exist due in part to legal nonsense relating to Harmony Gold (of Robotech fame) and the existence of Bionoids. On the up side though, its one of the most widely distributed fansubs and has been since the 1980s. If you want to see it, its impossible to not find. I however, own the 30th anniversary Blu-ray release. It has no subtitles as its an imported Blu-ray, but the story is so visual and not particularly dialog driven, that it really doesn't need them. (For me anyway, you should probably see it with subtitles at least once...) I warn you though, if you go that route, the Blu-ray is not only very expensive, but is also edited. Some of the most violent scenes have been cut, including my personal favorite scene of Millia being completely brutal in battle. But its a movie I love enough that I need a legal physical copy. I hope you all enjoy it as well. Till next time, peace, love and doughnuts!

[weeklyanimeclassics]

Rumiko Takahashi

I have a weird love-hate relationship with the work of Rumiko Takahashi. On one hand I find her romantic comedy work in Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura to be FANTASTIC. On the other hand, I tend to not like things that just go on and on. Maybe that's why I'm not that fond of Inuyasha. Rumiko's work lends itself to great sitcom material, but when there's an actually serious plot, things tend to fall apart. Then again, Mamoru Oshii took Urusei Yatsura and made a beautiful and thoughtful film that didn't loose any of what made those characters great.... So many thoughts...