Japanese Animation
johnston
Salutations ( and other forms of greeting ) !
You'll have to forgive me (that is, I hope you will) for posting this on
so many boards, but I thought a wider dispersion might bring some
useful replies.
I'd like to know if anyone out there has an interest in Japanese animation
especially the histories, books, memorabilia, videos, etc. of
1 ) the YAMATO series films and TV serials
(both the Japanese originals and the American
cloned 'Star Blazers')
2 ) the GALAXY EXPRESS 999 TV serials
3 ) the 'MY YOUTH IN ARCADIA' serials and/or films
4 ) older Japanses animation, such as SPEED RACER.
The quality of the artwork of these productions is outstanding, and this
opinion can be supported by (almost) anyone who has viewed these productions.
CREATION (c) conventions often invite dealers in Japanese science fiction
animation to their events, but their selecton of memorabilia has only
recently improved, and the amount of video they have available is
nearly nil !
Any info you can spare will be GREATLY appreciated ! Let me know I'm
not completely alone out here..........................*
"Can you read Japanese ?"
"With artwork like this, does it
really matter ???"
JOhn JOhnston, YAMATO Flight Crew
@ Saint Joseph's University,
Philadelphia, Pa.
P.S. IF you want to post replies to the net for the benefit of everyone
interested, post them in 'net.comics' or 'net.sf-lovers'; we'll
stop posting replies to whichever of these two nets thinks this kind
of info isn't proper for that group ! Thanx again !
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The Last Bugfighter
>The quality of the artwork of these productions is outstanding, and this
>opinion can be supported by (almost) anyone who has viewed these productions.
>CREATION (c) conventions often invite dealers in Japanese science fiction
>animation to their events, but their selecton of memorabilia has only
>recently improved, and the amount of video they have available is
>nearly nil !
If you're really interested in excellent Japanese animation try watching
*Mighty Orbots* on ABC Saturday mornings at 8:00am. Although distributed by
MGM and appearing to have been animated for America (the lipsync definitely
seems to be for english words) it was animated by Japanese artists. It beats
*Star Blazers* and *Galaxy 999* hollow. The stories themselves are better
than your usual saturday morning stuff. One word of caution, the episodes
at the beginning of the season are of slightly higher quality than those
towards the end.
Paul S. R. Chisholm
> If you're really interested in excellent Japanese animation try watching
>*Mighty Orbots* on ABC Saturday mornings at 8:00am. . . . The stories
>themselves are better than your usual saturday morning stuff. One word
>of caution, the episodes at the beginning of the season are of slightly
>higher quality than those towards the end.
Gee, I must have seen late season stuff.
Let's be fair. MIGHTY ORBOTS mostly seems like a take off on VOTRON,
with a good taste of . . . oh, felgercarb, that DC comic from the 60s,
with a buch of robots, each made of a different metal (e.g., tin, gold,
iron, etc.) The robots are not to be taken 100% seriously, and I
assume, neither is the series. Even if you did take it seriously (a
bad move for Saturday at eight in the morning), it wouldn't be too bad,
compared to its competition.
You want to talk *GOOD* Japanese animation? In a word, LUPIN. In two
words, "Lupin III", a Frence third generation thief. He has a couple of
sidekicks, a Chicago hit man and a Japanese samuri, who were sent to kill
him and decided to join him instead. More action than STAR WARS, more
adventure then James Bond, not quite as many laughs as Bugs Bunny.
Outside of SF cons, the only time I've seen Lupin is in the laser video
game "Cliffhanger". This is made of scenes from two Lupin movies:
CASTLE CAGLIOSTRO (which is subtitled), and some other one (the one with
the helicopter in the sewer, which is dubbed). Check out the "L" on
"Cliff's" belt buckle.
--
-Paul S. R. Chisholm
...!{pegasus,cbosgd}!lzmi!psc The above opinions are my own,
...!{hocsj,ihnp4}!lznv!psc not necessarily anyone else's.
Ken Manheimer
there's a clear dedication to detail and imagination in purely depictive
and 3d effects (solid perspective and dynamic, convincing motion) and,
what's more, the characerizations aren't kinda fun. In fact, I wish
they had longer than a half hour format, so that they could develop a
plot that would actually sustain the potential personality of the
characters. Realistically, though, this is saturday morning
programming, an abyss of personality for almost as long as I can
remember (I just barely caught bullwinkle and rocky before they were
gone... even new bugs bunny episodes are too empty looking (and
feeling) to watch...), and this show is not only generally bearable, but
is actually satisfying, at least in terms of its graphics.
By the way, it strikes me as somehow ironic to be submitting an article,
which I do not do frequently, on the topic of a saturday morning tv
program. It's not what I would usually think of among issues of great
moment. On second thought, though, I remember how important it was (and
still is) to find the substance of the genuine human content always
hinted at by (so rarely honest) traces in the media. The potential seems
so high, if only for solid, gratifying escapism, and maybe, just maybe,
for a substantial contribution to our perspectives on the world.
Um, well, you know what I mean. ?
Oh well...
Ken Manheimer ...!seismo!nbs-amrf!manheimer
(Existence is influence. Probably.)
Joseph S. D. Yao
> still is to find the substance of the genuine human content always
> hinted at by (so rarely honest) traces in the media. The potential seems
> so high, if only for solid, gratifying escapism, and maybe, just maybe,
> for a substantial contribution to our perspectives on the world.
I haven't watched Sat AM cartoons for quite a while. But while I was
(bored) in a hotel room some time recently, I caught a J.A. show called
Voltron (not Votron). It seemed to be quite a bit more than bash-em-up
super-heroics: the characters thought! and were introspective! and had
ideas and feelings! and the enemies of the heroes weren't villains,
but occasionally themselves had thoughts like, can't we have peace?
If this is what you admire in the Japanese animations, then more power
to you. My favourite when I was a kid was a somewhat more juvenile
thing like this called "Astro Boy."
Joe Yao hadron!jsdy@seismo.{ARPA,UUCP}