I’ve oft stated my love of characters just running for no reason in anime openings, well here’s a whole load in one lump! The video is marked as a test version, so I expect there’s more to come.

bateszi had asked me how the autumn season of 1998 compared to the autumn season of 2008. That’s like a red rag to a bull for my research-aholic brain, so here we go.

Using animenfo I came up with these titles as starting in Autumn 1998. I was purchasing Newtype around this time so a lot of these are familiar to me.

Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040
WHAT IS IT? A remake

At the time I was excited about this. AIC’s works had been a big part of getting me into anime fandom, and I liked what I’d seen of the original. I don’t think I saw much more than the first few episodes in the end.

Chosoku Spiner
WHAT IS IT? I think it was designed to sell a brand of yo-yos

This came out the same year as the original non-TCG shilling Yu-Gi-Oh and the first Pokemon movie. I think we were approaching the golden age of toy/game based anime.

Cowboy Bebop
WHAT IS IT? An original animation

This is the second run on WOWOW, where the entire series got broadcast, as opposed to the neutered TV Tokyo run.

Devilman Lady
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

This too I’ve seen a few episodes of, three random mid-series episodes at a Minamicon I think. It was fine, a more sci-fi take on Devilman with lots of Nagai’s psychosexual imagery.

EAT-MAN’98
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

Another show I caught a couple of eps at a con. This is one of those series whose popularity in Japan didn’t translate over to the US, possibly because Viz were still releasing manga via the US comics model, so it didn’t get the crossover that a modern release will. The anime is OK, but the manga is excellent.

Gasaraki
WHAT IS IT? An original animation

Ryousuke Takahashi’s attempt to ride the Evangelion wave. Not seen it.

Generator Gawl
WHAT IS IT? An original animation

Tatsunoko Pro’s attempt to ride the Evangelion wave. Not seen it.

Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

GAINAX’s troubled adaptation of Masami Tsuda’s manga. I’ve seen about a third of this. I should really finish it off via bargain hunting on ebay/con bring and buy stalls.

Let’s Nupu Nupu
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

This is the first time I’ve heard of this. Looks like one of those short gag anime that proliferated in the late night schedules this year.

Orphen
WHAT IS IT? A novel adaptation

This fantasy show got an English translation, I’ve never seen it though.

Mamotte Shugogetten
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

Recycled shonen magical girlfriend romance plot. The manga is published by Tokyopop.

Master Keaton
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

Screen outing for Naoki Urasawa’s insurance investigator.

Ojarumaru
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

The now very long running adaptation of the late Rin Inumaru’s story of a Heian era prince.

Only You Viva! Cabakura
WHAT IS IT? I’m not entirely sure.

This ran for 3 weeks in the Wonderful slot on TBS. That Wonderful timeslot could easily be a subject for a post of it’s own. It seems to exist in other media forms, but I’m not entirely sure what comes first.

Popolocrois Story
WHAT IS IT? A videogame adaptation

I can never remember which Popolocrois projects have got the kick ass animation in.

Saber Marionette J to X
WHAT IS IT? A sequel

It wouldn’t be the nineties without a Satoru Akahori show. This time with less Satoru Akahori than ever before! I’ve soft spot for Akahori’s blatent pandering, but this is probably a sequel too many for the whole Saber Marionette idea. He appears to have next to nothing to do with it and it just looks ugly.

Saint Luminous Girls High School
WHAT IS IT? Not sure if this is original, or a videogame adaptation or one of those multimedia blitzes.

This appears to be a curious hybrid of harem and detective show, two genres that were booming around this time.

Steam Detective
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

1998 must have been a fiscally rewarding year for Kia Asamiya, he had both this and Silent Mobius adapted into anime. Design wise this is my favourite Asamiya series, where he’s drawing on obvious Ishamori and Yokoyama influences.

Super Doll Licca-Chan
WHAT IS IT? A doll adaptation

A more literal take on the Licca-Chan franchise than the early nineties tie-ins. Here Licca-chan is an actual doll who helps a schoolgirl (who is secretly a princess!). Multiple layers of wish fulfilment for owners of the popular doll going on here!

Hanasaka Tenshi Ten-Ten-kun
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

No idea. But here’s the OP (Warning: contains rubbery pink angel nudity!):

Totsugeki !Pappara Tai
WHAT IS IT? A Manga Adaptation

Again, no idea, but here’s this show’s OP:

Yoiko
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

It’s Jack the anime!

I’ll See You In My Dreams
WHAT IS IT? A manga adaptation

Yes, a Business Jump manga got a TV adaptation (and even more shocking, a US release). It’s another short running time comedy show.

—

OK that’s all animenfo had. A few of things to note, there was a large proportion of shows that ran throughout the year, rather than just in 13/26 episode “seasons”. In addition, shows seem less set in those 13 episode production blocks compared to nowadays. Finally, there’s definitely more variety in those late night slots, and the Wonderful slot has a lot to do with that.

Is there more risk taking in Autumn 1998 than Autumn 2008? I don’t know. Bebop definitely was ambitious, but this was the second attempt at airing it. The other two original anime shows were had their eyes on the prize of the larger potential anime audience that Evangelion had revealed, but within the confines of what the creators were known for (namely realistic mecha and superheroes, respectively).

I think the variety of shows is a result of the hunt for that audience. 1998 hadn’t got yet to the sort of otaku-focussed programming aimed at extracting money from a narrow money-rich portion of the TV audience that we’ve seen for much of the 2000s.

I think it could be argued that the Evangelion audience didn’t find something suitable until Fuji TV’s noitaminA slot, which seems to have tapped into an audience for anime that isn’t necessarily been serviced by other “boutique” anime shows.

The following is info from ANN, I suspect it’s somewhat short on a few projects. Note the gap between 1995 and 2002, for instance. Also I need to figure out his stint on UY. I suspect it matches the Oshii stint, but as I’ve not seen any of the Yamazaki directorial stint on the TV show yet, I’m not certain.

1981-1984 (85?,86?) Urusei Yatsura (TV) : Screenplay
1983 Urusei Yatsura: Only You (movie) : Literary Chief
1983-1984 Magical Angel Creamy Mami (TV) : Script, Original Manga (story)
1984 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (movie) : Screenplay (first draft)
1985 Dirty Pair: Affair on Nolandia (OAV) – Script
1985 Kimagure Orange Road: Shonen Jump Special (OAV) : Screenplay
1986 Prefectural Earth Defense Force (OAV) : Script
1986 Urban Square – Kouhaku no Tsuigeki (OAV) : Screenplay
1986-1988 Maison Ikkoku (TV) : Series Composition, Screenplay
1987 Twilight Q (OAV) : Scenario, Script (ep 1), Original Work (ep 1)
1988-1989 Patlabor The Mobile Police (OAV 1/1988) : Script
1989 Patlabor: The Movie : Screenplay
1989-1990 Patlabor The Mobile Police (TV) : Screenplay, Planning
1990 Licca-chan Fushigina Fushigina Yunia Monogatari (OAV) : Screenplay
1990-1992 Patlabor The Mobile Police: The New Files (OAV 2/1990) : Script
1991 Licca-chan Fushigi na Maho no Ring (OAV) : Script
1992 Talking Head (hybrid movie) : Associate Director
1993 Patlabor 2: The Movie : Screenplay
1995 Ghost in the Shell (movie) – Screenplay
2002 .hack//SIGN (TV) – Scenario, Screenplay, Series supervisor, Soundtrack Supervision
2002-2003 .hack//Liminality (OAV) – Director, Script Composer, Soundtrack Supervision
2005 Digital Monster X-Evolution – Screenplay
2005 Zettai Shonen (TV) : Series Composition, Script (ep 1 – 5, 8, 10 – 13, 16,18-20)
2006 .hack//Roots (TV) – Screenplay

YouTube – さんぽ Totoro ending music Played by Studio Ghibli All Stars!.

Remember this from a few days ago:

The mysterious Tatsunoko Pro title that Akemi Takada had worked on and there appeared to be very little information on the internet about? Well here’s what I know so far:

Title according to animated divots is Kaitei Daisenso–Ai no Nisen Miles (“The Great Navy Battle: 20,000 Miles of Love”).
It was a one off anime broadcast on 3rd January 1981.
Its themes appear on this CD: テレビアニメ スーパーヒストリー 22
The mother lode of information is on this geocities site – a fansite for 20,000 Leagues under the sea.

Akemi Takada did do the character design as I suspected.
Mecha design was by Kunio Okawara (most things in the last 30 years that had a robot in it)
The director was Koichi Mashimo (Dominion Tank Police, Irresponsible Captain Tylor, assorted dreadful Bee Train titles).
Tatsunoko head honcho Ippei Kuri produced.
It was writen by writer and cartoonist Mori Sasaki (Ultraman, Ultra 7, Heidi)

It starred Junichi Inoue and three other people who didn’t show up on Anime News Network.
These are, I think:
Masako Kitamura – an idol in the late 70s/early 80s
Makoto Kurosawa – The dub voice for Gary Cooper
And a fourth star, 伊武雅, who I have no idea about.

As for story, well here my Japanese-ignorant research skills grind to a halt. It appears to involve a Future Emperor Darius, so I’m guessing it’s not super reliant on the original novel for it’s story. Someone with actual Japanese skills want to make a stab at the synopsis on that Jules Verne fan page?

In lieu of a proper post, here’s the openings and endings to Toei’s 1979 and 1980 King Arthur based shows. The first one is sorta faithful to the myth. The second one is apparently set in the future!

I’d heard of neither until was reading up on the Animage Grand Prix awards and seeing Akira Kamiya had gotten the Seiyu award in 1980 and the wiki page noted the first show as the notable character he got the award for.

Proper posts will low on the ground at the moment as I’ve injured the tendons in my foot. No I don’t type with my feet, but I have to have it elevated and working at the PC like that is an inconvenience.

This site needs more photos of Mr T riding a Tauntaun.

Problem Solved.

GO! TO! DMC!

These are taken from Chapters 13 & 11

In Masochist, Negishi (and by extension, the viewer) get a glimpse of the Capitalist Pig’s daily life. Which Negishi then, of course, interferes with, to surprising initial success.

In Family, it’s Negishi’s turn to have his home life spotlit, as we see him return home to visit his family. Only to discover his little brother, Toshi, is a hardcore DMC fan.

Something I’m noticing with the anime is how, despite the incredible faithful approach it has, it is definitely bringing things out the material that I didn’t necessarily get from the manga.

In the manga it often, though not all the time, feels like Krauser II is a face Negishi puts on because it is expected of him. He acts the way he does as a Krauser, because it would, perversely, be impolite not to.

In the anime, perhaps due to having different actors for Negishi and Krauser II, perhaps due to how long the director might choose to linger on a shot (which are pretty much taken wholesale from the manga’s panels), the layer of the story in which you aren’t sure which is his true personality is heightened. It particularly comes through in Masochist, where the Pig is far more honest with himself about who he is than Negishi is.

YouTube – Larry Sweeney Promo in Japan.