More facts about an obscure 1981 anime than you can possibly ever need.

September 25th, 2008 by Brack

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?

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King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table & King Arthur: Prince on White Horse

September 24th, 2008 by Brack

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.

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DETROIT METAL CITY - Episode 5 - MASOCHIST/FAMILY

September 22nd, 2008 by Brack

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.

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Urusei Yatsura Family Tree - Part 4

September 20th, 2008 by Brack

It’s been a year since I touched this project, but here’s a redo of the last post I made on it after I was pointed to Akemi Takada’s website.

Akemi Takada handily has a very comprehensive list of works up to 2001 on her website. Doesn’t give the roles in the shows, but I’m expecting most are character design works.

1977 - Ippatsu Kanta-kun
1978 - Science Ninja Team Gatchaman II
1979 - Science Ninja Team Gatchaman F
1980 - Tondemo Senshi Muteking
1981 to 1986 - Urusei Yatsura
1981 - 海底大戦争 愛の20000マイル - Think this is called “The Great Navy Battle: 20000 Miles of Love” in English.

OK this one I’m a little stumped on, and so I now want to find out as much as possible about it.

It’s from Tatsunoko Pro (but seemingly missing on their English website). It’s listed as being originally created by Jules Verne. And I can’t see hide nor hair of it on ANN.

1981 - Maicching Machiko-sensei
1983-1986 - Magical Angel Creamy Mami
1983 - Future Police Urashiman
1985-1989 - Kimagure Orange Road
1985 - Honoo no Alpen Rose: Judy & Randy
1986 - Urban Square
1986 - Maison Ikkoku
1987 - Twilight Q
1987 - Red Glasses (Emblem Design)
1989 - Patlabor
1989-90 - Patlabor TV
1990 - Patlbor After TV OAV
1991-92 - Licca

After ‘92 her career is much more that of an illustrator, rather than anime character designer. Indeed her illustration credits are far more prolific than her anime ones. Her involvement with anime from this point is mainly illustrations for auxilary projects relating to titles above - particularly Patlabor and Creamy Mami, which are arguably the two shows were you get her design at it’s purest. Original characters rather than redesigning other people’s for anime or subsumed slightly in a house style. There is one notable exception though, a return to the magical girl genre.

1997-1998 - Fancy LaLa

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HATE FUN? Autumn Anime Prejudged~! Part 6~!

September 19th, 2008 by Brack

Finally this thing is done. January, try not to have so many shows OK?

Clannad:After Story
WHAT IS IT? A sequel to an anime based on a “visual novel”

A typical Clannad fan, yesterday:

ef - a tale of memories
WHAT IS IT? A sequel to an anime based on a “visual novel”

CAPITAL LETTERS PEOPLE!

Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka
WHAT IS IT? An anime based on a “visual novel”

According to ANN this is an anime based on an “adult romance adventure game”

Macademi Wasshoi
WHAT IS IT? An anime based on a “light novel”

An anime about a school for wizards. Hasn’t this been done before? And wasn’t it shit then too?

Bihada Ichizoku
WHAT IS IT? An anime based on a cosmetics line. Or something.

Go read this. I’m not entirely sure I follow it, but it’s the sort of joined up thinking that US comics/cartoon companies fail to implement on a daily basis.

And it sounds barking mad. The director worked on Paprika as the director of photography. Could be worth a look, for novelty alone.

Netsusou! Kame 1 Grand Prix
WHAT IS IT? Gawd knows?

Talking of barking mad, this looks to be sort of gag anime that never gets translated.

Read the rest of this entry »

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DETROIT METAL CITY - Episode 4 - FRUSTRATION/GOOD SONG

September 17th, 2008 by Brack

GO! TO! DMC!

This episode covers Chapters 12 & 8 of the manga. While out of sequence, paired together they provide examples of how DMC doesn’t just satirise metal, but all aspects of pop culture.

In “Frustration” we see just what a thin line there is between Negishi and Krauser II, as Negishi takes rejection by a personal hero very badly. Another minor difference to the manga is in this episode - the poster Negishi drunkenly berates is more clearly the “Amelie” film poster in the manga.

In “Good Song” Negishi runs into a school friend who has the sort of music career he dreams of, that of a fey Sarah Records style indie band. When they find themselves booked on the same music show the inevitable occurs.

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DETROIT METAL CITY - Episode 3 - PIG/DRUG

September 16th, 2008 by Brack

GO! TO! DMC!

This episode covers Chapters 7 & 6 of the manga.

In “Pig” Aikawa has been sent by her fashion magazine to infiltrate a gig by the band voted as the worst band in the world by it’s readers - Detroit Metal City. Of course this doesn’t go well for either Aikawa or Negishi. Pay attention to the names of the other bands in the magazine. This will not be the last we hear of them.

In “Drug“, after an press interview goes badly, the President decides to make Negishi’s lifestyle more “death metal” with the help of her “metal” friends. The anime version does have a notable difference to the manga version of this story - in the manga the President’s syringe is clearly shown, whereas it never appears on screen in the anime.

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DETROIT METAL CITY - Episode 2 - REAL LEGEND/SATAN

September 15th, 2008 by Brack

GO! TO! DMC!

This episode covers Chapters 4 & 5 of the manga.

In “Real Legend“, another recurring character gets introduced. “The Pig Of Capitalism”, a balding middle aged man who dresses in bondage gear and gets abused by Krauser II on stage, much to Negishi’s embarrassment. However his embarrassment only gets worse by the story’s end as he accidentally creates a “Real Legend”.

In “Satan“, Negishi goes to dinner and karaoke with Aikawa and her friends, but his bandmates, the charming Wada Masayuki and super-creepy Nishida Terumichi, end up coming along too. Alcohol fueled social faux pas ensues.

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More SWFBLOG link pilfering

September 14th, 2008 by Brack

YouTube - 【手書き】ワンピで女子高生EDパロ.

This is the Girl’s High ED re-drawn/re-animated to feature One Piece characters. Mostly stills but on the whole they do a good job of drawing One Piece characters in Yasuomi Umetsu’s style without just being re-colours of the original art.

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DETROIT METAL CITY - Episode 1 - PV/SICK MURDERER

September 14th, 2008 by Brack

GO! TO! DMC!

To go along with the live action adaptation of Detroit Metal City, Studio 4°C have produced an anime series based on the manga tale of soft mummy’s boy Soichi Negishi’s double life as death metal superstar Johannes Krauser II. And despite it’s straight to DVD status, it feels a lot like a TV show rather than an OAV. This is due it’s gag manga origins, and how closely the series stays true to those origins. It feels like Cromartie, Sexy Commando and Gag Manga Biyori in how well it captures Kiminori Wakasugi’s original work.

This is not surprising given the presence of Hiroshi Nagahama in the director chair. Frequent collaborator of Akitaro Daichi, Nagahama seems to have Daichi’s ability for adapting themselves to the project, rather than moulding the project to fit their own worldview. Nagahama was also the director of the Mushishi anime, and the mood there could not be further from the mood in DMC.

The resulting anime isn’t the glossy, showy sort of eye candy you’d expect from an OAV. It’s rough around the edges limited animation that pulls panels straight out the manga and animates them. It near perfectly captures the jagged comedy of embarrassment that the manga gives you.

The first episode covers Chapters 2 & 3 of the manga. In “PV“, DMC record a video and we are introduced to the nameless President of DMC’s record label - an abusive, foul mouthed woman who bullies the band and is the bane of Negishi’s life. In “Sick Murderer“, we meet Aikawa, the girl of Negishi’s dreams and get the first of the many times that Negishi’s double life causes him to embaress himself in front her.

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