AWESOME ENGINE » HATE FUN 2001

HATE FUN 2001! Akubi-chan

Brack — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Second Suzuka Yoshida designed show of the year (she also designed Vampiyan Kids). This one is an updating of her father’s Hakushon Daimaou creation. Yoshida is a great artist, and it’s a shame there aren’t more shows boasting her designs.

HATE FUN 2001! Fighting Foodons

Brack — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Or Martial Arts Cooking Legend Bistro-Recipe as it was in Japan. Strange show where cooks make monsters out of food then battle them.

HATE FUN 2001! Kogepan

Brack — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Another mascot character, Kogepan comes to anime. Kogepan is an anthropomorphic burnt bun.

HATE FUN 2001! Cyborg 009

Brack — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Ah, one of the lost Sony UK DVD releases (along with various Jackie Chan adventures boxsets, the latest Astro Boy TV show and Heavy Gear: The Animated Series), this kept on appearing on schedules while I was at Videolog, only to continually bumped into the future.

Shotaro Ishinomori’s iconic James Bond homage is one of those series that is going to be continually revisited by the anime industry, either as adaptation (it’s had three so far) or by reference and homage (too numerous to mention).

See also the entry I wrote for the top 100 anime list.

HATE FUN 2001! Vampiyan Kids

Brack — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The interest in this show seems to lie in the pilot that Masaaki Yuasa directed. And quite rightly as it is pretty neat, full of action and bawdy comedy you’d expect from folks who worked on Shin-chan. So here it is:

Watch vampiyan kids pilot in Animation | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

As you can see from the difference in pilot and the series’ OP, the finished show went for a more traditional colour palette and feels a lot lighter than what Yuasa delivered. It’s an interesting curio. The director of the finished series version, Masatsugu Arakawa (who’s a fairly neat animator in his own right), is directing the Kewpie Doll anime later this year. Which I had remained unaware of until just now.

HATE FUN 2001! Kasumin

Brack — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Young girl goes to stay with monsters while her parents are out of town in this kids show for NHK. Various Shin-chan alumni were involved, including Masaaki Yuasa who did set design for the show. There is an English version, “Mistin”, but where it got aired I’m unclear on.

HATE FUN 2001! Rave Master

Brack — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:59:00 +0000

~~Nami from One Piece goes off to find magic items.~~

Studio Deen-ugly version of Hiro Mashima’s adventure manga. Tokyopop licenced and got it on TV during the big boom. It is curious how Mashima’s properties have been handled better in the US/UK than One Piece, the work which he is usually unfavourably compared with. And which is miles more popular elsewhere.

HATE FUN 2001! Kokoro Library

Brack — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Moe librarian anime based on moe librarian manga. With horrible character designs. Seeing 21st Century Studio Deen animation and then watching those 80s Urusei Yatsura episodes makes you wonder what happened.

And yes, to answer your question, Lum-A-Day will return shortishly.

HATE FUN 2001! Hikaru no Go

Brack — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Following Prince of Tennis in the schedule was this other hit show from the pages of Shonen Jump. The tale of a young boy learning the game of Go from the ghost of a Heian era Go instructor to the Emperor.

I wrote about it here.

Here’s an old BBC report on the boom caused by the manga and anime:

HATE FUN 2001! The Prince of Tennis

Brack — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Big hit straight out the gate with Takeshi Konomi’s breakthrough 1999 manga about tennis genius Ryoma Echizen coming to the small screen.

Wrote about it here so go take a look at that if you want.

HATE FUN 2001! Captain Tsubasa – Road to 2002

Brack — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Captain Tsubasa remake/sequel in time for the 2002 World Cup. After summarising Tsubasa’s lengthy career so far, he’s had a career longer than many real life footballers, the series catches up with the characters’ careers in Europe. Veteran Gisaburo Sugii (Street Fighter, Night on the Galactic Railroad) directs.

HATE FUN 2001! Crush Gear Turbo

Brack — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:01:00 +0000

While I knew this show existed, I had no idea it had actually been released in English, along with the toys. Possibly because I’m not Australian. Or a child.

Like Yu-Gi-Oh or Beyblade, it essentially takes the target audience’s own experience with the toys and adds a layer of fantasy on the top of it. It’s a different relationship of the audience to both the toy and the cartoon compared to the toy based cartoons around when I was growing up. With Thundercats, He-Man, Transformers and the like there wasn’t a real viewer substitute in the cartoons (if there was, they weren’t the main hero), nor did the actual toys show up in the cartoons themselves. Instead the toys were representations of things in the cartoons and your relationship to them when playing was more director than actor. With a show like Crush Gear Turbo, you’re basically watching a kid, presumably your own age, play with same toys you’ve got (or will have if the advertising works!). You’re almost part of the show, part of the world of the show.

I think that’s where a lot of videogame adaptations come undone. You’ve got these toy shows adding a level of identification and immersion to the cartoons and toys, but in most cases a videogame adaptation is removing that. Pokemon gets it right by applying many of the “rules” of the game to the world of the cartoon, so you can identify with Ash and chums if you’ve played the game. Too often videogame adaptations are obsessed with the characters and game world, rather than the rules, despite the fact that whether or not they are conscious of it, the rules and mechanics of the game are what are most impressed on the player’s memories. That’s why Dave Chappelle’s Grand Theft Auto skit is better than 99% of videogame adaptations.

Dave Chappelle: Grand Theft Auto Spoof – watch more funny videos

HATE FUN 2001! Stray Sheep

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Tatsutoshi Nomura created Stray Sheep for Fuji TV as a mascot character in 1994. A noted commercial animator, Nomura also created Jam the Housnail (1999) and Nanami-chan (2004). He’s part of Robot, and colleague of Oscar winner Kunio Kato.

HATE FUN 2001! Kirby: Right Back at Ya!

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Never seen this, but reading the notes on what 4kids changed I felt like banging my head against a table. Not railing against the concept of localisation itself, more careless/stupid localisation. Specifically the digital removal of ALL text regardless of language. I don’t know if that was just carelessness or a disturbing extension of Kahn’s belief that kids don’t read. Either way boggles the mind.

That being said, the notes on the wiki page about how the show was developed and the more high minded approach they seem to have had in mind makes me curious to see it even in the bowdlerised form.

HATE FUN 2001! Geisters

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Wow. This looks like a show that really embodies truly bad anime. I’m not talking about something that’s not to my taste, exploiting the otaku market, or bad narrative sense. Straight up bad on a purely production level. Director switch, US release stalling, production in piecemeal across different countries, glaringly mismatched CG effects – this seems like a real mess of a show.

Also: I keep misreading the title of Ginsters and think it’s a show about bio-mechanical Cornish pasties.

HATE FUN 2001! Babel II – Beyond Infinity

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:00:00 +0000

New adaptation of the classic ESPer manga/anime. Dumped that same slot of death that Cosmo Warrior Zero was put in, it performed even worse in the ratings. Given the success of Yatterman, Golgo 13 (particular the earlier reruns) and Shin Mazinger, I wonder if produced now these shows with nostalgia appeal would be better positioned in the schedules.

Despite the low ratings on Japanese TV, this too was licensed and released in the US. Can’t imagine it set the world on fire, like the Matsumoto licences, I wonder if these are more favourites of the people deciding what to release rather than strong business decisions.

HATE FUN 2001! Mahoromatic Automatic Maiden

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Gainax grasp the zeitgeist by the udders and milk for all it’s worth, with this robot maid show. While this concept has been done before, indeed in this same year, even when peddling blatantly opportunistic shows like this, Gainax are clearly miles better than the m.o.e.s of the world. When people think of cartoons about robot maids, it’s Mahoromatic that’s going to be remembered over the Steel Angel Kurumis and Hand Maid Mays of the world.

The manga of Kurumi and Mahoromatic both seem to have come out in ’98. Was the time simply right for tales of warbot maids or was one copying the other?

HATE FUN 2001! Vandread – The Second Stage

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000

More Vandread.

HATE FUN 2001! Najica Blitz Tactics

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Noted ladies undies connoisseur Katsuhiko Nishijima files the serial numbers off his Agent Aika show, resprays the bodywork and puts it back on the forecourt as this underwear obsessed actioner.

HATE FUN 2001! Angel Tales

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:00:00 +0000

I’m reading a synopsis of this show and feeling myself getting stupider word by word through the paragraphs. Boy is surrounded by a harem of his dead pets reincarnated as cute girls. It’s like they’ve got a random generator creating these plots now.

HATE FUN 2001! X

Brack — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:01:00 +0000

CLAMP. WOWOW. Madhouse. Yoshiaki Kawajiri.

You know, I’m not sure why I’ve not seen this. Particularly as I was apparently one of the few people who seemed happy with the film version (great, possibly Violence Jack inspired, decapitation ending! SPOILERS!).

Another show that got double releases in the US in singles and boxsets – increasingly a good sign of these shows from the start of decade’s popularity and longevity.

HATE FUN 2001! A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

Brack — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

After seeing it mentioned in whatever con programme I was reading that the characters were created by the creator of Digi Charat, I thought I’ll have some of that.

Oh dear, what a mistake. While in the hands of Hiroaki Sakurai & Madhouse, Koge Donbo’s designs worked brilliantly as a juxtaposition to the misanthropic humour, here Shinichiro Kimura uses them as some sort of saccharine based nerve agent.

If the moe fan bloggers paid attention to who actually makes the shows they devour, Shinichiro Kimura would probably be being held up as an auteur. As it is I could only find one article making the connection that most of his work has been in the otaku-bait genre.

HATE FUN 2001! Final Fantasy Unlimited

Brack — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Further proof that a successful video game franchise does not equate to success in any other media.

As terrible as Advent Children was, at least by then SquareEnix had realised that you might as well give people what they want. Back in 2001, when Square were still single, they were treating spin-offs like they were new FF games – i.e. gave them entirely new worlds and stories each time. Which is admirable, but when they still ended up with guff like this and Spirit Within, you can’t help but think if you were making crap, you’d be better off making crap with a built in worldwide audience. Had they done a FFVII tv show or film then, they’d have probably made a killing. Not to say it wasn’t a modest success commercially, it’s FF after all, but there was a lot more potential there in the existing game worlds.

HATE FUN 2001! Okojo-san

Brack — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Anime version of Ayumi Uno’s shojo manga about an escaped ermine living in an apartment building. This looks jolly and fun.

HATE FUN 2001! Kaze no Yojimbo

Brack — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Misjudged Akira Kurosawa cartoon #1!

Naruto director Hayato Date directs this modern version of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo to massive indifference.

HATE FUN 2001! Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School

Brack — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Unlike Tsukikage Ran, this is a more typical show about women getting into fights from the 00s. And there’ll be a fair few of them down the line. Keiji Gotoh shows up again here contributing his distinctive character designs and the OP animation. Apart from that, it strikes me as just another show.

HATE FUN 2001! Banner Of The Stars II

Brack — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

More Banner of the Stars (which in turn was more Crest of The Stars).

HATE FUN 2001! Nono-chan

Brack — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Remember “My Neighbours The Yamadas”? Well this was the TV adaptation of the same Hisaichi Ishii comic stript. The different name is due to the fact the strip had two names over time. It had changed from “My Neighbours The Yamadas” to “Nono-chan” as the focus changed to the daughter Nono (much like how Nancy and Popeye took over the strips that birthed them).

Of course this isn’t a Ghibli gig, instead veteran Nobutaka Nishizawa (Pataliro!, Slam Dunk) directs for Toei.

HATE FUN 2001! Cosmo Warrior Zero

Brack — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Here’s your regular dose of Matsumoto, where the Zero of the title is given orders to capture Captain Harlock. Ratings seemed to indicate a disinterest in a new Matsumoto show. Though going out at 3.10am may not have helped…

HATE FUN 2001! Fruits Basket

Brack — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Another Akitaro Daichi show I really need to finish watching (think I saw the first 4 eps years back). Obviously a massive success in the US, especially the manga. But the anime has done really well too. In the US it has gone through 3 different box sets, and even seen the single discs released twice (second release fueled by the manga’s popularity).

HATE FUN 2001! Magical Meow Meow Taruto

Brack — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Oh, for crying out loud, a catgirl dressed as a maid. I hate you 2001.

HATE FUN 2001! Shaman King

Brack — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Following in the schedule right after S-CRY-ed was the second JoJo’s influenced show, Shaman King. Based on Hiroyuki Takei’s manga, this I have seen a lot of. Some (me) would say too much. It deals with a shaman, Yoh Asakura and his attempt to become the Shaman King, with the help his ~~Stand~~ Over Soul, Amidamaru.

It starts off fine, for the first 20 or so episodes, but when it starts to diverge from the manga heavily it just falls apart. Matters aren’t helped by the arrival of the one of the whiniest characters ever created, Lyserg Diethel. Imagine an even less sympathetic Sasuke from Naruto, and you’re close to the horror that is Lyserg. You wish the bad guy had killed him and not his parents.

That being said, the show was pretty popular, though a lot of shows were getting ratings better than anime gets today. The manga didn’t seem to benefit though, coming to a somewhat ignominious end in 2004.

HATE FUN 2001! I, Me, My Strawberry Eggs

Brack — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Oh good grief this thing. Teacher dresses as woman to get job at all girls school, student falls in love with him/her. One of those many shows whose popularity burned bright briefly then blended into the background. I think I saw the first episode at a convention, and didn’t think much of it. Certainly nothing makes me want to watch it now.

HATE FUN 2001! Figure 17

Brack — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Weirdly released anime (13 45 minute episodes broadcast monthly), that I think was an early digi-fansub show. This was directed by Naohito Takahashi who was also doing the Steel Angel Kurumi sequel. This is about a 10 year old girl fighting aliens apparently, but obviously with the out of the ordinary release schedule this isn’t aimed at an audience the same age…

A Figure 17 fan yesterday.

HATE FUN 2001! The ones that got away part two

Brack — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:34:42 +0000

Omakase! Prudence Obasan

Not only cannot I find the OP for this show, I’m questioning its very existence.

Run=Dim

This multimedia project seems to have disappeared from memory, though I recall interest in it at some point. I want to say it was some very ill-judged CG sci-fi thing.

Pachinko Slot Noble Gin

Seems very little on this in Japanese, let along English.

Go! Go! Quintuplets Land

Fairs a little better, but still no OP clips.

HATE FUN 2001! Chance! Pop Sessions

Brack — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Late night anime about a trio of would be idol singers. Was this supposed to be a showcase for the voice actresses/singers in the lead roles? Looking at the ratings I’ve found for it, it didn’t do too well at the time. ADV picked it up for US release, don’t think they bothered with it in the UK.

HATE FUN 2001! Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars

Brack — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Another show that’s been released in English and I have never heard of. I suspect that’s a good indication of how over-saturated the US DVD market got there for a while.

It’s a Tatsuo Sato (Nadesico, Stellvia) show through and through, with him both directing and writing. That kind of makes me interested in watching it, but there’s more interesting shows I really need to get to watching first.

HATE FUN 2001! I Love Bubu Chacha

Brack — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:00:00 +0000

It’s a car! It’s a dog!

Well… a dead dog re-incarnated as a car. According to the English language Bubu Chacha site, it was broadcast in the UK on GMTV2 in 2003. Not having access to that channel then, I don’t recall seeing it at all. I’d use the excuse that I’m not the intended audience, but frankly I’ve watched Yu-Gi-Oh & Pokemon on GMTV2 before…

Anyway, despite the bizarre concept, this looks a charming and harmless kids show from the opening animation.

HATE FUN 2001! Parappa The Rapper

Brack — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Main problem with this show? Not enough rapping.

The watering down of the Rodney Greenblat visuals is also an issue. When I finally saw this show, I don’t think I’d ever been so disappointed. That said, I think the openings have their charm, particularly the second, which reminded me a teeny bit of Mamoru Hosoda’s Louis Vuitton short.

HATE FUN 2001! Steel Angel Kurumi Type 2 AND Hanaukyo Maid-tai

Brack — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

These aired as part of WOWOW’s “Anime Complex” at the same time. And were created by the same animation studio. And were both about maids…

2001 was obviously the peak of the maid fetish.

Steel Angel Kurumi Type 2 is the sequel to 1999’s fetish whammy of MAID + ROBOT GIRLFRIEND + ALTERNATE HISTORY. Here the Alternate History was replaced by Lesbians.

Hanaukyo Maid Team was about an orphan being raised by an army of maids. Director Yasunori Ide was also responsible for one of the progenitors of the late night otaku-bait shows, 1987’s Lemon Angel.

So what of the animation studio responsible for these abominations? Master of Entertainment, or as they were more commonly known m.o.e.

They are responsible for some of the most truly calculating otaku pandering shows of the decade, including what maybe my least favourite anime show of all time. But more on that in 2002! Anyone complaining about the otaku-centric shows produced now needs to remember m.o.e. and remember how bad it has been. m.o.e. seem to have ground to halt in 2005, though their sub-site is still up on Pony Canyon’s site (their own site is DIAD).

HATE FUN 2001! Gyōten Ningen Batseelor

Brack — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000

OK. Totally off the radar now. Put this down as another show I’d love to see at least one episode of.

Directed by Hero Hero-Kun, Cyborg Kuro-chan director Nobuhiro Takamoto. A man with a nice line in colourful kids comedies now slumming it with Ghost 07. And written by veteran Yu Yamamoto (Urusei Yatsura, Braiger/Baxinger/Sasuraiger, Kuro-chan). While Cyborg Kuro-chan probably edges it in the want to see stakes due to the dancehall opening, this looks delightfully silly.

HATE FUN 2001! Galaxy Angel

Brack — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Note: I am basing the following opinions on seeing one, maybe two episodes of Galaxy Angel. Episodes that may have not been from this particular Galaxy Angel series.

Not as good as the first Brocolli/Madhouse collab, the original 16 episode Digi Charat series, but miles ahead the cloying cuteness that the Digi Charat franchise descended into. Whereas Digi Charat relied on a weird, bleak almost nihilist tone juxtaposed against the “cute” characters, Galaxy Angel is just a dumb slapstick thing that thinks explosions are hilarious. Which they very well might be.

The other trick it plays (and I think Satoru Akahori may have beat them to it with a few of his late 90s series) is to have a cast of characters with off the rack harem anime personalities, but not include a male character for them to fight over. These dumb stereotypes work a lot better when you’re not expected to believe they are in love (there are videogame spin offs for that).

HATE FUN 2001? Project ARMS

Brack — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Another utter blind spot in my knowledge. Not only have I never heard of this, it’s even been out on DVD in English, and the manga has too. It appears to be an Alice In Wonderland themed shonen story about a boy whose arm turns into a weapon. It strikes me there’s a thread of manga/anime about characters whose arms turn into weapons through the decades. Put that down as another post I’ll never get around to writing.

HATE FUN 2001! You’re Under Arrest

Brack — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:07:01 +0000

Kosuke Fujishima is no where near as good a writer as he is an artist. That being said, this light fluff about two policewomen is infinitely preferable to Ah! My Goddess.

I’ve only caught some of the third season, so I don’t know if this second season was any good or if the freefall of quality Studio Deen seemed to experience this decade had started at that point.

HATE FUN 2001! Z.O.E. Dolores,i

Brack — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Another show I don’t recall coming from this early in the decade. I think the fact I had to write 6 synopses for the DVD releases in my old job sapped any interest I had for this show. That and it being based on a videogame.

HATE FUN 2001! Dennou Boukenki Webdiver

Brack — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

A futuristic online environment is corrupted by a mysterious virus. No it’s not .hack//sign, it’s Web Diver doing it a year earlier and with giant robots to boot.

I’m sure Takara fans could cast some light on this, but this strikes me as Takara taking their Brave series, adding a few innovations to the toys and giving the cartoon to a different studio.

The zippy, colourful animation is directed by the man men call Hiroshi Negishi, bringing to mind his earlier work on NG Knight Lamune & 40.

HATE FUN 2001! Great Dangaioh

Brack — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:17:08 +0000

Because what everyone wanted in 2001 was a sequel to a 1987 mecha OAV. Oh wait, no they didn’t. They really didn’t.

Seriously, why would you have a sequel to a Toshihiro Hirano show, a sequel that is being directed by Toshihiro Hirano himself, but not get Toshihiro Hirano to design the characters? It’s a niche enough prospect to begin with, so why wouldn’t you at least make it look familiar to the old fans of the OAV?

HATE FUN 2001! Noir

Brack — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:20:46 +0000

Bee Train and Koichi Mashimo set the tone for their 00s output with this show. That tone? UTTER BOREDOM. I managed to make my way through one single episode of this at a Minami Con, and it’s an astounding piece of work in how it manages to animate scenes that should be exciting – like gunfights – in such a way as to drain all the excitement from it and replace it with a ponderous seriousness.

As we shall see, the few occasions when Bee Train and Mashimo drop that facade and smile, their animation livens up a lot, but this set the table for a decade of dullness for them.

Mind boggling this was quite popular in the US/UK (Japanese ratings tell a different story). There’s a niche of fans who like the girls with guns “genre”, but this is a pale descendant of the likes of Dirty Pair, BGC, Gunsmith Cats. The other factor is that it’s a show that’s not very “Japanese”. There’s a fair few of these shows made in this decade that were obviously made with an eye on the international market, and this is hardly the worst of them. It’s not obviously grasping and trying to be a “me too” show as some of those shows come across as being.

HATE FUN 2001! The Soul Taker

Brack — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:33:32 +0000

Pre-SHAFT work from designonaut Akiyuki Shinbo. As good as Shinbo clearly is in terms of design, he is yet to produce a show that I like. In fact as he delves further into the design aspect of his work, the colder it leaves me. The fact he adapts material I’m clearly not going to like doesn’t help matters either.

This Tatsunoko show was an attempt at producing a “mature” version of their usual superhero fare. See Karas and Casshern Sins for other adult takes on the Tatsunoko superhero output. Also worth noting that Shinbo had worked on the Hurricane Polymer update in the 90s.

HATE FUN 2001! Pretear

Brack — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:00:00 +0000

As I go through these, I’m increasingly of the mind there’s definitely something to be written about the trends in magical girl shows of the decade. While there wasn’t a noticable boom, there’s some success stories in there, and interesting ideas floating around.

Created by Junichi Sato (Sailor Moon, Sgt. Frog), like Magic User’s Club and Princess Tutu, it’s another of his personal delves into the genre. Reportedly his retelling of Snow White with the dwarves replaced by pretty boys and removing the Prince Charming aspect. I’m curious about the show as I’ve like Sato’s takes on the genre in the past. In fact, I think I really need to reconsider Sato’s work as a whole as the more I think about it, the more I think he’s really rather excellent.

HATE FUN 2001! Star Ocean EX

Brack — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Slayers chap directs adaptation of videogame manga spin-off. I can’t imagine this being any good.

HATE FUN 2001! Sister Princess

Brack — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

We’ve had Comic Party, the erogame adaptation with the ero removed, now this most moe of light novel adaptations. And there’s still some of this decade’s anime ills to show up in 2001.

This is some dumb thing about 12 supposedly cute sisters and their brother. Presumably the audience are supposed to imagine themselves as the brother and fire of beams of brotherly moe love at these moppets. And by that I mean suffering through interminable “cute” comedy before cranking one off to the inevitable doujins.

I seem to recall this being popular with the fansub scene at the time, setting an unfortunate trend.

HATE FUN 2001! Rune Solider

Brack — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

If there is one thing more boring than someone telling you about their D&D character it’s someone making their D&D campaign into a series of novels, and then a series of anime. But enough of Ryo Mizuno’s Loddoss War, this is another of his series (set in a land north to Lodoss), which I haven’t seen and so can’t confirm if it’s as po-faced as its more well known cousin. Supposedly it’s a comedy so maybe it isn’t. Can’t help feeling you’d be better off with Slayers if you wanted Pen and Paper RPG silliness though.

HATE FUN 2001! Haré+Guu

Brack — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Or as I was introduced to it, “Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu” – The Jungle Was Always Nice, Then Came Guu, though there’s a pun on a typical weather forecasting phrase in there too.

I’ll be writing more about this show over Xmas, but in brief this is the first TV show of the 00s I thoroughly rcommend and director Tsutomu Mizushima is one of the great talents of the decade and needs to be making movies in the next decade.

HATE FUN 2001! Comic Party

Brack — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

I’d completely forgotten this came out this early in the decade. Archetypal franchise for the 00s. Erogame to console game with the ero removed to anime. It’s like homeopathic porn. This one presents the scenario that producing doujins will get you laid. By hideously grotesque girls with poorly animated faces.

HATE FUN 2001! Angelic Layer

Brack — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0000

And now we are getting to shows that I’ve written deliberately bland descriptive synopses for in my old job!

A CLAMP show with clear echoes of Plawres Sanshiro, the impression I got from writing those synopses (and never watching the show) was it was “CLAMP does Pokemon”. However, by making it miniature robots fighting they are taking the genre back to its roots (Plawres Sanshiro seems like a key historical series from this point of view).

Director Hiroshi Nishikiori (Ayakashi Ayashi, Gad Guard) is always as good as his material, and sometimes better than the material deserves. I can never see him being anyone’s favourite director, but can give polish to the most average material and bring out the best in good material (as we shall see later).

HATE FUN 2001! Super GALS

Brack — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Director Tsuneo Kobayashi doesn’t have many credits up on ANN, but what he directed in the 00s make an interesting handful of shows. The first is this adaptation of Mihona Fuji’s manga of about three girls in the kogal subculture. Not having seen it, or having kept up with the Japanese youth subculture de jour, I’m curious if this now acts as some kind of historical time capsule or whether it still seems relevant?

HATE FUN 2001! Digimon Tamers

Brack — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Again no embedding available for a Digimon Opening.

Chiaki J. Konaka (Lain) takes the reins of the Digimon franchise and following the lead started in Yuasa’s films brings the series firmly into the real world. I missed seeing any of this at the time and am definitely curious as to what it was like. May check it out and return to this post later.

HATE FUN 2001! Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-San

Brack — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Given that the character design look as much like Ojamaro Doremi’s as Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s art, this revival of his character (it had already had live action shows in 60s & 70s) may have been in reaction to Doremi’s success. Though one eye was clearly on the nostalgia market as apparently stars of the dramas guested on the anime.

HATE FUN 2001! Ask Dr. Rin!

Brack — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Kiyoko Arai’s Feng Shui-themed shojo manga had a 51 episode run starting in 2001. This is one of those shows whose fansubbing came at the dawn of the bit torrent explosion, but remains incomplete (but also never abandoned).

HATE FUN 2001! Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi

Brack — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0000

More DoReMi.

HATE FUN 2001! Salaryman Kintaro

Brack — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Now available for £4.99 at your local clearance book shop!

Hiroshi Motomiya’s long running manga about single dad biker Kintaro’s journey through the world of the salaryman, had this short perfunctory anime released in 2001. Almost feels like a long service award for the manga than a worthwhile enterprise as an animation. It also had four series of a live action TV show and a film from Takashi Miike

HATE FUN 2001! Sadamitsu The Destroyer

Brack — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:17:31 +0000

Masahiko Nakahira’s Kamen Rider “homage” came to anime courtesy of Koichi Ohata (Most Dangerous Geist). I’m going to hazard a guess that the title is the best thing about this show. Or possibly the dirt cheap price of the Media Blasters box set they released of it.

HATE FUN 2001! Arjuna

Brack — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:35:29 +0000

And talking of SERIOUS Shoji Kawamori, starting a little over a week later than Earth Defence Family, was Arjuna. Arjuna is pure, unfiltered Kawamori, so expect environmentalism and spiritualism. While it’s good that a creator has such a strong voice, in Kawamori’s case, when it’s unfiltered it actually seems to swamp his creative abilities and people end up only seeing the preachiness.

HATE FUN 2001! Earth Defence Family

Brack — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:15:40 +0000

This seems like a show I should probably check out on the basis of the OP. Cartoony, highly kinetic, it’s the sort of thing that pushes my buttons. And it’s Shoji Kawamori letting his hair down, which is always better than SERIOUS Shoji Kawamori.

HATE FUN 2001! Tales of Eternia

Brack — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Fantasy? Check!
Based on a Videogame? Check!
Totally disinterested? Yes!

HATE FUN 2001! Baki The Grappler

Brack — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:27:43 +0000

Keisuke Itagaki’s manga is kinda funny looking and not really suitable for animation, so this anime version of his excessively violent tale of a kid with severe parent issues looks a lot tighter than the loose, fluid, if anatomically incorrect art of Itagaki’s.

Anyway, I saw this up to where he was fighting a mountain ape in order to train. I see in the manga he’s up to fighting a defrosted caveman called Pickle. This sort of madness tempts me to watch/read more.

HATE FUN 2001! Beyblade

Brack — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:09:52 +0000

There’s something to be said that the late, un-lamented Woolworths was the main place I saw Beyblade toys and DVDs. And that it aired on FIVE, the fifth and least popular terrestrial UK TV channel. It felt a little like an also-ran, but there were a lot of them in this period, and Beyblade may have been best at coming last.

Part of cross-media blitz to make spinning tops popular again for the first time in 100 years, the Beyblade anime is cheap and stupid. The highlight of which would be the episode I saw where there was a villain who had been genetically engineered to maximise his ability to spin a top. Despite this, this is not the stupidest show designed to sell toys this decade…

With the seven year fad lifespan expired, they started a new Beyblade series this year, ready to lure a new generation into the exciting world of things that spin in one direction. More on that later. Or possibly less on that.

HATE FUN 2001! Zoids: New Century Zero

Brack — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:34:06 +0000

Here in the UK we had an odd introduction to Zoids. As well as the classic TOMY toys, in the 80s we also had specific mythos created for us in the pages of the “Spider-Man and Zoids” comic. It was also the first time I encountered Grant Morrison’s writing, as he wrote some of the Zoids strip.

TOMY made a concerted effort to relaunch the line in the late nineties, and this is the second anime series in support of that (99’s Chaotic Century being the first). However New Century Zero was the first to be dubbed into English and show in the West as Zoids/ZERO.

As they later dubbed other Zoids series, presumably they had some success, but like the 80s launch I don’t think it exactly set the world on fire the way Transformers did.