Video Backlog: “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness”

Publisher: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (Japan)
Format: Region Free Blu-ray, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English and Japanese Subtitles
Length: 118 minutes
Production Date: 2013
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

I had really gone off Studio Ghibli films in the last decade and a half. Despite all the awards and critical acclaim, “Spirited Away” didn’t really leave much of an impression on me at all. Since that film very little of their output has wowed me. But I did think “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” was a great film as well as “The Cat Who Returned a Favour”. The other films since 2001, I could take or leave. I’ve even stopped buying the films as they came out on home video in Japan. I only bought the last two films a month ago when I was in Japan.

I didn’t think my view of the studio or their films would change until I saw this documentary. Mami Sunada, whose only previous film was the documentary “Ending Note” (subtitled “Death of a Japanese Salaryman” in English), went to Studio Ghibli just about every day from autumn 2012 to September 2013 when Miyazaki announced his retirement. The film follows the production of Hayao Miyazaki's “The Wind Rises” and Isao Takahata’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya”, both due to be released on 20 July 2013. Already by autumn 2012, things are going really badly with Takahata’s film. Only 81 cuts (of animation) have been completed. The producer of the film, Yoshiaki Nishimura, has been working on the film since at least 2006 and is finding it near impossible to crack the whip in order to get Takahata moving along. Because Miyazaki is working at the main studio in Higashi-Koganei and Takahata at a second studio miles away, Sunada focuses almost entirely on Miyazaki and his film.

Apart from those directly working on Miyazaki’s film (Other than Miyazaki, the main focus is on his giggly production manager known affectionately as Sankichi), Sunada also focuses on producer Toshio Suzuki, who essentially runs the financial and business side of the studio and seems to be forever in meetings with third parties. To be honest the lack of Takahata's presence doesn’t really matter. A fair chunk of the movie does deal with this side of the studio. Suzuki is seen dealing with publishers, merchandise sales and the promotion of their two upcoming films. The business side of the company is centred at the main studio at Higashi-Koganei, so it makes sense that Sunada would focus her film there.

But as you imagine the majority of the film deals with Miyazaki’s struggle with his film; he has trouble completing the storyboards, he wonders out loud to Sunada what kind of film he is making, he has trouble finding a suitable actor to fill the lead role of Jiro etc. Sunada shows his daily routine at the studio and his working relationship with Sankichi whom he seems to adore, and even anointed her wedding. However we also hear form several of the key animators who say they like to keep their distance from him and more troublingly that several really talented staff quit due to the fact they couldn’t work with him. While Miyazaki can be rather jovial and happy, many of the times he talks to Sunada he’s quite pessimistic. It seems that that the 2008 financial crisis and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami have led him to believe the future won’t be bright. Regardless he also says that he feels hope for the future due to children. Studio Ghibli even has an in-house child care centre.

Suzuki’s various troubles during the production of the films seem to get worse as the documentary progresses. He wonders what he should say at the press conference in regards to Takata’s film. Later he concedes that there is no hope the film will make its 20 July release date. Later in the film he seems to be a mediator between Goro Miyazaki and his producer over an argument regarding his next project. Goro doesn’t come off well in this segment. It feels as he’s being really difficult as he explains he never wanted to be a director. Though Suzuki tries to convince him he is doing the right thing, by the end of this section of the film you can see that Suzuki has had enough. He’s literally slumped over the table exhausted as Goro’s producer continues to try to negotiate with Goro.

The largely absent Takahata (who appears on camera for less than two minutes some 15 minutes before the end of the film), is the main source of frustration for Suzuki and Miyazaki for a great deal of the film. Both don’t believe he’ll finish his film. “It’s almost like he’s trying not to finish” says Miyazaki. The strange thing is that Miyazaki does seem to hold a lot of respect for Takahata, but in the next breath will run him down and criticise him. At one point he recalls a time where he came back to the studio after “My Neighbours the Yamadas” had been finished, and the studio was in a complete mess due to the way Takahata ran it. All the while he seems to be smiling while telling the story, as if it’s a pleasant memory. He later tells Sunada that he has abandoned Takahata as a film maker, though she retorts by saying “Isn’t he making a film now?”. Takahata and Miyazaki’s working relationship is complicated further when we are told via archival footage and photographs that Takahata discovered Miyazaki, but Miyazaki overtook him in terms of talent and popularity.

The other main player in this documentary is Evangelion director Hideaki Anno. He first gets involved when Miyazaki and Suzuki decide that he should voice Jiro in the film. After a hilariously awkward audition, shockingly both of them give him the part. Anno animated the God Warrior segments in Miyazaki’s 1984 film “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”. The pair have been friends since. Anno’s appearances in the documentary make him come off as really awkward, mostly the times he tries to voice Jiro. When Sunada asks Miyazaki what thought of him when he first met him, he says he felt he was like an alien. Later Miyazaki quips that Anno is fun to bully. In what is probably one of the funniest scenes of the film, Miyazaki complains about Mitsubishi Zero otaku. Sunada asks Miyazaki if he is an otaku. He says no, but after that Sunada edits in a scene where Anno and Miyazaki are playing with a model Zero aircraft in a meeting with Suzuki.

It has been suggested by some reviewers that Sunada is a bit of a “fangirl”, but there really is no evidence of that in the film. As I described in the last paragraph she isn’t above making a little fun of her subject. There has also been criticism of the lack of Ghibli film footage from their back catalogue. But the film isn’t about the animation itself, it’s about the studio and the people in it. The only time we see any of footage Miyazaki’s films is just before he is due to go into a press conference about his retirement, when he calls over Sunada and explains why he likes animation so much. Sunada filmed and directed the documentary herself. It really looks fantastic. She focuses on little details and frames everything so beautifully. Having been to the area where Studio Ghibli is, it is a gorgeous suburb, so she really didn’t have to work too hard to make the film look great. Sunada also focuses on the studios’ cat Ushiko and uses footage of her to link scenes together. The DVD and BD versions also have an extra feature called “Ushiko Saw It”, which is pretty much a bunch of outtakes centreing on Suzuki.

Overall it’s a fantastic documentary. Sunada seems to have an uncanny ability to choose this time period of the studio’s life to make the documentary. It does explain why some of the casting and story decisions were taken with “The Wind Rises”. However the film does make me a bit sad. Studio Ghibli doesn’t need to close down, however Miyazaki seems determined it will. There’s also Miyazaki’s determination to make another film after the completion of “The Wind Rises”, which seems to have completely evaporated in the final section of the film when he announces his retirement. Despite the west’s love affair with Miyazaki films, the only English language version of the documentary on blu-ray is the Japanese version, which has no English subs on the extras. You really have to wonder why that is. Apparently the US DVD of this film is already out of print which is baffling. I’ll give this film 8 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: Six series, 13 movies, two OVAs also waiting for second parts for two shows to be released before viewing them.

Video Backlog: “Vampire Hunter D (aka Bloodlust)”

Publisher: Eastern Star (Discotek, USA)
Format: Region A Blu-ray, NTSC, English Dialogue with optional English Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Length: 102 minutes
Production Date: 2000
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Ten millennia have passed on Earth. During this time the world went through an apocalyptic period whereafter vampires became the rulers of a rather feudal-like and less populated Earth than our current one. However the vampire’s reign has come to an end with the people revolting due to their predatory nature. Bounties were put on their heads and a class of bounty hunter evolved to rid the Earth of their kind. The Elbourne family arrange a meeting with the vampire bounty hunter known as “D”. Not exactly a friendly affair, the family has their employees train their guns on him at all times. They know D is a dhampir, the offspring of a father who was a vampire and a human mother. The family’s daughter, Charlotte, has been apparently abducted by the vampire Baron Meier Link. Desperate to get her back all costs, they offer a handsome sum which D says will not be enough, and that she may already have turned into a vampire. Though the eldest son is angered by this, the father intervenes and concedes that he would like D to end her life if that indeed is what has happened to her. To complicate things further, the family then inform him that they have also hired the infamous bounty hunters known as the Marcus Brothers.

The Marcus Brothers are already hot on the trail of Baron Link’s horse drawn carriage. Driving though a small town in their armoured truck, they discover the Baron has already passed though and the entire population have been transformed into zombies. However the Baron’s minions are absolutely no match for the bounty hunters who dispose of them in a few hectic minutes, despite the zombies attempting to ambush their truck. The leader of the hunters, Borgoff, hears a cyborg horse galloping closer to them. He fires one of silver arrows towards the sound, upon which we learn is D, who catches the arrow barehanded and snaps it in half. After a brief and terse greeting between the two bounty hunters, D leaves to hunt down the Baron, with Borgoff unconcerned that he now has competition in rescuing Charlotte. The only woman in the group of bounty hunters, Leila, decides to take off on portable motor bike in an effort to beat D. Soon after, D manages to catch up with Baron Link’s carriage inside a tunnel. In the ensuing fight D hears Charlotte call out to the Baron and realises something is wrong with the situation. The Baron manages to overpower D and escapes.

The following evening, D has caught up with the carriage, which is protected inside a mirror-like barrier. While D tests the defences of the barrier and attempts into find a way in, Leila arrives on the scene and immediately begins her attack on the barrier. In the ensuing chaos the baron makes his escape and Leila is badly injured. Initially content to leave her there to die, D has second thoughts when she calls out for her mother. He tends to her wounds, something that Leila is confused about and outwardly at least, not even the slightest bit appreciative of. It soon becomes apparent that Baron Link is headed towards the lands where a monster clan called the Barbarois live. Someone has paid big money to hire the clan of mutants to protect him. Though D seemingly has no problem dealing with the minions sent by the head of the Barbarois to kill him, the ones protecting the baron’s carriage are different story. The trio of mutants start to pick off the Marcus Brothers one by one. But soon D arrives and along with the Marcus Brothers they soon manage to even up the score, though with their ranks heavily depleted. Both D and the remaining bounty hunters in the Marcus Brothers discover that Baron Link’s carriage’s is headed towards Castle of Chaythe, home of the “ghost” vampire Carmilla. But why would Carmilla pay the Barbarois clan to protect Baron Link and Charlotte?

For whatever reason, I have sort of ignored this film, or missed it. I first came across it when it was screening at the very first Japanime film festival back in 2000 as part of a larger arts festival being held in Sydney as part of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I had a chance to go to the festival, but passed it up. A couple of years later, the now defunct US anime video label Urban Vision released the film on DVD and later promised to release another version, this time with the Japanese dub (yes, the original version of the film was the English version). I waited for its release, but of course this never eventuated. Eventually I forgot all about the film. Backtracking a bit, I should explain this film was released in Japanese cinemas with the same English dialogue version as presented on this disc (with Japanese subtitles of course). When it hit home video over there, it came in the theatrical English language version with Japanese subtitles and separate, newly dubbed Japanese version. I really have no idea why this happened. The original English version was a ploy to get it into US cinemas, apparently. The version released in Japanese cinemas also differs from the English language home video version with Japanese pop band Do as Infinity providing a closing theme rather than the music score by Marco D'Ambrosio. Also despite what Wikipedia or any other source tells you, the subtitle “Bloodlust” does not appear on any Japanese publicly material, merchandise, any home video version or on the film’s title card. It’s just called “Vampire Hunter D” over there.

Based on “Demon Deathchase” (originally called “Wandering on Death Row”), the third novel in Hideyuki Kikuchi’s “Vampire Hunter D” series, it certainly puts Toyoo Ashida’s (“Fist of the North Star”) 1985 movie adaption to shame (and it WAS a movie. The Eirin mark on the title card, movie programmes, movie trailers etc, prove this. Please stop calling it an OVA!). Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, of “Ninja Scroll” and “Wicked City” fame, unlike the 1985 film the character designs, while most certainly have Kawajiri’s distinctive style stamped all over them, are very sympathetic to Yoshitaka Amano’s originals. Like most of Kawajiri’s works, the action is kinetic and an absolute joy to watch. The story holds up really well too with a theme of doomed love sort of playing out on two fronts, as well as a secondary plot which looks at the dueling humanity and base vampire urges that both D and Baron Link struggle with. The film is just gorgeous to watch. Kawajiri paces the film beautifully. The film does make use of CG, but surprisingly it’s mostly unnoticeable. Nothing really sticks out and screams “this is CG”. It’s blended very well and the use of 35mm shot cel animation is apparent though filming artefacts.

The film does have its share of problems and of course the biggest one is the English adaption. Most of the acting and dialogue is pretty good. Where it falls down is some of the throwaway corny lines or the addition of additional lines of dialogue where there would be silence in a Japanese film. Over explanation through dialogue is one of my pet peeves of blockbuster Hollywood films. I thought Mike McShane, who plays D’s talking symbiotic left hand (he calls himself a “parasite” in the film), was miscast. But this is probably more due the fact his character is written as coward-like at times rather than the cold, sardonic, almost evil creature he is in the novels and 1985 film. Marco D'Ambrosio's score is mostly fitting and excellent at many points in the film. However at it occasionally devolves into a cheap sounding synthetiser track which sounds like it belongs on some B-grade direct to video film.

But putting aside those criticisms, this is a bloody good film. I can’t believe I ignored it for so long. I think the shoddiness of the original 1985 film had done a lot of damage in how I viewed the franchise. Discotek’s blu-ray is pretty good considering the apparently poor quality of the source material. The film still hasn’t received a BD release in Japan (only out of print and hard to find VHS and DVDs from 10+ years ago exist) which is a shame. I would love to hear the Japanese dub, but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen on a commercial English language release. A new “Vampire Hunter D” TV series is apparently in production, but I think it’ll be hard to beat Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s film. I’ll give this film a solid 8 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: Six series, 16 movies, two OVAs also waiting for second parts for two shows to be released before viewing them.

Video Backlog: “Robot Carnival”

Publisher: Eastern Star (Discotek, USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 90 minutes
Production Date: 1987
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

An omnibus OVA, as it sounds, “Robot Carnival” contains nine shorts about robots. The opening and closing segments tell the story of a giant decrepit monolithic carrier which ploughs through the desert taking out a small village. Once a giant circus-like attraction, it is now a forgotten relic with its automated robots unintentionally killing, wounding and destroying anything in their path rather than original purpose of entertaining. But its time is coming to an end. "Franken's Gears" is the retelling of "Frankenstein", though this time the Doctor builds a robot, which mimics him a little too closely. "Deprive" is a rather conventional sci-fi story where a young girl is kidnapped by an invading band of robots. Her own personal servant robot goes on a quest to rescue her. In "Presence" a man married with children feeds his complex about women into the creation of a very human like girl. However the creation proves to be a little too human as she develops a conscience of her own which disturbs him.

"Star Light Angel" is a light shoujo-esqe story of two girls enjoying a day at a robot themed amusement park. When one of them introduces the other to her new boyfriend, she realises that he has been dating both of them. The other girl runs off, dropping a necklace that her boyfriend gave her. However a robot, who is smitten with her, decides to return it to her. Possibly the oddest film of the lot, "Cloud", is an arty abstract piece which follows a young robot boy walking through scenery of clouds, apparently an allegory for the history of mankind. "Strange Tales of Meiji Machine Culture: Westerner's Invasion" is about a mad foreign scientist trying to invade Japan during the mid-19th century in his giant robot. A group of local teens use their own wooden robot (actually constructed for a town parade) to defend the city. However the battle is slow and becomes absurd due to the technological constraints of the time. In the final film, "Chicken Man and Red Neck", at night in Tokyo when everyone is asleep, the city taken over by various strange looking robots and machines. A drunken man awakens to find these machines everywhere and is chased down by one of the robots who seems to be a lookout for the machines.

While some consider the 1970's as the golden age of Japanese animation, the 1980's saw some real milestones and a number of more experimental and avant-garde anime being made mostly due to the bubble economy in Japan. The early 1980's also saw the birth of the direct to video anime or OVA (Original Video Animation). Despite some claiming "Robot Carnival" is a theatrical feature (though it was screened on the independent cinema circuit in the US in 1990), in Japan it was an OVA release. Though like many OVA releases of the period, I suspect it may have had a very limited theatrical release after its initial video release. Japanese movie programmes for the film do exist.

The film itself is a real surprise. Instead of using well known anime directors, most had only experience as key animators and character designers. The biggest name here is Katsuhiro Otomo of "Akira" fame. His contribution, the opening and closing segments, are great bookends to the rest of the film. As with a lot of his work, there is a lot of black humour with the juxtaposition of the horror and terror of the Robot Carnival machine mowing down an entire village, and the joy and fun that the carnival is supposed to and did bring in as seen in its previous working life. Some versions of the film only credit Otomo, while others also correctly credit Atsuko Fukushima as co-director. She is probably most famous for being a key animator on  "Kiki's Delivery Service", but also went on to direct the opening segment of another omnibus film Studio 4°C's "Genius Party". Speaking of Studio 4°C staff, one of their most famous staff members, Koji Morimoto, directs "Franken's Gears". He was director for the films "Fly! Peek the Whale" (released in the UK in the mid 1990's), the "Magnetic Rose" segment of "Memories" and the brilliant short film "Noiseman Sound Insect". Probably the biggest name other than Otomo here is Yasuomi Umetsu who is most (in)famous for his girls, guns and sex OVAs such as "Kite" and "Mezzo Forte". However he was also a very in demand character designer in the 1990's for a number of OVAs such as "Gatchaman" and "Casshan". His segment, "Presence", is probably the most beloved of all by fans. One of only two segments with any dialogue, it follows the story of a family fan who secretly builds a human like girl, but then rejects her when she becomes too human. It’s quite thought provoking, sad and even a little creepy at points.

While most of the films in the film are mostly experimental, they have a certain look to them which is very much like anime of that period. But Mao Lamdo's odd "Could" sticks out like a sore thumb. Based on his own picture book, "Snow and the Young Boy", the entire segment is nearly all black and white and mostly focuses on a young robot boy walking along while clouds and wild weather swirl behind him. The film is meant to be allegory of the history of humankind. Most reviewers seem to find this segment the most boring, which is fair enough. While it really doesn't seem to belong in this group of shorts at all and would probably work better as a separate animation aimed at the arthouse crowd rather, I found it rather interesting even if I didn’t get the subtext upon the first viewing. "Deprive" by Hideotoshi Ohmori is also one not liked by fans. However I don't mind this segment. The passing of time has aged it substantially, but I guess I'm sucker for 1980's animation, and this segment pretty much has all of the stereotypical elements of sci-fi anime of the mid 1980's. More liked however is Takashi Nakamura's " Chicken Man and Red Neck", based upon the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from Disney's "Fantasia". Anime fans would be familiar with Nakamura's works such as "Fantastic Children" and "A Tree of Palme", both of which he created, designed and directed.

My own personal guilty pleasure and favourite from this film would have to be the "Star Light Angel" segment. This was directed by Hiroyuki Kitazume who at the time was most famous for being the character designer for "Gundam ZZ". In fact the two-timing boyfriend of the two female leads looks an awful lot like Char Aznable. Apparently there a few of cameos of characters he designed for other anime in the segment, however the only one I picked up was the incredibly blatant Tetsuo Shima and Akira cameo (from "Akira", obviously not designed by Kitazume), who walk right up to the camera. According to the soundtrack liner notes, the segment is inspired by A-ha's "Take on Me" music video. Though I think it's much cheesier than that. It's so 1980's and so happy, fun and bursting full of colour. Rounding out the collection is "Strange Tales of Meiji Machine Culture: Westerner's Invasion " which supposedly a parody of WWII propaganda films of the 1940's. Like most of the directors here, Hiroyuki Kitakubo who directed the segment, has had quite an amazing carer. He helped with animation on "Urusei Yatsura" when he was only 15, was director on the first OVA in the infamous "Cream Lemon" series, and directed "Blood: the Last Vampire" and "Roujin Z". Another big name, Yoshiyuki Sadamato (of Evangelion fame) provides the character designs for the segment. Besides "Presence", this is the only other segment to include dialogue. Streamline, who produced the English dub, were criticised by some fans who claimed that the accents for the Japanese characters were slightly racist.

The quality of the production on all segments is quite amazing for a direct to video production. Almost all of the shots in each segment are animated at 24 frames per second, the same as big budget Disney films. In most anime you're lucky if you get 8 frames per second of animation. Almost every shot is incredibly fluid and detailed. The subject matter, while reasonable commercial for most of its length, isn't exactly what you'd equate with box office success especially when you view the entire film from start to finish. A lot of the films are rather abstract and even quite arty. You have to wonder why and how this film got the green light. However projects such as this weren't so uncommon in the 1980's. Films such as "Angel's Egg", "Labyrinth Tales (aka Manie-Manie or Neo Tokyo)" and others were being made and sat alongside more commercial fare. The entire soundtrack for the film is also a highlight. Joe Hisaishi, who has scored all of Hayao Miyazaki's films, wrote the music for all of the segments except "Cloud". Though all synthesiser based, the music is quite amazing and fits all of the pieces quite well and gives the entire film a coherency.

While the old Streamline pictures versions had some segments reordered (according to Carl Macek this was due to the fact there would be fewer reels for the US 35mm prints, something which he never explained until 2010, the changed order baffling anime fans for years). That version also omitted some of the closing credit animation/stills (as to remove the kanji credits, the Japanese end credits do appear as a bonus on the US Laserdisc). For the first time, in English language versions at least, the Eastern Star/Discotek version restores these parts as well having proper translated English subtitles (the out of print Korean and Japanese DVD versions only had “dubtitles”).

Unlike the Korean and Japanese DVD versions, this version is anamorphic widescreen, a first for this film. The original film was shot in open matte format, but unfortunately all DVD releases have been cropped for vista format (i.e. 16:9). Actually I’m pretty amazed at how Eastern Star/Discotek has handled the video, especially as it’s been sourced from poor composite video masters. It looks pretty darn amazing considering. Unfortunately like all DVD versions so far, a small segment at the end of "Presence", where the picture fades to black and the flapping of wings can be heard for 30 seconds afterward, is missing. Not sure why this is the case. I suspect it’s an error from the original mastering of the 2001 Japanese DVD which has carried on to all other versions.

"Robot Carnival" is an amazing film from an era of Japanese animation which we will probably never see the likes of again. Even though one or two of the shorts might be of lesser quality, the film as a whole package is pretty astounding. Besides Studio 4°C's small output, there are very few experimental films or even regular anime made now days that hasn't been thoroughly market researched and has planned otaku themed merchandise as a tie in. Also the animation quality in this film is absolutely amazing, even though filming artefacts are apparent throughout the film. In 2001 when Japanese studio A.P.P.P. made its debut into the US market with the label Super Techno Arts, it sourced ideas from American anime fans about which directors it should use for a planned sequel to the original film. Unfortunately it was never realised which I think is a real shame. While the Eastern Star/Discotek version doesn’t have the 100 page booklets about the making of the film like the old Japanese and Korean DVD versions, it’s still a worthwhile purchase as the video and subtitles are far superior to those versions. 8 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: Seven series, 18 movies, five OVAs also waiting for second parts for two shows to be released before viewing them.

Video Backlog: “Super Dimension Century Orguss”

Publisher: Eastern Star (Discotek, USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles and English Dub (episodes 1 to 17 only).
Length: 35 episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 1983 - 1984
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

In the year 2062, the world is at war once more. This time it is mostly over the control of a space elevator which can cheaply and easily transport materials and people to and from Earth’s orbit. The night before the Freedom Space Corps plan an all-out attack on the space elevator, second lieutenant Kei Katsuragi is making out with one of his girlfriends, Tina, one last time. Sprung by her father, Kei makes a hasty retreat as Tina’s father chases him from the property with a shotgun. Waiting for Kei is a fellow officer in the Freedom Space Corps and friend Olson D. Verne. He drives him off to safety back to the barracks in his sidecar.

During the following day, the mission doesn’t go to plan. The original plan called for a Space/Time Oscillation Bomb to be set off to blast the space elevator into an alternate timeline to end the war. The plan is called off when the enemy swarms the area and the engineers fail to calibrate the bomb in time. The bomb is then set to self-destruct in order to be kept out of enemy hands. Kei feels frustrated at the failure of the operation and decides to set the bomb off himself. He manages to stop the bomb from self-destructing and attempts to reactivate it. However as there are no set coordinates for the bomb, it activates sending the space elevator off and the surrounding area into an unknown dimension. Worse yet is that both Olson and Kei are caught I the bomb’s blast before they have a chance to escape.

Kei is blown with his aircraft, the Bronco II, to what seems to be a alien world. He awakens inside an infirmary which he initially mistakes for a military one. Much to his shock he discovers that he is with an Emaan caravan on a ship called the Glomar. The Emaan are humanoid creatures, mostly female, with appearances very similar to humans, except for one major difference; they have tentacles that protrude from the neck and are used primarily for non-verbal communication. Even more of a shock is Kei’s introduction to Jabby, a sentient dinosaur-like creature. Kei soon learns that he hasn’t landed on an alien planet at all but seemingly time travelled. It is the Earth some 20 years after a dimensional disaster where parts of several alternate timelines and dimensions were funnelled into one causing mass chaos. As a result several cultures are forces to try to coexist together. The Emaan themselves are a kind of nomadic trading culture. While they do have a homeland, they will travel the world salvaging old machines, restoring them with their advanced technology and selling them for profit. While it may seem that the inhabitants of this patchwork Earth can generally coexist, the world they inhabit is incredibly unstable, with small parts of the world continually phasing in an out of other dimensions almost without warning.

Unfortunately for the Emaan on the Glomar, the war-like Chiram appear asking them to hand over the “Singularity”, by which they mean Kei. The Emaan are also aware of this and try to make a trade, much to the disgust of Kei. The Chiram refuse all negations and decide to take Kei by force. This is disastrous for the Emaan who know nothing of battle tactics and begin to be slaughtered by the Chiram battle machines. Kei is shocked by the lack of the Emaan’s fighting shills and takes off in his Bronco II to defend them. After dispatching most of them, and having to confront one of the Chiram pilots face to face, he is equally shocked by their tactics and way of life as he is by the apparent matter of fact way the Emaan deal with their dead. Frustrated with the perceived lack of answers from the Emaan and the situation he finds himself in, Kei unwisely decides to leave. In an attempt to avoid an attack from the Chiram, he flies into the dimensional barrier that covers the earth, some 500 meters above the ground. The barrier is like flying into an incredibly violent storm and is practically impenetrable. With his Bronco II severely damaged, he crashes to the ground.

Kei is saved by a young female Emaan called Mimsy who takes him back to the Glomar. Along with the chief of the Glomar, Shaia, the Emaan hatch a deal with Kei to stay and promise to rebuild his plane, which later rechristened as the Orguss, named after the god of war of Jabby’s race. Kei being a playboy considers this a good deal as there are plenty of young women and food. He soon finds himself being attracted to Mimsy which causes tensions with the Glomar with Mimsy due to be married to Slay. Add in the constant attacks from Emaan and Kei’s selfish nature, which at one point has him forcing Mimsy to purchase a child humanoid robot girl called Mome, an ancient relic from the Mu robotic civilisation. It’s too much, so the rest of the Emaan decide to vote on whether to let him stay or turf him off the ship. Kei is saved by the fact that the Emaan senate orders the Glomar to return to their homeland as Kei is key to returning the various dimensions to their original place. However the Glomar has to battle through attacks from the Chiram and an increasingly hostile Mu empire. All sides are after Kei and have the technology to reverse the effects of the original dimensional bomb. However all sides fear annihilation from the other side’s attempts to restore the dimensional timelines.

“Orguss” is probably most famous for being the show that replaced “Macross” in its timeslot when it finished its broadcast. That’s probably being a little bit too harsh on “Orguss”. The show pretty much had the same key staff that worked on “Macross” and in the same roles as well; Noboru Ishiguro as director, Haruhiko Mikimoto did the character designs, Kazutaka Miyatake did the mecha designs and the music was again handled by Kentaro Haneda. Many of the pieces sound like they come from an unheard “Macross” soundtrack. Like “Macross”, Studio Nue conceived the series. The one notable absence from the staff is mecha designer Shoji Kawamori. The mecha designs certainly aren’t as good as those in “Macross” (many fans attribute this to the fact Miyatake was working on “Aura Battler Dunbine” simultaneously), but what you can’t deny is the animation is far more consistent and arguably far better than all of the Korean outsourced “Macross” episodes. Another element of the show I quite liked was the opening and ending songs by American (though almost entirely sung in Japanese) Casey Rankin.

The other very “Macross” element of the show is the character Athena Henderson of the Chiram army. I don’t want to give away spoilers to the show, but I will say she looks and acts very much like Milia Fallyna Jenius. There are also a few nods to “Macross” along the way; Kei day dreams about the girls he’s left behind in his world including Minmay, Sammy and Vanessa, there’s also a quick topless shot of Misa Hayase on a Chiram monitor and markings on a box inside the Glomar seems to indicate it contains VF-1 Valkyrie parts. Noboru Ishiguro also makes an animated cameo appearance. Most of the early part of the story of “Orguss” involves the Glomar simultaneously setting up markets to trade and fighting off attacks from the Chiram who are hell bent on capturing Kei. A secondary plot line involves the relationship between Mimsy and Kei. Along the way the group goes through several trials such as being attacked by a group of barbarians on horseback. It’s not until episode 12 where things change up gear with the presence of Athena and another character from Kei’s past. Things become more desperate for the Glomar and the planet as it is revealed the disastrous position they’re in.

Certainly the story becomes far more interesting in the last arc where there is a three way battle to reverse the damage the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb has done. But it does take a long time to get there. I thought a number of episodes were a bit unnecessary. The battles are really well done for the time period, but animation is recycled many times during these sequences. Admittedly this was sort of standard practice of the time. A number of charters are also added to the story which I think really serve no purpose. For example the Mu empire robots Mome (just take out the second “M”…) and the Captain, a quite useless fighting robot the crew salvage. Having said that, it’s still a pretty good robot anime show. Apart from the really well thought out concept of various dimensions and timelines converging onto one planet, there’s the lead character Kei. It was a bit unusual to have a somewhat unlikable playboy type as the lead for the time. He is a bit of a dope and does chase after the ladies a bit too much, but over time he sort of becomes a bit of charmer and more dependable, even heroic.

The show has had a bit of chequered history in English. It was first released on a series of VHS tapes by US Renditions back in 1992, but only reached as far as episode 17 and the series of tapes were was cancelled by 1994. Luckily the show was released by in full by ImaginAsian in 2007, albeit on DVD-Rs. The series the company released were pulled when the DVD-R replicator they were using when bankrupt the following year. This version from Eastern Star/Discotek may still use the same old composite video masters that ImaginAsian used, but the subtitles are far more accurate, even though there are some grammatical errors. Somehow I’ve managed to buy all three versions of the series, though only three of the eight VHS tapes these were released. It was pretty hard to come by those tapes back in the 1990’s.

Like a lot of older anime, “Orguss” probably hasn’t stood the test of time. It is a really fun show, but I think a number of episodes don’t further the story in any way. A small number of characters (mainly the two robots) add very little to the plot other than comic relief. Despite all of its flaws (and there are many), it‘s still quite an enjoyable show. If you love Studio Nue stuff and robot shows of the era, it’s a no brainer. The series was followed up a decade later by the seriously underrated “Orguss 02” OVA which works as a standalone OVA but manages to link the end of the original series and give it all a proper ending (the ending of “Orguss” could be seen as a bit vague and unsatisfying). I’ll give “Orguss” a 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: Seven series, 18 movies, six OVAs also waiting for second parts for two shows to be released before viewing them.

Video Backlog: “Gatchaman: the Movie”

Publisher: Sentai Filmworks (USA)
Format: Region A Blu-ray, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 110 minutes
Production Date: 1978
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

A strange alien entity called Leader X lands his needle-like space craft somewhere in the Himalayan Mountains. There he takes what seems to be two human embryos to create a mutant called Berg Katse, whom he will use to create an organisation to take control of the planet. Some 30 years later, around the year 2000, a huge turtle shaped robot called Turtle King attacks and destroys a uranium facility. At a meeting of the International Science Organization (ISO) the delegates of the world’s countries discus this new threat. All are baffled at the identity of the new threat to world peace. Except for the top scientist at ISO, Dr Kozaburo Nambu, who surprises the gathered delegates by naming the secret organisation behind the attacks; Galactor. He further stuns the delegates by announcing that a special team of five young people, the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, has been formed in order to defeat Galactor.

As Dr Nambu is advising the delegates at the ISO of these developments, Gatchaman; Ken the Eagle, Joe the Condor, Jun the Swan, Jinpei the Swallow and Ryu the Owl, are hot on the trail of Turtle King in their God Phoenix craft. Hot-headed Joe is frustrated that their orders are to follow but not destroy the Turtle King. Realising that the Turtle King is headed towards a city, most likely to destroy it, leader Ken decides to sabotage the machine from inside. He takes along Jun and both of them take out as many Galactor agents as possible and then direct Ryu to fly the God Phoenix inside the Turtle King. However the commander of the Turtle King has seen through their plans and surrounds Gatchaman with hundreds of agents who fire on the team. But Gatchaman defeat the agents and the commander abandons ship in an escape craft. It seems Gatchaman has won, but Galactor turn off the Turtle King’s propulsion system causing it plummet towards earth before they can make their escape. Ken is forced to make the decision to use the firebird technique to escape. This is involves the God Phoenix seemingly transforming into a fiery bird, but causes immense stress on the ship and its crew. Using the technique Gatchaman escape the Turtle King before it hits the ground and kill the escaping commander in the process.

Afterwards Dr Nambu is visited by a scientist from the country Hontwall. The scientist advises him that the Galactor will initiate the V2 plan; that is to force the Van Allen belt to descend so that radiation covers the Earth. The scientist suggests that the Earth should surrender to Galactor which raises suspicions in Dr Nambu’s mind that the scientist isn’t who he says he is. The scientist reveals himself to be Berg Katse and repeats the ultimatum before making his escape. Dr Nambu orders Ken to team up with the leader of the mysterious agent team Red Impulse in order to infiltrate the country of Hontwall. It is believed that the country’s defence minister has teamed up with Galactor in a plot to bring down the president. Red Impulse has been searching for evidence for this for a decade without success. Ken and the leader of Red Impulse manage to break into the defence minister’s mansion but are unsuccessful in blowing opening a large safe suspected of containing the evidence they need to take action against the minister. Later Galactor raid the president’s compound and take over Hontwall.

Back in their hometown, the Gatchaman team take a break at a café run and owned by Jun. Gunshots are heard outside and Ken is surprised to see his old friend Sabu shot on the ground.  Sabu has sustained only minor injuries and soon makes a full recovery. Sabu tells Ken that he thinks he may have found his long lost father, previously assumed to be dead, in Hontwall. Ken takes the decision to follow Sabu back to Hontwall to find his father, without letting his teammates know. However this is a trap set up by the country’s defence minister and Galactor in order to lure out Ken’s father, who they suspect of spying on Hontwall. In the meantime Galactor sets their V2 plan into motion, exploding a rocket in the stratosphere causing the Van Allen belt to descend and causing atmospheric chaos on Earth. Berg Katse give the world’s leaders an ultimatum; surrender in 24 hours or it won’t send a second rocket into the stratosphere in order to send the Van Allen belt to its original place. While the team are furious with Ken’s apparent abandonment of them in favour of finding his missing father, Dr Nambu still orders them to defeat Galactor’s plan. Unbeknownst to the team, Red Impulse have saved Ken from Galactor’s trap and have infiltrated Galactor’s secret base which is constructing rocket to correct the Van Allen belt. Ken advises the Gatchaman team of the base and Galactor’s plan is thwarted, but only after a terrible sacrifice is made to save the Earth. Galactor does not give up after this failure. They soon hatch an insane plan to destroy the Earth from within its own molten core.

This release is such a welcome surprise. Originally released in 1978, this film is mostly a compilation of the “Gatchaman” TV series from 1972 to 1974 that Sentai Filmworks previously released on BD and DVD under their previous name ADV Films. The film comprises mostly of the finale of the first arc of the TV series (episodes 51 to 53) and the amazing finale of the series (the final three episodes, 103 to 105). Around 10 minutes of the first episode is tacked onto the start to introduce the characters as well parts of episode 31 to bridge the two halves of the film together. What’s most interesting about this particular feature is the four or so minutes of new animation, mostly dealing with Leader X’s arrival on planet Earth and his creation of Berg Katse (the latter told through some rather dodgy video effects matted back onto film stock). An additional minute or two of new animation conclude the film. Also new to the film is a new score from the NHK Symphonic Orchestra, though this is limited to a couple of new pieces which are recycled a number of times in the film.

This film came at a very interesting time in Japanese sci-fi and animation production. The “Yamato Boom” had begun two or so years prior and seemingly had no end in sight. As a result anime fandom had taken its very first steps. “Star Wars” also appeared in Japanese cinemas that year, though local studios had already taken advantage of the film’s delayed Japanese release and produced and released their own cheapie rip-offs. You also had Sandy Frank releasing his own version of “Gatchaman” in the west (as “Battle of the Planets”). It makes sense that animation studio Tatsunoko would throw its hat into the ring and have a go as well. Apart from resurrecting the franchise via this compilation film, they also created a new TV series at the same time; the highly inferior sequel “Gatchaman II”.

So how does the film fare? I’ve constantly said on this blog that I am no fan of the compilation anime film. Yet again this film has not changed my mind about them. And yet again the problem here is much of the plot and character development has been discarded in order to keep the story moving. Right from the start there’s problems. The 10 minutes edited from the first episode is meant to introduce the characters, but of course there’s barely any time to do that. The sub plot of Ken and his father is handled really well I admit, however in the second half of the film things get really messy. A highly important plot line involving an illness of one of the Gatchaman team members (trying not to give away spoilers here) is botched. The character in question keeps seeing flashes of light due to a brain injury and this becomes rather debilitating. However this is not explained at all in the film. The edited film gives the incorrect impression that the character is blinded by a spotlight and is easily captured, which is totally out of character for that particular team member. It is also implied that the injury was caused by a fall which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense within the context of the film. I wish Tatsunoko had expanded the film by another 10 minutes just to fill in some of the narrative gaps.

The highlight of the film is of course the new animation. It totals about four or five minutes which includes the end credits. The new animation is of interest to most fans because it explains how Leader X and Berg Katse came to be. A post script also has Dr Nambu in voice over questioning the existence and origins of Leader X, which I thought was a bit too philosophical and out of character for Dr Nambu. Is this new material worth the price of the disc? I think it’s up to the individual. If you’re a rabid “Gatchaman” fan, yes, casual fans, maybe no. Bizarrely Sentai Filmworks have produced an English dub for this film. Considering the amount of TV series they haven’t commissioned dubs for, this seems a little odd. However they did re-release the original TV series on BD, so they must know something about the sales of the TV series when ADV released it on DVD. In Japan the film hasn’t been issued on BD as far as I’m aware. In fact the film was only available on DVD via mail order as a bonus to people who collected the TV series discs some 15 years ago. The Sentai disc contains no extras which isn’t all that surprising.

For a compilation movie, it’s a bit of mess at times, however it’s fun most of the time and for me the new animation was very interesting. The plot with the Van Allen belt is kind of silly when you stop to think about it for a second, and the animation has aged. However it probably was the best animation on Japanese TV at the time. You can see the love and attention Tatsunoko poured over the series in every frame of the show. That said, this a bit of an average compilation film and unfortunately reminds you how much better the TV series was. 6.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: Eight series, 18 movies, six OVAs also waiting for second parts for two shows to be released before viewing them.

Updates and Other Stuff

Just been on a three week trip to Japan. I hope to do some posts on my trips over the years to to the country, but in the meantime here's a teaser;

It is an amazingly beautiful country at times, once you get outside the big cities that is. Also I find that cities and towns outside metropolitan Tokyo to be far friendlier and nicer, especially the ones in the Kansai region.

2015 has been a bit of shitty year for me; bouts of mental illness as well as many weeks off work because of various physical illnesses. There's also been the disintegration of my workplace (in terms of staff numbers and general unhappiness among the remaining employees) and my family situation isn't going too well. Regardless, I plow on most of the time.

Anyway I hope to do a lot more reviews over the next few weeks plus post some other stuff I want to talk about. We'll see what pans out.