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Column by Scott Green

Miyazaki On TCM

Turn classic Movies will be showing the works of master animator Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli on Thursday nights throughout January, starting the fifth.

The following is a complete schedule for TCM's January spotlight on Hayao Miyazaki, featuring introductions by John Lasseter:
Thursday, Jan. 5
8 p.m. Spirited Away (2002 - English-language version) - This wondrous fantasy tells the story of Chihiro, a lonely young girl trapped in a strange world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious and frightening transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and return her family to the outside world. Voices for the English-language track, directed by John Lasseter, include Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, Michael Chiklis, Lauren Holly and John Ratzenberger.
10:15 p.m. Princess Mononoke (1997 - English-language version) - Inflicted with a deadly curse, a young warrior named Ashitaka sets out to the westward forests in search of a cure that will save his life. Once there, he becomes inextricably entangled in a bitter battle that matches a proud clan of industrious humans against the forest's animal gods, led by the brave Princess Mononoke. At the time of its release, this stirring adventure earned more money at the Japanese box office than any other movie in history. The English-language track features the voices of Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Jada Pinkett Smith and Billy Bob Thornton.
1 a.m. Spirited Away (2002 - Japanese-language version)
3:15 a.m. Princess Mononoke (1997 - Japanese-language version)

Thursday, Jan. 12
8 p.m. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 - English-language version) - A thousand years after a global war, a seaside kingdom remains one of the few areas still populated. But the people are engaged in a constant struggle with powerful insects who guard a poisonous jungle that is rapidly spreading across the earth.
10 p.m. Castle in the Sky (1986 - English-language version) - This high-flying journey begins when a young mining apprentice finds a girl wearing a glowing pendant. Together they discover they are both searching for the legendary floating castle Laputa. Standing in their way, however, are air pirates and secret agents.
12:15 a.m. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 - Japanese-language version)
2:15 a.m. Castle in the Sky (1986 - Japanese-language version)

Thursday, Jan. 19
8 p.m. My Neighbor Totoro (1988 - English-language version) - Two young girls living in rural Japan find befriend Totoro, a giant furry forest spirit, in this gentle and infectious adventure. This was the first Miyazaki film to receive a wide release in the United States.
9:30 p.m. Porco Rosso (1992 - English-language version) - Porco Rossa is a valiant World War I flying ace whose face has been transformed into that of a pig by a mysterious spell. After he infiltrates a band of sky pirates with his aerial heroics, the pirates hire a rival pilot to get rid of him, who also just happens to be Porco's rival for the affections of the beautiful Gina.
11:15 p.m. Whisper of the Heart (1995 - English-language version) - Miyazaki-san wrote this tale of a young girl who finds that every book she checks out from the library has also been checked out by a mysterious boy. Whisper of the Heart was directed by Yoshifumo Kondo, who served as animator on Princess Mononoke.
1:15 a.m. My Neighbor Totoro (1988 - Japanese-language version)
2:45 a.m. Porco Rosso (1992 - Japanese-language version)
4:30 a.m. Whisper of the Heart (1995 - Japanese-language version)

Thursday, Jan. 26
8 p.m. Only Yesterday (1991 - Japanese-language version only) - Isao Takahata directed and Miyazaki-san executive-produced this tale of a woman who travels the Japanese countryside reminiscing about her childhood.
10:15 p.m. Pom Poko (1994 - English-language version) - This tale from director Isao Takahta and executive-produced by Miyazaki-san tells the story of a colony of raccoons who are being forced from their homes by local development. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. They practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are able to appear human.
12:30 a.m. Only Yesterday (1991 - Japanese-language version)
2:45 a.m. Pom Poko (1994 - Japanese-language version)

An accompanying contest can be entered here

Ghibli on Earthsea

Ghibli World points on an interview Yomiuri Online had with Toshio Suzuki, producer of Studio Ghibli's adapation of Earthsea story Gedo Senki, which will be directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son Goro Miyazaki. A translation can be read here and here

The interview mentions that Goro Miyazaki will be directing the movie because of the advancing years of the studio's two stars, Hayao Miyazaki (65) and Isao Takahata(70), leading to worries about them taking the studio with them as their careers end.

Goro Miyazaki started on story board meetings as early as 2003, and his work impressed the likes of Evangelion creator/director Hideaki Anno.

Ghibli World also has images from Ghibli new and older short films here.

Spotlight: Oh My Goddess

Kosuke Fujishima's Oh My Goddess or Ah My Goddess has been around for a while now. About a decade ago, in the late 90's, it was the series to show the anime uninitiated to prove that the medium wasn't just Akira, Transformers and Urotsukidoji. Since then, anime stopped translating to "violent porn cartoons" in the general consciousness, and Oh My Goddess' star faded a bit, becoming a classic a quieter part of the canon in its anime incarnation, and one of the few manga titles that just seems to have been running forever. Now, with the new television series released by Anime Works, and the reformatted manga from Dark Horse, its time for a well deserved resurrection.

It's a story as old as popularized anime, with clear roots in folklore. Normal guy meets beautiful goddess through almost comically preordained circumstances. Fate again steps in and the two begin coinhabitating some residence. Goddess' family/friends show up at the residence too. Hilarity/drama ensues. This telling of the story is supremely sentimental and safe, but it is one you can't go wrong with either. The ability to dislike Oh My Goddess is a seldom found personality trait. It takes a great force of cynicism to disregard the on screen/page bond. There's something in the quirky closeness of the characters, who just seem perfect together and legitimately care about each-other, that its hard not to get onto a positive wavelength when watching them. Fujishima sucks you in with attractive designs and likable, even lovable characters.

In terms of setup, shows like Chobits are a fair comparison in terms of appeal. Though Oh My Goddess is decidedly monogamous, "harem" shows like Love Hina are similarly open for comparison. Coming a bit before the bulk of the popular anime/manga works to utilize this story format Oh My Goddess probably deserves some credit/blame for the magical girlfriend relationship story the last couples decades of anime/manga. (Rumiko Takashi's Urusei Yatsuru certainly came before it, and there seems to be some Bewitched/I Dream of Genie influences).

Many harem and magical girlfriend series are better labeled relationship comedies than romantic comedies. Male/female relationship are at the center of event,s but between the accidental groping and stories that end soon after the couple admit to each-other that there's mutual attraction, where's the romance for the characters or for the viewers? Alternatively, Oh My Goddess is decidedly a romantic comedy. The characters are always thinking of each-other, and there's a tangible chemistry on the manga page or anime screen.

Some incarnations of Oh My Goddess can get complex (the 200 chapters/over thirty collected volumes manga for example is always approachable, but gets slightly crowded), but at its core, its the love story of college student Keiichi and goddess Belldandy. Like his creator Kosuke Fujishima, Keiichi is a bit of a mechanical geek. He's attending the Nekomi Institute of Technology and living in a men's dorm with fellow members of the motor club. Being a freshman, and not the most assertive guy, Keiichi is left behind to watch the place and answer the phone while his dorm mates go out celebrating. Depending on which version of the series, and how long gag needed to be extended, Keiichi either attempts to order food or forward a call and accidentally dials the phone number for The Goddess Technical Help Line (or again, depending on the translation Goddess Relief Office or Goddess Hotline, "The Goddess Technical Help Line" is a more amusing fit with the god-world hierarchy, more on this later). A beautiful woman with cascading hair, bizarre facial markings, exotic jewelry and a strange shawl/robe materializes through a mirror and introduces herself as the goddess Belldandy. She explains that she can grant Keiichi one wish. Thinking it's a put-on, and of his problems with girls, which he blames of his height, he wishes for Belldandy to be with him forever.

To Keiichi's shock, Belldandy floats up, beams shoot out of her head, and the wish is granted. Where upon the dorm mates arrive home, discover Keiihci with a girl, and though these guys are generally portrayed as emphatic heterosexuals (well, maybe not always), they eject him from the building on the ground of its men only rule.

After some disastrous attempts to find new living space arrangements, Keiichi and Belldandy eventually take up residence in a temple (abandoned, or Belldandy's divinity sends the priest packing depending on the version). They quickly set up house, and cooking and cleaning might not be Belldandy's official domain, but she proves to be almost literally a domestic goddess. I(f you want to psychoanalyze Oh My Goddess, Belldandy's marked elegance and homebody, caretaker mind spell mother-complex.)

Various other cast members are introduced, but the most significant are their eventual co-residents, Belldandy's Norse Norn based family, older sister Urd, and younger sister Skuld. Urd's dark and sexy, fancying herself as a bit of love goddess. She's more likely to use magic and witchcraft than her sisters and she's the mischief making wild girl. Skuld's the child-cute one of the three, but she's hot tempered and stubborn. Skuld's also a techie and inventor.

Like many examples of this genre, Oh My Goddess walks the shonen/shoujo line. It's clearly a shonen, male aimed series. The original anthology to publish the work is a tip off (it's Afternoon, which also carries Blade of the Immortal, Blame, and Gunsmith Cats). As is that many of the women are gorgeous, and the guys are either regular looking (Keiichi), or designed with an eye towards humor. More subtly, there's how it handles attraction from the opposite sex towards the leads. If someone falls for Belldandy, its a quick infatuation based on her beauty. It's a plot point or gag. If someone falls for Keiichi, the attraction needs to be explored and developed.

There are conceits of a plot in which shmoe who wins a beautiful girl thanks to the dictates of fate that potentially distance the characters from the viewers. While Keiichi is the every-man without being a complete loser (failure isn't a substantial aspect of the character), he is prone to a bit of annoying whininess. Belldandy is accused by some observers of being a bit of a door mat. She has personality, its composed, caring and by archetype non-challenging one, without her own, individual ambitions. This translates to her role as a support for Keiichi and a reciprocator for affection. She can be painfully non-threatening and scores little for feminism. At times, the degree to which Belldandy's personality is idealized threatens to make the series a guilty pleasure.

Despite that the series targets a male audience it does borrow some of the relationship story telling techniques of shoujo. The relationship between Keiichi and Belldandy is the central beam of the series. All the other jokes and plot lines hang off it. And, despite these irritants of a half competent leading man, and a over supporting leading woman, it's a sweet romance. As a refreshing change from what has come to be expected, there's no manufactured ambiguity about who cares about who. The pair demonstrate that they care about each-other, and make an effort to work through the mundane, and hugely not mundane problems that beset their monogamous relationship. The bond makes for a charming relationship that invites the viewer to invest in establishing a sentimental connection.

Over the years Fujishima has become an in demand character designer, being brought into prestige projects like building the video game franchise Sakura Wars. There isn't one specific piece that makes up Fujishima's trademark look, but an over all summation of clarity and quality. Figures that are idealized without being sexual caricatures, balanced with wide faces and expressive eyes for an effect that is gorgeous, but human and approachable. Fujishima's attention to how elements fit together is staggering. The goddesses' hair is long and impossibly complex, but there's composition in the parts, bangs and cowlicks that makes Fujishima special . Keeping it consistent must be an immense chore, but one with amazing results. You can derive pleasure from the series just looking at his illustrations. Even when the characters are agitated, you can step back and pick out a tranquil humor in their design.

A the series progressed. a cute mythology was built up around the goddesses. Rival demons were introduced. Goddesses gained power sources to reinvigorate them while on Earth (ice-cream for Skuld, alcohol for Urd). Later chapters revealed that there's another aspect to the goddess' being known as an angel, that watches over them and amplifies their abilities. The world of the goddesses was revealed to be an extra-dimensional realm built around string theory physics. They're licensed by a department of motor-vehicles like system, and organized along the lines of an IT department a system admin (Urd) debugger (Skuld) and help desk (Belldandy).
Part of the cascade of elements was a necessity, filling in new material because the direction of the franchise is not to retread or over-extend the same material for too long.

One of creator's Kosuke Fujishima specialties is mechanics, real, imagined and a mixture of both. Like Keiichi, the creator is a motor enthusiast, and the passion informs the stories and the design. There's plenty of tinkering and hobby racing with attention to details and plausible design. Skuld adds an element of unreal tech to the equations. Her inventions don't crowd the series , but there are plenty of robots, odd bombs and the like. Fujishima tech looks tends to be very clean, but it always looks at least partially functional.

Three of the four anime adaptations were directed by Gohda Hiroaki. From the the first adaptation he seemed keenly award of what makes the characters work, and how to establish a connection between the viewer of the anime and the characters. The results are anime that's resoundingly funny and sweet.

Part of the Oh My Goddess cult has been the popularity of the three goddess' voice actresses. Kikuko Inoue (Chitose of Chobits, Kasumi in Ranma 1/2, recently Mercedes in Gonkoutsou and plenty of lady-like characters in between) as Bellbandy, Yumi Touma (Lodoss War's Deedlit, Yui of Fushigi Yuugi, Emma in Victorian Romance Emma) as Urd and Aya Hisakawa(Sailor Mercery, Yoko in Devil Hunter Yoko, Alisa in Nuku Nuku, Nyamo in Azumanga Daioh, Yuki in Fruits Basket, Kerberos in Card Captor Sakura) like the ramna 1/2 actresses released a number of CDs sung in character as the Goddess Family Club. You can tell by the sampling of mentioned titles, their credits skew towards slightly older anime, but that they've stayed in the business of voicing popular anime characters

Oh! My Goddess has been a resilient survivor in the notoriously fickle field of anime popularity. Great 90's hits like Nadesico, Slayers and El Hazard have gone away and not come back. Ah! My Goddess ignores the trend. There have been longer continuous runs, but maybe only Gundam has done a better job of going dormant then resurfacing. The longevity probably owes credit to a continually run manga to dip back into, and that the manga didn't always have to be an engrossing read. Looking at the characters is often enough to derive enjoyment from Oh My Goddess.

Ah! My Goddess versus Oh My Goddess!

The Japanese name for the work is "Aa! Megamisama!". A purist will tell you Ah! My Goddess is a better translations and Kosuke Fujishima originally agreed. However, when the "oh my god" word play was explained to him, he decided that "Oh My Goddess!" did capture the correct sentiment. While the discussion can be brought into the larger territory of intent versus literalism translation debate, in this case its easiest to leave it as a matter of preference.

Anime Spotlight: Ah! My Goddess (TV)
volumes 1 and 2

Released by Media Blaster's Anime Works

In 2005, after animating the work in fits and samples, the production capabilities of the medium hit the mark of where it was able to get the characters looking the way they need to look on a budget and time to have enough space to roll out a substantial portion of the mythology. It's the Ah! My Goddess that fans were waiting for.

The first two volumes are close adaptations of the early manga, cutting out material in some spots, adding material in others and using a design and sensibility from the manga's matured stages. As with all the anime adaptations, it captures the characters exactly, but there's an attention in the directing that adds dimension to them. There's a hint of complexity in Belldandy's eyes, that makes her a little difficult to read. It's a take on Belldandy in which she doesn't always seem quite as naive as she acts. More that her disposition holds a saintly patience, with a wisdom that allows her to humor the people around her.

The new anime series works to make Keiichi more deserving of his miraculous fortunes. There's a fairy-tale set up in which Keiichi does unrewarded good deeds before meeting Belldandy, and after they relationship is initiated he tries to make her happy. Keiichi auto-club mates as always make Keiichi's life difficult, but there's a comradeship in the senior-junior relationship that's fun to watch. The series even has fun with the antagonistic characters, and makes an effort to humanize them. Any work that is going to have people react with only mild incredulity when a woman passes out every time enka music is played isn't exactly attempting realism, but the Ah My Goddess TV series work hard to keep the characters and their reactions of a fairly believable level. The requisite magic wildness is present, but the series also find humor in simple domestic moments, like picking up tea cups from a dollar store.

The TV series might not be as purely spectacular as the Ah My Goddess, nor is it expected to be, but does animate the characters' design for all they're worth. It's not skimping on details.Anime is seldom this pretty. It's able to move and flow with the characters ornate look in an even, fluid manner and not overly conscious manner. In you appreciate the design in the manga, you'll find nothing to complain about in this anime adapation.

Despite any affection the couple likely earned, by the end of the second volume, the series is in need of direction. The couple has begun suffer a case of happy family syndrome. Keiichi cares deeply for Belldandy. Belldandy cares deeply for Keiichi. Both have admitted this. Everything else is just noise. The people trying to cause them problems, or who have inadvertently caused them problems, are irritants rather than threats.

Anime Spotlight: Ah! My Goddess: The Movie

Released by Geneon (older copies will list Pioneer)

Produced in 2000, the chief appeals of the Ah! My Goddess movie where a top quality rendering of the still popular Goddesses and the chance to see characters that hadn't previously made it into the anime (mostly Peorth, a fourth goddess with a personality that mixes traits of the initial three). To that extent, the movie succeeded wildly. The feature is in full possession of the qualities and flaws endemic in anime movies, apart for the rare, brilliant ones. It looks breathtaking. The plot and pacing are terribly stunted.

Like many anime movies, especially the property based movies, a big, out from nowhere threat enters the scene, and the heros must respond with something big and equally out of left field. Inventing a story arc and compressing it into a movie's run time rarely works in these anime franchise movies. In this case, there's no real attempt to work around the problem that there's no tension (we know nothing irreparable will happen to the characters) and that similar events have played out before.

The look of the movie is stunning. In additions to the goddesses in their mundane, godly and battle suit outfits the movie is able to show a smart use of visual diversity complexity that's elegant rather than out of hand. Its moves perfectly between the slightly other worldly vibrance of the goddesses as they interact with the human world and the majesty of their look when operating on their own plane. This is is designed to leave an impression, and it does. While transposing the manga's design to the new medium in full force, it also lays out an offering of impressive new design. The opening scene of a woman with aquatic features moving through the lunar atmosphere to a gate, which she unlocks through a noh like mask is a pretty example of animation to just drink in. It is slightly and appropriate alien to the traditional look, but it's perfect in moving the qualities of Ah My Goddess design to a new library of features.

The Adventures of Mini-Goddess

Released by Geneon (older copies will list Pioneer)

The 1998 Adventures of Mini-Goddess is a lesser Oh My Goddess in all senses, but still fun. The short episode gag comedy, not directed by Gohda Hiroaki, appeared as part of the Anime Complex anthology. It featured super deformed (cute redesigns with exaggerated head to body ratios) of Urd and Skuld and occasionally Belldandy who, along with a talking rat named Gan, go on mini-adventures within the shrine. The work is occasionally inspired: in its pop culture references, such as brilliantly strange Berserk take-off; in its brand of inane oddity, such as when the Skuld and Urd marry off Gan to a tea kettle; or occasionally its in artistry, such as a non-speaking episode of Urd on a rainy day, which was an interesting use of tone and perspective.. Mostly its trying to fit jokes into the half standard-length format. Some times the fit works, other times the premise is either abrupt or over extended. The demon Marla leading rat terrorists to siege a skuld invention locked refrigerator is far too extended to lead to a punch line that refrigerator held a cooling dessert to be shared with everyone, while a game show episode extended itself by playing a song with the entire previously seen episode played through, fast forwarded in a small window.

As would be expected from the Goddess cast, the characters are charming, but like many of these short episode anime series, watching a number of episodes in a row is a chore. The choppy parade of opening and ending sandwiched blocks stops being fun. Despite the merits of the work, it isn't the type of anime you can consume even a volume of in one sitting.

A surpassingly large quantity of the series was made (four volumes worth), and the quality episodes are distributed rather evenly throughout.

Anime Spotlight:Oh My Goddess! (OAV)
volumes 1 and 2

released by AnimEigo

The first anime adaptation of Oh My Goddess came in 1991 when the direct to video OAV format was still pumping out quick sampled adaptations of manga series. The format is still around, and seems to be doing better than it was in the early part of the decade, but there have been markedly less since the years when Japan's economy was peaking.

The apocrypha relates that Oh My Goddess was initially adapted into an OAV rather than a TV series despite the manga's popularity because a TV series' per episode budget could not do justice to the manga's rendering of Belldandy's hair. Regardless if this is true, the OAV prove to be a perfect execution of the concept in five episodes. One episode to introduce the Keiichi and Belldandy situation. Two to explore their work of goddesses and techie college students. Two final episodes for a story to pull the elements together and deliver a tear jerker.

Rarely is anime paced as well as it is in the Oh My Goddess OAV. Gohda Hiroaki is able to capture the essence of what makes the characters special in a quick amount of time, without rushing. For example. a few simple, well constructed scenes of Skuld chasing around and hammer whacking bunny/spider system "bugs", a few of her crayon sketched Skuld-version imagination scenes, and a few reaction shots and the character is perfectly established. Without overdoing these, it is able to accomplish plenty in brief amounts of time, constructing episode that are both complex and deceptively leisurely.

Despite only knowing the characters for three episodes (if the OAV is the only version you've seen), their emotional pain in the final two episodes, conveyed without weeping and hysterics, is some of the most communicatively acute in anime. The harshness in the way that the universe has turned against them and their isolation in small physical divides is heart breaking. It payoff builds Oh My Goddess as a rewarding romance, and in the end of the five episode, the pair has truly earned their happiness

The English dub for the Oh My Goddess comes from the era in localization when when anime dubs were notoriously haphazard. Oh My Goddess on the other hand was dubbed by Coastal Carolina, whose work is still a template for good English dubs. With character being the key to the series, the dub is successful because they actors flawlessly portray the roles as characters rather than single dimensional jokes. It still stands with the quality dub work found today.

Oh! My Goddess Volume 1

Released by Dark Horse Comics

Created in 1988, the first volume of Oh My Goddess documents a success in its infant state. Other than the high concept, little is as it became by the time that Goddess became a hit. The characters are less convincing. There's less of an ensemble nature. There's a lot of broader humor and more overt, less character driven sexual suggestiveness. The tone of the nudity and panty flashes is alien to what Oh My Goddess became. There's an inventiveness, but it hadn't gelled yet.

What's most noticeable is that Fujishima's design is miles from where it will go. The creator himself has been embarrassed by some of his earlier designs (particularly Oh! My Goddess' predecessor You're Under Arrest). Belldandy has a strange 80's pop singer look, with clothes that are more outlandish than exotic. Keiichi is textbook messy haired loser material, who's always making goofy expression. It's memorable design with passable technical work, but comic creators, if anyone ever tells you your design needs work, check out the progression in Fujishima's. Yes, some of it undoubtedly has to do with uncredited assistants (the fuel of successful manga), but the character design evolved from being prone to unintentionally funny proportions to elegantly complex marvels. Almost as a sign that the creator doesn't have the affection for the characters he'll eventually build, there are far more characters who aren't just funny looking, but ugly by design to be found here than there will be later in the series. Alternatively, Keiichi sister Megumi is a particular misfire in these early chapters. She is supposed to be cute and a bit tom-boy-ish. Instead, her mop of hair, extra large eyes and button nose combine to leave the impression of a muppet dog.

This isn't to say that early Oh My Goddess manga is a complete mess, more that its mostly unexceptional in the light of what's currently available in manga. Its the goofy male lead, hot girlfriends standards that's plastered all of the medium, without the look and character dynamic that imbued the franchise with its addictive charm. Oddly its the slightly annoying characters that shine in the volume, the older student thug techies from the motor club that throw Keiichi out and generally act as irritants. Here's a few characters that are different, a large Osaka stereotype motor-head that's just about the alpha in a geek fraternity, and his sidekick, a large leather and chain clad biker-fan with piston earrings. There's a clever payoff in the volume that you might notice that in the first chapter, bucking Japanese tradition, the biker wears boots into the house, which later comes back as a joke in a chapter that focuses on him.

A number of these stories haven't, and probably will never be adapted into anime. The manga features an extended search for living space that goes for some easy humor, such as a sequence with an obsessive anime geek (amusing in that it features a laser disc player). The reoccurring characters are used well from the inception, but the jokes the stories are built around are uneven, and not always well thought out.

Dark Horse has begun re-releasing a second edition version of the series, along with the newly translated volumes in the now familiar format: right to left, 5" x 7". It's $10.95, but there's also a few color pages.

The opening episodes of the new TV series and the first volume of the manga cover much of the same material. Comparing the two is a fun opportunity to examine evolution and retroactive redesign. It's not just that the aesthetic was modernized and that the later redefined designs of goddesses were used, or that the build out mythology was brought into the story earlier, but that the tone that's kinder to the cast and less severe with the humor is brought to the earlier stories.

Anime Preview: Super Dimensional Fortress Macross

To be released by ADV Films
Based on English dub of episodes 1-3

Macross starts on Earth, ten years after the 1999 crash of an enormous, unmanned alien craft into a small island. The event leads to a war of unification after which a single UN headed world government begins rebuilding the alien ship, and reverse engineering its technology. As the newly commissioned SDF-1 Macross begun it launch into space, Earth and the Zentraedi armada stumbled onto each-other. One of anime's grandest space operas ensues. The idea that an island nation whose unique economy was built around developing advanced technology swept up, literally, into a sci-fi war, is the first in a host of interesting aspects of an 80's animated epic that has aged well.

Macross tends to get more credit for its historical significance and nostalgia value than from its quality. In North America, it was one of the highlights of the 80's mecha invasion as a third of what was edited into Robotech. In Japan, most of the important design aspects had already been seen in Go Nagai or Leiji Matsumoto's works, but it was still significant in shaping or popularizing the conventions of mecha anime.

What seems to have been forgotten, or for some audiences, not known, is what an aggressively intriguing and creative space opera it was. There are a number of elements, especially its use of scale, that still play as fresh. There's never been an over-abundance of good, large sci-fi stories like Macross. The hallmark of Macross is well designed transforming fighter jets are always watchable, but they're all over the genre. What will really capture the mind of a sci-fi enthusiast is the range and quality of the design. Designed by Kazutaka Miyatake and Shoji Kawamori, the interplay of capital ships and piloted mecha fighters, along with all the support pieces (gravity control pods, weapons systems, ect), the results are the size variations and complexity you'd want from an animated space war.

The strangeness of the alien adversaries is a strong asset. The Zentraedi are not just giant humanoids, but giant humanoids piloting their own mecha, biped pods with gun turrets and rocket launch pads. With capital ships that look like deep sea creatures. From their shocking introduction, they're the kind of complexly organized and armed mix of menace and intrigue you want to see humanity fighting against for an interesting conflict.

Macross' ambition doesn't quite reach the depth of Gundam's. The history and iceberg effect of all the facts below the surface in Gundam isn't as prevalent in Macross, but for most viewers, the ones who aren't going to read the supplementary material, a comparably shallower pool of information can be and in this case is a benefit. There are plenty of elaborate technical and social systems in Macross to unwind, and enough happening on the screen that its nice not to have to track down external sources of information. With lighter politics and less sameness, its also a more fun series than Gundam. After all, this series virtually introduced the anime idol singer.

Somewhat forgivable or quaint because of its age, the series does rely on a number of annoying genre traditions. There's a young hot shot hero storms the scene and, despite a rocky start, already has the makings of a talent that will show up ace veterans. Similarly of majority of the SDF-1's command staff are women, and for the most part they're portrayed as competent to exceptional, but they do occasionally have to play the Bridge Bunnies role where upon they act stereotypically like women rather than military officers.

ADV has put together the first English dub of the original Macross form of the work (as opposed to the edited together Robotech). As would be expected, its far closer to the original intent. The haves have their original names. Even Mari Iijima, the multilingual pop singer who gained not as the Japanese voice of young idol singer character Minmay returns to voice the character in the new English dub. Fans of Robotech will notice some shifts in the characters. Roy Focker is a bit less inclined to be a mentor, he more abrasive and competitive. Those he's a veteran of a war that happened several years ago and he hits on 15 year old Minmay , which doesn't speak too well of this version of the character. The dub is also of the quality fans have to expect. Incidental voices are better than Robotechs. Most of the arbitrary strange accents are missing.

Logo Thanks Redux

There are a few people who offered their help on the column logo who I'd like to thank now (I delay the note until after the holidays): Alex 'Musashi' Mayo of Yellow Menace Daniel Gordon of Studios Inc Robert Kirckof of Rising Dragon and web comic Sentimental Horde

Samurai 7 on IFC and Animania

Anime News Network and Wizard's Anime Insider, report the recent sci-fi anime adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, Samurai 7, released domestically by FUNimation will air on VOOM's Animania starting March first, and later that month of IFC's "Samurai Saturdays" block.

Bandai Visual USA Launches Site

Bandai Visual (not to be confused with Bandai Entertainment, who releases the Gundam series), has launched their site. The page includes information about their upcoming prestige releases of the hard sci-fi police mecha movies based on Patlabor.

Kristine Sa Preview

Singer Kristine Sa, who recently performed anime themes in Animetoonz 3 has posted a preview mp3 of new single "I Got What U Want" on her site here

Science of Cute

Ars Technica has an article about the scientific investigation of cuteness and how part of naturals Darwinian survival instincts is being picked up by business for marking such properties as anime.

New Fist of the North Star Trailer

Twitch points out that a trailer for the upcoming Fist of the North Star movie, based on the Hokuto no Ken - Raoh Gaiden Junai-hen Arc, and the first part of the Hokuto no Ken - Shin Kyseishu Densetsu (Fist of the North Star - New Saviour Legend) trilogy is online here. The movie is scheduled to be released in March.

Manga in Japan

C.B. Cebulski blog recently featured some interesting tidbits about manga running in Japan. Blade of the Immortal's Hiroaki Samura has started a new manga called "Bradharley (sp?) no Basha" which is being serialized in the Erotics F anthology, The adult themed period piece features an English girl in the world of hardcore bondage and S&M. Cebulski comments that Kitoh (Shadow Star) Mohiro and Shou (Madara) Tajima are also regular contributors to the anthology.

In conjunction with the upcoming GONZO anime adapation of American comic Witchblade, a manga series is being produced by Kazuasa Sumita (not work safe).

Kia Asamiya's (Nadesico, Silent Mobius) health has been improving, and is back at working on Junk's monthly installments, which Cebulksi mentions will be available in English in the US in 2006. Asamiya's Kanojo No Carrera is also running bi-weekly.

According to the blog, expect to see some of Square-Enix's manga titles popping up in English in 2006 as well.

More Samura From Dark Horse

Love Manga heard back from Dark Horse editor Philip Simon about future publication of Hiroaki Samura material.

In brief, Samura’s "100 Most Important Characters in Blade of the Immortal" will not be published in the US for a while, until the tory line is caught up from where it appeared in the Japanese release release of the series. Format issues are being considered.

They've looked into publishing Samura's Emerald story, but Samura wants to explore his "Western World" universe a bit more before allowing them to be collected and/or translated.

Ohikkoshi will probably be released in fall 2006.

Dark Horse Talks GITS Novels

DH Press will be releasing prose novel by Junichi Fujisaku Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-The Lost Memory on April 12th for $8.98

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-The Lost Memory is written. It arrives on sale April 12 with a retail price of $8.95.

The Stand Alone Complex T.V. series and novels are based on the mythos of Shirow Masamune manga classics Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2 Man-Machine Interface.

Since being formed as a shadow peacekeeping organization within the government, Section 9 has faced almost countless adversaries both in the real world and in cyberspace, but none like "The Awakened," a group of terrorists who seem to have the ability to take over the minds and bodies of almost anyone and use them to commit crimes against the state, leaving their pawns unaware of who was controlling them. When Major Motoko Kusanagi is able to capture one of the boys used as a pawn she hacks into his cyberbrain to find out who the ringleader is, but what she discovers will take her and the operatives of Section 9 on a journey deep into the heart of cyberspace, and the answers she finds will shake Section 9 to its core.

World Animation

From Twitch A trailer of the Hong Kong animated Storm Riders, based on the mega-hit comic series which was previously adapted into live action, is online here

"Arthur En Vrai! - Le Dessin Anime" (Arthur In Truth! The Animated Drawing), a 12 minute animated film from France by the production team, Grigri Production has trailers here. A reader responded, clarifing that the work is in conjunction with a TV personality' one man show.

Samurai Indy Comics

A preview of Imprints Studios' Screaming Samurai has been posted online here. The story is set to appear in Counter Culture Comics #2.