"The best teams come in fives"

The Golden Age Of Anime

I started watching anime back when Astroboy was first imported to the United States in the early 1960's. There was a visual sensibility and emotional depth to anime that I sensed immediately, and which set shows like Astroboy apart from all the other kiddie fare being broadcast at the time. I'll never forget sitting on the living room floor watching the adventures of Astroboy and Dr. Elefun as they battled robots and technology gone mad.

A year or two later I was watching Marine Boy, Speed Racer and Kimba The White Lion. Kimba displayed an emotional depth and sophistication well beyond anything else for kids on TV at the time. In many episodes, Kimba dealt with many deep philosophical and personal problems that would be way above the heads of kids today.

Battle Of The Planets

In 1978 I got hooked on a Japanese import called "Battle Of The Planets". Llittle did I realize at the time that this series was a reworking of the popular Gatchaman series. The stylized bird costumes worn by the "ninja science team" were visually striking and the whole science team concept made for a very cool series. Unfortunately the American version felt obligated to insert a pair of cute but annoying robots (Star Wars had been released only a year earlier and cute robots were in vogue). Also, battle Of The Planets sent the Gatchaman team to other planets, whereas the original Japanese characters were strictly earthbound.

Allthough purists will (justifiably) spit on Battle Of The Planets, I will always cherish my weekday summer afternoons in the cool of my parent's basement watching Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny and Keyop battle evil.

The Myazaki Era

In the 1980's, anime titles started to trickle into the states as the genre gained something of a cult following. A friend of mine reintroduced me to the state of the anime art with the films of Myazaki.(Castle Cagliostro, Laputa The Castle In The Sky) and some non-Myazaki titles like Iczer, Vampire Hunter D, Nausica In The Valley Of The Winds, Wings Over Honeamis, Robot Carnival, Megazone 23, Gundam and Bubblegum Crisis.

Amuzingly enough Myazaki also tried his hand at Monkey Punch's Lupin III with Castle Cagliostro. This has also been released on DVD and looks quite good.

Bubblegum Crisis deserves special note as perhaps the best cyberpunk anime' series made. The techno/pop soundtracks are excellent by themselves. Only eight episodes were made, and although the animation is crude by today's standards, the stories, action and overall look and feel hold up well.

At Katsucon in 1990 they showed Myazaki's utterly charming Tonari No Totoro. Kiki's Delivery Service followed soon after. By 1995 or thereabouts I was watching Giant Robo on laserdisk at the anime' parties of a friend. Giant Robo reminds me so much of the kind of visual lunacy that made Astroboy so much fun. By this time anime was achieving a technical and narrative sophistication that made even Disney's best animated movies look cheap.

Speaking of Disney, those guys must be utterly envious because by now they've realized that anime has a hip and popular styling that they just can't compete with. As a result, Disney has cleverly become the distributor for several anime films, but so what.... they can't become the American distributor for everything that comes out of Japan. And rightly so too. Disney has arrogantly considered itself to be the best animation house in the world, when in fact they're playing a sad game of follow the leader to more creative and innovative studios.

What I'm Watching Today

Its now the 21st Century and many titles are being released to the mainstream on DVD, which means I now own the Bubblegum Crisis series at home in glorious digital format. Time was when to watch good anime, you needed a friend in Japan who would video tape then in the original Japanese and mail the tapes to you. Later, many good titles appeared on laserdisc. It's ashame that today's youth are being corrupted by such dreck as "Pokimon", "Yugio" and "Dragonball Z". Junk compared to the old school classics.

So what am I collecting today? I've recently completed my collection of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Sherlock Hound, Last Exile and am collected selected Chobits disks. I've also committed to collecting the entire seasons of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Giant Robo (never thought I'd see that one on DVD), Battle Of The Planets and all the Myazaki titles. I already own Laputa and Totoro and at a local anime convention I purchased Porco Roso, Nausicaa and The Cat Returns. Whispers Of The Heart should be released this year and I'll likely pick this one up too.

Lastly, "Panda-Z", a wonderful series of silent shorts will be released by Bandai this year. The flood of anime titles shows no sign of letting up either, a win for fans!