ANI-MOVIES, *Robot Carnival

One of the first full-length anime anthology films, Robot Carnival came out in 1987 at the dawn of cyberpunk anime. Rounded out by the APPP studio, which had previously done the first Project A-Ko installment, this production was several segments done by 8 different animators., each one done with the theme of robots or other mechanized creations.

The opening and closing segment was a comedic wraparound by Katsuhiro Otomo, about a year before his the premiere of the Akira motion picture. Set in an alien desert, unsuspecting poor townsfolk are crushed and attacked under the huge tank treads of the titular "Robot Carnival", a large mobile platform with dancing alien maidens and destructive fireworks, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake.

The second segment is Franken's Gears by Koji Morimoto who founded Studio 4C. A mad scientist creates a large hulking mismatched robot who mocks his makers movements, which unfortunately collapses on the old man, killing him.

Star Light Angel is a more shoujo-type short by Gundam character designer Hiroyuki Kitazume. Two girls spend the day at a robot-themed amusement parks, where one of them turns out to be dating the other's boyfriend. The distraught damsel goes through a nightmarish roller coaster where she is attacked by a giant mecha, but gets rescued by a noble bishounen robot.

Presence is one of the only two portions with actual dialogue, and was animated by Yasuomi Umetsu, most known for creating Kite. A family man secretly creates his own lovely teenage android, but becomes shocked when she shows signs of actual thinking. Scared at what this might mean, he demolishes his fembot, but is later visited by the robot's spirit as his own personal Grim Reaper.

Deprive is a strait up action movie trailer by director Hidetoshi Ōmori, which seems like a more macho version of Star Light Angel. Earth is assaulted by alien robots, and a lone cybernetic soldier goes to rescue his true love from the evil overlords. Very much done in the spirit of anime like Casshan.

The most enigmatic one of all the features is Cloud by Manabu Ohashi. Here, a robot boy carries on wandering, all while the history of mankind plays on the background. This was done in a sketchy technique, making it seem like a series of single illustrations.

A Tale of Two Robots is a steampunk farce of giant robot anime by Hiroyuki Kitakubo, who went on to do the original Blood: The Last Vampire movie. In late 1800s Japan, an egotistical genius creates a large mecha to take attack the citizens, but his plans are thwarted by five teenagers with attitude and their mobile parade float.

The last installment is Nightmare by Takashi Nakamura, who had plenty of experience with TV hits like Yatterman. A mystic but mechanized entity starts creating robotic monsters, all being orchestrated by his scarlet-caped herald. A drunken businessman who passed out during the takeover awakens to be chased around town on his scooter by the manhunter machines.

Robot Carnival is a pinnacle in the history of anime creation. The various takes on the standard subject matter of robots shows how imaginative different animators can be, taking it to different genres like fantasy, romance, and horror. The film was first put out dubbed by Streamline Pictures on VHS, but wouldn't be finally put on Blu-Ray and streaming decades later under Discotek's mission to revive retro anime. Assemble this perfect package film for a mind blowing experience!