ANI-MOVIES, *Inu-Oh

Hideo Furukawa wrote a novel about a true feudal Noh dancer called Inu-Oh. Science Saru made this into a rock opera in 2021. Much about Inu-Oh’s life was unknown, so the book and the film took several liberties with his history.

A boy named Tomona is blinded when his father finds an ancient sword and spends years training to become a biwa player. He comes across a deformed lad who calls himself Inu-Oh, the cursed son of a Noh performer. Tomona discovers that Inu-Oh is haunted by the spirits of deceased soldiers who want their stories to be told, so the two of them put together the equivalent of a rock concert with theatrics telling one of the deceased warriors’ tales which slowly help Inu-Oh become more human. They gain great success, but the newly formed government forces them to tell only stories that meet their approval. This leads to Tomona being slain for rebelling with Inu-Oh waiting 600 years to find his old friend’s spirit.

Inu-Oh is an insane musical which you will need to watch in Japanese with subtitles to understand them. The Noh performance merged with biwa music is the equivalent of a Queen concert. Masaaki Yuasa of Devilman Crybaby fame directed this madcap animation feast for the eyes that has a rocking soundtrack and picturesque visuals.

R.I.P., James Tolkan. A true Master of the Universe

ANI-MOVIES, *Animalympics

In what could be the first American animated compilation movie, Animalympics was originally supposed to be a pair of TV specials done for the 1980 Summer and Winter Olympics. The winter one aired and received a few awards, but because Jimmy Carter boycotted the summer games after an incident with Russia, the second special never aired. It was aired during the next Olympic games on cable TV but this time as a single film, which is strange because they had summer and winter sports in the same place at the same time. Directed by Steven Lisberger who would go on to create Disney’s Tron franchise, this was animated by his own production company. The film works well enough as a collected edition, although the entire film is collage of sketches done that you would normally catch in one of those old Tex Avery cartoons where the entire thing is like a newsreel, even though stretching that out to 78 minutes might be pushing a little. The film had a gaggle of actors with Gilda Radner doing most of the female characters, future Mr. Burns voice Harry Shearer, Billy Crystal doing his best Howard Cosell impression, and audiophile Michael Fremer doing at least half the cast. Much of animation is reminiscent of Looney Tunes and some of the Goofy cartoons that spoofed sports documentaries. A good portion of the film is padded out with musical numbers, some of which are dream sequences or trippy scenes to get high with.

The entire plot is really a telecast of the first ever Animalympics from Animalympics Island which was originally the lost city of Atlantis. There are no humans in this reality, just anthropomorphic animals that managed to live together in peace before Zootopia even got out of the stable. The network covering this is ZOO with several different reporters and news anchors. Some of the athletes have a whole story behind them like a dog skier getting lost in a Shangri-La type land in the mountains, plus a daring bird countess who wins a fencing match. The one segment that gets the most attention is a marathon that goes on for several days between a French goat and an African lioness who run together over the finish line after falling in love with each other. There are jabs at pop culture of the time like disco which aged badly when the movie finally released, plus some of the characters were analogs of celebrities like John Travolta or Muhammad Ali that were dated.

The film was a launching pad for future animators including Brad Bird of The Iron Giant, Roger Allers of The Lion King, plus Bill Kroyer who joined Disney to do the CGI effects for Tron. Most of the humor is lost on younger viewers even in the 80s since it was mostly written during the late 70s. The soundtrack is slightly memorable, but the entire film is random vignettes tied together like an episode of Wild World Of Sports, so the attention span on any real plot is as sporadic as a roller coaster off the rails. Animalympics is more of a great study case for young enterprising animators than an entertaining theatrical production, although it did awaken the furry fetish for a whole generation.

The Maxx Animated: A Sam Kieth Tribute

The dearly departed Sam Kieth started out as the co-creator of DC’s Sandman comic for their Vertigo line, plus artwork for Epicurus The Sage from DC’s Piranha Press. Afterwards, he signed up with the freshly founded Image Comics made up of former Marvel artists like Rob Liefeld to add to their new Wildstorm line up made of various superheroes like Wildcats. Adding to this same universe was Kieth’s own original character, The Maxx, which started out as semi-monthly series in 1993.

Meanwhile, MTV was just beginning to come up with its own original animated programming following the success of their anthology series Liquid Television which spawned off a pair of shows, Aeon Flux, plus none other than Beavis And Butthead. They expanded with a new show titled MTV’s Oddities in 1995 which was originally intended to be an anthology featuring two separate titles, one of which was The Head created by Daria director Eric Fogel which went on to have its own series and became the first animated series that got a graphic novel conclusion after the original show was cancelled. The other title on Oddities was The Maxx based on the comic book, and the plan was to play one 10-minute episode of each title in a half-hour time slot but was instead split into showing the entire run of The Head followed by The Maxx which finished out the series in a single season.

Sam Kieth came up with the idea of a homeless superhero, even though Image Comics already had a similar character in Spawn by Todd McFarlane who not only got his own animated series on HBO but also a live-action movie. The Maxx stands out though as he wears a purple costume, a color that most superheroes stay away from. This is possibly meant as an homage to The Phantom as when Maxx isn’t fighting crime in the city, he’s caught in a dreamscape where he believes he’s a jungle king in a savage land called the Outback. This wild country is inhabited by another hero named the Leopard Queen, but she’s really Julie Winters, a freelance social worker who is constantly being called in to bail Maxx out of jail for his vigilante antics. Civilians don’t seem to regard Maxx’s appearance as anything of note as spandex-clad superheroes are commonplace in the Wildstorm Universe. Aside from the purple duds, Maxx sports a mask that gives the appearance of a row of teeth, plus both of his middle fingers are a huge claw that are nearly invulnerable that he can cut with like Wolverine. Conveniently, Sam Kieth went on to draw a few Wolverine comics. Maxx keeps flipping between reality and the Outback which it turns out is Julie’s dream world that she created after being raped, and Maxx is trapped in this cycle because Julie accidently imprinted her spirit animal on to him. All this is going on while a serial murderer named Mr. Gone is plaguing the city who happens to know what is really going on with Maxx and Julie, and he enforces his evil plans with a horde of carnivorous beasts called the Isz who act as Mr. Gone’s snickering minions.

The entire 13-episode run covered only the first 11 issues of The Maxx comic book along with a few specials. Since The Maxx takes place in the Image Comics reality, various other characters make guest appearances like Pitt or Savage Dragon who for the cartoon had to be replaced by original characters to avoid licensing hassles. The actual comic went on for a full 35 issues, so the TV series only covers the first third of the original run.

The show was directed by Gregg Vanzo and animated by his company Rough Draft Studios which went on to handle Futurama. Rough Draft would be one of the first studios to utilize digital and hand-drawn animation when producing The Maxx. Each episode is almost a motion comic taking artwork from the original comic issue that goes from panel-to-panel plus long panning shots featuring multiple panels in the same way a reader would scroll down a comic page. The animation would sporadically change for each scene, sometimes with generic 2D drawing, to CGI, and even live action. The animators saved a ton of money by showing as little movement as possible including lip flaps which works great for Maxx as he’s always masked, although this helps brings in the viewer even more because the dialogue was one of the most intriguing parts.

The cast would give each character their own distinct presence. The Maxx was played by the late Michael Haley who made the delusional homeless hero talk in a standard normal voice which really grounded Maxx as a believable character trapped between worlds. Singer Glynnis Talken was Julie and her take on the comics damsel was of someone trying to get their life together after a horrific incident while still being blissfully unaware of how her dreams are affecting the lives of others. The single best of all was Barry Stickler as Mr. Gone who is a charismatic over-the-top villain who completely revels in his nefarious deeds and takes great pleasure at being the only one who seems to have all the answers, even though he keeps getting his head cut off whenever he tries to explain the truth behind the mystery.

The Maxx gained a cult following during its broadcast which received a compilation movie on VHS that left out a decent amount of material from the series. Amazon would later release all 13 episodes on DVD along with a recap episode and other bonus features. Prior to the TV series, there was an awesome radio drama covering the first 4 episodes put out on audiotape. The Maxx character has also gone on to have various crossovers with Batman and Gen13. The animated series itself is also available digitally on Prime Video.

Sam Kieth went on to have a masterful career in comics working on titles like Lobo, Hulk, and Spider-Man. He created a few Maxx spinoffs, as well as the mini-series of Zero Girl. One other thing he did most people are unaware of is that he co-wrote the pilot for the Cartoon Network series Cow And Chicken which was created by his cousin David Feiss. Kieth unfortunately passed away from Lewy body dementia, but The Maxx TV series went on to be his most notable effort since he worked so closely with the studio animating it. The Maxx is a memory box of psychological 90s nostalgia that is just begging to be open for new viewers.

ANI-MOVIES: *The Secret Of NIMH

Aurora Productions started out by former Disney executives and their first project was done with former Disney animator Don Bluth who had also left the company at around the same time to form his own studio. Bluth worked on classics like Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, and The Rescuers, but took a few other animators from the Mouse House and put together their first project titled Banjo The Woodpile Cat that was released through Fox. Eventually, they got their first feature-length production through MGM based on the book by Robert O’Brien that was rebranded for theaters as The Secret Of NIMH. This came out in the same year of E.T. and was referred to as the “E.T. of animation” even though its not sci-fi, but instead a fantasy adventure with common field mice and other rural animals. The film had a star-studded cast with Elizabeth Hartman in her last role as the brave Mrs. Brisby, plus Dom DeLuise, John Carridine, and Wil Wheaton. This movie has stood out as being one of the greatest animated outings of the 80s and was praised by audiences and critics during Disney’s decline before they leveled up with The Little Mermaid starting their renaissance.

Taking place in a forest near a farm, Mrs. Brisby is a widowed mother left to care for her four children after the death of her husband Jonathon. Timothy is her youngest son and is sick with pneumonia which is poorly timed as the whole family needs to move out of their endangered cinderblock home in the fields with the farmer plans to plow through there. After seeing her family friend Mr. Ages, an old mouse that knew her husband, who tells her Timothy can’t be moved while he is ill. Mrs. Brisby befriends a chatty crow named Jeremy who she saves from the farmer’s colossal cat Dragon, and later flies her to see the oracular Great Owl for advice. The Owl tells her to get the rats living underneath the farm to help movie her house with Timothy still in it. The rats turn out to be escaped animals from the National Institute for Mental Health along with Mr. Ages, and that Jonathon was the one who helped free them. All the rats have enhanced intelligence because of the experiments that NIMH subjected them to and led by the wise old Nicodemus, but a scheming rat Jenner uses the opportunity of the rats moving the Brisby home to kill and usurp him. There’s some unexplained magical connection to a stone Nicodemus gave Mrs. Brisby and she uses it to move her hound in an almost biblical effort. The Brisby family is saved, and the rats move away from the farm before NIMH can find them.

The Secret Of NIMH is one of the first times in American cinematic history that an animated movie was able to truly compete with Disney. Don Bluth Studio went on to even greater success with their LD video game Dragon’s Lair, plus teaming up with Steven Spielberg to make a pair of films, An American Tail as well as The Land Before Time. Bluth experienced varying levels of up and down with his future projects which eventually folded with the release of Titan A.E., Bluth would cross swords with Disney over the years having his films being released at the same time as some of their films, plus his falling out with Spielberg didn’t help. Despite how often he faced bankruptcy, Don Bluth initially created probably his single most enduring title of The Secret Of NIMH which wasn’t just a family flick as it had dark and dangerous elements which helped change the course of fantasy films in the years to come.

ANI-MOVIES, *The Swan Princess

Richard Rich was not the similarly named comic character, but an ex-Disney animator who formed his own studio in 1986 called Crest Entertainment. Most people know them nowadays as the original animators behind Alpha And Omega which spawned off several sequels even after they closed their doors in 2013. One of their earlier productions was inspired by Peter Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake titled The Swan Princess directed by Richard Rich. This was released in theaters by New Line Cinemas to little applause, however its home video release gained the film greater praise which led to franchise consisting of a dozen movies some of which eventually were animated in CGI as opposed to their original hand-drawn style. It’s hard to say what caught the eye of audiences back then except it was back in the haze of Disney’s renaissance which was brimming with fairy tale princesses and was just used to satiate kids while their parents ignored them. Crest did a reasonable job on the animation, but there were just so many copy/pastes of Disney material that made this so wafer-thin that it’s a bland concoction of zany madcap filler material. There are too many additional supporting characters, human or animal, that the main leads are practically transparent. Not to mention that none of the songs would ever end up in anyone’s movie soundtracks playlist.

Princess Odette is raised to be forced friends with Prince Derek who both can’t stand each other until they both finally pass puberty and achieve hotness. Derek now wants to marry her, but only because she’s foxy now, so Odette disses him to end up getting kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Rothbart. Odette is now cursed to turn into a swan at Rothbart’s castle accept when the moon is out when she can change back. Odette’s animal friends help lead Derek to Rothbart’s and discover Odette’s secret, and the two of them plan to break the curse. Rothpart learns of this and plots against them with Odette dying of the curse, although she somehow survives with the curse being lifted and Derek killing the powerful warlock with a simple everyday arrow.

How this low effort production gained more sequels than most slasher flicks is one of the greatest mysteries of our time. It doesn’t contain any of the majesty of the original source material, least of all the music, and is full of buffed-out cartoon gags solely meant to cash in on Disney’s princess mojo. At least when animators like Don Bluth tried to keep up with the fairy tale theme in movies like Thumbelina there was some effort put into it, but Richard Rich’s attempt is a disgrace to Tchaikovsky’s legacy with infinitely contrived cliches and a limited budget that only kicks in for Odette’s magical girl transformations.

R.I.P., Sam Kieth.

 

ANI-MOVIES, *The Snow Queen

Way before Frozen, one of the earliest feature-animated movies to tell Hans Christian Andersen's tale was done in 1957 directed by Russian animator Lev Atamanov. Only a few others of Atamanov's works have been released in English, but this particular one has had four separate dubs, the first one of which was in 1959 that was also the first full-length animated movie released from Universal Pictures which is quite the stretch considering it took came out during the Cold War. This is one of the classic movies that helped influence Hayao Miyazaki which is also one of the few to be inducted to the Ghibli Museum Library. The original dub of this had a special live-action piece at the beginning of it with Art Linkletter celebrating Christmas even though it's well known that The Snow Queen is not a holiday story. The 1959 release had voice over icons like Paul Frees and June Foray, plus other actors like Sandra Dee and Tommy Kirk. Atamanov did implement rotoscoping into the film's production, and the fluid movements of the characters made you actually care about them and feel the despair that most of them face. Quite a few reviewers preferred Atamanov's adaptation over the original Andersen story as it was considered more coherent, possibly due to the fact that there was a Jiminy Cricket substitute shoved into the film to act as the narrator, a small elf called Dreamy who claims to be Andersen's muse.

Kai and Gerda are neighbors and very much in love with each other even though they are barely in their tweens. After hearing a story about the mystical Snow Queen who brings about winter, Kai jokingly says he would melt her which ticks off the actual Snow Queen to no end, so she makes Kai's heart cold as ice and takes him her ice castle far away. Gerda goes on a journey to reclaim her boyfriend and runs into all manner of obstacles such as a well-meaning witch, a generous prince and princess, talking ravens, and highway robbers. After being kidnapped by bandits, Gerda is added to the menagerie of animals of the thief girl Angel who after hearing Gerda goings on about her quest has a change of heart sending her away on a talking reindeer. Gerda eventually gets to the Snow Queen's pad and just tells the frosty femme to blow off since its now spring. Kai and Gerda head back home free of the Snow Queen's cougar tendencies.

The Snow Queen is one of the most impressive hand-drawn animated movies ever made, although the 1959 release which is the only one usually available does have some footage missing and much of the darker scenes are hard to make out leaving you longing to watch one of the restored editions. The 1959 version is charming in its own way and even added some of its own original musical numbers, but if you want to enjoy its complete visual brilliance you might want to check out one of the other releases even the restored Russian edition.

Rebuild Of Evangelion Retrospective

In 1995, the studio of Gainax was planning to do its second anime TV series after Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water. Gunbuster director Hideaki Anno headed up a new project combining some elements from the latter half of Nadia and allied Gainax with Tatsunoko Production to create a new anime titled Neon Genesis Evangelion. This was intended to be a breakdown of the mecha genre as up until then it was all super robots and space operas. It also blended Christian mythology with a deep psychoanalysis of humans confronting trauma. Evangelion went on to be the most groundbreaking anime of its time, however the final two episodes seriously through audiences off, so a theatrical retelling of the conclusion called End Of Evangelion was met with better praise. Cut to a decade later, Anno decided to do a complete reboot of the franchise branded Rebuild Of Evangelion which would be a tetralogy, and Studio Khara would handle the production instead of Gainax which utilized traditional animation along with CGI that was a step up from the 90s TV production. This 4-part movie series would not be just a retelling of the original story but instead taking it in a totally different direction halfway through the saga. The Rebuild was intended to be more understandable to fans for the new millennium without having to view the original anime.

Starting with Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone in 2007, the first installment covered the first few TV episodes with a couple of new additions where Shinji Ikari is a teenager coerced to pilot a giant mecha called an Evangelion along with the lonely Rei in a post-disaster Japan which is continuously being attacked by monsters labeled as Angels and only the special organization of Nerv can stop them. Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance came out two years after that which went over much of the next quarter of the series with the introduction of Asuka and the premiere of a brand-new character, Mari who is original to the movies. Three years later, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo was released and became a full departure from the previous plot taking place 14 years later with the planet suffering the consequences for Shinji’s failed attempt to save Rei. Then, an entire nine years passed until the finale, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, was at long last shown in theaters to great success with Shinji trying to stop his father Gendo’s mad scheme to bring about the apocalypse. The lengths of each film varied, although the concluding movie was the longest of all trying to wrap up most of the loose plot threads.

Originally, Anno was just going to redo the Evangelion saga hoping it would act as a gateway for new generations to make it into the next Gundam franchise with various others eventually making their own take, but he decided to take control of the revamped anime himself with the intention of doing a modern update with another altered ending. Anno changed gears after the second movie gained notoriety with the addition of Mari to the cast, as well as his depression kicked in again after the third chapter while he was also directing Shin Godzilla and voicing the main character in Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises. Anno also had to leave Gainax and founded Studio Khara to reach his ideal vision of a new Evangelion anime. All of these factors along with the pandemic were what caused the nine-year delay of the last movie.

Many American fans experienced the movies in a sporadic manner. The first three films were dubbed by Funimation with some of the original ADV actors with their own physical release. The final movie was instead released by GKids featuring some more of the ADV cast added in which received a separate distribution from the Funimation line. Eventually, Amazon Prime streamed all four movies with a second dub of the first three movies to fit in with the fourth, and GKids released all but the third movie on DVD and Blu-Ray with the first two only being sold as limited single hard-copies. No word so far if the entire quartet will get a physical release and if it will include both dubs.

The Rebuild movies are very aloof from the original Evangelion plot as they start out like the TV show timeline, but as the story goes along, we learn that there is a multiverse, most of which the character of Kaworu is the only one aware of the fact that there are several timelines and that there is an incarnation of himself present in them. When Shinji is fighting with his father in the Anti-Universe in the end and learns of the myriads of different realities with Evas in them are a cycle like Ragnarok that has gone on numerous times. The solution to ending the cycle was removing the Evas and Angels altogether which sends Shinji to a rebuilt reality and was finally allowed to age as one other addition to the Rebuild series is that all Eva pilots are stuck physically as a teenager which is why Asuka and Mari didn’t age during the time skip between 2.0 and 3.0. However, this does not mean that the possibility of future installments of Evangelion aren’t unlikely.

The character of Mari is another major adding to the mix that jarred a few fans. The inclusion of another Eva pilot in some of the Evangelion games that also acts as a possible girlfriend for Shinji is not uncommon. Mari had no presence in first movie, a slight introduction in the second along with playing a part in that film’s final battle, she’s given little to do in the third movie, and the final one only has one scene when she is physically in the same room with Shinji and Asuka. Mari is believed to be inspired by Hideaki Mono’s real-life wife Moyoco who is also a manga creator responsible for Sugar Sugar Run, although whether she was the physical model for Mari is up in the air. Moyocco created a gag manga titled Insufficient Direction which parodies her marriage to a famous anime director which further concretes Mari’s status as a welcome character. This also added to the waifu culture where the main character has multiple love interests which had divided fans since the original TV anime.

The roulette wheel of realities that the finale presents us with informs the viewer that there are numerous outcomes where not only Shinji but much of the cast could have their own distinct conclusions. The curse that leaves the Eva pilots stuck in the body of a teenager represents how otaku and the anime industry can become stagnant when it comes to their willingness to improve themselves without relying on nostalgia. We learn that the multiverse concept means that the Rebuild movies are adjacent to the original TV series just in an alternate timeline, especially when it flashes back to scenes from End Of Evangelion. This presents a more optimistic approach where if someone who forms relationships with others does so to give something instead of gaining you will reach a better level of self-consciousness.

A large deterrent for most watching the Rebuild films one after the other is that there is a tremendous amount of lore thrown into backdrop of the plot. The original TV series delved somewhat into Christian dogma, but the Rebuild movies have more backstory than Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings combined. This is like the technical jargon used in nearly any Star Trek episode, but during the action scenes on the Eva films they demand that you have the entire fan wiki hardwired into your brain so you can pick up on every single tidbit they briefly mention like something from the Dead Sea Scrolls or alluding to some military arrangement from the Vatican which can change the viewing experience into an esoteric trivia contest.

Rebuild Of Evangelion was a grand experiment that tested the limits of the creators’ efforts plus the patients of old and new fans. The tetralogy’s prolonged theatrical run made many recognize the weak world-building, but at the same time you become aware of how Anno’s depression brought a sense of deja vu to some of his past productions like Diebuster. For some, the Rebuild films were a coming-of-age ceremony while older otaku are left with a more gratifying conclusion.

MISC. MANGA, *.Hack//Legend Of The Twilight

As part of the triple-pronged hit of the anime TV series and video games, this .Hack chapter was actually the first one to be released in Japan, or at least as part of a monthly manga publication magazine. Legend Of The Twilight is in fact a sequal to .Hack//Sign, the RPG, and the underhyped OVA, Liminality, taking place four years after the apparant threat to the virtual world of The World has passed.

Here, Shugo and his twin sister Rena have won the character avatars of original .hackers Kite and Black Rose, meaning that their online selves resemble those of the playable characters from the RPG, accept slightly younger looking. Once online, Shugo dies during a quest, but is brought back thanks to Aura, who is an AI that exists within The World's mainframe. She grants Shugo a bracelet which has the same abilities that Kite's did, accept this one can actually be seen as a real wearable item. This attracts the attention of a young rare item hunter named Mirielle, who is really the 4-year old daughter of one of the original .hackers. They also befriend an American player named Hotaru, and Ouka, a female werewolf who fights barehanded. Shugo also attracts the attention of Balmung, who was a key player in the video games, but now is a system administrator for CC Corp who runs The World. Shugo later runs into Zefie, a young AI who turns out to be Aura's "daughter". Shugo and the others then set out to find a way of reuniting Zefie with her mother, despite that fact that Zefie is selfish, pushy, and clings to Shugo like a monkey. However, the Cobalt Knight Brigade, who are an official group of player thugs for CC Corp, like a Nazi version of the Crimson Knights, learn of Zefie's existance and plan to wipe her out. After capturing Shugo and his party, they lock them up. But Zefie's abilbity to manipulate the world Neo-style allows them to escape and seek out Aura.

The manga follows a different approach than the anime based on it. In the .Hack//Legend TV series, Zefie isn't in it at all, and Shugo's party has to take on a sort of anti-Aura and her group of hacking followers from destroying The World. The manga goes on for two regular-sized volumes, and then one double-sized third volume complete with bonus chapters. Rei Izumi's artwork is great though and really brings the story to life offline. This is for real fans who've played all four video games, and seen both prior anime series. It might be a little hard for others to integrate themselves in the .Hack universe though.

ANI-MOVIES, *Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone

Since the original TV series and movies left most of the average otaku with a serious WTF taste in their mouth, director Hideaki Anno decided to do a Star Wars: Special Edition take on the Neon Genesis: Evangelion saga, except this time it's a whole remake of the story. This was the first a four-part movie series which will retell the story but add several new elements to it. Although it might not seem like it in this first film, as it's mostly a newly scripted adaptation of Eps. 1-6 of the TV series.

It begins during the 20-teens, some years after what was called the Second Impact which destroyed Antarctica by a monster classified as an Angel. This caused a large portion of the world's population to be killed, so in order to prevent a possible Third Impact a special organization called NERV is put together to protect the Second Angel called Lillith underneath an underground base in a geo-front. When a new Angel appears, NERV springs into action to prevent it from coming in contact with Lillith which could cause Third Impact and end the world. Gendo Ikari, the head of NERV, gets his unwilling son Shinji to pilot their ultimate weapon, Evangelion Unit 01. The Evas are giant mechanical humanoids that can be operated only by a select group of fourteen-year-olds. Shinji manages to take out the one Angel and starts to settle into his new life in the city of Tokyo-3 where NERV headquarters is. He moves in with the sexy captain Misato and her pet penguin, although his school life is a little harsh. The arrival of another Angel breaks Shinji in with some new friends though. As he starts to learn more about the pilot of the prototype Unit 00, the enigmatic Rei Ayanami, the next Angel attacks which proves to be more of a problem. With the combined efforts of the Japanese government and Rei's near sacrificing herself, Shinji manages to snipe the Angel's ass away. The film ends with the character of Karou(who doesn't show up in the TV series until near the end)awakening on the moon and talking to the head of SEELE, the secret cabal that actual commands NERV.

Now, this first movie seems like the other three flicks will be also just rewrites of the original story. However, the recently released second movie actually takes a very different turn with the introduction of new Eva Units and new pilots. Plus, major changes in the characters, like Asuka is now a captain, and a slightly different take on Rei's origins. The story folds out a little better in this movie than it did in the first few TV episodes, aside from no explanation given as to why Shinji got beaten up by Toji at school. However, a lot of positive factors were added to it, like Gendo's planning in advance for Rei and Shinji to develop a relationship, and the revelation of Lillith in NERV very early on which is something that unknown even to Misato until much later in the TV series. The animation is of course seriously upgraded and makes a real difference in the theatrical quality. I have the feeling that despite this film seems like a retread of the old show, that when it's compared to the other three movies after they're released it will look like a more fitting beginning to this tetralogy. But only time will tell that.

R.I.P. Masako Ikeda. The Original Maetel.

 

ANI-MOVIES, *The Adventures Of Prince Achmed (Centennial Celebration)

Lotte Reiniger directed several silent animated movies in her career, but one of the few to not have been lost to time is the oldest surviving full-length animated film, The Adventures Of Prince Achmed. This features silhouette animation which gives off the appearance of a totally black appearance of all the characters and parts of the background using cutout figures shot frame-by-frame. Reininger had already done a few shorts based on fairy tales such as Cinderella, but for this film she went above and beyond the normal scope by merging three stories from Arabian Nights into a single plot using her own personal style of animation inspired by Javanese wayang puppetry. When the film was released in 1926 it didn't get a warm reception, but when it premiered in France it was considered ahead of its time with its romantic and sometimes arousing movement plus its poetic storytelling. Considering the film didn't even have a distributor and was denied an initial theatrical release in Germany, is still managed to gain a wide reputation thanks to a privately funded screening including filmmakers like Fritz Lang. The movie went through a restoration in the late 90s which helped reinvite it to a whole new century.

An evil Sorcerer tries to win the heart of the lovely Princess Dinarzade by offering her father the Caliph a mechanical flying horse. Prince Achmed is having none of his sister marrying a shifty sorcerer and accidentally launches the horse far and away. Achmed ends up in the islands of Wak Wak ruled by the fairy queen Peri Banu who he comes across taking a bath, and unlike most chivalrous princes he ends up kidnapping her on the flying horse taking her to China. After saving Peri Banu from marrying the fool of an emperor thanks again to the Sorcerer, the genie woman returns Achmed's fondness only to be captured by the demons of Wak Wak who are cross with their lovestruck leader. Achmed gets help from a Fire Witch who is the Sorcerer's enemy and they happen to run into the young lad Aladdin who stops the plot to tell his backstory of how he found a magic lamp with multiple spirits in it to grant him wishes as he tried to marry Dinarzade. The Sorcerer stole the lamp which the rescuers need to enter the sealed off realm of Wak Wak, so the Fire Witch ultimately defeats him and reclaims the magic lamp. Achmed and his allies unleash the spirits of the lamp to repel the demon horde and save Peri Banu. They use Aladdin's enchanted castle to fly back to the Caliph's kingdom where both the Prince and Princess are wed to their soulmates.

The Adventures Of Prince Achmed is considered to be Lotte Reiniger's greatest works even at the time it was release since most of her other films are considered lost. Most filmgoers consider Disney's Snow White to be the first animated feature film, but Reiniger had Uncle Walt beat by more than a decade. This movie's influence is seriously underappreciated as both a relic of cinematic history and a visually enchanting adventure, so since it's in the public domain there are several formats to watch it on.

ANI-MOVIES: *The Story Of Hong Gil-Dong

The Story Of Hong Gil-Dong was the first full-length animated feature from South Korea. This 1967 movie was done by Seki Productions who up until then handled the Korean release of various Disney films. The film was directed by Shin Dong-heon along with his brother, Shin Dong-won who also created a comic titled Hong Gil-dong The Hero based on the 16th Century Korean novel about the country's first known superhero figure. Hong Gil-Dong was the Korean equivalent of Robin Hood but with Dragonball levels of martial arts skills. The Story Of Hong Gil-Dong was a huge success in its home country and led to Korea becoming its own small empire of successful animated movies such as The Golden Iron Man and Lightning Atom. Granted, this was before Korea became infamous for making anime knockoffs like Johnny Destiny: Space Ninja. There is no dub of this particular movie, and most streamed versions of this is subtitled with closed captions, but it is possible to find a version that doesn't just present text for what kind of music is playing in the background.

Hong Gil-Dong is the bastard son of a nobleman who fathered her with one of his concubines and the boy lives with his father in his estate. One of the royal ladies makes the nobleman think Gil-Dong will bring a prophesized doom upon their house, so he is cast out. For the next few years, Hong Gil-Dong spends his time fighting injustice at a nearby kingdom along with his newly acquired sidekick Chadol Bawi and he embarrassed the evil magistrate by beating up his entire army with his inherited noble strength. Gil-Dong then takes a few years to learn awesome sword fighting from a local wizard who teaches him how to ride on clouds similar to Goku. Afterwards, Gil-Dong joins the ranks of the rebel leader Long Beard as they plan to kill the evil magistrate. The royal minister takes offense of this and holds Gil-Dong's father and mother hostage because apparently the nobleman's adultery was public knowledge at this point. Gil-Dong along with Long Beard's forces free his parents and defy the evil minister and hopefully living ever after.

This movie has some rough animation in it reflecting on American cartoons of the 40s such as Popeye and Looney Tunes with some repetitive sequences and running cycles, but for being Korea's first big animated production it works out fairly well for a country just getting their feet wet in the industry. Even though the movie is a little over an hour long, you can tell the creators would pad it out with some of Chadol Bawi's sidekick buffoonery. You can find this on several streaming channels as well as DVD and Blu-Ray, but again your mileage will vary with the quality of subtitles.

ANI-MOVIES, *Panda And The Magic Serpent

The White Snake Enchantress was the first feature-length anime movie done entirely in color as well as Toei Animation's premiere motion picture in 1958. It was released in America under the title Panda And The Magic Serpent with one of the most questionable English dubs of all time. Even though it was a Japanese production, the original source material was inspired by one of China's Four Great Folktales which has traditionally been used as the inspiration for various operas, plus as a live-action movie by Toho two years prior to the anime. The tale has been retold so many times that it's difficult to say whether or not there is an actual antagonist in it or just a supernatural love story as it became more romanticized over the years. Panda And The Magic Serpent was officially the first anime movie to be shown in American theaters within months of two other releases, Magic Boy plus Alakazam The Great, and the dub had abnormal dialogue inserted into it with scenes sometime just using the Japanese language track while also keeping the music numbers undubbed with only the narrator translating what the lyrics were saying in a truly routine manner, which considering the original film had a cast made entirety of two actors, it becomes understandable how unprepared America was for formatting anime to English audiences, especially with the rushed pacing. A great chunk of the movie is either funny animal schtick or the two main leads fawning over each other, and the dub gives such a rapid exposition that's it's hard to clarify the plot.

Xu Xian is a young man who as a boy had a white snake for a pet. Years later, the snake is transformed into a human named Bai-Niang with miraculous powers who along with her fish-turned-lady-in-waiting Xiaoqing try to win the favor of her former owner. Xu Xian and Bai-Niang try to establish their relationship, but because of the hijinks of Xu Xian's panda and red panda sidekicks he ends imprisoned for looting the main treasury. A monk mistakes Bai-Niang for being an evil spirit, so he tries to cast her away only for her to renounce her immortality and powers to gain the Flower of Life to save Xu Xian. After some epic magical showdowns and help from the panda and his newly acquired street gang, the monk realizes that Bai-Niang is benevolent who reunites with Xu Xian making for a happy ending.

The movie's director Taiji Yabushita went on to helm several Toei animated films, and Americans will recognize the western influences in his style, especially with the anthropomorphic antics of the animal characters. Most other adaptations of The White Snake legend had a better grasp on the mythological lore whereas this anime version suffers from filling out the run time to over an hour long. If you consider yourself a pioneer in anime then Panda And The Magic Serpent is largely mandatory, although aside from its cemented place in history the film isn't a mainstay for standard otaku.

ANI-MOVIES, *The Princess And The Goblin

Even though there had already been a segment of Fractured Fairy Tales that covered the George Macdonald's novel The Princess And The Goblin, Hungarian director Jozsef Gemes and his Pannonia Film Studio did their own feature-length animated movie in 1991 produced by Welsh TV network S4C making it the first ever cartoon movie done in Wales. It got a British dub in 1992 which fit in as Disney's renaissance was chugging on well giving it some leeway since it was a princess fairy tale. The film didn't fair to well in American theaters since it was released at the same time as The Lion King and only got a minimum amount of praise because they gave away a free phone card for kids to use in an emergency. The animation for the early 90s is mildly conspicuous, but nothing all that breathtaking except possibly the unique backgrounds. The main selling point was the English cast with the late comedian Rik Mayall playing the titular goblin, although if you're a regular of British animation, you'll notice it's pretty much a copy of David Jason's original incarnation of Count Duckula with a Daffy Duck lisp, so it's sort of a waist of Mayall's talent.

Taking place in a castle near a mountain mine, Princess Irene gets lost from her guardian and cornered by some dark creatures only to be saved by the miner boy Curdie who scares the monsters away with singing. Curdie finds out there are goblins living underground near the mines and are planning on flooding them out. The goblin prince Froglip wants to capture Irene and make her his bride to get back at humans for forcing them underground years ago for not being nice, but Curdie is imprisoned by the goblins when they find him. Irene gets some help from the spirit of her great-great-grandmother who she was named after and receives a magic ring which will lead her to free Curdie due to an invisible thread. The goblins attack the castle leaving Curdie to save Irene from Froglip just as the flood intended for the mines ends up a wrecking most of the castle instead which washes all the goblins away.

The Princess And The Goblin is a serviceable movie for children with decent storytelling, just not all that gripping. The design and strange antics of the goblins are jovial enough going the route that you might not see in your average Looney Tunes, although it seems some of the animators had a bizarre fetish for the loathsome goblin queen who is the fiercest fighter out of the whole lot. There are times especially near the end when you can tell the quality of animation was slipping possibly because of budget issues. You're not really missing out on giving this particular movie a pass, so don't worry if you can't find a copy of the old VHS or the DVD release as its not regularly available on streaming.

ANI-MOVIES, *Rock & Rule

For the first full-length movie from the now defunct Nelvana Studios, the adult animated production of Rock And Rule was actually inspired by a TV short they created in 1978 titled The Devil And Daniel Mouse based on the Stephen Vincent Benet story. Clive Smith directed the original short as well as the big budget remake which premiered in 1983, even though they turned down working on the more controversial movie Heavy Metal to make their own animated rock opera. The 80s were a different time for animation as before most studios went on to making TV shows based on toys, and Disney itself was struggling to keep itself afloat as their renaissance was still a few years off, so Nelvana trying to create a mature animated production with a rock-themed soundtrack was a serious stretch for anybody at that point, even with an 8 million dollar budget. The studio was first owned by United Artists which was later incorporated into MGM who greatly receded Rock And Rule's release which led it to becoming a huge flop in theaters. MGM also reformatted the American release that added to its disappointing turnout, although the original widescreen version done for Canada was burned in a fire making the intended edition of this lost to time. MGM also added new scenes to the film along with a narrated opening crawl which made the edit chopped to pieces. Most people would remember this as being one of those bizarre films you would catch on rotation on HBO sometime on a late weekend night, but this helped the movie get enough traction for animation fans to make it a cult classic. Nelvana put a huge effort into this production helmed by their team of over 300 animators, despite the false rumors that some former legendary Disney animators worked on it and that Ralph Bakshi was also somehow involved, although the movie featured the best of the studio's fluid animation which helped them gain the respect of George Lucus as they went on to work on the first animated Star Wars productions. The main draw for the movie was the musicians that were signed to provide the soundtrack such as Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop which helped make some of the music numbers seem like their own 80s music video. The cast was split up into having some actors for the Canadian version only to have them being replaced in the American dub, but the best of them all was the main villain performed by Don Francks who most will know as the original voice of Boba Fett and the first Sabretooth from the X-Men 90s series, plus there was also a small appearance by Catherine O'Hara. All the work Nelvana put into this was flushed away due to MGM's meddling, however the movie did manage to gain a new audience with its various physical releases including VHS, LD, DVD, and Blu-Ray.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth where all the humans were killed off in a nuclear war and the rodents evolved to take their place, Mok is the most popular singer in the world with a reputation for using actual magic in his acts, but since some of his last few concerts weren't completely sold out. Like all disgruntled rock stars, instead of going into a drug-induced depression, Mok decides to summon a demon from another dimension to become popular again. The only way to achieve this was with a special voice, so Mok goes all over the globe looking for one, but only when he gets back to his home of Ohmtown does he find the voice in a local girl named Angel who is part of a 4-player band including her rowdy boyfriend, Omar. Angel is not willing to join Mok without the rest of her band, so Mok and his trio of goons kidnap her and take her to do a concert in New York, now called Nuke York. Omar and the rest of the band go to get her but fail, and Angel is forced to try and summon the demon. Fortunately, the demon wasn't able to manifest because of insufficient power which there is an abundancy of back in Ohmtown. Mok sets up another concert and manages to conjure up the demon, but the combined power of Angel and Omar's voices send the demon and Mok back into the darkness.

Rock And Rule broke conventional animation film standards for having even greater quality that most of the Disney movies of that era and was one of the first ones to incorporate computer animation as well. MGM's negligence in holding back promoting the movie really bit Nelvana's streak which up until then was known mostly for animated holiday specials. There was also no wide release of the movie soundtrack which is the one thing that kept Heavy Metal from its initial obscurity, even though there was a good comic book adaptation by Marvel. Rock And Rule is a trippy psychedelic ride with memorable songs and shooting from the hip humor that will leave a solid groove in your mind.

ANI-MOVIES, *Junkers Come Here

An all-ages anime movie from 1995, Junkers Come Here was a Bandai production that wasn't put out in America until 2003. Director Junichi Sato worked on this after he did the first season of the original Sailor Moon anime series. The screenplay was written by Naoto Kine who is a musician in the new wave band TM Network and based on a series that books he wrote that were eventually turned into a manga plus this anime adaptation. It is a fresh idea about a girl with a talking dog, although that's nothing to unusual for American audiences who grew up on Hanna-Barbera, however this is more a family drama as it contends with divorce and coming-of-age.

Hiromi is a troubled 11-year-old Japanese girl whose parents are always separated by their careers, although she is fortunate enough to have quirky housekeeper plus a live-in tutor, a handsome young man named Keisuke who Hiromi has a crush on. Hiromi's other salvation is her dog Junkers which is pronounced "Yoon-kers" who for some unexplained reason can talk. The audience is never given any backstory about Hiromi first found out about her pet's extraordinary ability, so we're just expected to just go with it as talking dogs are not a natural occurrence in this world. Junkers abilities seem to go even beyond talking as he claims he can grant three wishes, and whether or not this is all in Hiromi's head is up to the viewer to interpret. Hiromi's parents are talking about getting a divorce because of their conflicting schedules, so how she takes advantage of Junkers' wish-granting plays out as to the authenticity of any fantasy elements are seriously in question.

Junkers Come Here has gorgeously fluid animation with bright backgrounds, and there's even a bit near the end which appears to be heavily inspired by The Snowman. The storytelling is very slice-of-life with some supernatural spice thrown in for good measure. The dub is subpar even with Light Yagami himself, Brad Swaile, playing Keisuke, and most of the rest of the cast giving watered down performances. The movie has been released DVD by Bandai Entertainment and is available on streaming, so this would make for a somewhat charming watch for the whole family even if it's not as memorable as your average Studio Ghibli feature.

Frieren: The Story So Far

Elves in anime are not uncommon. Ever since we met the high elf Deedlit in Record Of Lodoss War, elves have been a staple in various fantasy titles, usually isekai. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End on the other hand is a genuine high fantasy with no otherworldly reincarnations or portal fiascos. Based on a manga written by Kanehito Yamada and drawn by Tsukasa Abe, Frieren focuses on a thousand-year-old elf who is one of the last of four heroes that embarked on a decade-long quest to defeat the standard demon king, who here is actually called The Demon King. The pitch is how a long-living elf gets by in the world as an obscure mage who most people have forgotten about from her past adventures, despite the fact that elves are slowly going extinct on this mystical continent and there aren’t that many other elves around to confuse her with.

An anime based on this came out in 2023 with the first season of this show going on for 28 episodes which is a few episodes longer than most first seasons. The second season recently premiered with as much buzz behind it as the previous one. The fandom that the show has developed is strong, although there is a grand deal of resistance from those who tried to talk their anime friends into it.

The most divisive thing about the series is that there is a large amount of wandering around in the first season which is what made a lot of Star Wars fans from bothering with Lord Of The Rings. After the elderly death of the heroes’ party leader Himmel, Frieren is trying to find a new purpose in her life when she’s not looking for lost grimoires to pick up new spells to help make everyday life a little easier. Many newcomers might think of the anime as being a slice of life story that happens to take place in a Dungeons And Dragons world, but if they bothered to get through the entire first season they would see there is some deep lore and character development.

World building could also be a contributing factor as to why some otaku were put off by it. There is an inordinate number of flashbacks to Frieren’s original party during their crusade, even more flashbacks than in an episode of Kung Fu. Plus, every, and I mean every character has a backstory which is fine for the regulars but for the ones that show up the one time or are just passing though, it gets more than a little repetitive. The anime is a slow burn, however if the first season is extended by several episodes and concludes with a self-contained story arc, then the patients of the average viewer are seriously tested.

The main plot has Frieren running into the last surviving members of her party, the occasionally sober priest Heiter and the sturdy dwarf Eisen, each of which has their own protege that Frieren adds to her company. She first becomes the mage teacher of Fern who is a purple-haired girl that Heiter adopted and spends a few years training in her own particular brand of folk magic. The second one to join them is Stark, Eisen’s former pupil who is a nervous but ultimately strong warrior. The trio go from the southern part of their continent to the north where the souls of the dead are said to be and Frieren hopes to see Himmel’s spirit. The problem is that this is the area originally ruled by the slayed Demon King whose forces are running amok vying for whatever territory or power they can seize, and on top of that they need to have a first class mage to proceed there, so Frieren and Fern have to spend many episodes just trying to pass improbable tests while competing against other mages also hoping to gain a license.

Along the way they run into various strangers, Frieren’s former acquaintances, and the occasional but temporary additions to their party. Taking into account all of these character’s origin stories and the bountiful flashback, the story does tend to drag on at points. Even some of the characters who show up briefly during the school test saga that we got to know the personal history of are immediately dismissed away by the judgmental elf Serie leaving you to wonder what the point of was getting to know them at all. Remember though that the series is ongoing and they might show up again to take part in some future chapter, like the only male elf Kraft briefly making a few scant scenes whose acts with another human helped motivate additional party member Sein into become an adventurer more than likely has a larger role to play in an upcoming scenario. Considering that this story spans decades, there’s also room to transform guest characters into part of the full-time cast.

As far as the quality of the show itself is concerned, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End does have consistently good 2D animation with only the occasional use of CGI. Madhouse is the studio behind the anime’s beautiful aesthetics, and this really comes through during the occasional boss battle. Season 1 director Keiichiro Saito had already proved his mettle when he did Bocchi The Rock and presented this initial installment as a revolutionary step up for a contemporary fantasy series. The soundtrack by Evan Call is also noteworthy.

The anime has customary dangling plot threads like if Fern and Stark will couple up, Frieren possibly embracing her status as the highest level mage in the land and actually stop being a big sleepyhead, Sein eventually meeting up with his old friend, where the mage exam’s winners and losers will end up, and what probable lurking evil is waiting for the party of heroes once they reach the Demon King’s castle. Like Frieren’s sturdy luggage, this anime is intended to last quite a while, although hopefully not as in an endless saga like One Piece which episode count has gone past 1000. Keep in mind that the story is still a work in progress, so as a wise wizard might’ve paraphrased, “There is no journey’s end because nothing ever ends.”

ANI-MOVIES, *The King And The Mockingbird

Similar to The Thief And The Cobbler, The King And The Mockingbird was an animated film that went unfinished for decades. Initially based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Shepherdess And The Chimney Sweep, director Paul Grimault began production of this in France in 1948, but within a few years the funds dried up, so an incomplete version of the film was released in 50s. For the next two decades Grimault was able secure ownership of the movie and add on to it along with most of his original animation crew so he would have his film fully realized and premiered it in theaters in 1980. For a production that was stretched out over generations, you can see some of the early days of cartoons influence put into it, over time however it became more distinct and hallucinatory. The movie became so well regarded that some of the founders of Studio Ghibli were inspired by it, although it didn't hurt at all that there was a huge mecha in it too. The King And The Mockingbird hasn't been given an English dub as of yet, but there was one of the incomplete edition released in 1957 under the title The Curious Adventures Of Mr. Wonderbird with Sir Peter Ustinov giving another melodramatic performance as the titular bird, and this version is in the public domain for all to enjoy.

A progressive modern kingdom is ruled over by the serendipitously named King Charles who is a tyrant that locks his unwanted subjects in a city underneath the palace and hastily dispatches any who defy him in one of the hundreds of conveniently-place trap doors he had built all over the place. One night, a painting of the King comes to life and sends King Charles down a trap never to be seen again, and the new false King takes his place as he is lusting after a beautiful shepherdess who left her own painting along with her lover, a young chimney sweep. Meanwhile, Mr. Wonderbird has a vendetta against the original king for shooting the mother of his children, so the large talking bird uses his wisdom and charismatic speaking into helping the couple escape along with the rest of the kingdom's people. The fact that the King has an entire menagerie of amusing toys to stop all who oppose him including a giant robot and cronies with working bat-winged flying suits doesn't help the innocent heroes from living under the fake King's thumb, but Wonderbird manages to gain control of the mechanized monstrosity and uses it to destroy the castle with all the former subject including the living painting couple forming a quaint new village for themselves.

The King And The Mockingbird has a surrealistic vision to it where we get to see much of the world building than we do of the characters. The beautiful craftsmanship that went into the character designs which their body language combined with the superb fairy tale backdrop blends together for a complete package considering that the film took longer to complete than nearly any other animated production. The mixing of cartoon physics of illustrations coming to life and bringing the downfall of an evil empire with advanced technology makes this one of the few fairypunk genre films ever made.

ANI-MOVIES: *Ultraman: The Adventure Begins

You might've seen Netflix's recent reboot of the Tsuburaya Productions' tokusatsu franchise, but the first time the Ultra Series was specifically animated for English audiences was in 1987 in a combined project between them and Hanna-Barbera of all people. Ultraman: The Adventure Begins was the second attempt to remake Ultraman for foreign audiences after a live-action film was made for Thailand in the 70s that created an entire licensing fiasco, but for Tsuburaya's first animation they made for outside Japan it was done by Ashi Productions and Studio Sign in a feature-length movie that was supposed to be the pilot for a TV series, although it never got picked up and the movie only got a limited release on VHS in the 90s. Recently, Mill Creek Entertainment had a Blu-Ray release of the film, but with a whole new English dub. The original dub included an all-star cast including Adrienne Barbeau and Stacy Keach Sr. along with regular animated voice actors from the 80s like Charles Adler and William Callaway. Mill Creek's release of the film has standard modern actors such as Kellen Goff and Caitlan Glass, plus for some reason there are no subtitles on the Japanese track of the Blu-Ray with no closed captioning. Originally titled in Japan as Ultraman USA, the film didn't even get released there until two years after its American premiere, but copies of it did include the first English dub, so there appears to be some sort of licensing kerfuffle between Mill Creek and Tsuburaya.

Taking place in a somewhat advanced version of the 80s similar to what you would see on GI Joe, three stunt pilots all survive an air crash caused by a spontaneous burst of light. They then get a call to come to a golf club in Georgia which is secretly the headquarters of a groundskeeper who somehow has ties to benevolent aliens and tells the pilots that they're no bonded with superpowered giants that appear when big monsters are around. Conveniently, three giant monsters happen to be running amok all over America, so the newly dubbed Ultra Force (no relation to the Malibu Comics series of the same name) take off from their new base set in Mount Rushmore with Lincoln's mouth acting as a runway. One of the monsters is a botanical nightmare while the other is an electrical abomination that the Ultra Force defeats. The last of the three monsters is really just a baby hippo-like dinosaur that the Ultra-Force send off to a peaceful planet. However, one other monster appears which begins to keep evolving every few minutes and attacks New York, which might have explained why this movie was in limbo for years as the World Trade Center is featured prominently during the kaiju rampage. The Ultra Force turn into their giant silver forms to stop the monster which gets new superpowers including phasing and cloaking until the only way to stop the kaiju is to quickly drop it into the sun before it grows to being the size of a planet. There's the hint of possible more adventures for the Ultra Force, but this was all she wrote as far as a sprawling space opera.

Tsuburaya's franchise has had better success in Japan with its various releases in English, even though most people might confuse Ultraman with SSSS Gridman which has similar character designs. The American-designed production had some prime animation incorporated into it and the Blu-Ray was given a quality release for an anime forty years old, although you're better off catching this on streaming since Mill Creek botched the hard copy, but make sure you get a bootleg Ultra Force t-shirt.

Cybersix: The First Animated Trans Superhero

In 1991, Argentinian writer Carlos Trillo and artist Meglia put together their original title of Cybersix in the pages of the Italian comics magazine Skorpio. This wasn’t an adult comic book, but was certainly not intended for younger readers, so it’s strange that 8 years later it would get turned into an American Saturday Morning cartoon show. Premiering on Fox in 1999, this 13-episode TV series was produced by the Canadian-based Network Of Animation and animated by TMS Entertainment which is the same anime studio that prior to this gave us Lupin III, The Rose Of Versailles, Cobra, Sherlock Hound, and Magic Knight Rayearth. TMS also contributed to several American productions like Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Duck Tales, Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters, Animaniacs, Little Nemo, Mighty Orbots, and Tiny Toons. The series director was Toshihiko Masuda who has worked in everything from Thundercats to Death Note, and he carried TMS’ fluid style of animation throughout the entire series. TMS regularly handles some of the animation of various American animated projects, but in Cybersix they were given much more freedom to show the world how their attention to detail and slick style shines when it puts the pedal to the metal.

The premise for Cybersix was pretty revolutionary for its time, decades ahead of the curb as far as the depiction of unconventional life choices. The main character was originally a young boy who was transformed into a cybernetic woman named Cybersix, part of a type of artificial humanoids called Cybers created by the ex-Nazi scientist Von Reichter. The criminal mastermind is constantly trying to take over the coastal town of Meridiana with his genetically engineered monsters. Von Reichter’s schemes are constantly thwarted by Cybersix who wears a dramatic outfit of black leather, a wide brimmed hat, and profoundly long cape which she uses as a parachute. Cybersix hides her nocturnal activities by taking on the identity of a high school literary teacher, and a male one at that named Adrian, so Cybersix is not only a transgender character but a cross-dresser as well.

Before the animated series came out, Cybersix had a live-action TV adaptation made for Argentinian audiences even though the title character didn’t have her eye-catching ensemble and was played by a model. The first series was quickly cancelled due to low ratings, but somewhere along the way TV developers Judy Valyi and Barry Whittaker managed to convince the production companies of three separate countries to invest in the creation of an animated series. The cartoon premiered on Fox Kids in America, Teletoon in Canada where it was dubbed, plus Kids Station in Japan. The American version was heavily edited, and not all 13 episodes were shown on Fox even though they did give it a decent enough advertising campaign. This became one of those lost 90s animated series like The Legend Of Calamity Jane which came and went within a short period of time, so it never got the kind of attention that heroes like Batman or X-Men received.

The original Argentinian comic was published in Italian and later Spanish but has never had an official English translation. The comic was an elaborately mature title with sexual situations. Cybersix was one of the only surviving test subjects of Von Reichter’s experiments called Cybers, and Von Reichter wants to claim her back. Other creations were his Datas that are similar to Cybers put in animal form, as well as the Technos which look the most human, and the most common ones are the Fixed Ideas which are hulking big thugs who carry out Von Reichter’s grunt work and resemble Frankenstein including the female ones. Whenever Cybersix defeats one of these minions, they’re reduced to a vile of green liquid which she consumes for sustenance just like a vampire which is an idea that got left out of the TV series after the first episode, otherwise you’d have a main character who kills monsters only to leech off their life energy. One of the Datas was given the brains of Cybersix’s brother who had them put into the body of a panther named Data-7 who eventually becomes her sidekick.

The original artist Carlos Meglia started out as an artist for the Skorpio magazine and then as an animator on shows like Scooby-Doo and Smurfs. He teamed up with writer Carlos Trillo on a comic titled Irish Coffee involving paranormal investigations. Trillo came up with the idea about a Nazi scientist who escaped the SS by having his brain transplanted into a different body on two separate occasions. The character designs are reflections of old pulp fiction heroes like The Shadow and Miss Fury which worked well in comparison with Batman: The Animated Series which was equally inspired by the early Fleischer Studios’ Superman cartoons. The Cybersix comic had a gratuitous amount of nudity in them which is common for a few European publications. The short-lived live-action series did help get the ball rolling on Cybersix’s progression into an American animation. TMS Entertainment did a spectacular job honoring the original comic’s style with long flowing shots in action scenes and breathtaking fight choreography. The character designs maintain that of Carlos Meglia’s original incarnations combined with TMS’ crisp animation.

Cybersix was a major attraction for those seeking transgender representation in animation as the title character was a male put into the body of a female disguised that kept the dual-identity of a male named Adrian who was befriended a man named Lucus who in turn was attracted to Cybersix, thus setting up a love triangle which is a common staple of superheroes. Lucus in the original comic was a reporter, but in the cartoon he is a science teacher that works at the same school Adrian does and the two of them are work buddies, even though Lucus finds himself going out of his way to help Cybersix on her latest case acting as the Steve Trevor to her Wonder Woman. The trans allegory came out more in the cartoon series than it did in the comic as Cybersix and Lucus’ relationship was physical as well as emotional.

Despite the lack of success of the Cybersix cartoon, the show premiered around the same time as James Cameron’s Dark Angel TV series which was also on Fox. Both creators believed that Cameron had lifted the idea for their series about a female vigilante from their source material and filed a lawsuit against, but ultimately the suit never went anywhere because they didn’t have enough money to support it. Part of the problem Cybersix had was maintaining the difference between a cartoon intended for children while still having it based on a mature comic book. Another was that the series was very formulaic with its standard Monster of the Week cliché.

Cybersix had an exceptional premise about a female superhero beating up Nazis which is one of the most time-honored traditions in comic books. It worked for Captain America, Spy Smasher, Shazam and several other Golden Age superheroes, so for that idea to be carried over into a modern-day production gives it major appeal. Nazi-punching is what superheroes do best, and having it be done by a woman is even cooler. Cybersix would normally fight Von Reichter’s latest lab experiment gone wrong with everything from werewolves, flying eyes, winged goblins, brainwashed birds, krakens, shapeshifting mud, and an entire kaiju-sized living island. Each episode had her defeating the new challenger along with her panther/brother Data-7 usually with Lucus’ assistance plus a homeless boy Julian who they never seem to get a home for. Von Reichter regularly has his youthful clone Jose carrying out his fiendish plans, although Jose sometimes has his own agenda when carrying out his father’s schemes.

The animated cast had a roster of anime dub professionals with Cathy Wesluck who most know as Shampoo from Ranma 1/2 as Cybersix. Terry Klassen, aka: Krillin is Von Reichter. Michael Dobson who portrayed Starscream in the Transformers Unicorn Trilogy was Lucus. One of the best is vocal chameleon Scott McNeil who was half of the cast of Beast Wars voiced Data-7 who despite having human intelligence communicated like any other panther would.

Cybersix gained little ground during its initial American TV run thanks to getting cancelled to early and lasting only a single episode. Thankfully, the rescue department of Discotek Media managed to put the entire series on both DVD and Blu-Ray including several bonus features including the original pilot. The fact that this was one of the earliest American cartoons that was inclusive to LGBTQ audiences should have guaranteed its place as an icon among other series like Steven Universe and The Owl House. Hopefully its underground status will peak out more as it is available free on multiple streaming formats. It’s got sweeping superhero action, romance, enthralling animation, and one of the greatest theme songs for a Saturday Morning cartoon ever made.

R.I.P., Catherine O'Hara

 

ANI-MOVIES, *The Deer King

The Deer King was originally a series of novels written by Nahoko Uehashi who had anime adaptations done of her works including Moribito and The Beast Player as episodic TV series, but this was the first time that a motion picture would try telling an entire fantasy saga in single feature-length movie. Production IG was the studio behind this 2021 release directed by former Studio Ghibli animators Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji, and their prior experience is on full display as there are major influences in this from films like Princess Mononoke of which one of the animators actually worked on. The quality of animation is up to Hayao Miyazaki standards, but what really bring it down from the reputation of a Ghibli production is bad pacing and the rush to fill in the entire novel series plot into a 114-minute-long movie.

In an alternate reality, the Zol Empire had taken over the country of Aquafa, but rebellious Aquafese wish to liberate themselves from Zol even though they have maintained peace with their conquerors a decade ago. A bizarre plague is sweeping through the land while taking the form of spiritual wolves, a bite of which causes Zolians to eventually die while the Aquafese are unaffected. In a prison mine, former resistance leader Van and an orphaned girl Yuna are the only survivors after a wolf attack. Van is one of the last of an Aquafese tribe known as the Lone Antlers and they had a special kinship with the deer of this land here called pyuika, and manages to wrangle one of his lost bucks into giving him and Yuna passage to a village of pyuika wranglers. Van seems content in this new home with Yona as his adopted daughter even if he lost his family during the Zol occupation. Meanwhile the new lord of the Aquafa is preparing for a visit from the Zolian emperor which is threatened by this virus, and a young doctor seeks out Van and Yuna as their blood might be the cure to the disease. The hunt is on now for the doctor, his eager bodyguard, and a tracker woman to locate these survivors, but Yuna is taken away by the wolves leading to Van teaming up with his unlikely allies to bring her back from the Aquafese liberators planning to use the outbreak to free their nation no matter who gets hurt along the way. Van realizes that his immunity to this virus is giving him enhanced strength and supernatural powers, but he has to suppress his emotions in order to not let it give in to rage.

The Deer King contains spectacular visual aesthetics with rolling landscapes and a very rich lore to it, however the dense lore is what prevents it from achieving any replay value. There is more than enough backstory to comprehend and several conflicting terms to keep up with. Many critics shot down the movie for its bad pacing and trying to understand the post-credits conclusion, plus there are too many comparisons to Princess Mononoke as both films are eerily similar. I'd suggest catching the film on streaming first before you decide whether or not if you want to actually add this to your library.

ANI-MOVIES, *Cosmic Princess Kaguya!

No, you are not mistaken! There was a movie titled The Tale Of Princess Kaguya released by Ghibli Films in 2013, but that and this new film, Cosmic Princess Kaguya! are both based on the monogatari about a bamboo cutter who becomes the adopted father of a child from the moon. Unlike in Over The Moon which is inspired by Chinese folklore, this one also follows the Japanese legends of the moon being a heavenly domain ruled over by divine beings. Studio Colorido finished out the third of a 3-picture deal with Netflix after Drifting Home and My Oni Girl which would all premiere on the streaming service with this movie, and the level of reality-bending they implemented in Penguin Highway is on full display in this tilt-a-whirl which is constantly switching between the real world and the online world. Similar to Belle and Summer Wars, this takes place in the soon-to-be future with slightly more advanced technology where VR is a commonplace, however like Belle this movie is also a musical at least in the slightest sense with the occasional number that is intended as a performance and not a plot-halting song that gives way to a miniature music video. The soundtrack was scored by some of the Vocaloid producers of numerous J-Pop bands, so the songs are more like an impromptu concert than a musical scene that adds to the storyline. After being in production for 3 years, Studio Colorido drove a lot of online culture into this movie, even though this can drag on with the runtime of 142 minutes, not to mention the multiple endings that were tacked on like you're playing a visual novel instead of watching a movie. A good thing is that this is one of the most sapphic anime movies ever made.

Happening in 2030, struggling high school student Iroha is barely making ends meet as she lives on her own as she desperately tries to achieve a college scholarship. On her way home from her part-time job, Iroha comes across a glowing telephone pole when a baby inside comes out. Now, Iroha has to be the caretaker of this child who rapidly ages into her teens, and it's determined that she is the reincarnation of Princess Kaguya from the old story, so she decides to give the moon child the same name as her progenitor. While getting used to having a needy alien girl declaring her love to her, Iroha also has an active life in the digital community of Tsukuyomi where everyone has online cosplay personas in a cyberspace modeled after feudal Japan where the virtual idol of Yachiyo is the apple of Iroha's eye. Kaguya decides that she's not going to let her story end the same way as her namesake where she is taken back to the moon by celestial spirits, so she nudges Iroha into using her hidden songwriting talent to help her be the newest online sensation. After gaining enough support and finances from their efforts, Iroha and Kagura move into a high-rise pad with the two of them growing together as a couple. Of course, just like in the fairy tale, the moon folks come to collect Kaguya, but not after she and all her allies put on a banging concert even if Kaguya does reluctantly give in and goes back home. Now, you would think that this is where the story ends, in fact there's a faux pas ending that any Netflix subscriber will recognize which turns out to be totally fake. There is an additional 20 minutes left where a great deal of secrets are revealed involving time travel, alternate history, retro-cyberpunk cliches, and a love story spanning thousands of years.

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is a total recommendation for anyone deep into online culture and its future possibilities, although it might not completely appeal to non-otaku who have as yet to pop their anime cherry. Studio Colorido along with Studio Chromato did a spectacular job producing this with spontaneous battle sequences when the characters abruptly go into Fortnite mode along with the dreamy asthetics of the virtual world. The music gives off the appearance that it was extemporized instead of planned in advance and make for a banging soundtrack, despite that the Japanese language version of the songs are leagues better than the Americanized lyrics even though the dub actors do have singing potential. Netflix ran across this same hiccup last year with their release of The Rose Of Versailles where the English versions of the song don't fit all that well into a musical not originally written for western audiences, so this film will probably not gain the same fanbase that K-Pop Demon Hunters made bank on. Fans of shoujo-ai will appreciate the yuri representation on display here as its left up to the viewer to interpret whether Iroha and Valkyrie have a genuine girls love anime.