Okay. As a general rule, I don't worry too much about spoilers. So I don't go out of my way to avoid reviews and synopsis that give away a lot. I don't care if I know what happens. It's the execution that interests me. In grad school, my thesis concerned the development of legends in related but different societies--like the differences and similarities in Arthurian legend in Welsh, English, and French medieval sources. So, after reading a hundred different versions of the same story, I don't worry too much when I know broad plot details.
So I can't say I avoided reading too much about Gundam 00. I know the basic outline. Fuel crisis. Celestial Being. "It's a GUNDAM!!!!"-y goodness.
I was saying just a couple of days ago that I may have looked at Gundam Wing a little differently had I initially seen in Post 9/11.
None of my pre-watching dabbling had prepared me for the pre-credit opening of the first episode. "THIS IS A HOLY WAR."
Wow.
Gundam Wing's potential commentary on the nature of "freedom fighter" vs. "terrorist" was subtle, and drew from and alluded to many, many different real world examples. Gundam 00? It seems pretty obviously allegorical--oil crisis, war on terror. That caught me by surprise--not the subject matter, but the unabashed overtness of it. HERE. IS. OUR. MAIN. IDEA.
This being anime in general, and Gundam in particular, I'll be surprised if things remain this clear-cut. Wheels within wheels.
I've only watched the first episode, so I'll be sure to continue commenting.
I will say, though, modern allegory aside, they've got the "bad-ass Gundam intro" down solid. It's interesting that the original mobile suit gundam was "Real Robot" rather than "Super Robot," and many of the sequel/spin-off/meta-series combine the two genres.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Turning Back to the After Century Calendar
Before I watch Gundam Unicorn or Gundam 00 (in its entirety), I've decided to revisit some old friends and watch Gundam Wing. This is actually the first time I've returned to it since its run in 2000 on the Cartoon Network. Fortunately, my fond memories of the series were not just nostalgia. All the memorable characters are just as memorable. I did forget all of the "wheels-within-wheels" plotting and counterplotting and just how fractured the different characters' allegiances were.
Now, for a quick aside that will explain the thinking of the rest of this post. I usually grit my teeth and squirm when something is described as "re-imagined for the post September 11th world," like the remake of V and the proposed remake of "Red Dawn." It sounds too much like fear-monger-led-profiteering.
Now, back to Gundam. I don't want to belabor the point or overthink anything. BUT. I saw this in 2000. I had no reason to think much about the fact that our protagonists (the five Gundam pilots) for the most part teenage fanatics, recruited out of mostly tragic lives to pilot secret weapons into the heart of a superpower and, in the first several episodes, BLOW THE SHIT OUT OF THINGS.
Am I alluding to the 9/11 bombers? Sort of. After the first few episodes, certain things were emphasized about the five pilots: their youth, their absolute dedication to the mission (mostly exhibited by Heero Yuy, but Duo, Trowa, and Wu Fei just have fewer opportunities to threaten people, y'know, like Relena). And nothing demonstrates fanaticism like that scene where Heero BREAKS AND RESETS HIS OWN MOTHERFUCKING FEMUR! That makes even Duo wince.
However, the story is complex enough and the characters developed enough that, even had I seen Gundam Wing AFTER 9/11, I'd probably enjoy it just as much. And who knows? I might just be projecting things no one else sees.
I think my main point is not that this is a show glorifying terrorism. It's not. It's that it is even more nuanced than I remember it being. I think the fact that the story can call to mind both the 9/11 highjackers and simultaneously the desperate heroism freedom fighters throughout history and fiction is a sign that its images are powerful and infinitely applicable.
And, some fanboy trivia before I get too somber and serious. Duo was voiced by the actor who also performed Fred in Outlaw Star. And Zechs Marquise shares a voice actor with Gamlin from Macross 7 (and about a million other characters, being voiced by Takehito Koyasu, the most prolific japanese voice actor according to the anime news network.
Now, for a quick aside that will explain the thinking of the rest of this post. I usually grit my teeth and squirm when something is described as "re-imagined for the post September 11th world," like the remake of V and the proposed remake of "Red Dawn." It sounds too much like fear-monger-led-profiteering.
Now, back to Gundam. I don't want to belabor the point or overthink anything. BUT. I saw this in 2000. I had no reason to think much about the fact that our protagonists (the five Gundam pilots) for the most part teenage fanatics, recruited out of mostly tragic lives to pilot secret weapons into the heart of a superpower and, in the first several episodes, BLOW THE SHIT OUT OF THINGS.
Am I alluding to the 9/11 bombers? Sort of. After the first few episodes, certain things were emphasized about the five pilots: their youth, their absolute dedication to the mission (mostly exhibited by Heero Yuy, but Duo, Trowa, and Wu Fei just have fewer opportunities to threaten people, y'know, like Relena). And nothing demonstrates fanaticism like that scene where Heero BREAKS AND RESETS HIS OWN MOTHERFUCKING FEMUR! That makes even Duo wince.
However, the story is complex enough and the characters developed enough that, even had I seen Gundam Wing AFTER 9/11, I'd probably enjoy it just as much. And who knows? I might just be projecting things no one else sees.
I think my main point is not that this is a show glorifying terrorism. It's not. It's that it is even more nuanced than I remember it being. I think the fact that the story can call to mind both the 9/11 highjackers and simultaneously the desperate heroism freedom fighters throughout history and fiction is a sign that its images are powerful and infinitely applicable.
And, some fanboy trivia before I get too somber and serious. Duo was voiced by the actor who also performed Fred in Outlaw Star. And Zechs Marquise shares a voice actor with Gamlin from Macross 7 (and about a million other characters, being voiced by Takehito Koyasu, the most prolific japanese voice actor according to the anime news network.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
It's a Gundam!
I've long since resigned myself to the fact that, with all of the Gundam series out there, I'm going to love some of the (the original Mobile Suit Gundam, the 08th MS Team, War in the Pocket, Turn A Gundam, Gundam Wing), be bored by some (Gundam Seed), find some endlessly amusing (Mobile Fighter G Gundam, G-Saviour), and feel oddly betrayed by some (Gundam 00).
00 was weird for me. The pre-release advertisements had me interested, then I watched it, and . . . I really wanted to like it, but there was no hook. Nothing grabbed me. It was like Gundam Wing without whatever it is I liked about Gundam Wing. I stopped following it. Then I read some synopses of later episodes, felt intrigued all over again, and watched later in the series.
Nope. Whoever wrote those synopses clearly picked up on something that either I missed, or it missed me.
Gundam Wing I liked--my first experience with Gundam had been the English dubs of the three movie versions of the original series. And then nothing for a very long time, until I starting watching Wing on Toonami. Mostly it was the characters--they build up Heero and Trowa as these almost-supernaturally skilled pilots, and then, when faced with two mobile dolls programmed with all of their piloting skills, Duo dispatches them with two slices of his beam scythe and turns away with the line "You're just dolls to me."
One of my friends refused to watch Wing. Mainly because he couldn't take a series seriously when it called something a "doll." He also couldn't get into Gasaraki because one group of mecha were called "fakes." In reality, I think, mecha anime just didn't appeal to him--he was really into stuff like Slayers and Excel Saga--both of which I've enjoyed, but I've never started a series because I thought "Oh, it looks like Slayers." I have started a series because, "Oh, it looks like Gundam. Or Macross. Or both! Maguncrossdam!!!"
Looking back at the collected series of Gundams, I think it's interesting that one of the series that started the "real robot genre," as opposed to the "super robot genre," has, from series to series and over time, drifted pretty seriously into the super robot realm.
Turn A Gundam's title suit and its counterpart, the turn X, would probably give the Ideon a run for its ridiculously super-powered mecha money. And the Ideon could slice planets in half with its sword! But then, that may have been a narrative conceit to convey the idea that the lost technology represented by the Turn-A and Turn-X was way beyond the series' present.
Anyway. I always find the infighting among Gundam fans amusing. You have guys my age or slightly older who are "UC or nuthin!" Then you have the ones who were kids when Gundam Wing and its big-eyed boy-band starring cast came out. And then the Seedlings and now the 00-or-nuthin' fans. I have a certain fondness for the UC-timeline series, but I'll typically give anything they've slapped the name Gundam on a chance. Sometimes it's hit or miss.
I haven't seen any of Gundam Unicorn, or whatever they're calling it these days. I'll get around to it. Eventually.
00 was weird for me. The pre-release advertisements had me interested, then I watched it, and . . . I really wanted to like it, but there was no hook. Nothing grabbed me. It was like Gundam Wing without whatever it is I liked about Gundam Wing. I stopped following it. Then I read some synopses of later episodes, felt intrigued all over again, and watched later in the series.
Nope. Whoever wrote those synopses clearly picked up on something that either I missed, or it missed me.
Gundam Wing I liked--my first experience with Gundam had been the English dubs of the three movie versions of the original series. And then nothing for a very long time, until I starting watching Wing on Toonami. Mostly it was the characters--they build up Heero and Trowa as these almost-supernaturally skilled pilots, and then, when faced with two mobile dolls programmed with all of their piloting skills, Duo dispatches them with two slices of his beam scythe and turns away with the line "You're just dolls to me."
One of my friends refused to watch Wing. Mainly because he couldn't take a series seriously when it called something a "doll." He also couldn't get into Gasaraki because one group of mecha were called "fakes." In reality, I think, mecha anime just didn't appeal to him--he was really into stuff like Slayers and Excel Saga--both of which I've enjoyed, but I've never started a series because I thought "Oh, it looks like Slayers." I have started a series because, "Oh, it looks like Gundam. Or Macross. Or both! Maguncrossdam!!!"
Looking back at the collected series of Gundams, I think it's interesting that one of the series that started the "real robot genre," as opposed to the "super robot genre," has, from series to series and over time, drifted pretty seriously into the super robot realm.
Turn A Gundam's title suit and its counterpart, the turn X, would probably give the Ideon a run for its ridiculously super-powered mecha money. And the Ideon could slice planets in half with its sword! But then, that may have been a narrative conceit to convey the idea that the lost technology represented by the Turn-A and Turn-X was way beyond the series' present.
Anyway. I always find the infighting among Gundam fans amusing. You have guys my age or slightly older who are "UC or nuthin!" Then you have the ones who were kids when Gundam Wing and its big-eyed boy-band starring cast came out. And then the Seedlings and now the 00-or-nuthin' fans. I have a certain fondness for the UC-timeline series, but I'll typically give anything they've slapped the name Gundam on a chance. Sometimes it's hit or miss.
I haven't seen any of Gundam Unicorn, or whatever they're calling it these days. I'll get around to it. Eventually.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
A Brief Trek Outside Mecha Anime
I geek out to much more than Japanese cartoons about giant robots from the 80s, but that's what provokes the most thought for me, so that's what this blog is named after.
I (re)watched Star Treks II, III and IV over this week. These three are my favorite ST movies. Partly that's because my father took me to all three in the theater (seeing a movie in the theater in the summer was BIIIG thing at my house) over the course of the 4 years it took for them to be released (summers of 82 and 84, and around Thanksgiving in 86). The original series wasn't on TV in my area at any regular time in that period, so this is really the first Star Trek I've known. Yep. For me, Kirk always had a son and Saavik was always a part of the crew.
Compared to the later films (V right on up to the JJ Abrams rebootacular) these three all hang together and seem to contain more of that original Star Trek feel. Granted, it seems to diminsh somewhat in III and IV, but it's still there. I'll try to define what I mean by that later on in this post. But, overall, the three movies tell one story, the main themes of which are aging, death, friendship, loyalty, revenge, and self-sacrifice.
As an adult, I enjoy the literary references (A Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick) in Star Trek II. They give it a certain extra layering of depth--especially Ricardo Montalban's hammy over-under-acting. (I've never seen someone else's idea of restrained anger turn out to be "hiss out every syllable while visibly quiviering like you're about to explode." At least, no one else has ever been able to pull it off).
The Search for Spock is about as close to mythology as the series gets. By that I mean classical mythology, Greek tragedy. (Oh, I know about that original series episode with the Greek gods. That's not what I mean). David Marcus' hubris in trying to create life--and how it ends in his death. But it gives a chance for life for Spock, who sacrificed him in the last movie to save his ship and crew. So then certain of his shipmates sacrifice the ship for Spock's life.
It's all a cycle.
And then the one with the whales.
Honestly, I don't think it's all as terrible as it often gets made out to be (usually by people who write for Entertainment Weekly, not other Star Trek nerds). I miss James Horner's soundtrack, but that's a minor quibble. Unlike later attempts at Star Trek humor, the characters stay in character. This is almost a british comedy. People just trying to go about their daily life (in this case it happens to be trying to save the world) are stuck in an abusrd situation (well, the past of their own world) which is similar enough to their own time but just off enough to make everything doubly awkward.
Seriously, watch IV. Then watch V. (shudder). The humor in IV is intrinsic to the plot. It's funny because the plot-driven situation is funny. In V the humor is just sort of slathered on top of the plot. And there's not much plot. Or budget. So I guess they had to increase the joke-quotient.
Oddly enough, I think III had the most impact on later Star Trekses. For example, the Klingons. I remember reading an article (probably in EW) that called Kruge and his crew bumbling. Bumbling? Arrogant. Bloodthirsty. Pirates. But bumbling? Anyway. They're privateers--dirty, shaggy, in a patched-together ship. In an earlier version of the script (or at least a subplot that was dropped) their ship was a stolen Romulan prototype. So these weren't really intended to be archetypal military Klingons--they were freebooters.
And yet, in Star Trek: the Next Generation, that's what we get. These freebooters are now the template from which all Klingons derive. Personally, I kind of liked them as the Red China of the Star Trek universe in the original series. A whole lotta guys with substandard equipment, but a lot of pride and they would just pile on top of you until you lost or gave up, superior equipment and training be damned. Now? Good lord, I once took a history class that covered the Viking Age (Anglocentrically from around 700 to 1100, but anyway) and we had to do individual research projects and present them to the class. One student's project was to convince us that the Klingons were like the Vikings. His presentation consisted of watching clips of his favorite Star Trek TNG and DS9 episodes.
I (re)watched Star Treks II, III and IV over this week. These three are my favorite ST movies. Partly that's because my father took me to all three in the theater (seeing a movie in the theater in the summer was BIIIG thing at my house) over the course of the 4 years it took for them to be released (summers of 82 and 84, and around Thanksgiving in 86). The original series wasn't on TV in my area at any regular time in that period, so this is really the first Star Trek I've known. Yep. For me, Kirk always had a son and Saavik was always a part of the crew.
Compared to the later films (V right on up to the JJ Abrams rebootacular) these three all hang together and seem to contain more of that original Star Trek feel. Granted, it seems to diminsh somewhat in III and IV, but it's still there. I'll try to define what I mean by that later on in this post. But, overall, the three movies tell one story, the main themes of which are aging, death, friendship, loyalty, revenge, and self-sacrifice.
As an adult, I enjoy the literary references (A Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick) in Star Trek II. They give it a certain extra layering of depth--especially Ricardo Montalban's hammy over-under-acting. (I've never seen someone else's idea of restrained anger turn out to be "hiss out every syllable while visibly quiviering like you're about to explode." At least, no one else has ever been able to pull it off).
The Search for Spock is about as close to mythology as the series gets. By that I mean classical mythology, Greek tragedy. (Oh, I know about that original series episode with the Greek gods. That's not what I mean). David Marcus' hubris in trying to create life--and how it ends in his death. But it gives a chance for life for Spock, who sacrificed him in the last movie to save his ship and crew. So then certain of his shipmates sacrifice the ship for Spock's life.
It's all a cycle.
And then the one with the whales.
Honestly, I don't think it's all as terrible as it often gets made out to be (usually by people who write for Entertainment Weekly, not other Star Trek nerds). I miss James Horner's soundtrack, but that's a minor quibble. Unlike later attempts at Star Trek humor, the characters stay in character. This is almost a british comedy. People just trying to go about their daily life (in this case it happens to be trying to save the world) are stuck in an abusrd situation (well, the past of their own world) which is similar enough to their own time but just off enough to make everything doubly awkward.
Seriously, watch IV. Then watch V. (shudder). The humor in IV is intrinsic to the plot. It's funny because the plot-driven situation is funny. In V the humor is just sort of slathered on top of the plot. And there's not much plot. Or budget. So I guess they had to increase the joke-quotient.
Oddly enough, I think III had the most impact on later Star Trekses. For example, the Klingons. I remember reading an article (probably in EW) that called Kruge and his crew bumbling. Bumbling? Arrogant. Bloodthirsty. Pirates. But bumbling? Anyway. They're privateers--dirty, shaggy, in a patched-together ship. In an earlier version of the script (or at least a subplot that was dropped) their ship was a stolen Romulan prototype. So these weren't really intended to be archetypal military Klingons--they were freebooters.
And yet, in Star Trek: the Next Generation, that's what we get. These freebooters are now the template from which all Klingons derive. Personally, I kind of liked them as the Red China of the Star Trek universe in the original series. A whole lotta guys with substandard equipment, but a lot of pride and they would just pile on top of you until you lost or gave up, superior equipment and training be damned. Now? Good lord, I once took a history class that covered the Viking Age (Anglocentrically from around 700 to 1100, but anyway) and we had to do individual research projects and present them to the class. One student's project was to convince us that the Klingons were like the Vikings. His presentation consisted of watching clips of his favorite Star Trek TNG and DS9 episodes.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Dubbed Under Par
Last post I mentioned that I thought ADVision's 2006 dub was the worst English dub of an Anime series I've ever seen. Now, the nostalgia factor is a possibility--it could be that since the Harmony Gold voices from Robotech are what I've grown up with, I'm just reacting to them being different. But I don't think so. Or, at least, that's not the whole story.
I like the Japanese voice actors just fine. I especially love Akira Kamiya as Roy and Kosuke Meguro as Kamjin.
Watching Robotech as an anime-addled adult, the usual complaints for most American dubs apply. The actors tend to yell, they seem convinced that every space must be filled with some kind of vocalization, if it's not exposition that wasn't in the original, then it's a downright pornographic amount of extra panting and grunting. They also seem to play the characters either a lot younger than they really are (Rick, Minmei, Dana Sterling) or a lot older (Scott Bernard, Captain Gloval).
But the ADV Macross dub . . . Well. I can't say that I've watched more than a few minutes here and there. But everyone I've listened to--Hikaru, Roy, Exedol, Britai, Max, the bridge bunnies--are so ***shrill***. Shreiking. Screaming. "Surely you can't have ordered up Kamjin's division?!?!?!?" Wait, Exedol doesn't look like he's having a freakout when he discovers which unit Britai has called in as reinforcements. But that's how he's played.
Here's a somewhat in-depth but totally geeky analysis. Max Jenius, as played by Sho Hayami, has a very deep, self-assured sounding voice. Self-assured in an unassuming kind of way. "Yep. I'm badass. Wanna get some Chinese food?" Cam Clark plays Max Sterling a little differently. He's shyer (though that may be inferring stuff from the McKinney novels, too), a little more understated. His Robotech voice is very different from his Japanese Macross voice. However, I'm inclined to think it mostly fits the way Max was animated.
Now, enter Chris Patton. He seems to be engaged in a squealing contest with Vic Mignogna. To the bitter end!!! I tried watching the scene where Max tells Hikaru he's going to marry Milia in the English dub. Ugh. Ears. Bleeding. Brain. Turning. To POO!!! (And this is after a lifetime of Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse).
And Chris Patton!! WTF?! Another favorite anime of mine is Gasaraki. I first saw it at a convention in the anime room, and they played the dub. Chris Patton as Yushiro Gowa. He can ***do*** restrained and understated. Or Greed, in Full Metal Alchemist. Where he's playing opposite Vic Mignogna again. Sometimes Vic gets a little shrill as Ed, but it suits the animation--and Ed's character. Much better than the squealing and screaming on Macross.
In the third episode, when Roy brings Hikaru and Minmei to the airborne Macross and explains to Misa that Hikaru's "kind of a civilian"--yep, voice cracking like a prepubescent. Why? Roy's voice in Robotech was much more laid back than Akira Kamiya (who's known for his screaming--but it's a full, back of the throat scream. None of that nasally, head-voice smeaglol screaming).
Now, one of my favorite English dubs is Samurai Seven. The American actors don't necessarily imitate the performance of their Japanese counterparts--and yet they capture their characters perfectly. Granted, half of the characters speak like six lines in the entire series (that's an exaggeration), but the voice director seemed to opt for a more minimalist, almost relaxed approach.
Maybe ADV was rushed. I mean, most of the voice actors have been around and have done other anime series where their performances were just fine. So maybe the problem was with direction.
Or maybe I'm just getting a little bit "Geewun" on it.
I like the Japanese voice actors just fine. I especially love Akira Kamiya as Roy and Kosuke Meguro as Kamjin.
Watching Robotech as an anime-addled adult, the usual complaints for most American dubs apply. The actors tend to yell, they seem convinced that every space must be filled with some kind of vocalization, if it's not exposition that wasn't in the original, then it's a downright pornographic amount of extra panting and grunting. They also seem to play the characters either a lot younger than they really are (Rick, Minmei, Dana Sterling) or a lot older (Scott Bernard, Captain Gloval).
But the ADV Macross dub . . . Well. I can't say that I've watched more than a few minutes here and there. But everyone I've listened to--Hikaru, Roy, Exedol, Britai, Max, the bridge bunnies--are so ***shrill***. Shreiking. Screaming. "Surely you can't have ordered up Kamjin's division?!?!?!?" Wait, Exedol doesn't look like he's having a freakout when he discovers which unit Britai has called in as reinforcements. But that's how he's played.
Here's a somewhat in-depth but totally geeky analysis. Max Jenius, as played by Sho Hayami, has a very deep, self-assured sounding voice. Self-assured in an unassuming kind of way. "Yep. I'm badass. Wanna get some Chinese food?" Cam Clark plays Max Sterling a little differently. He's shyer (though that may be inferring stuff from the McKinney novels, too), a little more understated. His Robotech voice is very different from his Japanese Macross voice. However, I'm inclined to think it mostly fits the way Max was animated.
Now, enter Chris Patton. He seems to be engaged in a squealing contest with Vic Mignogna. To the bitter end!!! I tried watching the scene where Max tells Hikaru he's going to marry Milia in the English dub. Ugh. Ears. Bleeding. Brain. Turning. To POO!!! (And this is after a lifetime of Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse).
And Chris Patton!! WTF?! Another favorite anime of mine is Gasaraki. I first saw it at a convention in the anime room, and they played the dub. Chris Patton as Yushiro Gowa. He can ***do*** restrained and understated. Or Greed, in Full Metal Alchemist. Where he's playing opposite Vic Mignogna again. Sometimes Vic gets a little shrill as Ed, but it suits the animation--and Ed's character. Much better than the squealing and screaming on Macross.
In the third episode, when Roy brings Hikaru and Minmei to the airborne Macross and explains to Misa that Hikaru's "kind of a civilian"--yep, voice cracking like a prepubescent. Why? Roy's voice in Robotech was much more laid back than Akira Kamiya (who's known for his screaming--but it's a full, back of the throat scream. None of that nasally, head-voice smeaglol screaming).
Now, one of my favorite English dubs is Samurai Seven. The American actors don't necessarily imitate the performance of their Japanese counterparts--and yet they capture their characters perfectly. Granted, half of the characters speak like six lines in the entire series (that's an exaggeration), but the voice director seemed to opt for a more minimalist, almost relaxed approach.
Maybe ADV was rushed. I mean, most of the voice actors have been around and have done other anime series where their performances were just fine. So maybe the problem was with direction.
Or maybe I'm just getting a little bit "Geewun" on it.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Macross II
Thanks to the modern miracle of Netflix streaming I've been watching the Macross II OVA over the Labor Day weekend.
I don't hate it.
In fact, I kind of like it.
It's sort of the bastard child of the Macross continuity. In that it didn't involve Shoji Kawamori (and came at a time when he thought he was done with Macross--huh, then Macross Plus and 7 came along). And that it exists in an alternate continuity.
It first came out on VHS when I was a senior in high school. Since that's when I was starting to figure out the whole japanese source material patched together into Robotech thing, I tripped all over myself getting the first cassette. Well. I didn't really like it then. I think I saw Clash of the Bionoids that summer and then saw this. I didn't really understand was Clash of the Bionoids was (a Australian(?) attempt at dubbing Macross DYRL), and then I saw this, and it sorta dampened my enthusiasm for anime for a while. That, and the shit was expensive!
Now I've just finished the entire OVA. The dub wasn't great. That alone would have been enough to kill it for me in the 90s. However, it wasn't the worst dub I'd heard (ADV's 2006 dub of the original Macross has that award--I ***HAVE*** seen anime dubbed and subbed that isn't Macross--but seriously. Have you LISTENED to that dub? More on that in another post). Mostly my problem. Is with. That. Bizarre William Shatneresque PACING. And. overly. melodramatic deLIVery.
Obviously I wasn't floored by it. The way I was floored by Samurai Seven (SEE!?!? Nonmacross!!!!) or thhe 08th MS Team (see!?!?!? Gundam--not Macross!!!) But watching it was sort of like bracing myself to get beaten by a baseball bat--and realizing it was only nerf.
So, Macross II is Nerf Macross. Not quite the impact of the real thing. But still a little fun.
I don't hate it.
In fact, I kind of like it.
It's sort of the bastard child of the Macross continuity. In that it didn't involve Shoji Kawamori (and came at a time when he thought he was done with Macross--huh, then Macross Plus and 7 came along). And that it exists in an alternate continuity.
It first came out on VHS when I was a senior in high school. Since that's when I was starting to figure out the whole japanese source material patched together into Robotech thing, I tripped all over myself getting the first cassette. Well. I didn't really like it then. I think I saw Clash of the Bionoids that summer and then saw this. I didn't really understand was Clash of the Bionoids was (a Australian(?) attempt at dubbing Macross DYRL), and then I saw this, and it sorta dampened my enthusiasm for anime for a while. That, and the shit was expensive!
Now I've just finished the entire OVA. The dub wasn't great. That alone would have been enough to kill it for me in the 90s. However, it wasn't the worst dub I'd heard (ADV's 2006 dub of the original Macross has that award--I ***HAVE*** seen anime dubbed and subbed that isn't Macross--but seriously. Have you LISTENED to that dub? More on that in another post). Mostly my problem. Is with. That. Bizarre William Shatneresque PACING. And. overly. melodramatic deLIVery.
Obviously I wasn't floored by it. The way I was floored by Samurai Seven (SEE!?!? Nonmacross!!!!) or thhe 08th MS Team (see!?!?!? Gundam--not Macross!!!) But watching it was sort of like bracing myself to get beaten by a baseball bat--and realizing it was only nerf.
So, Macross II is Nerf Macross. Not quite the impact of the real thing. But still a little fun.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Added in the Translation
One thing I've noticed with both Voltron and Robotech: the American voice directors and writers liked a lot more dialogue and narration than the Japanese creators. Sometimes it seems to be because the American producers thought the kids needed more explanation; other times it's clear that they wanted to explain, that, well, yes, the characters are looking at grave markers, but, really, the people the commemorate aren't dead, they're safe in another dimension.
And sometimes, the silence of the Japanese original just seems to make Americans uncomfortable.
I've noticed this to a major degree in Southern Cross and Dairugger XV. During battle scenes in the originals, long sequences of fighting go by with just sound effects and music (and the occasional "UWAAAAA!" death screams--is there an anime seiyu school of screaming out there?!). But in the American versions, there's suddenly voiceovers from involved characters filling every last open space. Sometimes they're just ensuring the episode will not be censored--"There goes another robot shipped manned by robots in which no one was actually killed because they were all robots and if they weren't robots they made it to their escape ships and made it to exile in another galazy." The rest of the time . . . I don't know. Big gun on space station fires. "Fire the Magna Laser." Enemy ship explodes. "Only a few more ships to go."
One of the things about anime--they know how to do destruction. At the risk of getting poetic and sounding a little looney, there's a certain elegance--especially in the Studio Nue "Itano's Flying Circus" stuff--to battles accompanied only by music. The same sort of scenes play in live action Japanese television and cinema. If you've ever seen some of the Jidai Geki (period films--most of the ones I've seen involve Samurai) with long scenes of soldiers on both sides dying. . . There's a cultural significance that Westerners might be missing, maybe.
Once, I was at a friend's and a group of us were watching YuYu Hakusho. Some of us watched anime regularly, some of us were new. There was a moment after a tournament particulalrly important to the plot and all of our heroes are standing in front of a tree and the cherry blossoms suddenly start blowing down. One of the anime virgins said "Oh, that's manly, posing in front of the pink flowers." When, well, sakura petals have certain significance--being representative of the fleetingness of life, and all. To a native Japanese viewer, my guess is it looks pretty macho.
Here's another example--an American viewer sees a character dress all in white. He's a good guy and all, right? 70 years of Westersn can be wrong. A Japanese viewer might immediately associate him with death.
And sometimes, the silence of the Japanese original just seems to make Americans uncomfortable.
I've noticed this to a major degree in Southern Cross and Dairugger XV. During battle scenes in the originals, long sequences of fighting go by with just sound effects and music (and the occasional "UWAAAAA!" death screams--is there an anime seiyu school of screaming out there?!). But in the American versions, there's suddenly voiceovers from involved characters filling every last open space. Sometimes they're just ensuring the episode will not be censored--"There goes another robot shipped manned by robots in which no one was actually killed because they were all robots and if they weren't robots they made it to their escape ships and made it to exile in another galazy." The rest of the time . . . I don't know. Big gun on space station fires. "Fire the Magna Laser." Enemy ship explodes. "Only a few more ships to go."
One of the things about anime--they know how to do destruction. At the risk of getting poetic and sounding a little looney, there's a certain elegance--especially in the Studio Nue "Itano's Flying Circus" stuff--to battles accompanied only by music. The same sort of scenes play in live action Japanese television and cinema. If you've ever seen some of the Jidai Geki (period films--most of the ones I've seen involve Samurai) with long scenes of soldiers on both sides dying. . . There's a cultural significance that Westerners might be missing, maybe.
Once, I was at a friend's and a group of us were watching YuYu Hakusho. Some of us watched anime regularly, some of us were new. There was a moment after a tournament particulalrly important to the plot and all of our heroes are standing in front of a tree and the cherry blossoms suddenly start blowing down. One of the anime virgins said "Oh, that's manly, posing in front of the pink flowers." When, well, sakura petals have certain significance--being representative of the fleetingness of life, and all. To a native Japanese viewer, my guess is it looks pretty macho.
Here's another example--an American viewer sees a character dress all in white. He's a good guy and all, right? 70 years of Westersn can be wrong. A Japanese viewer might immediately associate him with death.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Is There Really a Robotech, Virginia?
Every since I got ahold of (and watched obssessively) the original Japanese sources--Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada) Robotech has had a sort of strange, impressionistic existence for me. Two sets of characters, two corresponding sets of events, but they are linked together in one and in separate continuity in the other. Add that to the fact that even in the original production of Robotech there were things going on that they tried to shift in dialogue away from what was happening on screen--like the Macross-era episode where the narrator states Khyron is closing in on the battle fortress from behind, where they cannot be seen! and they're obviously flying in toward the bow--and Robotech just seems sort of . . . approximate.
I've never been interested in the inter-fandom wars and bickering: "Robocrap sux" "Macross4evah" blah blah blah. I'll watch either, depending on my mood. I also never jumped on the anti-McKinney bandwagon. For a long time, the McKinney novels were all the Robotech I had. I couldn't afford the three-episodes-to-a-tape VHS releases--most of which chopping half the episodes down to 15 minutes each ANYway--and I never got into comics. I've seen some issues of the comics, but the McKinney version of the Sentinals is the only version I've read in its entirety.
And there is a certain epic massiveness to Robotech that I like. In high school, when I finished the End of the Circle, I felt a strange urge to reread Dune, up to Dune Messiah. I guess that was the only other series with which I was familiar that had the same sort of "galaxy-spanning" epicness (epictude? epicosity?) I mean, now Star Wars is the franchise with the greatest scope, with stories spanning thousands of years, but, at the time, I'm not even sure the Thrawn Trilogy was out. If it was, I hadn't gotten around to reading it yet.
Transformers, too, has similarly expanded in scope. That family of franchises has sort of a canonicity advantage in that they went with the "multiverse" explanation--there are many different parallel realities, so all of the different franchises and continuities (G1, Bayformers, Transformers Animated, Pokefomers--er, ARMADA, Shattered Glass) happe parallel to each other. It makes it easy to give different authors creative licenses that way. (Personally, though, I'm partial to the stuff Simon Furman was doing with IDW--I guess I'm more into comics as an adult than I was as a sprout).
Of the three component series of Robotech, Macross is the one that's continued in the ensuing decades. Not bad for something that was potentially a parody of Mobile Suit Gundam (which also has a whole crazy mass of meta-series and parallel continuities!). Other than one quirk (the Macross-DYRL designs being canon), I guess it's one of the more consistent fictional continuities. My favorite, personally, is Macross 0, with Frontier a pretty close second (Macross 7 and its spin-offs just don't appeal to me as much, even though it continues the story with my favorite character from the original, Max).
Robotech did make a huge impression on me when I first saw it, though at the time I just liked the robots and the fact that ANY mecha could be carrying about a million missiles in hidden compartments on its limbs. My girlfiend is just enough younger than me that she didn't see it in its first run; she first saw it in high school when it was being rerun on Cartoon Network. She said she watched it off and on until "that big fleet of bad guys showed up and threatened to blow up the earth. I thought, 'Whoa, how are the good guys gonna get out of this? And then they don't, and everyone on earth dies. And I thought, 'I love this show!'"
That's the main difference between anime and American animation in the 80s. American cartoons had to reset everything at the end of the episode so they could continue selling the same collection of toys. The Japanese apparently had no qualms about letting 'the bad guys' win. A sense of real jeopardy does wonders for making a story more compelling, doesn't it?
I've never been interested in the inter-fandom wars and bickering: "Robocrap sux" "Macross4evah" blah blah blah. I'll watch either, depending on my mood. I also never jumped on the anti-McKinney bandwagon. For a long time, the McKinney novels were all the Robotech I had. I couldn't afford the three-episodes-to-a-tape VHS releases--most of which chopping half the episodes down to 15 minutes each ANYway--and I never got into comics. I've seen some issues of the comics, but the McKinney version of the Sentinals is the only version I've read in its entirety.
And there is a certain epic massiveness to Robotech that I like. In high school, when I finished the End of the Circle, I felt a strange urge to reread Dune, up to Dune Messiah. I guess that was the only other series with which I was familiar that had the same sort of "galaxy-spanning" epicness (epictude? epicosity?) I mean, now Star Wars is the franchise with the greatest scope, with stories spanning thousands of years, but, at the time, I'm not even sure the Thrawn Trilogy was out. If it was, I hadn't gotten around to reading it yet.
Transformers, too, has similarly expanded in scope. That family of franchises has sort of a canonicity advantage in that they went with the "multiverse" explanation--there are many different parallel realities, so all of the different franchises and continuities (G1, Bayformers, Transformers Animated, Pokefomers--er, ARMADA, Shattered Glass) happe parallel to each other. It makes it easy to give different authors creative licenses that way. (Personally, though, I'm partial to the stuff Simon Furman was doing with IDW--I guess I'm more into comics as an adult than I was as a sprout).
Of the three component series of Robotech, Macross is the one that's continued in the ensuing decades. Not bad for something that was potentially a parody of Mobile Suit Gundam (which also has a whole crazy mass of meta-series and parallel continuities!). Other than one quirk (the Macross-DYRL designs being canon), I guess it's one of the more consistent fictional continuities. My favorite, personally, is Macross 0, with Frontier a pretty close second (Macross 7 and its spin-offs just don't appeal to me as much, even though it continues the story with my favorite character from the original, Max).
Robotech did make a huge impression on me when I first saw it, though at the time I just liked the robots and the fact that ANY mecha could be carrying about a million missiles in hidden compartments on its limbs. My girlfiend is just enough younger than me that she didn't see it in its first run; she first saw it in high school when it was being rerun on Cartoon Network. She said she watched it off and on until "that big fleet of bad guys showed up and threatened to blow up the earth. I thought, 'Whoa, how are the good guys gonna get out of this? And then they don't, and everyone on earth dies. And I thought, 'I love this show!'"
That's the main difference between anime and American animation in the 80s. American cartoons had to reset everything at the end of the episode so they could continue selling the same collection of toys. The Japanese apparently had no qualms about letting 'the bad guys' win. A sense of real jeopardy does wonders for making a story more compelling, doesn't it?
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Good vs. Evil, or Voltron vs. Golion
I never actually got the lion Voltron DVDs when they came out. I did, however, get the Golion release. Blame it on my graduate studies--I spent a lot of time with textual history and how narratives develop and evolve over time. So, give me even a hint of an "original version" of ANYthing and I'll be first in line, slavering uncontrollably.
After devouring Golion, however, I did borrow Voltron from a friend. I love the contrasts between the two. They might tell us something about American values vs. Japanese values. Or they might tell us something about a plot conceived and scripted by an experience committee writing under a collective pseudonym (Saburo Hatte writing for Golion and every other super robot series Toei produced in the 70s and 80s) vs. a bunch of Americans struggling to put together a coherent story out of a series for which they have only marginal translations. If any. In a very short timeframe.
Voltron first. Lotor and Zarkon--oh, yeah, and Yurak--are evil. EEEEEVillllllll. You can tell because they laugh maniacially and start half their sentences with "Fools!" They scheme. They plot. They send robeasts to get cloven in twain by Voltron. And they mostly bumble and are pretty funny to your average 8 year old. They lose time after time because they're evil. And evil never wins. Evil's too busy cackling and plotting grandiose schemes to actually win.
The Voltron Force are good. They say "team" a lot. They work for the "good guys". They always win--because, y'know, they're good. Sometimes they have arguments, but they always pull it together.
And now for something completely different--same footage (with some extra gore), but everything else is changed.
The Galra Empire--Daibazal, Sincline, and Sadak--are ruthless. They make walkways out of naked slaves' back. Their soldiers whip slaves. A lot. Because slaves are weak. The weak deserve only death. Only the strong are allowed to prosper in the Galra empire. Failure is rewarded with death. Sorry, Sadak. The Galra Empire is a meritocracy. They lose because they fight even each other. When Golion actually makes it to planet Galra, what happens? Do the various Galran factions unite? Or do they fall apart due to constant infighting? Hmm. There's a lesson here.
The Golion pilots are drifters. They don't even have a home planet anymore (Earth was depopulated by World War III and then just exploded due to . . . um, volcanoes or something). Some members of the Altean royal court don't even see them as the rightful defenders of Alrea--they're peasants! But they're all Altea's got. They have disagreements. But, in the end, they win because they're a team. Not only that, but as they liberate more and more planets from Galra, and inspire more planets to liberate themselves, they build an alliance that works together to defeat Galra. Well, more or less. Golion does most of the work. But it's a team effort.
So: Voltron = good vs. evil. Good always triumphs in the end. Golion = working for the greater good vs. rugged individualism.
Crap!!! So THAT'S why I'm a Socialist!
Just kidding. This is just one way of contrasting the differences between the two.
After devouring Golion, however, I did borrow Voltron from a friend. I love the contrasts between the two. They might tell us something about American values vs. Japanese values. Or they might tell us something about a plot conceived and scripted by an experience committee writing under a collective pseudonym (Saburo Hatte writing for Golion and every other super robot series Toei produced in the 70s and 80s) vs. a bunch of Americans struggling to put together a coherent story out of a series for which they have only marginal translations. If any. In a very short timeframe.
Voltron first. Lotor and Zarkon--oh, yeah, and Yurak--are evil. EEEEEVillllllll. You can tell because they laugh maniacially and start half their sentences with "Fools!" They scheme. They plot. They send robeasts to get cloven in twain by Voltron. And they mostly bumble and are pretty funny to your average 8 year old. They lose time after time because they're evil. And evil never wins. Evil's too busy cackling and plotting grandiose schemes to actually win.
The Voltron Force are good. They say "team" a lot. They work for the "good guys"
And now for something completely different--same footage (with some extra gore), but everything else is changed.
The Galra Empire--Daibazal, Sincline, and Sadak--are ruthless. They make walkways out of naked slaves' back. Their soldiers whip slaves. A lot. Because slaves are weak. The weak deserve only death. Only the strong are allowed to prosper in the Galra empire. Failure is rewarded with death. Sorry, Sadak. The Galra Empire is a meritocracy. They lose because they fight even each other. When Golion actually makes it to planet Galra, what happens? Do the various Galran factions unite? Or do they fall apart due to constant infighting? Hmm. There's a lesson here.
The Golion pilots are drifters. They don't even have a home planet anymore (Earth was depopulated by World War III and then just exploded due to . . . um, volcanoes or something). Some members of the Altean royal court don't even see them as the rightful defenders of Alrea--they're peasants! But they're all Altea's got. They have disagreements. But, in the end, they win because they're a team. Not only that, but as they liberate more and more planets from Galra, and inspire more planets to liberate themselves, they build an alliance that works together to defeat Galra. Well, more or less. Golion does most of the work. But it's a team effort.
So: Voltron = good vs. evil. Good always triumphs in the end. Golion = working for the greater good vs. rugged individualism.
Crap!!! So THAT'S why I'm a Socialist!
Just kidding. This is just one way of contrasting the differences between the two.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Peter Keefe and Carl Macek
I'm of the generation that was introduced to anime through Voltron, Robotech, and Tranzor Z. With the passing of Carl Macek (April 17, 2010) and Peter Keefe (May 27, 2010) I've decided to start writing about anime in general--as well as these earlier series.
Yep, it's more 30-something nostalgia. Can't I just say this stuff gave me something to do after school and then get on with my life? Nope--a friend of mine from those days said recently that the stories we heard in our childhood stay with us. I agree.
I do have DVDs of the old Sunbow Transformers and GI Joe series. That's pure nostalgia. But when I first succumbed to the nostalgia bug and got Robotech on DVD, I realized that this series was the first time I was exposed to an overarching plot arch and character development. That, and it being 2004 when I first rewatched it after 20 years, I realized an anti-war war story was still relevant, even if told through such devices as giant aliens and transforming robots.
Let's look at some of the main characters from Robotech. First, the guy everyone wanted to be at recess, Rick Hunter. When I was 8, the fact he was the hero and yet got shot down in almost every episode just totally wooshed over my head. As did the fact that he was basically a pacifist who found himself forced into fighting a war--aaand was among the first of the main characters to look for a peaceful solution.
Contrast Rick with Lynn Kyle. Kyle's sort of the fourth wheel in the Rick-Lisa-Minmei love triangle. He's outwardly a pacifist--at least he's anti-military and won't let an opportunity for military-bashing to pass him by--and yet in his introductory episode he's shown to be an unparalleld martial artist. Over the course of the series, he goes from Macross media darling to (implicitly) abusive alcoholic.
Huh. That's sure diffferent from GI Joe's Duke ("Didn't you read my greensheet? Man of action!") or Transformer's Megatron ("Today Cybertron, tomorrow the universe!!").
The Japanese series were obviously intended as 25-minute toy commercials just like their American counterparts, but I think many of the Japanese animators realized that compelling characters and coherent storylines made for even better advertising. (Well, after watching some of the behind-the-scenes features ((NERD!!!)) on some of my DVDs, the conditions under which they were produced had something to do with it, too).
I wonder sometimes, if by importing these more-developed-series in the 80s, did Keefe and Macek have an influence on modern programming, animated and otherwise? I didn't follow the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica very closely, but some aspects of it seemed awfully . . . Robotechy.
Yep, it's more 30-something nostalgia. Can't I just say this stuff gave me something to do after school and then get on with my life? Nope--a friend of mine from those days said recently that the stories we heard in our childhood stay with us. I agree.
I do have DVDs of the old Sunbow Transformers and GI Joe series. That's pure nostalgia. But when I first succumbed to the nostalgia bug and got Robotech on DVD, I realized that this series was the first time I was exposed to an overarching plot arch and character development. That, and it being 2004 when I first rewatched it after 20 years, I realized an anti-war war story was still relevant, even if told through such devices as giant aliens and transforming robots.
Let's look at some of the main characters from Robotech. First, the guy everyone wanted to be at recess, Rick Hunter. When I was 8, the fact he was the hero and yet got shot down in almost every episode just totally wooshed over my head. As did the fact that he was basically a pacifist who found himself forced into fighting a war--aaand was among the first of the main characters to look for a peaceful solution.
Contrast Rick with Lynn Kyle. Kyle's sort of the fourth wheel in the Rick-Lisa-Minmei love triangle. He's outwardly a pacifist--at least he's anti-military and won't let an opportunity for military-bashing to pass him by--and yet in his introductory episode he's shown to be an unparalleld martial artist. Over the course of the series, he goes from Macross media darling to (implicitly) abusive alcoholic.
Huh. That's sure diffferent from GI Joe's Duke ("Didn't you read my greensheet? Man of action!") or Transformer's Megatron ("Today Cybertron, tomorrow the universe!!").
The Japanese series were obviously intended as 25-minute toy commercials just like their American counterparts, but I think many of the Japanese animators realized that compelling characters and coherent storylines made for even better advertising. (Well, after watching some of the behind-the-scenes features ((NERD!!!)) on some of my DVDs, the conditions under which they were produced had something to do with it, too).
I wonder sometimes, if by importing these more-developed-series in the 80s, did Keefe and Macek have an influence on modern programming, animated and otherwise? I didn't follow the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica very closely, but some aspects of it seemed awfully . . . Robotechy.
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