After a long absense, out of the distant past (of 1987, our time) comes a grand spectacle, nine anime directors with nine shorts about robots compiled into one traveling Robot Carnival. Some of the featured animators were relatively new at directing and continued on to design and direct other favorites, including others listed on this site (or soon will be…). Much of the soundtrack was composed by Jo Hisaishi, best known for his close association with Studio Ghibli soundtracks as well.
While domestic and import releases are out of print, and the domestic cable showings of the early ’90s have long since stopped, Robot Carnival has become a treasure of obscurity.
Story Intro
A faded and torn poster blows off a wall and across a desert landscape, landing on the legs of an unsuspecting child during chores. Recognizing what it refers to, the boy rushes into town and tries to warn the people (in universally-understood comic gibberish) of some impending doom, then runs on. The townsfolk race to their homes, boarding them up, as a great shadow approaches. The Robot Carnival has arrived, a tank-treaded behemoth that accompanies rampant destruction with mechanized music. As a few survivors look on, the last we see of this town is rubble under giant tracks leading off into the desert.
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With the Wimbledon tournament in full swing this week, what better import anime to dig out of the closet than the early-’70s classic Ace wo Nerae!, or Aim for the Ace!, the story of a young rookie tennis player under direction of a strict coach. While the animation was picked up in Europe for French, Spanish, and Italian translations, it never received an English one for the UK or US, though fan groups have subtitled copies. Official copies of the imports seem out of print as well, so it’s become increasingly difficult to find, though in 2004 the story was revisited in a live-action version as well.
Story Intro
New to high school and an elite tennis team, Hiromi is awed by the shool’s top players and scared of the new coach Munakata-san, whose strictness and apparent mean streaks prompt the nickname Oni-Coach (Demon-Coach). But Munakata-san, a former tournament player himself, senses something in Hiromi’s rookie ways and chooses her to be among the top players to play in tournaments. Hiromi must deal with the entitlement issues and revenge tactics of unchosen seniors, strenuous training while losing early tournament matches, and romantic distractions in order to become an ace player herself.
The anime version of Yuzo Takada’s 3×3 Eyes was released as two OVA series: four animated episodes in 1991 skip a few years of plot to a final three episodes in 1995. DVD editions here in the states are now out of print, and the translated manga stopped after nine volumes of the original forty.
Story Intro
Late for work one day, Yakumo speeds on his scooter and knocks over a pretty girl, Pai. Turns out this girl was looking for him, as she’s carrying a letter from his late father asking him to help her become human. She’s the last of an ancient race of immortal demons, though he doesn’t believe this until she saves him from death by absorbing his soul. Yakumo has become her immortal servant warrior, so long as she lives. Trouble is, he’s not much of a fighter, and the cute naive Pai has a deadly alternate personality that doesn’t approve of him as her servant unless he proves himself.
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Anime’s version of The Right Stuff, a nation struggles to launch the first man into space in the epic The Wings of Honneamise (aka The Royal Space Force).
Story Intro
As a boy, Shiro dreamed of flying the fast jets he watched take off from a nearby airfield. Low grades and a slacker attitude kept him out of the military, and his only chance was a branch everyone looked down on for accepting almost anyone: the Royal Space Force. Politicians and warring neighbors threaten to stop the plans of the space force after many failed tests and lost pilots.
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The U.S. has Superman, brought to the Earth by a destroyed alien civilization and granted super powers based on the color of our sun, but he’s a perpetual bachelor. Japan has Dragon Ball, a manga-and-anime series about an alien superhero named Goku, and eventually his extended family. Superman never had kids, let alone those that could kick his butt.
Story Intro
(Dragon Ball) In an Earth with both science gadgets and dinosaurs, there was a young boy named Son-Goku (later just Goku) who lived alone in the forest. Hunting with his staff and fishing (with his tail) were his favorite things to while away the days, until he met a loud demon racing through the forest. This “demon” turned out to be a girl named Bulma on a motorcycle, searching for something called Dragon Balls — looking for such a strange part of dragon anatomy only served to convince Goku of her weirdness — so Goku brought her home to visit “Grandpa” and help her find them. “Grandpa” was not the old man who raised him in the forest, but a small sphere that was left to his care: a Dragon Ball.
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