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It’s our glorious 50th episode! Gerald reviews Megazone 23 Part 1, Clarissa’s got Princess Tutu, and Daryl rambles about Macross: Do You Remember Love? for nearly an hour. Judge for yourselves whether we condone bootlegging/are as bad as Coultergeist.
The loudness levels might be a little weird this episode, but hopefully the clipping is minimal. With any luck, everything is still intelligible.
Introduction/News/Contest Announcement (0:00 – 41:03)
Reintroductions are in order, even though we aren’t exactly in order ourselves. In the emails, the emails, what what, the emails: we get more speculation regarding why anime companies don’t publicize much in the way of numbers, respond to allegations of spreading hate speech, reveal the truth about THE TRUTH, and try to find out whether we have any favorite anime genres or not. We don’t have any news really, but Patrick Macias (as seen on television) aka MD Patrick has been named Editor-in-Chief of the upcoming print magazine Otaku USA. The first issue comes out in June, but we have a SHOCKING REVELATION about the content of this publication that you can find out by listening right now!
On the subject of conventions, we were asked to mention this before April 1st, and because we doubt that the next episode will be out before then, so we’ll mention it here. On Sunday April 1st from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Zenkaikon is holding a nerd prom! Yep, it’s their Spring Formal and it’ll be held at the Valley Forge Scanticon in King of Prussia, PA (that’s where the Otaku Generation podcast guys are based out of). Actually, it’s semi-formal, but there is going to be a King and Queen voted on and chosen by attendees, and nothing says King Of Nerd Prom better than winning Best Buy gift cards. Like all nerd proms, it does cost money to attend, and while registration closes in five days, there’s special pricing for AWO listeners. And by “listeners” I mean “readers”: $23.00 flat for the formal (even if they’re not attending the convention itself in October). $33.00 to combine the formal and registration. Mention us by name and get $1.00 off admission! Think of it this way: you’ll be getting access to a full Asian buffet including dessert!
Oh yeah. If you’ve got a con or event or something you want us to promote on the air (like how we didn’t just do), let us know and we’ll work something out. Also, if you’re reading this and you buy things from Right Stuf, write in “Anime World Order Podcast” in the “how did you hear about this site” field since they seem to think we actively encourage bootlegging. If enough people do that, it’ll be a good joke. Still, it gives us a contest idea. Listen to the show and find out what it is!
MIKE TOOLE’S SEXY MAN-VOICE (41:03 – 42:40)
We’re probably too lazy to give timecodes for the voicemails, but since Mike Toole’s sexy voice out-sexies them all, we figured you’d want to know about it. If you couldn’t get enough after hearing his rendition of the Moon Phase theme song, he’s got more vocal stylings in store for you here.
Review: Megazone 23 Part 1 (42:40 – 1:02:22)
Yes, it’s pronounced “two three” and not “twenty three.” Just ask someone who legally changed their name to Megazone that I think listens to this show even though he’s never written in. This is a really important feature-length OAV as far as American anime fandom is concerned, as it served as a “gateway anime” for many people even though you don’t usually hear it mentioned much anymore. Gerald invokes the statute of limitations regarding spoilers on this one, but this one was always more about the SUPER DUPER 1980s-ness of everything than the plot itself so don’t let that stop you from listening.
Promo: The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast (1:02:22 – 1:02:53)
Paul Chapman is a resentful shell of a man on the grounds that his movie ideas are completely wrong roughly 1/3 to 2/3 of the time and he does not have a sexy voice. Also, his mom gets all the fan mail. But just so everyone listening knows, that was his weak arm.
Review: Princess Tutu (1:02:53 – 1:25:35)
Aaron from WARP calls in to mention how much better Clarissa sounds now with the new microphone, but perhaps the fact that Daryl not only uses the Levelator but also the Audacity beta Leveler tool on top of that since he forgets that he used the Levelator invalidates any such improvements. This one’s a semi-recent magical girl that’s an awful lot like Revolutionary Girl Utena in many aspects, but unlike Utena this totally didn’t catch on in the US despite positive reviews, and that’s a shame. We speculate as to why that might have been the case, though perhaps the split reactions among us with regards to this show sums it all up.
Nothing Remotely Resembling a Coherent Review: Superdimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1:25:35 – 2:09:22)
Megazone 23 Part 1 may best encompass the 80s look, but this movie, which incidentally featured much of the same staff, best encompasses the 80s anime spirit. Daryl knew full well that he could never put together a proper review of this, since the Egan Loos of the world that know the exact missile capacities of the fighters would have his head, so he opts not to have done any research or taken any notes before speaking. The result is a segment that by itself is the length of most typical podcasts. Normally we don’t bother with this approach, but this is Show # 50 and, more importantly, this is DYRL we’re talking about here. Since this movie will not be seeing a US release any time soon, here is a BitTorrent link.
Otaku may not necessarily remember love, but at least we can remember that once upon a time, we weren’t all dead inside. Listen and perhaps you’ll find out why.
Closing (2:09:22 – 2:16:01)
Next time, Daryl’s going to try and do some more things he’s weeks/months late in doing by discussing Megacon 2007 and also reviewing To Terra Volume 1, released by Vertical Inc. In addition to that, Clarissa’s reviewing Animation Runner Kuromi and Gerald’s reviewing The Venus Wars. Our sidebar has all those podcast directories as well as our contact information in the event you’re interested in that stuff.
Why must you always release episodes right as I prepare to go to bed? WHY MUST YOU TAUNT ME SO?
Oh snap it is out. Thank you guys, thank you so very much 😀
That Streamline trailer was the jam. It got me through man difficult nights of my painful adolescence/puberty.
Megazone 23 and Macross DYRL all in the same episode! Was that the intention since most of the same staff worked on both?
Any chance of doing Macross Flashback 2012?
Anyway loved this episode (one of my favourites).
Happy 50th-ish episode guys. Downloading now.
Maybe it was a weird coincidence but I happened to purchase 2/3 of those shows recently (as in the week before) prior to hearing that you guys were going to review it. I suppose I’ll have to get that Macross movie now to complete the circle.
I just watched Princess Tutu this week, can’t wait to listen to the review 😛
Excellent, now I’ve got four reasons to pick up Otaku USA magazine…congratulations!
Re: faggots. Dan Savage, a faggot himself, got a question from a hetero listener in his Savage Love podcast about if it was ok to use the term faggot about gays. Dan said that faggot is a perfectly acceptable term for anyone to use (and he certainly uses it all the time), and that if this listener’s faggot friends didn’t like it they should get on with the times and stop being pussies about it. So there.
Re: Princess Tutu. That was a lovely review, Clarissa – it was really nice to hear you talk about something with passion 🙂 I’m not a big fan of magic girl stuff, but Princess Tutu works in so many levels – the whole multidimensional story aspect of it is absolutely stunning, and it’s so much deeper than it looks like initially. The DVD release is actually extremely good, the extras are really extensive and the dub with Luci Christian and Chris Patton is very very good. The only problem with it is that it can be very expensive – but this is such a niche anime that it’s ever more so important to go and buy it so that we can get more of niche releases later. I wouldn’t count on a box set coming along, ever, for the reasons you mentioned – so get it now. Oh, this anime had me in tears in several occasions, sometimes, towards the end, just the intro story bits had me choking up.
And there’s nothing passive aggressive about Gerald and Clarissa’s exchange 😛 You just stand your ground like you did there, girl.
Re: Macross DYRL. Oh dear guys, that was the most emotional review I’ve ever heard. It even had me all moved, and I’ve never seen a minute of Macross.
And I’ll be sending you an email with my latest list of stuff you made me buy.
(David)
I was very excited to hear you review DYRL–I feel like it doesn’t get much say these days. I’m glad that you gave it a positive review. It was also interesting to hear the dub version; since the only version I’ve seen was a fansub I found online somewhere.
>>Any chance of doing Macross Flashback 2012?
That movie is essentially a hour long collection of Minmei songs played to scenes in DYRL; plus an extra (short) animation somewhere (I forget where: beginning or end)
>>Re: Macross DYRL. Oh dear guys,
>>that was the most emotional review
>>I’ve ever heard.
Agreed lol–not that I have any complaints. (I didn’t notice Max changing size either; that was new for me!)
I’d like to think that as far as sexy man-voices go, the ranking would be something like this:
Cogswell Pepperbox < Daryl Surat < Paul Chapman < Dave Riley < Sam Elliot < Mike Toole Alas, I know this is probably wishful thinking on my part.
Heh, I figured I’ll do you guys a favor and stick the promo up myself!
I never understood why the odd BGM they stuck in this personally, sounds like something I expect out of a talent show/minimalist concert-type piece that wouldn’t impress anyone.
Also, “Tales of the Wolf” was Streamline’s cooky title for the two episodes of Lupin III they had that were directed by Hayao Miyazaki (under a pseudonym) from the second series. Orignally they repleased them as two seperate videos (one episode each), then released another tape labeled “Lupin III’s Greatest Capers” with both episodes on it (don’t ask why they stuck the Lupin name in that way, perhaps they liked treading on thin wire there).
This promo also got seen on the measily video releases for “Johnny Sokko & His Flying Robot”.
I think that episode of The Critic you’re thinking of was the one that spoofed “Misery”. Jay Sherman mentioned a standee of himself saying “Buy My Book!” having resulted in a Brentano’s manager to shoot himself and the standees being pulled out from the stores. Thinking back to The Critic, I think it’s funny people haven’t used the Bill Cosby quip in one episode that has him doing the James Dean character from “Rebel Without a Cause”. They’ve already covered both The Simpsons and Family Guy with their YTMND creations, rather see The Critic getting purged for whatever material could be lifted there.
Heh, I only wish more people would take heed of the disclaimer at the opening of every podcast before they wrote in about the faggot remark. I often used to thought of that word being used in a same way someone might call you “gay” if you aren’t doing something in an odd way (like school acitivites). Makes me think of how bad it seems to use the word “retarded” over someone who is mentally disabled, yet over 20 years ago, an NBC promo got away with that in promoting a show on it’s prime-time lineup!
(the very last promo pimping a few animated thanksgiving specials)
Star Blazers can be annoying at times with those names, I often don’t really think of it might while watching it (besides the edits, I only wish there was a Remastered version where they tried reinstating the violence back in just for good measure).
Sad to see John Rand has given you trouble as usual.
That sounds like one cool mag for me to check out soon! Love to see how you guys might ruin it as you said.
The Tranzor Z theme often came off sounding more like something I expect to hear in a crappy instructional/training video, yet Mike Toole found a perfect place for his voice to eminate in that.
Too often the ending of “part 1” kinda came off sounding more like “Gone with the Wind” to me, if only for it’s implication, yet it’s hard getting used to the totally new designs/production team employed for “part 2”, yet it’s still a pretty interesting story as well. Glad I’ll probably skip the thrid video after hearing a tad about it. I personally wish I could go back to 1985 myself after having watched MG23. I miss those simple days.
“Robotech The Movie” did get released elsewhere such as the UK and Latin America, where some home video releases might exist. Love hearing that ending bit that was also done soley for the film (where Shogo takes on and kills “B.D. Andrews”). A screener copy has popped up on BoxTorrents recently. The ADV DVD is worth getting for the commentary track alone! Who’d pay $200 for Megazone 23 these days? 🙂
Really love your review of Macross: DYRL. The use of the BGM/songs during the review was worth the trouble to get into the mood. I first saw this almost a decade ago from a crappy old fansub a friend sent me. I hate to admit I bawled my eyes out after watching it, it was THAT good! I also have a copy of the English dub as well (same as you’ve just seen from Best Film & Video Corp.). The movie was also once available in the UK as both a subtitled and dubbed VHS edition. The ending you’ve talked about during the credits was produced much later at some point in the 90’s. The film originally had just a regular credit scroll that went after the scene fades out before the song begins (the end credits alone look no different from the usual HK flicks by Joseph Lai).
The Best Film & Video releases that often came out a few years after the “Just for Kids” ones, often were either available in either EP or SP mode, the EP tapes are just crap, though I got them to work in one VCR in my house. The Macross tape I once had was in SP so I had no biggie with that (the Just For Kids tapes also get pretty idiotic with the use of some kid on screen who’d remind us to adjust the tracking control). One nice thing is to think of how the Best Film & Video releases don’t even make a statement about the content of their videos, so unsuspecting parents might accidentally play this to their kids and get all shocked if the violence or Minmay’s shower scene shows up!
I See someone already bothered sticking the whole film up on YouTube last year…
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=032BBA017E82AF44
Perhaps I outta stick the HK dub up just for the hell of it!
The only thing I wanna know about Otaku U.S.A is the name of the manga you will be publishing. Also, say what you want about the Wachowskis, but at least they didn’t use their studio to buy up and bury anime which inspired the Matrix like Quentin Tarantino did with Asian films.
Oh, and my friend back in the day also saw the similar Megazone parallels to the Matrix, but I always thought it was mostly “inspired” by Hardboiled, GITS and Evangelion. As for whether they’re worried about lawsuits, apparently Rob Cohen isn’t, in regard to Stealth. See http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/stealth1.php
.
Top notch episode. Espacially the DYRL? segment, damn that title song stirs up some emotions.
I find it incredibly ironic that the same people who whine and complain about the use of the word “gay” as a perjorative have no problem calling someone a “retard.”
It’s the very definition of hypocrisy. So take your selective, self-indulgent morality and shove it where your boyfriend does. OH SNAP, I WENT THERE!
~Kamon
By the way…if Zool asked Mike Toole if he was a God, he could truthfully say YES.
~Kamon
Re: faggots. Dan Savage, a faggot himself, got a question from a hetero listener in his Savage Love podcast about if it was ok to use the term faggot about gays. Dan said that faggot is a perfectly acceptable term for anyone to use (and he certainly uses it all the time), and that if this listener’s faggot friends didn’t like it they should get on with the times and stop being pussies about it. So there.
Dan Savage has been encouraging readers to start their letters with “Hey Faggot” or “Yo, Fudgepacker” for years. Good guy, pretty decent podcast to for a one-man affair. But then, who doesn’t like hearing about bipolar lesbians on a weekly basis?
The wonderful thing about free speech is that you don’t get to choose that someone can’t say something just because “IT HUWTS MY FEEWINGS!” Doesn’t anyone remember what we learned in kindergarten? “Sticks and stones…” and all that jazz. People who get their feelings hurt by about as neutral a use of the word ‘faggot’ as there could possibly be need to grow a pair. My roommates call me a greedy Jew or drunken Mick as often as I ask them how the dog tastes at the local “Lucky #1 New Fat Chinese Food” restaurant.
It’s just words, man. Are you really going to get offend by someone you don’t even know, on the INTERTOURNETS of all places, is pretty silly. We’re not in grade school anymore.
In closing: Preach it, Kamon.
Cogswell Pepperbox < Daryl Surat < Paul Chapman < Dave Riley < Sam Elliot < Mike Toole
I don’t think Cogswell would be happy to hear that…
Mike Toole ain’t so cool,
He got his Moe all over my Star Blazers. Now all Nova does is make bad coffee and cry. . . .
Dan Savage has been encouraging readers to start their letters with “Hey Faggot” or “Yo, Fudgepacker” for years. Good guy, pretty decent podcast to for a one-man affair. But then, who doesn’t like hearing about bipolar lesbians on a weekly basis?
Oh indeed – Dan’s my authority when it comes to things faggity-fag-fag. His point is that you should take whatever names your enemies use to make fun of you and own them.
(Look, any term can be used in a degrading way – I call myself a “big girl” all the time when getting all weepy when watching soppy anime, but it can hurt when other people call me “a girl” in a dismissive manner. Yet I deal.)
RE: Megazone 23 scenario
The scenario you described also sounds just like “To Terra” (at least the old movie — I heard there is a new TV series coming out with that name, but I don’t know anything about it).
I guess what I’m saying is that the scenario is reasonably common, so maybe they weren’t lying, and instead just saw some other movie with the same premise.
kolibri: The problem comes when people want to have their cake and eat it too; when you get people saying “oh, it’s okay for ME to use the term ‘coz I’m just taking it back, but it’s not okay for YOU to use the term ‘coz it’s degrading“. Make up your mind!
***
That Streamline trailer music must be burned into my DNA, because I haven’t heard it for more than ten years but I instantly recognized it.
***
I’ve noticed that Clarissa isn’t saying her last name anymore. I can only conclude that she and Daryl have married, but that they’re keeping it secret.
***
Clarissa, there’s lots of fantasy anime out there…in the hentai section. Also, “rudder monthly” made me spray soda.
***
As a result of this podcast, I bought VOTOMS and Crusher Joe. I’m waiting for Chevalier d’Eon to come out.
***
Megazone 23: YES, I also remember one interview (or feature, or something) where someone involved in ‘The Matrix’ talked about how early scripts had Neo riding around on this motorcycle that was going to transform to protect him from the bad guys.
Which bike is cooler: I think they look about the same, really.
Commentary: It sounds like they did “AWO: The Commentary Track”.
My first point will deal with the mysterious mysteries of anime sales figs. The listener’s hypothesis has one big bad hole in it: we might not know what the numbers are when it comes to anime shows, but Japanese companies certainly do. They’re making money off these shows from more than just licensing fees. There’s no way in hell that they just cash their monthly royalties checks without looking for some verification of just what sort of action their products have seen. While they might not know what kind of sales someone else’s show is experiencing, they certainly know what kind of money they’re making.
On the subject of Princess Tutu: I love this show so much. The thing that I like in particular about this show is the integrity it shows in cleaving to the conventions actual fairy tales. While not as harsh as the traditional version of Little Red Riding Hood, Tutu is a tale in the vein of Hans Christian Andersen or the Brothers Grimm. The character of Drosselmeyer doesn’t represent any particular figure but shares an impulse to give fairy tales “fairy tale endings” with all sorts of people. The characters defy this, and we get an awesome show. It’s so cool to see a message about being happy with what you really are that’s honest about what you really are.
In Gerald’s defense, while I would rank this among the best anime ever, Tutu definitely operates within genre conventions. Tutu becomes more than a magical girl show by being simultaneously always a fairy tale and always a magical girl show. If you really don’t like the genre, this show isn’t for you. Lots of people who dislike magical girl shows would probably be charmed by Tutu, but if your dislike for the form goes deep enough, you’re not going to like it.
Also, on the look of the show: I think it has a retro feel to it with a much simpler and more childish look than Utena. I could see people thinking it looked childish or hokey.
Finally, thanks for running the hate mail. While I find that anti-PC posturing is mostly an excuse to make rudeness socially acceptable, the letter was a nice reminder of just how hilarious kids can be. From the dubious historical references and identity forged in the mighty smithy of the internet, he utterly failed to make his beef resonate. If he’d made enough of an emotional investment in this podcast that hearing a bad word that applied to him caused emotional distress, it’s probably just as well for his emotional stability that he’s boycotting. Kamon’s response was nicely executed but did lose points for a questionable use of the word ironic. I hate to do it, but I’m a straight shooter.
I do hope we hear from general beefy this go round. I find his responses fascinating.
Elizabeth
You know, that’s something I was thinking about the reply.
Before he wrote that letter, nobody knew who he was.
Now that he’s written that letter, thousands of people know who he is. And they all think he’s a tool.
OK, time for some school about the Best Film and Video Corp. releases.
Mukashi mukashi….
Back around 1984-85 word came out that a company by the name of Peregrine Film Distribution Inc. had bought up a bunch of movies from Toho, who handled international distribution for a number of companies including Toei, Kadokawa, Sunrise, and the like. Peregrin had the intent of putting these films into American theaters, or so it went.
Some time passed and one day around ’88, it was discovered that a number of anime films, with really goofy or odd titles, we showing up under Celebrity Home Entertainment, Inc. kidvid label, ‘Just For Kids’.
NOTE that this is NOT the same company as Family Home Entertainment, which was part of Media Home Entertainment, which was owned by Heron International.
Finding the tapes in a store was a challenge, but eventually they showed up at Toys R Us in a ‘kidvid’ rack with cheap computer games and such.
Man, were those some horrible illos on the boxes. And the titles! But even more frustrating, the runtimes! Holy crud, these films were just SHREDDED, averaging 90 minutes for features that generally clocked well over 2 hours!
So I bought several, sat down and paid close attention. Clearly done at Toho’s ‘International Dubbing’ studio (I believe there’s actually a studio they own in Australia, or at the very least one they use consistantly. There’s an odd Toho/AUS connection that needs to be explored) I started with ‘Vengance of the Space Pirate’ because I know My Youth in Arcadia forwards and backwards. And I discovered something facinating. All the trims, all the cuts, there was NO attempt to smooth over them with scripting changes or re-writing, which said to me that these films must have been dubbed in their full length form, and then edited down after.
Well, that makes SOME sense. The ‘common wisdom’ in the video biz is that kids can’t handle more than 90 minutes, they won’t watch a movie longer than that, so, cut cut cut!
Some called me a fool and clueless when I discussed this, but just a couple years later I was proved right when the same movies, under their real names, showed up in stores under the Best Film and Video Corp. label. Oddly enough, they tended to show up at Electronic Boutique stores….
But there was one more twist. They were released in two formats! Standard Play (2 hour speed) tapes were meant for the video store rental market, while the Extended Play tapes were meant for low price general retail. The frustrating part? THERE WAS NO WAY TO TELL THEM APART unless you picked it up! There was no difference in the UPCs, no different stock code, nothing EXCEPT for a tiny little stamp on the side of the tape left exposed by the open bottom of the slipsleeve box. It would say, in gold, ‘BF-SP’ for the standard play release and ‘BFEP’ for the extended play version.
It’s a shame Best Film never released these to DVD, but it’s probably just as well, they’d probably have been just dumped to disc via shovelware and have all kinds of issues….
You know, I kind of never realized how that Streamline trailer was about 50% “Akira”.
Steve: http://www.pelleas.net/aniBBS/viewtopic.php?t=65&start=0
I’ve been idly watching Macross 7 for a while now. Is that the sort of positive thing I should expect from DYRL?
(except a lot more so, and with less rocking out)
halojonesfan –
To be fair, a term can be used both for reclamation and still be degrading. It depends on who’s using it and how. Context and intent have a big effect.
Obviously some people like Dan Savage use ‘faggot’ to refer to themselves and don’t mind other people using it. That doesn’t mean, however, that when Ann Coulter calls someone a faggot, or a group of gay bashers backs some gay kid against a wall and tells him to take his faggot ass out of town, that they’re not being completely insulting and homophobic.
Which is why, if we had been doing such a thing, I’d totally understand the dude being pissed off. But y’know, that wasn’t really happening. I guess if he wants to get uneasy about it because he hates that word full stop or we haven’t established our non-hostile gay cred, whatever, but knowing our context and intent I’m not going to lose sleep over it.
Also, I don’t think any woman could survive marriage to Daryl. And I’m still here, so…
Elizabeth –
The thing, though, is that Gerald *doesn’t* hate magical girl shows as a rule. Having watched all 200 episodes plus movies of Sailor Moon with him, and knowing full well that he loves Cutie Honey, Fancy LaLa, Full Moon wo Sagashite, Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, I believe owns at least some Card Captor Sakura, and has Creamy Mami on his HDD somewhere, I can tell you that much.
So…yeah.
Great 50th show, gang! Looking forward to the next 50! And you helped me get through a TON of Scooby Doo storyboards today, which is the best favor anyone can ever do for me.
In case anyone cares to hear about it from somebody who was “there” at the start, I’ve had a love/hate thing going with DYRL ever since I first watched it in ’85. I was still caught up in my Macross phase then, and though the movie “violated” the “precious” continuity of the TV series, I loved watching it. The fuzzy VHS dubs we had back then obscured some detail, so we grabbed up every book we could find to help us understand what we were seeing. (How’bout that–it was the first movie that was so finely detailed that you actually missed a lot of it on VHS.)
A couple years later I was heartily sick and tired of everything with the name “Macross” on it, mainly because I and my pals had moved on to other things (yo, Steve!) yet EVERY OTHER anime fan we knew was still gaga over Macross and didn’t want to talk about anything else. In response, I decided it was my karmic duty to despise the show just to preserve a balance. (I did the same thing with Megazone 23 and a few others, by the way.)
Fortunately, time levels all mountains and fills in all valleys, and now I Remember Love again. Thanks for a genuinely heartfelt and passionate review that makes me want to pull out that movie again. Should I maybe prop up your pro-bootlegger cred and remind everyone that you can get it on Hong Kong DVD? In my opinion, that’s a perfectly acceptable alternative when everyone is too stupid to realize what kind of money could be made off a legit release.
Steve Harrison said…
OK, time for some school about the Best Film and Video Corp. releases.
Cool, SCHOOL TIME!
Back around 1984-85 word came out that a company by the name of Peregrine Film Distribution Inc. had bought up a bunch of movies from Toho, who handled international distribution for a number of companies including Toei, Kadokawa, Sunrise, and the like. Peregrin had the intent of putting these films into American theaters, or so it went.
Hmmm… So much of this collection would be comprised of films produced/released between 1980-84 then.
Some time passed and one day around ’88, it was discovered that a number of anime films, with really goofy or odd titles, we showing up under Celebrity Home Entertainment, Inc. kidvid label, ‘Just For Kids’.
How word does spread!
NOTE that this is NOT the same company as Family Home Entertainment, which was part of Media Home Entertainment, which was owned by Heron International.
Though technically, Heron didn’t own FHE at all (from what I can understand). FHE was it’s own thing for much of the 80’s before being owned by Live Entertainment in ’90 (previously bought out Vesron Video I believe). Of course FHE probably had the best titles out there for any 80’s toon fan, but enough about that. FHE (and the later Artisan Entertainment) were aventually taken over by Lions Gate Entertainment in 2003, the rest is history (if any).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Home_Entertainment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artisan_Entertainment
Media Home Entertainment, originally beginning life as “MEDA” in the late 70’s was perchased by Heron Communications in around ’84, and eventually a subsidiary label was created called “Hi-Topps Video”, some of Media’s earlier family/children’s titles might’ve been released through Hi-Topps after this point. Hi-Topps/Media released several Toei animated features in dubbed form like “Swan Lake” (1981) and “Puss ‘n Boots” (1969), not to mention the 3B Productions dubs of Daimos and Diapolon under whatever name imaginable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Home_Entertainment
Of course there had been WAY too many “home entertainments” in those days.
Finding the tapes in a store was a challenge, but eventually they showed up at Toys R Us in a ‘kidvid’ rack with cheap computer games and such.
Too bad I started noticing them around the mid 90’s when they started showing up at dollar stores and Big Lots.
Man, were those some horrible illos on the boxes. And the titles!
No kidding! I often have to laugh at how far we’ve come from the days when that was present.
If there’s one thing that I liked about the “Just for Kids” label, it would probably be for the more obscure/foreign goodies they released back then.
But even more frustrating, the runtimes! Holy crud, these films were just SHREDDED, averaging 90 minutes for features that generally clocked well over 2 hours!
The real killer (it’s as if they had to be edited for some sort of suitable TV length the way they were done).
So I bought several, sat down and paid close attention. Clearly done at Toho’s ‘International Dubbing’ studio (I believe there’s actually a studio they own in Australia, or at the very least one they use consistantly. There’s an odd Toho/AUS connection that needs to be explored)
I’d sure like to know! The fact they bother dubbing them at all was rather a generous thought to eliminate the need to do so domestically perhaps.
I started with ‘Vengance of the Space Pirate’ because I know My Youth in Arcadia forwards and backwards. And I discovered something facinating. All the trims, all the cuts, there was NO attempt to smooth over them with scripting changes or re-writing, which said to me that these films must have been dubbed in their full length form, and then edited down after.
Obvious also of the edits having been done through video rather than on film as well I believe.
Well, that makes SOME sense. The ‘common wisdom’ in the video biz is that kids can’t handle more than 90 minutes, they won’t watch a movie longer than that, so, cut cut cut!
The same wisdom that gave us abridged versions of GE999 and Nausicaa in that bygone era (sad thinking about the poor saps that had to watch those movies in that state long before the uncut originals showed up later).
Some called me a fool and clueless when I discussed this, but just a couple years later I was proved right when the same movies, under their real names, showed up in stores under the Best Film and Video Corp. label. Oddly enough, they tended to show up at Electronic Boutique stores….
At least you proved them wrong!
Being reminded, before a FYE location closed up shop in my town, they had one last tape of BF&V “My Youth in Arcadia” in their VHS aisle a year or so ago!
But there was one more twist. They were released in two formats! Standard Play (2 hour speed) tapes were meant for the video store rental market, while the Extended Play tapes were meant for low price general retail. The frustrating part? THERE WAS NO WAY TO TELL THEM APART unless you picked it up! There was no difference in the UPCs, no different stock code, nothing EXCEPT for a tiny little stamp on the side of the tape left exposed by the open bottom of the slipsleeve box. It would say, in gold, ‘BF-SP’ for the standard play release and ‘BFEP’ for the extended play version.
I noticed that somewhat as well. It’s just more a cheap way of saving time of having to make a separate package for the consumer end when they could just have the same cover for both tapes. Still it would’ve been nice that the non-rental tapes be left in SP anyway (but I can see where they’d lose their wad otherwise). I think Celebrity Home Entertainment did that with their tapes too (the rental copies tend to cost a buttload if you bought them new someplace).
And let’s not forget the Best Film & Video intro that is so done tacky and quick! Not as memorable as anything else.
It’s a shame Best Film never released these to DVD, but it’s probably just as well, they’d probably have been just dumped to disc via shovelware and have all kinds of issues….
The first time I saw “Kentucky Fried Movie” had to be on a BF&V EP tape as well! I’ve had other tapes released by them in the past such as a few of Streamline Pictures’ titles like “Castle of Cagliostro” (really, watching that in EP and in the way Macek presented it was just hard to get through).
Only surprised EastWestDVD hasn’t gotten ahold of any of the BF&V anime releases for their cheapo DVD’s.
You know what I’d like to see?
Maboroshi Studio did a DYRL music video a few years ago (and, now that I think about it, “a few” is probably now “ten”) that took a lot of DYRL and set it to the tune of Queen’s “One Vision”. Really, I’d say it’s the distilled essence of Macross: space fighters that look like F-14s blow up aliens to a rockin’ Eighties soundtrack.
It doesn’t seem to be on AMV.org. Has anyone else seen this? Are there digital versions of it? (I’ve been faithfully preserving my VHS-tape copy in the hope that SOMEDAY I’ll be near a VCR and an encoder at the same time.)
Alexander Strange hat gesagt…
I’ve been idly watching Macross 7 for a while now. Is that the sort of positive thing I should expect from DYRL?
Macross 7 was produced around the same time as Plus, and can be seen as the yin to its yang. All of the cynicism and bitterness of the characters in Macross Plus are noticeably absent from Macross 7 – it’s a show about hope and music and all that good stuff.
DYRL has a level of depth to its story that is missing from M7, and the animation in DYRL is mindblowing no matter what else you’ve seen (IMHO it’s prettier than most Ghibli films), but if you like 7 you’ll love DYRL and the original TV series.
I forgot to mention that one of the unsung heroes of DYRL (and every other Macross, for that matter) is the co-designer Kazutaka Miyatake. Shoji Kawamori is Mr. Valkyrie, but Miyatake designed *almost* everything else from the spaceships to about half the non-Valkyrie robots to most if not all of the super-complex backgrounds and environments. So every time you’re looking at a super-detailed locale in the movie, you’re looking at Miyatake.
He’s got a long resume outside Macross as well. He cut his teeth on the ship designs for Arrivederci Yamato, Did most of the mecha design in Orguss, and returned to Yamato decades later to redesign just about everything for the Playstation games. He is responsible for the Yamato redux that was the basis for the massive 1/350 scale Yamato model kit that’s currently taking Japan by storm.
Oh, one other thing, Miyatake was a core member of Studio Nue and contributed to just about everything that came through their doors.
In other words, a design superman. REPRESENT!
The only unfortunate thing about Macross is that the only “rock and roll” entry was Macross 7, which…wasn’t really that great. It was J-rock, and it should have been dead-hard [i]metal[/i]. Iron Maiden [i]at the very least[/i].
You had the original series, that was “pop”. Macross Plus was “techno”. Macross Zero was…I dunno, “opera”?
Halojones wrote:
You had the original series, that was “pop”. Macross Plus was “techno”. Macross Zero was…I dunno, “opera”?
I believe the term you’re looking for is god-awful crap. Macross Zero is perhaps the most out of character part of the franchise, as the music has the least importance than in any other section, and the score was entirely forgettable.
Also, Macross 7’s OST is very much what the populace of Japan were into at the time – the albums broke over to the pop charts. If you want a harder sound, check out Fukuyama’s band Hummingbird, where he does edgier versions of a number of the Macross 7 songs that he wrote and performed for the series. His work with the JAM project is also edgier although it’s not really metal.
Besides, metal is rarely optimistic and Macross 7 is nothing of not that. It’s the frigging Beatles in Space.
exedore –
They probably could have done it with power metal. That’s mostly all about being united and strong through the power of music and triumphing over the forces of evil yadda yadda.
Though power metal lyrics tend to pertain more to a fantasy context than a scifi one.
I just relistened to show #50 on my iPod, and following it in my playlist was “The Downward Spiral”.
My first reaction was: “why is Daryl Surat singing now?”.
Seems Daryl and Trent Reznor have very similiar voices, I just hadn’t noticed until now.
So, Daryl, wanna start a band?
Also, Macross 7’s OST is very much what the populace of Japan were into at the time – the albums broke over to the pop charts.
That’s because Japanese people are GENIUSES.
Heart and Soul is the greatest song ever.
Macross 7 was my first real exposure to the Macross franchise, and I hated it.
I was praying that Basara would catch a laser-blast in the face every time he started swooping around like an idiot in his custom, guitar-powered Valkyrie, interfering with the soldiers that were trying to protect the mother-ship while bleating: “DON’T FIGHT, LISTEN TO MY SOOOOOOOOONG!”
Let’s not forget female lead. I still can’t fathom how Max and Miria managed to spawn that ungrateful, pink-haired harpy.
Seriously, the only likeable character in that show was the Meltraedi drummer, and I suspect that’s because she never really talked.
“custom, guitar-powered Valkyrie”– Gooberzilla
“and I hated it.” – Gooberzilla
DOES NOT COMPUTE
DOES NOT COMPUTE
That’s sort of the amazing part. Macross 7 manages to make all this stuff that should be awesome, rather lame.
DYRL is one of the great missing pieces of my 80s anime education. never had a chance to see it back when it came out. Looks like I may finally break down and finally have to learn what all this torrent nonsense is about.
Hey Everyone! Due to me being a eejit and the fact that the BBC screwed up their programme guide, I’ve missed recording show two of Japanarama. It’ll probably will be repeated soon so in the meantime I’ll keep the torrents for show 1 open until show three comes up next Monday. Sorry again!
P.S. Has anyone gotten the whole file yet?
I had only listened to a couple of your older episodes, didn’t find it hugely interesting.
But I just had to hear what you had to say about Macross – and I found myself agreeing to every last word of your review: It was incredibly spot-on! So I’m gonna listen through every episode, from the top. Definitely worth another chance!
It’ll probably will be repeated soon so in the meantime I’ll keep the torrents for show 1 open until show three comes up next Monday. Sorry again!
For those with access, ep 2 of the new Japanorama is up on UKNova. It also appears that someone is posting it to Mininova.
I think I might remember love now.
Why don’t they draw backgrounds like that these days?
Shinkai movies have some good stuff, but most of it is minimalism and train stations.
Well, one of the about eight very promising new shows starting next week is Towards the Terra, so maybe we’ll get some more classicism.
Macross 7 is the worst Elvis movie ever made.
Regarding the music in the Streamline trailer… am I the only one who was reminded of Commando’s steel pan tune?
exedore: Oh, I wasn’t commenting on the quality of the series; just the musical inspiration.
And, like Clarissa said, there’s plenty of stuff aside from Nordic Death Metal. Although, really, the problem is that it’s called “prog rock” these days, because they apparently don’t even want to be associated with metal. But, y’know…it’s all rock ‘n’ roll to me.
Imagine how much better M7 would have been if the song Basra kept singing was “Through The Fire And The Flames” instead of “Dancing On Planet Dance”…
If Basara had been replaced with Ellen Aim and the Attackers, Macross 7 would have rocked.
Also, you’d have to replace what’s-her-face with a talking soda machine that would occassionally vomit up a can of Coke.
God, that hate mail was really irritating. Pretentious is right. I’m bisexual myself, and I didn’t find your podcast offensive (except maybe to cosplayers and Steven Foster, but he doesn’t have a soul anyway), and I TOOK NOTICE OF THE DISCLAIMER/WARNING. People are supposed to listen to this podcast expecting to be insulted or annoyed occasionally. It’s all in fun.
~Kuroneko Kurata,
{sarcastic irony} Proud Member of the Yurizuka {/sarcastic irony}