I’ve talked about American animation. I’ve talked about Japanese animation (at length). It seems only fair to add a few words about French animation. The French may not be famous for their anime, but Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol made a major contribution to the genre when they gave us A Cat in Paris (Folimage, 2012).

You probably don’t know it. It did not make much of a splash in this country. Usually I would blame that on subtitles but A Cat in Paris was dubbed, and dubbed well. Angelica Huston voiced the nanny, Claudine, and Steve Blum was Nico, the thief. (You may not know Mr. Blum if you don’t follow animation, but he is a big name in voice acting. He played Spike in Cowboy Bebop, which is anime gold standard.)
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Michaele Jordan is the author of the period occult thriller Mirror Maze and her stories have appeared in Redstone Science Fiction, Buzzy Mag, The Crimson Pact, Volume 4 and Fantasy and Science Fiction. You can visit her website at www.michaelejordan.com while waiting for the upcoming steampunk adventure Jocasta and the Indians.

For some time now, Japan has been getting all the credit for animation, so much so that the term anime has come to mean Japanese anime — even though in Japan the word simply means animated video — and you have to specify that it’s OE (original English) anime if it was made here. Despite the success of such gems as The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004) and WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008), Disney/Pixar studios have always aimed their big guns aggressively at children. I say aggressively, since they have made only token gestures at rendering their offerings palatable to the long suffering parents, and have apparently never even considered attempting to expand the demographic sufficiently to lure teenagers into the theaters.

This left television to make animation for an older audience, a mantle it picked up only reluctantly. Granted that Batman: The Animated Series was significantly cool and wonderfully drawn, it was hardly typical. Apparently, if a superhero was considered interesting enough for video, it was interesting enough for a multi-million dollar live action film.
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I’m one of the sad few around here who has yet to see Ghost in the Shell. I have an excuse, though…I’ve been busy waiting to post about the prequel trailer…which is now available for all you true Ghost in the Shell fans out there.

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Here is the teaser trailer for Space Pirate Captain Harlock, a film version of a space opera manga that was briefly adapted into a television show in 1978. Captain Harlock is an outcast-turned-space-pirate who rebels against Earth’s Government and mankind’s general feeling of apathy.

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Are you having a hard time squeezing some entertainment out of your TV set? Please allow me to recommend a wonderful science fiction anime series: Noein: Mô hitori no kimi he (Or, in English, Noein: To Your Other Self). It was directed by Kazuki Akane and Kenji Yasuda and produced by Satelight. The series, which ran from 2005 to 2006, has 24 episodes which comprise a complete storyline.

You probably expect a Japanese SF/F anime to be fantasy, so let me reassure you: Noein really is an SF story. It’s all about quantum physics, starting with Hugh Everett’s Many-Worlds Interpretation, and progressing to the Copenhagen Interpretation, which suggests that an observer or measurement is important in determining the decoherency of any particular probability.
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Here’s a preview of the upcoming resurrection of an anime classic.

[via Giant Freakin Robot]

Greetings, All. Michaele Jordan here-please remember that name when Mirror Maze comes out in October! But more about me some other time. Today I am here to announce: I’ve fallen in love!

The object of my passionate affection is a TV show. But not one you’ll find sandwiched in between commercials during prime time, or cable, not even Cartoon Network. It’s xxxHolic (the x’s are silent) and it appeared on Tokyo Broadcasting Network in 2006, with a second season in 2008. Like so much of Japanese anime, it’s based on a very popular manga that ran from 2003 until early this year.

Watanuki (yes, the names are Japanese-suck it up) is the hero, or rather the protagonist, since he is a whiny, self centered little jerk, prone to tears and tantrums, self pity and jealous rages. But we have to cut him some slack-he’s had a hard life. He’s still just a kid (19-still in high school) and was orphaned very young; he lives alone, having been raised by persons who viewed him more as a servant than a family member. And worst of all, he sees spirits.

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[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Let us know!]

Everyone looking to watch some good anime knows the popular ones: Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Tototro, Battle Angel OVA, Grave of the Fireflies, Howl’s Moving Castle, Serial Experiments Lain, etc. But what about anime that falls below the usual radar? We asked this week’s esteemed panelists:

Here’s what they said…

Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Berserk, Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Champloo, GTO, Azumanga Daioh, Patlabor, and Death Note. I just wanted to make mention of these terrific AND popular anime than didn’t make your intro list because I don’t want to catch any flak for seemingly overlooking them in my list.

Some ten years ago, when I was preparing for professional life after Stargate, I started picking up anime with an eye to finding a potential property that would make a good live action film or television series. The idea was to come up with a couple of titles, option them, and eventually set one up at a studio or network. Well, turned out my plans for that next project had to wait as, ten years later, I’m still working on Stargate. In the meantime, my anime collection has swelled to about a thousand titles.

That initial research gave way to a respect and love for the genre and, today, I watch an anime episode a day in a bid to keep current, improve my Japanese language skills and, of course, find that next big project in preparation for life after Stargate.

What follows is a list of my personal underrated favorites:

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I know many of you are probably wondering who Peter Fernandez was and I wondered the same thing when I saw he had passed on in this post on Japanator. But for many people who grew up watching cartoons during the late ’70s and early ’80s, his voice is instantly recognizable as Speed Racer. Mr. Fernandez not only voiced Speed, but also Racer X and several other characters as well as re-wrote the theme song lyrics for Speed Racer for the American audience and(!) he was also the voice director for the series. He was also a voice actor and voice director for other anime shows such as Astro Boy and Star Blazers, amongst many others.

He died Thursday morning at age 83 from lung cancer. May you rest in peace sir, your efforts to bring anime to America helped generate the explosion of anime from the ’90s onward.

If you’ve never seen Speed Racer, YouTube has, surprisingly, the first two seasons available for your viewing pleasure. Here’s the very first episode, which aired in Japan on April 2nd, 1967, which makes it older than even me.

The animation and stories may look dated today, but to a ten year old kid, it was golden and even today, the Mach 5 is one of my favorite fictional automobiles.

This week’s topic comes from Madeline Ashby:

Read on to see the picks of this week’s illustrious panelists.

[Note: Following the responses will be a completely unscientific (but fun) list of The Top 14 Anime Films of All Time!]

I’ll peg my faves as being:

1. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Asks some interesting questions about identity that pick up where the first GITS movie left off. Honourable mention also goes to GITS and GITS: Stand Alone Compex.)
2. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki can do no wrong. It was this, or Princess Mononoke, or Howl’s Moving Castle, or …)
3. Haibane Renmei (Haunting, weird exploration of self-discovery, death, and the loss of innocence via allegory)
4. Akira (Just Because. Okay?)
5. Serial Experiment Lain (More on identity and communication — you’re probably detecting a theme here, right?)

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As a kid, there were certain cartoons that I always watched when I would get home from school. Those were Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets and Starblazers (Battleship Yamato in Japan). I find it interesting that in the late 70′s, when the word anime was almost completely unknown, that three anime shows captured my interest above all others and that they were even on American TV. I still have a soft spot for all three so it’s a good day to learn that there is a live-action adaptation of Battleship Yamato in the works. For those who were wonder, Nic Cage is not in this one. You’re welcome.

For those of you who don’t know the plot, Starblazers is set in 2199 with Earth on the verge of extermination by the evil Gamilon. With only 1 year left before Earth becomes a radioactive waste land, the Star Force dredges up the Japanese WW II battleship Yamato and transforms it into a spaceship with a big-@$$ space canon. How could you not like that?

Check it:

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[SF Signal welcomes the return of guest reviewer Jason Sanford!]

REVIEW SUMMARY: The most uplifting Christmas movie of the last decade—either animated or live action.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In modern-day Tokyo, three homeless people find an abandoned baby at Christmas and set out to locate the little girl’s parents.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: The film mixes comedy, melodrama, action, and the higher callings of humanity in ways Frank Capra could only dream of doing.

CONS: Satoshi Kon’s deliberate play off stereotypes, along with the harsh reality of being homeless, may make some viewers uncomfortable.

BOTTOM LINE: I watch this film ever year. My Christmas wouldn’t be complete without it, and neither should yours.

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Yesterday I ran across a couple of videos where Conan O’Brien was dubbing a couple of animes for Manga Entertainment. One of which was Ghost In The Shell, which I found odd since there is already a DVD version of that available. Well, shortly thereafter I ran across an article on Japanator that states that the U.K. will get to see a theatrical release of Ghost In The Shell 2.0, a reworking of the original. Suddenly Manga’s new dub makes sense. Now all that’s left to answer if any of Conan’s and Andy’s ‘voicework’ made it into the final product.

Here’s the trailer (WARNING: Animated nudity ahead, you have been warned.)

The internet is great, isn’t it?

Astro Boy started off in Japan as a manga, then a 1960′s animated series, credited with cementing the look and feel of ‘anime’. Over the years it’s been re-made several times, and in October of 2009, Astro Boy will appear in theaters in CGI form. The first teaser trailer has been released:

The music isn’t too bad, but I’m not sure I like the CGI look they have here, although having never seen Astro Boy in either its anime or manga form, I can’t really say if the ‘cartoony’ look is fits the show (aside from the the fact that anime has its own look and feel). I can say the trailer does nothing to get me excited about the movie.

If you’re interested in seeing the first episode of the 2003 version, it’s embedded after the jump!

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• Hell In A Handbasket continues their look at the guns of Battlestar Galactica. This time covering the long guns.
• The fallout between NBC and iTunes continues. Apple has now announced that iTunes will no longer sell new episodes of NBC shows. Even though the contract ends in December, Apple has decided to take this step, most likely in an effort to get NBC talking again. Too bad for you, the consumer, who likes to watch NBC shows from iTunes.
• SyFy Portal will be producing video logs (vlogs) for the upcoming American season of the BBC’s Torchwood. Each vlog will appear the Monday after each episode airs, will run about 15 minutes, and will be hosted on the AfterElton web site. I’ll leave it to you to discover the link between AfterElton and Torchwood.
• The Anime News Network’s The Click column looks at this weeks lineup of anime on TV.

Way back in 1995, Japanese animation studio GAINAX produced what may be the most influential anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. NGE is the story of mankind’s struggle against invading alien entities called Angels. Aside from being chock full of giant mech fights, it was also an impressive feat of storytelling, alternately deep, complex and confusing. The ending of the original TV show was so completely unexpected and storyline free that GAINAX had to create a movie that actually covered what happened. Now, ripping a page from Hollywood’s recent re-imaging kick, GAINAX announced its Rebuild of Evangelion. The official site has more, but is, of course, in Japanese. Good luck.

Set to release in Japan this September, this rebuild will re-tell the story in a more accessible manner, make use of CG effects that weren’t available in 1995, and create a different ending (I think that’s 3 endings now for the story). And instead of being a TV series, it will be release as a set of four movies. Aside from making it more accessible, it shouldn’t come as a shock that NGE is being re-done. It’s one of the most successful series in anime history and, of course, there’s money to be made! The fact that NGE is ripe for a more accessible version is just icing.

NGE made my Top 10 Science Fiction Anime list, and is almost a required viewing for anime fans. I’m actually kind of excited to see this, as I enjoyed the TV series. And with the help of copious internet resources, I have a good grasp on just what the heck happened.

And for your viewing pleasure, the first trailer:

Now I just need my brother to acquire these for me…

After reading this news blurb on SciFi about a proposed live action Ghost In The Shell movie (which I thought was called The Matrix), I thought I’d list my personal favorite top 10 science fiction themed anime shows/movies (which you should watch before watching a remake…). Some notes before hand. First, if you’re into anime, you’ll noticed that one, maybe two popular anime series aren’t on the list. I’ll explain afterwards why. Second, this list is heavily weighted toward TV series, and newer series at that. Those are the ones I typically get from Netflix. If there are movies I’ve missed, then please enlighten me. I haven’t been keeping up with the anime scene recently as I used to, I have too many other things to occupy my time. Third, if you don’t see your favorites here, remember this is my list. Feel free to comment on what you like. Flames will be ruthlessly ridiculed. And last, I’ve rated them pretty much on the “Would I watch them again if I saw them on TV?” criteria. Hence the ordering.

With that out of the way, on to the list!

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DVD Talk has posted their Top Ten Anime DVDs of 2005:

1. Samurai 7
2. Ghost in the Shell: SAC (2nd Gig)
3. Fullmetal Alchemist
4. Planetes
5. Samurai Champloo
6. Hayao Miyazaki films – Porco Rosso and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
7. Appleseed
8. Gankutsuou -The Count of Monte Cristo
9. Gunslinger Girl
10. Area 88

Turner Classic Movies will be airing nine anime films from Hayao Miyazaki in January 2006. The Studio Ghibli productions include Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso and Whisper of the Heart.

[via ELN]

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In a near future Japan, a specialized team of cyborgs and hackers are used to help solve crimes that the regular police force can’t.

PROS: A strong ensemble police drama, interesting stories, strong characters.

CONS: Occasional use of ‘technobabble’.

BOTTOM LINE: Definately a top 10 Anime show, most likely top 5. Anyone who wants to discover anime won’t go wrong with this series. Fans of the orginal Ghost in the Shell movies won’t be disappointed either.

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