Archive for category old school
Noburu Ishiguru 1938 – 2012
Chances are, if you’re reading this, that you probably have heard of the passing of famed anime director Noburu Ishiguru. Mr. Ishiguru passed away aged 73. I won’t keep you all very long. This is my personal recollection of Ishiguru.
I knew of Ishiguru’s work in anime even before I knew of he, himself. Growing up with Robotech, you, sort of, had no choice in the matter. Even after discovering about Macross, and his involvement with it, I remained impressed that one man kept it all of it together. Today there are committees, companies and like for this sort of thing. Back then nobody knew about cross media opportunities, having record companies work hand in hand with anime producers to the degree Macross did. Ishiguru helmed a series that did all that.
Working on the 1980′s Astro Boy series, you can see his flair even inside this most Tezuka of Tezuka’s works and having the added pressure of working alongside the God of Manga himself. I am only now digging into the treasure that is Legend of Galactic Heroes. Such an amazing work. Oddly, I saw his latest work, Tytania, before starting into LoGH. Does this distract from his earlier space opera? Not at all, in my book.
At Otakon 2011,I had the delightful opportunity to see Mr. Ishiguru in person as he, Makoto Shinkai and Kazuya Murata were jointly holding a Producers and Directors panel (well, the producers were too scared to come up on stage, so it became a directors panel!). We heard from a variety of their recollections, most of which I struggle to recall at the moment to be honest, and then got a chance to ask questions. Unfortunately, some idiot decided to ask the inevitable Tsunami question and that ground the whole panel to a halt. As a result, a lot of us never got a chance to ask our questions. I had a few but now I think of it, there really was only one: “For Ishiguru-sempai, and the rest of the panel if they like, what do you want to be remembered for?” Sadly, I’ll never get the chance to ask that of Mr. Ishiguru, but looking back at his long body of work, his contribution to what we regard as modern anime and his great take on being an animation director, I think I’ve got the best answer possible, in my mind. Thank you, Mr. Ishiguru, for all your hard work. You have most certainly earned your rewards, whenever you are.
Go raibh maith agat.
Leiji Matsumoto’s OZMA first review plus quick impressions of the VIKI service
Posted by eeeper in anime, old school, reviews, sci-fi on Saturday, March 17, 2012
OK, so I’ve just seen Matsumoto’s new show OZMA on @viki. It’s pretty good.
It’s the future, the earth has dried up, people will in the outcroppings of rock in the desert. Our plucky hero, Sam Coyne (great Irish name) rescues the whisp-ish girl, Maya, from a Theseian (I think it’s spelled
that way) patrol who seem to know her. Just as they chase her down in their huge sand destroyers, she and they are thrown into a micro-sandstorms (because you know they can be very dangerous) by a Dune sandworm called an Ozma, allowing Sam in his sand flyer to snatch Maya out of the bad guys clutches. He takes her back to his home, a town built into a huge rock plateau where the ship he serves on is docked.
So, our adventure begins. I love Matsumoto and everything he does. The character designs never change, the ideas are all similar but still I’m glad he’s around. If anything, this first episode reminds me that he can make the best kinds of stories. When he announces a new show I get excited for watching a show or movie that I’ve seen replayed dozens of times before. Normally, I’d say this is not a good thing but he’s different. He’s always like that. The cast talks about Natura’s, quantum resonance, Ozma’s and so on but it’s not really that important. Matsumoto’s not that pushed to give you explanations. He’s got a hero, a beautiful girl, old Tochiro, Queen Esmeraldas without the scar, Harlock being the debut episode’s bad guy, the Man to fight and that’s all you need to know. A little bit of this, a little bit of that and you have your setup and your reason for watching. The blurb on the Viki page says this series will “tackle the ultimate question of life and its existence”. If that’s true, I’m all for it.
Trying out Viki on Android, the subtitles are clear, if literal, and the font they use is huge and crisp. You will not be able to NOT read this stuff. The people at Viki can only subtitle this stuff with community help. I know it’s on Crunchyroll as well but this is a new service and they are a worldwide outfit straight out of the box. That, in and of itself, deserves our praise. So, head over to Viki.com and check out their other shows.
Fighting will get you the girl. Or stuffing her in a barrel. Whichever works for you.
This time round we are looking at the classic manga Apollo’s Song
Reviews
Apollo’s Song
What’s an Apollo’s song? In a shell an Osamu Tezuka story full of deep inner meaning, self denial and oddly placed humour. Shogo (Apollo) is cursed by the goddess of love, Aphrodite, as a penance towards his cruel and cold hearted approach to love. Shogo is given a couple of chances, during various times thorough human history, to experience real love but because of the curse is destined to lose that love every single time. The story its self is well crafted and enjoyable apart from the unusually placed “fourth wall” comedy moments. If you find it, add it to your collection , it does appeal to a broader audience then most current publications.
>Oni
- Wikipedia page on Apollo’s Song
- The Song for Apollo @ Tezuka World [EN]
- Vertical Inc. Publishing’s Page on the book
Assemble Insert
Promos:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Carl Macek will be denied!!!
This week myself and Aaron from the Weekly Anime Review take a look at Super Dimension Century Orguss, a classic series from the 1980′s. You know “the before time”. Anywho, a hiccup has meant that the two volumes I own and the one volume Aaron owns, are the only ones we can have at the moment. Imaginasian and TMS are working to start printing more DVD’s soon but it’s not looking good folks.
This show is the twin to my appearance on the WARP anime podcast hosted by Aaron. Check out it here. Aaron released his show AGES ago before he even went on holiday! Oh, well.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Better show notes soon. Also to Chippy: no it’s not Overfiend! That’s coming. Sooner rather than later!
Promos played:
Cyber Lesbians In Powered Armor
This week I have Gerald from Anime World Order join me to review Fight! Iczer 1 an anime from 1985. With angsty naked schoolgirls, high eyeliner, lesbians, giant robots, the best damn Earth Defense Force EVER and Kaneto Shiozawa as a naked, evil, blonde-haired alien child(!?!) this title has anything and everything. Check out this tribute YouTube video(thanks to Regan for the link):
Links:
Promos:
- Anime Pacific (They’re on their last few episodes, go check them out!)
- Anime-82 (Regan covered Iczer One on his show as well)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
QR Code
Use your smart phone and bookmark our site!
