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News Report Archive - November 2009 |  |
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News Report Archive - November 2009 | |
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History hasn't been kind to all anime, even to classic series that still hold a certain reputation in otaku circles. One of those shows is Space Battleship Yamato, the legendary sci-fi series that captivated Japan in the late 70s and early 80s. In the last several months, I've reviewed the first couple of films and found them, well, archaic. Surprisingly, Space Battleship Yamato 3: The New Voyage seems to turn a corner for the series. It's still far from modern and has a certain amount of cheese from its creation in 1978; it has some of the problems of its predecessors, too. But of all the films, it's the best one I've seen. Keep reading to find out why The New Voyage kept me interested in the whole Yamato universe.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Osamu Tezuka's death at far too young an age -- just 60 years old. Yet his legacy is stunning for a man who never reached retirement; it's not for nothing that some have dubbed him "the god of manga" after creating well over 150,000 pages during his lifetime. His work lives on in his creations like Astro Boy and BlackJack. But it turns out that for all of Tezuka's contributions to the modern realm of anime and manga, his heart was in bold experimentation, striving to create artistic works for their own sake rather than as a soulless commercial enterprise. The Astonishing Work of Osamu Tezuka collects a baker's dozen of his short films, and they are wonderful. If you believe that anime can be nothing more than mecha battles and shonen stereotypes, then this collection will bore you. But I encourage you to click the link and enter the wildly entertaining world of a man who pushed the limits of what animation could truly be.
I once thought that Yasuomi Umetsu would be someone to watch. After the brilliant short film "Presence" found in Robot Carnival, I figured he would be the next great anime director. But after Megazone 23 Part 2...and Kite...and Mezzo and Mezzo Forte...well, hope springs eternal. There's something of merit in all of those titles, though most of them aren't very good overall. But finally, the well has run bone dry, and Kite Liberator proves it. Read the review to find out just what I thought of this mess and why I think Umetsu has nothing left to offer the anime world.
Mospeada, adapted into the third segment of the Robotech saga, never got as much love as Macross, but it still had a following in Japan, enough for a follow-up OVA release. Mospeada: Love Live Alive is a music video that tracks Yellow Belmont as he gets ready for a concert and reminisces about his freedom fighter friends. Check out the review to see my thoughts on how well this piece (included on the Mospeada box set) stands up 25 years or so after its release.