DIC: Series Of Our Childhood - Book Review (And Some Thoughts)

I have a huge amount of affection for the animation of the 80s, some of my most formative years in terms of developing my interests. I was (and still am) a huge Mysterious Cities of Gold fan, which I found out was a specific style of animation called anime, and that became a huge part of my life for the following 20 or so years. For me the series had it all; relatable characters, amazing adventures and a thrilling story line. I found out much later that the series was only 39 episodes long but back then it seemed to stretch on forever, like Dogtanian and Willie Fogg; all large sequential series that showed on BBC 1 and ITV weekly and then in large chunks in the morning during those looong summers. Other series I loved were Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and Heathcliffe- all series produced by DIC. The name sticks because, well, it's DIC and in England it means something very different from Diffusion, Information and Communication.

Over the years, I've collected all these series on DVD and Bluray boxsets and have reviewed them right here on this website (links to all below). So when I heard that there was going to be a crowd funded hardbacked book on the history of DIC called The Series of Our Childhood I knew I had to get in on that. The book, which is written in French, by Maroin Elausti and Nordine Zemrak, is beautifully produced with good quality paper stock, excellent print quality and clear images, many of which I have never seen before. Now, my French is very GCSE from nearly 30 years ago so it is poor but I used Google Translate and read the entire book this way. It's not the most convenient way for sure but it worked well enough.

The book is pretty comprehensive as It looks at how DIC started out making short commercials for private companies and the French government before moving onto short form animation then moving on to longer animated series.

Ulysses 31

The first big ticket animation for them was Ulysses 31. I first came across the show when it was first shown in the mid 80s on the BBC but I saw it in my formative years again in the early 90s on Channel 4, where it was shown daily at 6:30, just before the Big Breakfast. I remember thinking how cool and ahead of it's time the animation was but the moody, evocative and exciting synthesizer soundtrack complemented the show well... heightening the sometimes very dark cartoon well. I had fond memories of the series as a child and rewatched it in my youth, collecting the DVD boxset when there was an 80s nostalgia fueled goldrush in the early 00s. Since then I've collected the soundtracks but have never really known much about the creative process behind the series; it's for partially for this reason that I purchased this book.

  • Creator, Jean Chalopin, decided to tap into the zietgiest created by Star Trek and Star Wars and wondered what the world would be like in the 31st century; would racism, classism or poverty still exist? By placing Ulysses, a hero known for his cunning and metis (the application of skills and knowledge in different situations) in to this futuristic world he could explore the cosmos and the different scenarios within.

  • Chalopin explains, "Our reasoning was as follows: during Antiquity, the Mediterranean Sea remained immense and partially unexplored for the Greeks. It was as mysterious as the Universe to us today. Means of transport were as limited as those we have today to explore the Universe. So, if we project the Odyssey into a Star Wars type universe, we obtain Ulysses transposed to the 31st century, lost in space... During Antiquity, the Greek hero was an extraordinary being, thanks to his exploits which elevated him to the rank of demi-God.'"

  • The idea that the ancient Mediterranean Sea was a wild and unexplored place, much like space, and thus created a wide canvas for Ulysses to adventure in is the insight I was looking for.

  • Additionally, learning that the cryosleep curse of the companions by Zeus in episode one was a choice made out of financial constraints makes sense. By having fewer characters to animate, it created the appropriate tone and focussed in the central conceit of saving his companions.

  • Later we learn that the co-production between DIC and TMS, Japan was due to the stronger animation house infrastructure in place there that would allow the animation to be of a stronger standard and keep the costs significantly lower. TMS also wanted to build its reputation abroad as it often was outsourced for animation but had never co-produced a series. Rene Borg, who designed the original characters, didn't want to compromise his vision so refused to collaborate with his Japanese counterpart and so was replaced by Bernard Deyries who created the animation style we all know and love alongside Shingo Araki (designer of Saint Seiya and Goldorak). Sci-fi writer Philippe Adamov and François Allot were the world builders and created the machines and environments for the series. When fellow Chief Director Nagahama died, Bernard Deyries became the sole Chief Director.

  • We learn that the series had some teething issues, usually related to differences between the French and Japanese cultures. Ulysses is a key figure in the West and is proto-Heroes journey what in Japan he is an unknown figure. The push and pull between fights and wiles caused tension as the French wanted to show him being clever and philosophical whilst the Japanese wanted more action, battles and robots. It's more complex that thia sounds but these were the general divergence between the two studios. Shoji Kawamori, creator of the mechs and ships used in Macross, helped design the spaceships and fighters in Ulysses 31. Nono, was not his design but Borg's, however the design was tweaked to make it more childlike and cute.

  • The show was composed of between 9000 to 12000 cels as well as several computer techniques to add depth and layers like space and star fields. The show was a huge success in France but less so in Japan. The Odyssey book by Homer became a huge seller that year in France and revived an interest in the Classics amongst the French students.

  • Jean Chalopin met composers Ike Egan and Denny Crockett through the Osmond family over dinner. Over two weeks, he worked with them to create over 100 tracks and selected ones he wanted to use for the show. Haim Saban and Shuki Levy were asked to create the now iconic opening credit music.

  • DIC worked with Bandai to develop a toy range and the products were best sellers.

  • The series has a lasting legacy in the West and is affectionately remembered.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold

  • MCOG was first shown on the Antenna 2 channel in France on 28th September 1983 but the show started off following the success of Ulysses 31, Marco Polo and Belle and Sabastian. NHK wanted a story based on the conquest of the Americas but it wanted a literary foundation and to be able to create informative documentaries after the show. Mitsuru Kaneko (MK Production) found Scott O'Dell's The King's Fifth by chance and met him to secure licencing rights. They agreed that the story could be changed to make it more appealing to younger audiences.

  • NHK approached DIC and Jean Chalopin to collaborate with as they had a lot of credit with the release of Ulysses 31. Even though it was not a smash hit, it sent shock waves across Japan on how productions could be collaborative.

  • The first several months of production were spent on creating the Bible for the series. The series had been a more straightforward adventure story under the Japanese team but the mystical elements, such as the Hiva/ Mu civilisations, the Jade Mask, the solar power design of the Solaris and Golden Condor were placed in on insistence from the French team.

  • Mitsuki Nakamura was the lead background animator and produced the detailed backdrops that made the world come alive. There were sometimes more than 250 different backgrounds used in a single episode.

  • Studio Pierrot did the animation and was headed by Yuji Nunokawa, a Tatsunoko alumnus, and Mitsuru Kaneko, a journeyman who had worked for Toho, MGM and the MK Company.

  • Hisayuki Toriumi, the Art Supervisor, said that when she was developing the characters she wanted to create a group with no leader. Mendoza is the most complex and compelling as the audience don't know who's side he is on throughout. She wanted to keep audiences guessing until the end with Mendoza's moral ambiguity.

  • Toshiyasu Okada was the Lead Character Artist and worked with DIC to create an agreeable ensemble of characters. The character designs were altered to appeal to more Western sensibilities and animation styles so the eyes became rounder and the chins less pointy. They didn't want an issue selling to certain markets like they'd faces with Ulysses 31 and NHK agreed. Okada also worked alongside DIC to make the 'evil' characters look less evil, a sensibility that arose in manga where it is obvious who the bad guys are. This nuance was tricky but he understood how, 'A monks clothes do not make him a monk.'

  • A major sticking point between the French and Japanese was the soundtrack, they could not agree and so each did their own version. Deyries thought the soundtrack needed to breathe and add an air of wonder and mystery. He listened to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds soundtrack and wanted that sense of drama and gravitas. He hired Haim Saban and Shuki Levy to produce tracks and, out of 60 to 70 pieces, chose 50 that would be used on the show.

Inspector Gadget
There follows an extensive Inspector Gadget piece which looks at the creation, based on an idea by Andy Heyward, who had previously worked at Hannah Barbara. Using Heyward's experience of the American animation marketplace, an area in turbulent times in the late 80 and early 90s, DIC were able to create the idea of the bumbling Inspector Gadget in pretty quick time.

  • The pilot was given a healthy budget and animated by TMS but the rest of the 65 series episodes were created by Nelvana, the Canadian animation company who had worked on the 10 minute Star Wars Holiday Special animation, TMS and a Korean company. It was up to the Japanese team to ensure consistency across all teams.

  • The series aired on 24th October 1983 and was a great success.

  • The second season of 21 episodes was not as successful as the budget was cut, Penny's role diminished and the Gadget jokes becoming more hack.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
The next big piece for me was the Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors section which didn't reveal much new except that the toys were designed first and the cartoon after. Additionally, J. Michael Straczynski wrote on the show and even wrote a downbeat finale which was never produced as the toys didnt sell enough to warrant a 64 episode syndication run.

Overall, this book is essential for DIC fans as it gives a pretty good overview of their genesis to closure. I'm pleased with the book as it goes pretty deep into Ulysses 31 and MCOG and those were what I wanted to investigate. There are plenty of other series, all of which I read through too, but I’m glad that the series that were formative for me were covered in so much detail. Any classic animation fan should definitely get this book!

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum: Review

In Japan, manga has been a part of the culture for a long time. The origins of manga are debated and The Handscroll of Frolicking Animals by Kitazawa Rakuten is considered a major influence, but generally it gained prominence in the post World War 2 era where artists such as Osamu Tezuka brought some levity and lightness to proceedings with Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. Tezuka was to manga what Will Eisner was to American comics; the medium existed before their arrival but they brought it to the fore and forever changed it.

Astro Boy is iconic and will feature heavily in the 2020 Olympics, which will be held in Japan.

As a young boy growing up in east London, England, I didn't know anything about manga or anime but I was consuming it unknowingly through shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31.
One Saturday I went into my local WH Smith and saw issue 22 of a magazine called Manga Mania and was taken by the big eyes, spiky hair style and tiny mouth and nose of the cover star that reminded me so much of the animation style I liked. When I picked it up, from the top shelf next to the more salacious magazines, I felt a bit of a rebel but upon opening it the kinetic imagery and artistry blew me away. Flicking through it I saw a mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold in the letter pages and knew I had found something special. From then on I would buy Manga Mania monthly and purchased graphic novels, VHS films, soundtracks and even anime cels. The shop Forbidden Planet became nerd nirvana for me and I'd visit it monthly. Manga was one of my first true loves and one that has survived to this day, at least to some lesser extent. Manga is in my lifeblood and even though it doesn't feature as prominently in my daily life as it once did for me, it was formative in my youth and for that I am still grateful.

I loved getting my monthly Manga Mania fix.

I loved getting my monthly Manga Mania fix.

Since those heady underground days in the early 90s, manga has grown and thrived and its influence is spreading across the world. So, when I heard that the British Museum was hosting the largest manga exhibition outside of Japan I wasn't surprised and knew that I had to go. The British Museum has dipped its toes into the manga and anime pool before over the years but these have been smaller, more focused exhibition. This promised to be a much larger, grander affair as manga is still developing and evolving, the form has and is still contributed rather uniquely to modern culture and I'm glad that a venerable institution as the British Museum is recognising this. I visited the Kyoto International Manga Museum several years ago, which is the largest repository of manga in the world, and wanted to see how this exhibition would compare.

So the question is, is the exhibition worth visiting? In a word, yes.... but this comes heavily loaded with a proviso, which I'll go into later.

The whole show feels less like a staid exhibition but more like something you'd see at more immersive and engaging galleries, no surprise as manga means 'irresponsible pictures' and what is on show is a riotous walk-through of the medium. Being a family oriented exhibition the more controversial elements have been excised but that doesn't diminish what's on show, rather it still offers a smorgasbord of artists and genres that covers the art-form well without excluding younger generations or upsetting some sensibilities.

The exhibition starts with an introduction about the origins of manga and provides a guide on how to read it, from left to right. Then there is a section on the manga-ka, the artists who produce the manga, and the tools of their trade.

On an impressive display of collected comics are a few televisions with the chiefs and editors of the weekly manga collections which are published weekly and sell in the millions. They offer their insight into the creative, production and distribution process.

Around the corner, there is a brief look at the influence of woodblock and scroll works on the medium. There are a few stunning pieces on show but a couple stood out to me, the one where a recent piece of work by artist Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Domu and Memories) was compared to his woodblock forebear. The current breed of artists have built on the shoulders of giants and their influence is appreciated here.

After that, the bulk of the exhibition is split into little islands where different themes of manga and artists are explored like Love, Sports, Horror etc. This is all quite dynamic and exciting as there are banners and posters hanging from the ceiling and giant murals and original art pieces stuck on the gallery walls.

In the middle of the exhibition, there is an impressive library of manga on offer and many soft seats in which to read at your own pace.

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

The last section of the exhibition has a couple of art installations. Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain from 1880 was painted in just four hours after the artist had imbibed several bottles of rice wine. He painted the 17 metres by five metres high piece using a huge brush and it was done in such a rush of inspiration that you can still see his footmarks on it!. It really is an impressive achievement and whilst not manga, it shows the kinetic frenetic art style that would feature in so much manga years down the line.

Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work.

Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work.

Near the exit, a large projected montage of Studio Ghibli films at the end is a fitting bookend to an impressive exhibition.

The exhibition is a great primer for the common manga fan or someone with a cursory interest in the medium but someone looking for a deeper look into the minutiae of manga, this is not that. In my opinion the exhibition, whilst well organised and curated, had some glaring omissions in manga-ka such as Rumiko Takahashi (Mermaid Saga, Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha) and Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Aplleseed and Dominion Tank Police),  but on a personal level I'd have loved to have seen some works by Yoshitoshi Abe (Serial Experiment Lain, Haibane Renmei) and Yukito Kishiro (Battle Angel Alita). I understand that with such a large number of artists it is not possible to get everything in the exhibition but Takahashi and Shirow are titans of the medium and needed some mention or recognition. It’s like having an exhibition on Italian masters and forgetting to mention any of the Turtles; Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, it just wouldn’t seem complete. However, as the first real look at manga outside of Japan this is an excellent exhibition and well worth the 90 or so minutes of your time. It is an amuse-bouche to the promise of something more and for that I’m excited.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack

LINK- Thomas Was Alone Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

DIC: Series Of Your Childhood

I am a huge fan of the animated series Mysterious Cities of Gold, it is my favourite programme of ALL time and was a formative part of my childhood; single handedly igniting my interest in anime, manga, South and Central American cultures and synthesizer music (It's why I love Jarre, Vangelis and Oldfield).

In my mancave I have a MCOG medallion, an original cel, a French book discussing the making of (even though I haven't studied French since my GCSE's 20 years ago) and a model of the golden condor. The animation was created by DIC and legendary creators Haim Saban and Jean Chalopin, who in their time created Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, M.A.S.K and Inspector Gadget.

Now, a new documentary is seeking to be crowd-funded to explore their world and find out about the origins and development of the studio. I am SO on board with this as anything that delves behind the making process of some of the finest animation of my childhood deserves further exploration.

In their own words:

We have started with the distribution of leaflets in mailboxes. About 100 people worked full time. One day, we received an order to create a cartoon, Bernard Deyries joined us and we started to work on the animation. We had a company that was based in Tours and then in Paris. One day, we felt like creating series just like big companies. We started by making a creation that was “Ulysses 31”, which he presented to France 3. They accepted the idea and Jean Chalopin said:" there are not enough people to do this in France". He went to Japan and came across a Japanese company looking for a way to get into Europe. One day, Jean Chalopin told me: "I will go to the United States." I said: “You’re crazy! You're not going to beat the Americans on their own turf." Well! I was wrong. In cinema as in television, going to Hollywood is always a dream, which until now and before our company existed, has been unattainable to almost all Europeans. We created a different way of working, which mixes the American and the French systems with Japanese special effects. We imported, for example with “The Littles” or with “Inspector Gadget”, a trait, which was very different; it did not exist in the American market.

I’m going to help fund this documentary, why don’t you?

Ulysses 31- Retro Soundtrack Review

A warm fuzzy feeling, that feels like unconditional love, emanates from my heart when I watch television shows and cartoons from my childhood. There are a few very special shows that make my heart flutter all-the-quicker and one of these is Ulysses 31 (the others are The Mysterious Cities of Gold, Dogtanian and Around the World With Willy Fogg if you're interested). I first came across the show when it was first shown in the mid 80s on the BBC but I saw it in my formative years again in the early 90s on Channel 4, where it was shown daily at 6:30, just before the Big Breakfast. I remember thinking how cool and ahead of it's time the animation was but the moody, evocative and exciting synthesizer soundtrack complemented the show well... heightening the sometimes very dark cartoon well. Being a huge soundtrack nerd I tried to track it down but to no avail. The soundtracks that were available were the original vinyl printings from 1981 and these were far from the complete soundtrack, often vocal remixes over the scores.

I purchased a Tele 80 Ulysse 31 soundtrack a few weeks ago but unfortunately it contained lots of French vocal tracks and only about 6 instrumental pieces from the show.

This album has mostly french vocal tracks and only 5 instrumental pieces so is best avoided by those looking for the phenomenal score used in the show.

To say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement, however in my search I did see that as 2016 was Ulysses 31's 35th anniversary a collector's edition of the complete soundtrack would be available on double CD for the very first time. The release would include the complete score by Denny Crockett, Ike Egan, Haïm Saban and Shuki Levy and all the opening and closing credits sung in the French and English!

The album was only produced in limited numbers and was fetching a very high price on Amazon and other websites but I managed to get the soundtrack at a reasonable price on ebay, shrink wrapped and brand new. And so, without further ado... here is the review of the Ulysses 31 soundtrack.

This is the album you want if you are looking for the complete musical score... it is truly wonderful and impeccibly presented.

The first thing to notice is that the soundtrack has a bit of weight to it as it is a double CD set (containing 165 tracks!)with a 16 page booklet explaining the creation of the show, with interviews of the the creators, composers as well as a detailed account of the remastering process. Unfortunately for me the whole thing is in French and having not spoken the language since secondary school my translation is patchy at best, however I have a wonderful teaching assistant who speaks French fluently and I will try to get her to translate it for me.

The music here is crystal clear as it has been remastered from the original masters by Ian Jones at Abbey Road Studios.  This is the way the soundtrack was intended to be heard as even on the DVDs the music can sounded distorted and warbled.

I've listened to the album a few times now and the majority of the themes I remember are all here. I'm not sure how the album is sequenced but I think it is in chronological order, with many of the familiar themes near the beginning and the more uniquely used tracks or incidental tracks being later on in the collection.

I'm not going to go through every single track here as that would be long and incredibly tedious for your to read so I'll pick out the highlights.

On disc 1:

  • Track 2 is Overture- The Base of Troy, which sounds quite majestic and sweeping, just what you'd expect for a space opera but it morphs into late 70's disco with a funky beat. Definitely a track of it's time but charming for it.
  • Track 3 is energetic and driving as it underscored moments of space battles and actions. Attack of the Tridents is a very short track, being only 20 seconds long, but is very effective.
  • Track 4, Unknown World, is a beautiful piano piece with moody synthesizer bloops and beeps creating an unsettling soundscape. This piece was used in times of tension and mystery and you can see why.
  • Track 5, Noumaïos's Theme is a beautifully melancholic piano and flute theme. There is very little synthesizer sound used for this piece and this adds to its wistfulness- a definite highlight.
  • Track 10, The Curse of the Gods #1, is one of the signature pieces of music from the show. It has a dramatic steady drum beat which is added to by a deep synth sound which adds a spooky element, then the trumpets kick in and add a shrill element. This is another absolute must listen for fans of the show!
  • Track 15, Olympus, is a wonderful piano and deep synth sound which is further enhanced through the shredding guitar. It sounds broody and dark and is another signature theme from the show.
  • Track 16, Space Battle, sounds like an 80s soft rock band just jamming with drums, cymbals and shredding guitar combining to create a fast paced track.
  • Track 21, Calypso, is a soft piano piece that sounds melancholy and thoughtful at first then the flute and drum kick in to add another layer of sadness. Another beautiful must listen.
  • Track 25, The Sirens, sounds unearthly and ethereal. The whoosy airy synth sounds mixed with the strange whale-like squeals give this piece a unique sound. It ends with strange cries and moans of the type you'd find in scary horror films. it is quite unlike anything else on this album but in a good way.
  • Track 31, Ulysses Battles the Cyclops, sounds suitably epic. It builds with a deep bass guitar and thumping drum and then the weird synth kicks it adding to the drama, throw in a few violin and trumpet sounds and this piece kicks it up a notch until it reaches the dramatic end.
  • Track 40, Goodbye, is a poetic flute and piano piece that flutters by sadly. It was often used at the most tear-jerking moments of the series and you can hear why.
  • Track 53, Ulysses meets Ulysses, is a strange Spanish guitar piece interspersed with some dramatic strings.

CD 2 continues the good work of the first but has less of the well known tracks but does still contain much worth listening to.

  • Track 3, Tales of the Legend, is a dramatic track with organs and what sounds like some harmonised vocals, lending this piece an otherworldly air.
  • Track 4, Odysseus, sounds like an 80s guitar solo from a soft rock band, all shredding guitars and a cool base in the background.
  • Track 30, The Heart of Olympus, has a deep baritone noise underscoring a dramatic piano peice... very unnerving!
  • Track 40, Universe in Harmony, is pure funky disco celebrating the success of Ulysses. A fitting groovy ending to the series!

Overall the soundtrack is brilliant and has stood the test of time well. There are tracks that are undeniably relics of the time but the whole score sounds like it belong to a lost sci-fi feature film rather than a 35 year old animated series. This is a must have soundtrack for all fans of the show and for fans of synthesizer music with that late 70s / early 80s feel. Essential!

Japan: My Journey to the East

Yesterday my life changed forever as after years of believing it wasn't possible, due to various circumstances, my wife and I finally had a child. The introduction of my daughter is obviously a life altering event and late the next day has me becoming more reflective over my past. It is 4:04am on the Saturday as I write this, a piece about my dreams and aspirations as a child.

A couple of years ago I finally fulfilled a dream I've had ever since I was a child of 8, I went to Japan! Japan has held me in awe for so long due to a variety of factors. I was (and still am) a huge Mysterious Cities of Gold (MCOG) fan, which I found out was a specific style of animation called anime. For me the series had it all; relatable characters, amazing adventures and a thrilling story line. I found out much later that the series was only 39 episodes long but back then it seemed to stretch on forever, like Dogtanian, Ulysses 31 and Willie Fogg; all large sequential series that showed on BBC 1 and ITV weekly and then in large chunks in the morning during those looong summers.

Whilst wondering through our local WHSmiths, (a newsagents here in England) I saw Manga Mania on the top shelf, next to the more salacious magazines. The art seemed reminiscent of MCOG so after seeing it a few times over the next few days I finally picked it up and fell down the rabbit hole. I vividly remember going over the next few months with my friend to WHSmiths and reading Fire Tripper, a lesser Rumiko Takahshi work but for me at the time I didn't know any better and it was perfect! My uncle, who was only slightly older than me, saw that I had an interest in manga and gave me Devilman and Akira to borrow on VHS- not bad for a 13 year old kid enthralled by this new genre. At the time Akira blew my mind, I didn't understand it then and don't even pretend to now but I knew that I was watching something special.

This was the cover of the first Manga Mania I bought, in the letters section it had a comment about the 'Mysterious Cities of Gold' and I remember being excited to see my favourite show mentioned.

There was a local comic shop in our town called 'Rodneys Books and Games' which sold games, VHS films and books too. Every Saturday, my best friend and I would go to browse and occasionally purchase something. Even though I knew they sold anime and manga it wasn't until I'd been given the films by my uncle that it clicked, these were the same genre and style that I'd liked- for all those years I hadn't noticed them but now I was all about them. The first series I worked through and completed was The Guyver. Getting only a couple of pounds a week, it took me a couple of years to complete the entire 12 part collection. Even now I have the series, unwilling to part with it even though I do not have a video recorder to play it on. My interest in manga peaked at the same time of the Marvel and comic boom in the early to mid 90's and I soon forged a group of friends who became Japanophiles and comic buddies, recording and swapping recordings off the Sci-fi channel and Channel 4 late on Saturday nights.

I loved the Guyver series, although it ended only a third into the manga.

For my friends and I, Japan was a fantasy place where everything came out first and it was all amazing. This reached its zenith with Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, two of the greatest series of all time. The late 90s were a difficult time in Japan with its economic bubble bursting. High unemployment and soaring suicide rates were featured prominently on the news and this soaked into the media coming out at the time. Being a teen with all the difficulties that entails I enjoyed the nihilistic and over the top mayhem of films like Battle Royale, which showed the anger and desperation of youth and a society trying to figure itself out. However, GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) showed another side, it made me laugh. I remember getting the last trade paperback and reading it on the train home. I stifled laughter and an Asian passenger who sat opposite me looked at me quizzically until I showed the cover, he then smiled as if he understood. Yup, there was no doubt about it... Japan was a huge deal for me.

Evangelion is still everywhere in Japan, the cottage industry that grew out of the series is unbelievable. Even in England the amount of Eva related stuff you could buy was mental!

So, with only a few months to go before we were going to leave Cambodia where we had been teaching for two years, Japan was booked. Even though we only had a little bit of cash it was now or never; my wife and I agreed that this was the time to do this as we would probably never be closer to the country geographically! Excitedly, I told my oldest friend, the one I used to go to WHSmiths with regularly and share manga comics and films. In a weird case of serendipity he had booked to go near the same time as we had booked. There would be a couple of days overlap where we would be able to meet up. Considering he had emigrated to Australia and we would be moving back to England this was unbelievably lucky, almost like destiny. Neither of us had been to Japan and now after 32 years we had booked to go to Japan and there would be overlap. Weird!

When we reached Japan, I can honestly say that it was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. We stayed in Shinjuku and walked around the red light district Kabukichō, in the heady days of the economic boom unbelievable amounts of money passed through here. Now it was slowly recovering, highlighted by the fact that there was a robot fighting show opening that week, all at a reasonable price of £50 for admission- bargain!

A great book for a great megalopolis!

On the first day, we explored Shibuya and Harajuku. Harajuku I knew through various quirky fashion magazines and Fruits books which I'd bought in Forbidden Planet in London. My wife and I explored the area for the day and loved it, the uniqueness and individuality of the products on sale were beguiling. Living in London, where chain stores rule and very few independent stores existed or survived, it was refreshing to come across a country that appreciated individual shops as well as the big chains. For lunch, we had a quick MacDonald lunch and saw that people were there with their ipads, macbooks and tablets but when they needed the toilet they just left it at their table and off they went. The crazy thing was that when they returned their property would still be there, pretty much unthinkable in London yet here it was happening in a city of 20 million plus!
Working our way through Harajuku my wife bought a lot of makeup and trinkets and I bought a few skate stickers which I knew I'd put on my recently bought macbook pro.

Yoyogi Park was nearby so we headed down there, I was keen to see the cosplayers out in force as it was a Sunday. We saw a few but what really stood out for me was the peace and quiet I felt whilst in this small park within a huge megalopolis. The temples were beautiful and I loved getting pictures around the Dori gates- now I felt like I was in Japan! We travelled to Shibuya and I went into Mandrake, a well known anime and manga shop, whilst my wife went mall shopping.

The highlight of the journey for me was visiting Akihabara, the gaming and manga mecca. My friends and I had heard about this hallowed place in the 90s but being there alone seemed a pity for me. My wife is not a gamer and so had little interest in going with me, so I  deposited her in a nice French style cafe (after trying to persuade her to wait for me at the Gundam Cafe- which she didn't like). Walking around Aki with a pupils borrowed copy of the 'Guide to Japan for Geeks' book I popped into various computing and manga shops in thrall to just ALL the stuff that was there. Much I recognised from my childhood but a lot I hadn't seen before. I bought a few games and an original Gameboy but wish I had more money to buy a lot more. I went to Namco Museum Arcades and Sega Gaming Parlours and played a few games, including the Persona beat em up, but it being a school day and just past midday there were very few people there. I loved the experience but just wished I had someone to share the experience with. I went into a pachinko parlour and left very quickly due to the amount of noise, even for an old gamer like me, someone who is used to arcades, the noise was deafening.  Akihabara held its allure for me but I know that if I had gone to Japan at the peak of my interest in anime and manga, then it would have been a much bigger deal.

We had booked tickets to go to Kyoto and I was very excited as I wanted to go on the Bullet train. However the cost was wayyyy to much for a return so we decided to go by bus and arrive back in Tokyo by Bullet train. The bus was extremely comfortable and cheap so that was a bonus and once we arrived we travelled to the Kyoto temples, the largest number of buildings under UNESCO in the world. The temples really didn't disappoint, the most spectacular being the gold temple and the famous Kiyomizu Temple.

The journey back by Bullet was a real pleasure but, to be honest, having travelled by Eurostar it didn't have a wow factor that I thought it would. However it was great to see the Japanese countryside drift by at speed.

The last day in Japan we spent walking around Tokyo some more and caught up with my best friend for our overlap day. We walked around Shinjuku and chatted away and it was the first time that they had a chance to meet my wife. All in all Japan was amazing but make sure you take someone who likes hustle and bustle and the city as it is a very fast paced city with courteous and friendly people.

So why did the birth of my daughter lead to to think about this Japan trip from a couple of years ago? Well, I think it’s due to a couple of things. Firstly, even though I had visited Japan I hadn't written about the trip until now... a bit of unfinished business I suppose. But also I guess I was just ruminating about what my life was and how now it is going to be very different from now on. It's now no longer about just me and my dreams but about my whole family- life is never going to be the same but that's okay... I am really for the next exciting part of my life.

Gods in his Heaven

And all is right with the world.