Judge- Cult Manga Review

I've recently immersed myself in a nostalgic journey through the late 80s and early 90s manga and anime that shaped my youth. It has been a truly enlightening experience traveling back to an amazingly formative period in my life as I navigate through what some may call a mild mid-life crisis. It was a golden time for 'Japanimation' - that term still makes me shudder a little- and this period holds a truly special place in my media-consuming heart.

Manga Entertainment built a bit of a cult following in its heydey of the late 80s and early 90s. Now, I watched whatever I could get my hands on but funds for me were limited so there were many films, series and OAVs that I never got to. However, with the power of the internet I've been able to catch up on loads that I never got around to the first time round.

Judge was one of those VHS tapes I'd see on shop shelves but never got around to watching. The 55 minute OVA is about the Judge of Darkness who tries people from crimes they may escape from in the human realm. The book of law, made from human skin, recalls the testimony from the victims so that they may find vindication in death. When an embezzler uses a girlfriend colleague to help him steal money, she commits suicide whilst he nearly gets to walk away but judgement is coming.

In the second case, a company director, who hires a hit man to kill his work rival, is on trial. The Judge of Darkness, who is usually the judge, jury and executioner, must attempt to present the case that the man is guilty to the Court of 10 King's against the Attorney of Darkness, a defence attorney who represents the guilty... for a high fee of course. But, who will win?

This is a great conceit and the idea of a judge watching us and making us face up to our actions is suitably dark fare. Now, I should preface this by saying that not all anime and manga that was released in England were bangers but they generally had a certain benchmark of quality. Unfortunately, this most definitely is not a banger... it's more of a damp squib. The art style is pretty ugly in my opinion and, whilst it does have a promising premise, it is severely let down but basic characterisation, forgettable dialogue and nothing to really make it stay in your memory. It's a no dawg from me.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review

LINK- The Offworld Collection- Book Review

LINK- Shadow of the Colossus- Book Review

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Midnight Library and the Idea That You Can’t Go Home Again

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

Black Magic M-66- Cult Manga Review

Masamune Shirow is one of the giants of manga, gaining prominence in the West with his work on Dominion Tank Police and Appleseed, which were both ubiquitous manga releases back in the day, but he is now mostly known for his cyberpunk thriller Ghost in the Shell.
I knew of him through Manga Mania of course but my first encounter was through a review of Ghost in the Shell in the Johnny Vaughan Movie Watch review show where it garnered a meh review from the panel. However, or manga fans the film became an instant classic up there with Akira and Fist of the North Star. It brought his work to prominence out West, including a much maligned but actually okay Hollywood adaptation.

Before all that, Black Magic M-66 was a Shirow work from 1983 with the OAV released in 1987. I had read the manga in a few Manga Mania issues (#31 to 36) but hadn't seen the film. I thought I'd correct that oversight, so, one stormy and thundery night in March, I put in on whilst sipping my tea and munching on my digestives.

It start with a military helicopter, which is carrying prototype black ops machinery, crashing in the woods. An investigative journalist looks into the matter and finds that a military cyborg has gone rogue and is now persuing the daughter of its inventor, Terminator style. What follows is a cat and mouse chase through the city as the military try to stop the out of control tech from going on a bloody rampage whilst the journalist, a strong and independent young woman named Sybil, tries to protect the girl, Sarah Connor style from The Terminator.

As with Shirow's other works, the technology design is amazing and the presence of AI kill its gone wrong is presient of where we find ourselves. I mean, just look at these Boston Dynamics vids, creepy and frightening.

This is a solid OAV and the production costs look high as it is solidly animated throughout. Shirow has a distinctive art style and whilst it would be honed and refined in later works, Black Magic M-66 is a solid work well worth 50 mins of your life.

Fire Tripper- Cult Manga Review

Manga Mania was an incredibly formative read for me in my early teen years as it published some great manga stories (including the entire run of Akira) whilst also talking about the wider manga and anime scene through informative articles.

The first ever complete manga I ever read was called Fire Tripper by Rumiko Takahashi, at the age of 14, in Manga Mania in 1995. I started at #22 but this was the first part of the 3 part run so it was the first manga I ever read. For that reason, this manga and OAV holds a special place in my heart, even if it isn't even close to being creator Takahashi's best work. It is arguable what is but it's probably a toss up between Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkokou, Ranma 1/2 or Inu Yasha but back then I didn't know any of that. What I had was my first isekai, a person taken out of their normal world to a new land, think Alice in Wonderland or the recently poor Mario Bros. Movie.

The story is a time slip tale about teen girl Suzuko who is thrown from modern day Japan back to its feudal past after a massive gas explosion somehow tears a hole through space and time. She is rescued from pervy bandits by a local village warrior called Shukumaru. Together they bond and try to unravel the mystery and tragedy of their connection to each other whilst trying to rescue a small boy who is thrown through time with her.

I loved the art work by legendary manga-ka Takahashi and, whilst the story is not revolutionary, it does have an interesting enough conceit which makes it worthwhile seeing it through to the end of its 48 minute runtime. Sure, she would revisit the theme later and to better effect in Inu Yasha but until then this was her first real stab at the isekai pie.

Many manga and anime from the 80s are problematic and can be hard to recommend as they are likely to offend but this isn't too bad at all. Sure, there are a few pervy bandits, Shukumaru makes a drunken pass at her at night and Suzuko goes for a skinny dip but it's all pretty lowkey for a manga from the time.

This short OAV is a blast from the past for this old man and is a guilty pleasure well worth revisiting.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review

LINK- The Offworld Collection- Book Review

LINK- Shadow of the Colossus- Book Review

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Midnight Library and the Idea That You Can’t Go Home Again

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

8 Man After- Cult Manga Review

8 Man is a 60s classic of Japanese animation, coming before Robocop, Kamen Rider and the rest of the good cop killed before his time but revitalised as a new enhanced law man trend. I never saw the original but knew of it as 8 Man was on a cover of Manga Mania way back in 1995.

I knew of the show from this issue of Manga Mania

Before watching the 8 Man After series, a follow on from the old animation from 30 years prior, I did a quick article check on said Manga Mania magazine to get my head around the lore. The story is very simple: an alien machine, which ends up in the hands of good cop Azuma, is used to battle crime in his city. The powers it grants are similar to Superman’s; super speed, extra strength which enables him to stop bullets with his hands and bionic hearing. From what I gather, it was quite a wholesome show similar on style to the Fleischer cartoons.

This follow on, created in 1992, is a much harder and edgier take with lots more violence and gore. It's has the same story beats as Robocop, where gun runners and headbangers have taken over the city and crime is out of control. After being nearly killed by a cybernetically enhanced ex-cop, P. D. Hazuma becomes the 8 Man and fights injustice but he is brutal in the punishment he metes out being judge, jury and executioner. His traumas and inner turmoil affect the wholesomeness of the 8 Man and make him a brutal angel of vengeance. However, he learns to tap into his human side a bit more and becomes less vengeful but this leaves him more open to corruption due to these pesky emotions.

The 4-part series is fast-paced and the action is quick with lots of weapon arms (think Barrett from FF7) being ripped open. 8 Man himself looks like a figure-skater, all figure-hugging costume and svelte outlines but whilst the costume does look very dated it is apparently iconic for fans of the series so cannot be changed too much.

Even for an 8 Man novice like me, the series is easy to follow and doesn't tax you too much. The show is well animated and doesn't contain any fanservice which would be cobsidered cringy. In its breezy 1 hour 45 minutes runtime you get the redeeming arc of a rebel coming to realise that with real power comes real responsibility.

It's not Shakespeare, sure, but overall 8 Man After is not a bad way to while away a couple of hours on early 90s anime.

Metal Skin Panic MADOX 01- Cult Manga Review

Growing up with fellow Japanophiles in the 90s, we used to share stories about movies and shows we had watched. Often we'd share VHS tapes, but one I heard a lot about but never got around to seeing was Metal Skin Panic MADOX 01. One of my best friends at the time loved it and would talk about it all the time. So, when I had a chance to watch it recently I took the chance.

The story is simple, a prototype mech unit is lost whilst being transported from a military base. A teenage boy, Sugimoto, finds it and decides to take it for a spin to visit his old flame, Shiori, at the top of a prominent highrise building but he is persued by a old skool army man who resents the mech for challenging the supremacy of his tank division.

The film is a simple action animation with some light hearted elements, such as the mech going for a nice evening stroll around Shinjuku whilst the crowd don't see to mind it.

The 80s mech aesthetic, where the robot is being calibrated to the movement is a stunning achievement of animation and draws you in from the very beginning. It very much wears its influences on its sleeves as on the wall of the teen, there is an Apocalypse Now poster and it seems appropriate as Lieutenant Kilgore is the Colonel Kurtz of this animation, an army man who doesn't like change and is trying to roll back to the 'good old times' when his tank was the superior piece of tech.

The animation is very 80s in that it has blowout hair styles, tiny and faces and huge shoulders on the characters. It is all so charmingly late 80s but it moves at such a brisk pace that this OVA doesn't overstay its welcome at just over 41 minutes. It's well worth your time as a diverting fun piece.

Three Decades of Akira Bike Slide Homages

Akira is a legendary manga and anime that has inspired generations of animators. One of the more iconic scenes in the anime is the ‘Akira slide’ where Kaneda slides to stop his bike after defeating the leader of the Clown Gang. This moment has been spoofed, copied and homaged to the hilt and a video has been created to show the influence.

Sweded Evangelion and End of Evangelion in 5 Minutes

Way back in the 90s, Evangelion was the hot anime thing. Its complex characters and quasi-religious/philosophical/Macguffin filled plot fueled a cottage industry of merchadise and conspiracy theories and I loved it!

Now, the team at Mega 64, famous for their numerous sweded productions of video games and anime, have turned their eyes to Hideaki Anno’s masterpiece and it is a riot. The fact that they were able to condense such a convoluted 26 episode series into just over 5 minutes is amazing and is well worth a watch.

The ‘making ofs’ are also illuminating as you can see that a lot of passion and heart went into these short films. Enjoy!

Straw Godzilla Statue Astounds

Godzilla is a part of huge part of Japanese pop-culture and it has permeated here, into the West with varying degrees of success. As part of the annual harvest festival in the Japanese town of Chikuzen, a giant hay effigy was create to the beast in 2016. A dedicated, and slightly eccentric team, spent over four months building the main frame of the beast whilst over a hundred volunteers completed the project. What makes the creature stand out, however, is the glowing red LED lights- an homage to Hideki Anno’s Shin Godzilla from 2016.

Castlevania: Season 2 Trailer Drops

Netflix has just dropped the season 2 trailer for their animated show Castlevania. I reviewed Castlevania Season 1 before and stated that it was a great animated show, recalling the best of anime whilst avoiding a lot of the tropes and fan service (read: panty shots of the female characters) which has blighted the medium over the last two decades. The season ended on a cliffhanger and it is with bated breath that I wait for October 26th for the return of the show.

Kaneda's Theme Disco Reprise is Italian Awesomeness

Akira was a seminal film for so many reasons and the soundtrack is a large part of why it blew away so many people. The stirring and haunting soundtrack by the collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi is a masterpiece, mixing stirring beats with more traditional elements of Japanese music, such as gamalan (check out my review of the vinyl soundtrack here). YouTuber Peter Zimmerman has created an Italian pop mix of the 'Kaneda' track and even though it sounds like a weird mix it works. Check out the track below and let me know what you think.

Battle Angel Alita Trailer Drops And It's... Interesting...

I have been a huge fan of the Battle Angel Alita manga for a long time and so when the new trailer for the big budget Hollywood film dropped a couple of days ago I was suitably stoked.

The film is directed by Robert Rodrigues and seems to follow the story arc of the original manga graphic novel by Yukito Kishiro. I'm looking forward to the film as the original manga is an immense sci-fi masterpiece, however I do have a few reservations, namely the fact that Alita herself has HUGE eyes and looks strange. I know that in the manga she has big eyes, even in relation to the others around her but I hope that she doesn't fall into the uncanny valley genre where she looks out of place with the rest of the cast. The recent Planet of the Apes film worked because most of the cast were digitally created and so you didn't really notice the difference between computer created and real world actors. In this case the difference might be just too great to take. We'll see but I hope to be going day 1 to see this film.

LINK- Battle Angel Alita Finally Ends (article)

LINK- Creating Realistic Worlds Without Photorealistic Graphics

Anime Architecture Exhibition at the House of Illustration

The House of Illustration is a great gallery that holds some wonderful exhibitions. I've been to a few but when I heard that they were going to be holding the UK’s first ever exhibition of handmade background illustrations for classic sci-fi manga and anime films, including works from Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Patlabor: The Movie and Metropolis I was sold! I was a huge manga nerd in my teens and so the chance to see some of the original artwork is too good to miss out on.

The exhibition will run from 26 May to 10 Sep 2017 and I will definitely be going. The link to purchase tickets are below.

Kiki's Delivery Service Show at Southwark Playhouse

Southwark Playhouse is performing an adaptation of Kiki’s Delivery Service. The play is adapted from the book by Eiko Kadono but many people will recognise the title from the amazing animated film by Studio Ghibli.

The story follows the adventures of Kiki, a 13 year old witch. Tradition dictates that at this age young witches must leave their home and make a new life for themselves in the real world. With her feline companion Jiji, Kiki sets out to find a place in the world and find her role in it.

The tale is a magical one all about growing up and being yourself in the world. I love the animation and it is one of my favourite Ghibli films, having a daughter has made me even more sentimental and so I am looking forward to seeing this show. As always I will feedback my opinions of it here!

Ghost In the Shell Movie Teaser Trailers Released

The first wave of trailers promoting the Ghost in the Shell movie have been released. The movie, based on the manga comics by Masamune Shirow and the animation from the 90s, is a classic of hard sci-fi. I can't wait to see it and whilst disappointed about the main role not going to an Asian actress I was actually quite pleased with the casting of Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi and especially Takeshi Kitano as the Chief of Section 9 Daisuke Aramaki is great. So now it's just a 6 month wait to see how the movie turns out. If it's good we may finally see the Akira and Battle Angel Alita movies we have been waiting so long for... and being optimistic, they may actually be good. Well, one can hope anyways!

So without further ado, let's see the trailers.

R-type Anime Short

Animator Paul Johnson has created an anime short film based around the video game R-Type, the hard as nails shoot 'em up. The 90's inspired art style and deliberately dreadful voice acting is spot on and reminds me of some truly awful anime and manga I watched in my youth. In his own words:

Sucked into one of the toughest video games around, one man has to fight for his life – and the high score!
This is an homage to arcade classic R-Type and 90’s anime - with each second of animation containing around 17 drawings. 17 DRAWINGS PER SECOND!

Check out the video below!

Starfox Animation Leaves You Wanting More

To promote their new game Star Fox Zero Nintendo have released a 15 minute animation. I never realised how much I wanted an animation based on this property but thinking about other anime series like Gundam and Macross it does seem like a no-brainer. In Nintendo's own words:

Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy are back to save the universe in the Star Fox Zero for Wii U, available 4/22!
Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins was produced in collaboration with Shigeru Miyamoto, and Production IG and WIT Studios.

Check out the video below and see if you'd like to see a whole series commissioned, I would!

Mysterious Cities Of Gold Season 3 Premiere

I have a deep love for the Mysterious Cities of Gold and after an okay season 2 which picked up midway through the episodes it is with bated breath that I have waited for any announcements regarding the third season.  Well at the 19th FIFEM Festival (Festivale International Du Film Pour Infants) in Montreal the new season is being kicked off with a premier of the first 3 episodes. Living in England I'm obviously not able to go but I hope that the new series arrives soon as I need closure after 2 cities of gold were found and now the hunt is on for the third in Japan.

Springfield is About to E.X.P.L.O.D.E with Bartkira

One is the manga that brought Japanese animation to the masses and is considered a bonafide classic, the other the longest running comedy series of all time with some of the most iconic characters of all time- combine them both and you have Bartkira.

Artist Ryan Humphrey had the idea of merging the worlds of The Simpsons to that of Akira, however what started off as an internet meme has grown into a collaborative project of over 100 artists who are recreating the 2000 page Otomo epic in Matt Groening's image. The first 3 graphic novels have been complete and are available to read for free. Also recently there has been a Bartkira trailer created and whilst it is a bit shaky in places the fact that this is a collaborative fan-made passion project is really heartening to hear.