[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Casshan the Robot Hunter OAV: no-nonsense robot-bashing

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Strictly Old-School]

The Casshan franchise is an odd thing for me. Apparently it started in the 1970s as a TV series (which I have yet to see) but its cult status earned it the live-action treatment as Casshern (which I’m still in two minds about in terms of quality, but at least Shiro Sagisu’s musical score was good) and this, a four-part OAV, which was also edited by Harmony Gold (stop that booing and hissing in the back row, guys!) as a feature film. It seems that Japan can’t get enough of its angsty hunter of robots either since there’s a new TV series planned for later this year. As much as it sounds like cash-in, it’ll be produced by Madhouse so I’m not complaining or anything.

So then, this Casshan fellow seems to be quite an enduring icon that has a deep-rooted domestic following, possibly because those in positions of influence in the industry remember the original 70s TV show from when they were kids. The OAV certainly seems like a fond nostalgia-fest since it has such a retro feel and makes no visible effort in certain areas to distance itself from the 70s aesthetic.

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[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Macross: Do You Remember Love?

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Macross, Strictly Old-School]

It pains me to admit that I still haven’t seen the original SDF Macross series - put it down to a combination of waiting on an announcement from ADV for a R2 release and lament@backlog. Robotech doesn’t really count as an experience of the series itself either since certain names had been changed, some concepts altered and others shoehorned into the script to make the transition to the two subsequent arcs smoother. As a result my experience of the Macross universe is limited to that indirect encounter, the Plus movie and OAV (masterpiece), Zero (pretty-shiny but lacking in plot and characterisation) and Frontier (a good start but we’ll have to wait until Spring to see how it pans out). Mindful that the original Macross is ‘teh oldz’, I sat down to watch Do You Remember Love? with the anticipation of seeing a somewhat cheesy old-school but classic anime movie. I wasn’t disappointed.

A magical moment between Ichijyo and Minmay

[5 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Golgo 13: the Professional

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Strictly Old-School]

I don’t know whether I’d be speaking too harshly of Golgo 13: The Professional in saying how bad it is. Make no mistake, it IS bad, but the fact that it’s a quarter of a century old now makes me inclined to cut it a little slack. It’s a throwback to the cheesy, ultra-violent straight-to-video efforts that gave anime such a bad reputation in the Bad Old Days so there’s a good reason as to why the animation’s sometimes ropey, the plotting’s clumsy and the ennui-inducing levels of gratuitous sex and violence are offputting. It’s an old movie. In fact, it’s almost as old as I am and considerably older than most other anime movies I’ve seen to date. The opening animation sequence uses technology that was cutting edge at the time…which sadly was way back in 1983; another infamous scene, using the same techniques, features a group of CG helicopters storming a CG building but is so out-of-place it feels like it belongs to a different production.

A badass dude with a gun: why does he remind me of Roy Orbison though?

The odd-looking CG is a minor complaint next to the excesses of nudity and meaningless bloodshed, which detract from an action thriller which actually has a decent concept and plot behind it. The movie was intended to appeal to an audience outside of the stereotypical ‘otaku’ market, so owes more to the film noir and Western pulp comics than the typical anime premises. To its credit, G13: the Professional does actually feel like a mainstream action flick at times: it has a stony-faced hero, disposable bad guys, car chases, gun fights and a plot not without an occasional clever twist, which are all ingredients for an hour and a half of fast paced, undemanding entertainment. Having Osamu Dezaki on board as director also brought a bit of artistic talent and sophistication to the table too, which is evident in the more ‘cinematic’ camera angles and those watercolour still shots that he used in the Black Jack feature.

[1 Comment]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Bubblegum Crisis OAV

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Strictly Old-School]

Being a newish fan to anime I like to hear from the long-standing hardcore fans who can remember when fansubs were on VHS and the genre was even more of a niche and misunderstood interest than it is now; I suppose it’s partly because I like to remind myself that we as fans don’t have it so bad these days. Another reason why I enjoy conversations such as these is that they also make me aware of old fan favourites that have been forgotten by, or haven’t been brought to the attention of, the ‘new generation’ of fans. The original OAV series of Bubblegum Crisis is case in point.

[4 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Ninja Scroll

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Huerrgh!, Strictly Old-School]

Remember those straight-to-video gorefests that gave anime a bad name all those years ago? One name that is lumped with those titles is that of Ninja Scroll; while it is pretty far removed from the trashy ‘tits and tentacles’ hentai fare, it still has a reputation for being unashamedly violent. This reputation is not wholly undeserved but you know what? Sometimes, unashamed violence is a good thing.

[6 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Macross Plus

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Macross, Strictly Old-School]

“And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky/a human being that was given to fly…”

Top ten lists and ‘recommend me an anime title’ are questions that I stumble on quite a bit when discussing anime in general. My own top ten list changes and, depending on the circumstances, so do my recommendations but the brilliant slab of sci-fi that is Macross Plus is invariably one of them, even now.

[3 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Riding Bean

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Huerrgh!, Strictly Old-School]

In what I hope will become a regular fixture here, I’m taking a trip into ‘retro radness’ territory to dig up an old classic for the Strictly Old School category. The only criteria are that 1). the show has to be more than a decade old and 2). it has to be awesome for its time. First up is the old Riding Bean OAV. Enjoy…

Before Kenichi Sonoda made his name with Gunsmith Cats, Yasuo Hasegawa directed the first episode of his story of a tough-as-nails Chicago courier named Bean Bandit. Sadly the series was never to be and all that saw the light of day was this, the single part OAV of Riding Bean.

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