Choai Taisen

Weeks later, I'm pretty comfortable writing the whole recent Tokyo Anime Fair thing off as guilty of being excessively "corporate" and "boring." Still, there were some cheap laughs to be had, like the Edvard Munch-meets-Keroro Gunso suit above. Most of the gags will appear in the first issue of OTAKU USA in June.

In the meantime, here's the best thing I saw at the show...

NO, NOT HER! Dig that Toei Animation Racing Queen uniform she's wearing, designed to make old school Delta Branded Rudies Steve Harrison and Mike Toole weep.

As for the 999 art in the background, get ready for a whole lot of faux Superflat merchandising this year from Toei and co...

Lastly, I brought you girls back some Kawaii Jenny...

Comments

[Dan Hager]

Looks like a Robot Chicken hangover. Seriously, what is it??

[Patrick Macias]

Kawaii Jenny info here:
http://www.animeonline.com/index.php?page=news_details&action=details&id=101002

[jasongray]

There's an article in today's Nikkei Marketing Journal that would interest you:

『バンダイ岸山博文氏――「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」プラモ復活。』

[Ms. Geek]

Robot Chicken hangover? Hell, this is better than ANYTHING on Cartoon Network other than the Venture Brothers.

Someone's got to dub this for US consumption. Then again this is so hallucinogenic the DEA might slap a "Schedule 1" tag on it. I'm impressed, Patrick. We need more of this sort of thing, not less.

[Steve Harrison]

Well...so 'superflat' is the new chibi, the new SD?

*sigh*

I guess I'm just too old to 'get' it, I'm ready to be put on the iceflow and sent to the next life. That just looks terrible. Of all the 'superflat' stuff I've stumbled across, it's a style that just plain doesn't mesh with Matsumoto.

Bet we won't see any 'superflat' Captain Future stuff.

OTOH I fully approve of retro style Race Queen wear for booth bunnies. Were there a Toei Animation racing jacket in XXL I would wear it proudly.

[Patrick Macias]

I think the biggest disservice that faux Superflat does to anime is that it does away with the eyes. As as result, the characters suddenly have no character. Largely, the look is all coming from one company: play set products (just google their name in yahoo.jp, it's too depressing for me to bear). The same company will also be taking the juice out of Tatsunoko Pro properties, beginning with Gatchaman.

And I bet a bunch of savages out there are going to love it.