In case you haven’t seen it yet over at AltJapan, this is the monster sized animation cell - plus background – that Matt Alt and myself found in a pile of rubbish in Shinjuku Kabuki-cho a few months back (this most momentous event also forms the climax of our most recent Hot Tears of Shame podcast!).
Said image is from Gordian (nee, Guardian), a pretty minor robot show as far as these things go. Still, I’m certain that everything that’s great (was great?) about anime is summed up perfectly in this one single picture: the confused faces of surrogate sister-mother figures, triple-decker man-machine worship, uncertain science fiction agenda, and a grubby faced kid commanding it all like a symphony suite sponsored by Bandai.
This is art. Actually, it’s better than art. Which is why I call bullshit on the whole Superflat thing and any anyone else who “appropriates” anime/manga imagery and tries to get away with it in a gallery context. Because the real thing will always be richer, even if its worth nothing in the here and now.
Otaku trash piles are the future caves paintings of Lascaux.
"Otaku trash piles are the future caves paintings of Lascaux." That line will be remembered--but you knew that, didn't you. In JAPAN EDGE I said that being found dead in an otaku store would be like exhuming Tutankhamen amidst his grave goods, but I think your image of prehistory may be closer to the mark.
Posted by: Carl Horn | February 12, 2007 at 05:09 PM
"Which is why I call bullshit on the whole Superflat thing and any anyone else who “appropriates” anime/manga imagery and tries to get away with it in a gallery context."
Nuff said !
Posted by: statiq | February 12, 2007 at 05:23 PM
I will be found surrounded by CDs and books, a die-cast Yamato in one hand, my handmade Cosmo Dragoon pistol in the other, arms crossed like a pharoh.
It may happen soon.
Posted by: Steve Harrison | February 12, 2007 at 07:56 PM
Perhaps the upcoming Tezuka exhibit at the Asain Art Museum in San Francisco will help weaken the artsy superflat view.
http://www.asianart.org/upcomingexhibitions.htm#tezuka
I'm doing about 6 presentations and workshops for them and will sure try to present the material as something worthy of respect in it's own right without having to try and extract some mythical essence and apply that to modern art.
Today Tezuka, tomorrow Nagai Go!
Posted by: Gilles Poitras | February 13, 2007 at 06:17 AM
Hey Gilles,
The Tezuka show looks amazing, and just what the doctor ordered. I'll most likely be in San Francisco at least some of the time when it is going on. Hopefully, someone will have the sense to show Phoenix 2772. The opening reel is a mind-blower.
Posted by: Patrick Macias | February 13, 2007 at 08:35 AM
Damn...I gotta take a trip up North. This looks awesome.
Posted by: Ms. Geek | February 13, 2007 at 08:22 PM
Congrats on the free cel! I know nothing about Superflat or whatever it is, but based on the one Wikipedia pic I'd take the cel any day.
Gordian...sigh. How could such an awesome toy have such a crappy show?
I heard that toy sales managed to extend the run to 73 episodes. I could barely tolerate the first two, where Gordian heroically...STEPS ON CRAB TANKS A THIRD OF HIS SIZE! The ape things G's fighting in the OP linked on Alt's site are marginally better.
Posted by: Leopardon | February 14, 2007 at 03:12 AM