TokyoScope Vol. 2: Mecha Mania! 4/5 in SF
Ok, this is an announcement for the second installment of the TokoyScope lecture series at NEW PEOPLE in San Francisco...
“MECHA MANIA! Four decades of Slam-Bang Sci-Fi Robot Anime”
In honor of the incredible Gundam Forever Marathon at Viz Cinema, this will be a 90-minute photonic energy-fueled trip through the highlights of mecha-themed anime past and present.
Friday April 9, Viz Cinema @ New People SF. Eight bucks.
We're making it super easy to attend with a Pre-event raffle for free tickets, so enter to win here.
In the meantime, you may continue to marvel at the art for the official Mecha Mania flier by Nonaka Kazumi AKA Batty Cheese. I have to go and watch some super robot anime now...
Podcast: Hot Tears of Shame x Episode Thirty-Five
Patrick Macias - editor in chief, OTAKU USA magazine
Patrick W. Galbraith - author, The Otaku Encyclopedia
Renato Rivera - PhD. Student at Kyoto University
Adrian Lozano - co-founder, Otaku2.com
DISCUSSION TOPICS
Can otaku content spread to the mainstream?
Otaku subculture vs. mainstream anime and manga
Divisions within the otaku community
Moe and new models of creativity
Otaku power, sexuality, and identification
Ukiyo-e: 2010 is 1910
Japan as “the Other”
Pachinko!
Anime as nationalist propaganda machine
Galgames and the end of the Japanese game industry
© Hot Tears of Shame Production Committee/jaPRESS
(2009 is 1979) 9-9-9: Three Records and a Theme
Galaxy Express 999 movie theme by Godiego, Nolans and ABBA by Coke.
The '79 song chart-topper in blistering live version with rare English verse.
Royal Courageux
Thank god it's not UNIQLO! New from your Shibuya-kei American Casual homies at LIVERTINE (home of fearsome sub-label Vice Fairy): a summer selection of T-shirts n' caps inspired by perennial favorite of kids-and-pirates ONE PIECE ("From TV Animation" the ads helpfully point out). Going on sale next Tuesday, there's 65 variants to collect in all ranging in price from 3,990 to 4,830 yen. The power of the Internet allows you to actually view the entire line here.
2009 is 1979: the Captain Harlock Character Show
More information about character shows from the 2004 Toei Animation brochure
Spanish live-action Captain Harlock here.
The Secret History of Anime Attraction Shows
Macross, 1982
Great Mazinger, 1975
Steel Jeeg, 1975
Tekkaman, 1976
Grendizer, 1975
Lupin the Third, date unknown
Gundam, 1979 (Sayla Mass w/ Zion troops)
Dairugger XV (aka Vehicle Voltron), 1982
Tamshii Nations 2009: (Really) Ultimate Lazy for Mazinger
There's a kind of post-coital hush all over the world as Super Robot crazed kids lie in repose after last night's premiere episode of "Shin Mazinger Shogeki! Z-hen on television". Haven't seen it yet myself (opted instead for a special about how the recession is affecting hostess clubs and a homeless camp in Hibya park), but so far the advance word is good. Now things get all wavy and blurry as I recall the events of last week's Mazinger related silliness at Bandai's Tamashii Nations 2009 event at the AKB UDX center...
March 25: Hot preview night for toy and plamo madness kicked into high gear as Go Nagai (wearing black Reebok sneakers) materialized on-stage in a roaring blast of Photonic Energy Beams and heavy metal muzak. He was joined by Katsunori Uneno, the grand poobah of the B-club, and the pair bonded over the Urban Materials Chogokin Mazinger, which made Yahoo! Japan headlines the next day as the two-million yen price tagged item you won't be seeing at Toys 'R' Us anytime soon.
While Matt Alt was stranded on the tarmac as a result of an exploding airplane at Narita, a stealth press conference for Shin Mazinger began in earnest. The Go-Go's carde as seen here includes Kenji Akabane (the new voice of Kabuto Koji), Ayumi Fujimura (who plays Koji's little brother, figure that one out), and producer Minami Yoshinaga. Director Yasuhiro Imagawa was presumably hiding out in an animation studio somewhere near Nerima avoiding questions about when he's actually going to finish Giant Robo.
Panic and hilarity ensued as the new Soul of Chogokin Mazinger Z figure fell on the floor with a dull metallic thud. The main body was recovered, but the Hover Pileder is still presumed missing.
All of the fun above unfolded to the new TV theme that all of Nippon now humming even as Dr. Hell rains down ballistic missiles on the energy research institute center: Tamio Okuda, Kazuyoshi Saito, and JAM Project's ULTIMATE LAZY FOR MAZINGER! But the fun was only just beginning...
From Yamato With Love (4:10)
In the year 2209 A.D., an enormous dreadnought disguised as a white comet speeds across the galaxy on a diabolical mission of enslaving entire solar systems to...pachinko. The earth faces almost certain destruction from compulsive gambling and chronic chain smoking unless the crew of the space battleship Yamato can find a way to stop this threat one tiny little silver ball at a time...
Hot on the heels of last year's epochal pachinko CR Yamato, pachinko CR Yamato 2 is being rolled out in a flurry of bad wigs, new merchandise, stunning 3D CGI, and commercials revolving around choice quotes from the late Juzo Okita. Pretty much all you need to know is presented in the mindblowing video infomercial below.
I know we're all supposed to piss and moan and say how boring pachinko is, but man, I wouldn't mind spening the rest of my life throwing 100 yen coins at this machine...at least until the inevitable Be Forever Pachinko Yamato arrives.
Oh, and the original Yamato 2 anime first aired 30 years ago, meaning that, yup, even the dumbest Cosmo Tiger could tell you, "2009 is 1979." More pics from the cosplay ridden press conference for CRY2 here.
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