Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 13, 2010 in Animation
This is an episode of Kaito Lenya which features the voice talents of Morning Musume member Reina Tanaka. What I love about this short is that they do a good job entertaining you even though the animation is low budget. By the way I realized looking at the animation that a few months ago on the DogaDoga7 Newtype YouTube channel that Noto Arisa mentioned this project (she’s pointing to the character that she does the voice over for): Read more…
Sometimes some of the best game concepts are the simple timeless ones, and Jenga is a great example of this: The games designed by Leslie Scott a Swahili speaking Brit living in Africa who designed the concept in the 70s and then brought it to the London Ty Fair in 1984. Since then 2.7 billion Jenga blocks have been sold owing to the joy of destroying your own leaning tower of Pisa. Doraemon Darake adds a Japanese twist to this old favorite by replacing those dull wooden blocks with (you guessed it) every anime fans favorite blue cat! And then instead of merely pulling out cats you have to do the opposite and construct a cat tower using chopsticks: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 10, 2010 in Animation
A good friend just gave this poster to me and I have to say that just seeing it made my inner child scream for sheer joy! Also fans of Star Blazers should take note: Amy Howard Wilson (the voice of Nova) has announced that at the ICON science fiction convention this year that Eddie Allen (the voice of Leader Desslok), Ken Meseroll (the voice of Derek Wildstar) and Tom Tweedy (the voice of Mark Venture) will be in attendance! The convention takes place March 26-28th in Stoney Brook, New York.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 10, 2010 in Animation
You know when Dot Warner sings in Japanese she’s quite moe! I’m also surprised that they kept the English name for Pinky and the Brain. The other thing I noticed looking at these titles is that the only thing that seems dated is the Bill Clinton cameo — this makes sense given that the show ran from 1993 to 1998, but really dates the series to the 90s. And strangely enough when you look at the opening in Polish it seems to take on a slight Marx Brothers feeling to it: Read more…
When I first came across this spot for the GunBuster Pachinko Machine I assumed that it dated from the 80s when the show first came out — but it seems that it’s part of a larger promotion that allows retro anime fans to watch the cult series online for free at this website! Aim for the Top! Gunbuster (トップをねらえ!) was quite a success for Gainax in the early days and the studio would go on to make other hits like Evangelion, FLCL and Mahoromatic to name a few. GunBuster was very typical of the shows from that era and featured giant robots, oversized insectoid space aliens and four lovely ladies who wear hot pink short shorts which match the new pachinko machine: Read more…
I was pleasantly surprised to come across this Alfin Statue from Crusher Joe because I was convinced that I must be one of a handful of anime fanboys who still remember that amazing film. Yet sadly while most fans today know about Gundam or Yamato very few fans even know about Crusher Joe (クラッシャージョウ). So here’s why the film was important and worth getting your hands on: Read more…
For all of the advances with computer animation there’s something still charming about good old fashioned stop motion animation. This Honda advert from the year 2000 does a nice job of using candy to animate the typography for the ULTRA Step WGN. Although it should be noted that the candy in this spot isn’t mere decoration — it’s being used to emphasize both the range of colors the auto comes in and the fact that it’s a kid friendly mode of transportation. Read more…
As every Evangelion fan knows Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley and their friends all go to the Tokyo-3 First Municipal Middle School which requires blue and white school uniforms with a cute sassy red bow! Well now fangurls who want to take a cosplay shortcut can now sport the official Evangelion Trantrip School Uniform which also includes matching socks (I love those little details). Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 4, 2010 in Animation, Tech
It’s always the silly things that amuse me: In this case it’s an iPhone application that turns your icon set into a grinning Doraemon. Apparently this is a free set of applications from Yahoo! Japan — which include Doraemon manga as well! Here are screen shots and there are iTunes links on this Japanese page: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 4, 2010 in Animation
As an adult I appreciate Hanna-Barbera, but frankly it was my childhood dislike of limited animation that drove me to admire anime. So I was pretty amused to stumble across the above the above clip of Secret Squirrel from 2 Stupid Dogs with a Japanese soundtrack, and much to my amazement I realized that because I couldn’t understand what was being said that the entire clip seemed cooler somehow. Now the funny thing is that the Japanese voices are clearly being used to a comic effect, however they seem much more downplayed when put next to the original American voice acting which sounds much more over-the-top: Read more…
This collection of Phone cases were issued to celebrate the tenth anniversary of One Piece. The first set of three features Monkey D. Luffy Wanted, Chopper Pink, and a Chopper Black version: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 28, 2010 in Animation, Fandom
This is the video for the Ichirou Mizuki song It Is Not This! Korejanai Robo! which tells the heartbreaking tale of a child otaku who years from a Gundam toy but whose clueless parents get him a cheap bootleg instead. Of course our little hero isn’t going to take this slight, so he takes his revenge on the wannabe Gundam. But this mecha knockoff has a few tricks up his sleeve. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 25, 2010 in Animation
Leiji Matsumoto was born on this day in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1938 — and he went on to dominate anime in the 70s much to the delight of a generation of fanboys including yours truly. He got his start in 1953 drawing romantic shōjo manga for girls and although he disliked this genre you can see the influence it would play in the many strong (but rail thin) female characters which would be featured in his work for years to come. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 24, 2010 in Animation
FUNimation is bringing out Slayers Revolution on DVD in March and what’s funny about watching this clip is that even with the slickness of current anime productions there’s something so 90s about this series. Although what I might be picking up here is that Slayers has this wonderful sense of humor that you don’t see in anime too often in the age of Death Note. Yes you’ve got all of the typical wizards and demons, but there’s something so snarky about this franchise which makes it endearing. Here’s the original opening titles from the show which hold up pretty well (despite the poor resolution of this clip): Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 22, 2010 in Animation
Thank you Tokyopop — I had no idea that Tsuneo Goda, creator of Domo came to the United States and did an interview! It’s amazing to think that Domo-kun was created all the way back in 1998, he’s really taken on a life of his own these past few years. From my own point of view the thing I’ve always liked about Domo is that he’s a stop-motion character which sets him apart from anime yet gives him a quirky quality that you can’t quite capture in computer animation.
I was given an opportunity to play with the new iPhone app Fullmetal Alchemist: State Alchemy Exam and enjoyed having an anime themed game at my fingertips. Now if you’re a serious gamer you might be let down with this app, but if you’re a fanboy (or fangurl) looking for an entertaining casual game then State Alchemy Exam is worth checking out. Exam is the key word here as this is a trivia quiz app which tests your knowledge of Fullmetal Alchemist with physics and chemistry thrown in for fun: Read more…
On this day in 1929 artist Elzie Crisler Segar added a new character to his Thimble Theatre comic strip named Popeye the Sailor Man. It’s hard to believe but Thimble Theatre was running for ten years before the sailor was introduced to American readers — Popeye would go on to take over the strip which was followed by quite a few animated films and television shows. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 17, 2010 in Animation, Fandom
The year is 1985 and anime fandom is buzzed about new shows like Macross: This amazing video shows a cosplay competition from this long gone pre-internet era when fans traded VHS tapes from Japan. Keep in mind that if you had an anime gathering of any sort back then even having a hundred fans show up was nothing short of astounding.
It’s amazing to me to think that Futurama has been around for over ten years at this point (it went on the air in 1999). While I’ve always admired The Simpsons there’s something about the sci fi theme of Futurama that makes it closer to my fanboy heart. To celebrate the series there are three sets of Futurama Action Figures: Fry and Bender (shown above), Farnsworth and Hermes (shown below) and Leela and Zapp Brannigan (whom I wanted to see the most of all but couldn’t find an image of). Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 16, 2010 in Animation
How is it that they’re making the fourth film in this retched series yet they still can’t come even close to the quality of animation that Pixar was doing ten years ago? Over time Shrek has come to represent everything that I detest about bad computer animation films: Stiff movement, flat lighting, lamentable scriptwriting, poor comedic timing for gags, lackluster voice acting, uninspired music, predictable plots and sequels that aren’t even good enough to go direct to video.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 14, 2010 in Animation
I’ll be honest: I’m not quite sure what the functionality of this Pikachu USB Computer Companion actually does. Although one might divine that if you’re any sort of self respecting Pokémon fan that you’ll need this office toy: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 14, 2010 in Animation
In the good old days animation was limited to the likes of Cartoon Network, so I’m glad to see other channels getting into the game: Tonight on FX a new animated comedy series called Archer will debut. The show features master spy Sterling Archer who works for the International Secret Intelligence Service:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 11, 2010 in Animation
Recently many anime reviewers were letdown that FUNimation dropped Big Windup season two — but frankly I was surprised that they picked it up in the first place. At first one is tempted to shrug it off and say that anime fans aren’t into sports, but clearly the popularity of Prince of Tennis proves that wrong. So what’s the real reason? This may come as a shock but baseball as a sport is endangered in the United States, and sadly that’s because most of Gen Y just doesn’t care about it as a pastime. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 8, 2010 in Animation
26 episodes of the The White Whale of Mu (ムーの白鯨) were produced by TMS in 1980 — I suspect the water theme from this vintage anime sci fi series owed a great deal to Space Battleship Yamato. Thanks to Matsumoto putting retro hardware like sailing ships (Captain Harlock) and trains (Galaxy Express 999) was all the rage, so why not Moby Dick? So it looks like TMS which produced the show is now putting out a restored version for retro anime fans (you can look on amazon.co.jp to buy it): Read more…
This is an episode of Kaito Lenya which features the voice talents of Morning Musume member Reina Tanaka. What I love about this short is that they do a good job entertaining you even though the animation is low budget. By the way I realized looking at the animation that a few months ago on the DogaDoga7 Newtype YouTube channel that Noto Arisa mentioned this project (she’s pointing to the character that she does the voice over for): Read more… 
Sometimes some of the best game concepts are the simple timeless ones, and 
