Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 5, 2010 in Comic Books
Could it be that maids are about to go out of style? Shown above is a promotional illustration for Military High School Joshi-Kouhei which will be a new manga series by Matsumoto Zirou in the monthly comic magazine Bunch. The series will harken back to the good old days of manga and anime and prominently feature sci fi themes in the tradition of Leiji Matsumoto (which I think is a good thing).
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 3, 2010 in Comic Books
Manga Mad is a documentary made a few years ago that is now available on Hulu (seen above). The video is only an hour long and a bit flashy, however it does have quite a few good mini-interviews. I was quite impressed to see clips of Leiji Matsumoto, Japanese comic book shop owners, a publisher from Kodansha and best of all Yoshihiro Yonezawa the founder of the Comiket Market who passed away not long after the documentary came out. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 10, 2010 in Animation
Rail thin blond ladies and killer mecha, yup we got that! This beautiful fan made video from Japan combines Leiji Matsumoto animation with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. My thanks to Evan Minto of Ani-Gamers for finding this gem!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 31, 2010 in Animation
I was filled with horror looking at the above sneak peak poster from the Captain Harlock computer graphics film that Toei has planned for 2012. Clearly Toei has learned little from the horrible AstroBoy film that came out last year. I’ve some some amazing anime that’s been done in 3D, but very rarely have I seen a studio be able to pull off translating a 2D character into 3D. The first problem I noticed with this harlock poster is that while the clothing is just right, there’s something not quite working about the face and the hair. The result is that Harlock starts to look like Howard Stern with too much makeup on: Read more…
If you grew up on Star Blazers, Galaxy Expresss 999 and Captain Harlock you may want to think of sporting the Leiji Matsumoto Romantic Collection Watch on your wrist. I have to say that this beautiful timepiece really captures the look of Matsumoto mecha — it looks like a spare widget from the bridge of the Yamato or the Arcadia. Of course you may need to be a rocket scientist to actually read the watch as it features “quadrants have been demarcated with lines along with more minute lines which delineate the seconds”: Read more…
As of today the latest Uniqlo anime themed t-shirts are hitting the street — this latest batch includes shirts based on old school favorites Galaxy Express 999, Saint Seiya, Dr. Slump, Dragonball and Devilman. In April a new set of shirts will be released which will be based on Cobra, One Piece and Mazinger Z. Here are the Devilman shirts: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 1, 2009 in Animation
Some humorous fanboy has edited together highlights from the Roger Corman produced New World Pictures dub of the Galaxy Express 999 movie. By the way this isn’t the worst dubbing of that era, in fact this is even a notch above some of the VHS stuff I remember seeing in the early 90s where the voice talent was usually the intern or immediate family of the producer. There were of course exceptions to the rule (for example Star Blazers had some great voice acting) however I’m glad that the good old days are over.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 6, 2009 in Animation
I have to say that I’m slightly disappointed with this trailer. This film was the result of a lawsuit that allowed producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki to make a new Yamato film. And frankly there’s nothing wrong with that, but a key ingredient that’s missing here is Leiji Matsumoto who directed the first film and gave really gave the franchise its soul. When that soul is missing you get the above trailer: A slow moving collection of pretty spaceships sporting a tired CGI look (and frankly that Blue Noah reference at the start is just adding insult to injury): Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 14, 2009 in Animation
The Galaxy Railways is a 2003 anime series produced by Leiji Matsumoto which reminds me a great deal of Galaxy Express 999. What’s neat is that Funimation is starting to put full episodes of this series up on YouTube. What makes Matsumoto interesting to me is that he was the king of steampunk long before the term was invented — his work in the 70s was filled with space pirates and Victorian trains in a Star Wars universe. This latest series feels slightly xeroxed from his older work, but just the same it is neat that Funimation is putting it out there. Read more…
