Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

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davemerrill
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Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by davemerrill »

Let's Anime, well, me, I take a further look at Japanese animation based on Western properties at the latest Let's Anime.

http://letsanime.blogspot.com/2018/06/b ... stern.html

This is basically the panel I did at AnimeNEXT, only without the shows I covered in my 2009 column, with the exception of "Fortunate Fawn" / "The Yearling", a show I did a little more research on. Also I finally got to see that 20,000 Leagues TV movie Tatsunoko made and it's goofy but mostly entertaining. Also covered is that Little House on the Prairie anime, Perrine Story, oh, so many shows. And as always we've only scratched the surface of this topic.
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by DKop »

I honestly can't hate on the Starship Troopers anime, even if it does lack a few major things to make it stand out to turning it into a really good story. I think 6 episodes is a good length to turn the highlights of the book into animation, anything longer than that would be really dragging. It does have the potential to really stand out, but alas with other projects going on at the same time behind the same studio, one of them had to be pushed out on the market.
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by mbanu »

Very interesting stuff!

The "on Youtube in Russian" had me smiling. Digging for rarities is still a challenge; if you have a friend who compulsively collected dollar-store anime, now is their time to shine. (^_^) I wonder how hard the Japanese originals are to find... Do they show up on Yahoo Auctions as Japanese otaku clear out their attics? Or did that happen 20 years ago, and the discs that remain are now relaxing in the basements of old-school American fans, as you try your best to remember who the most serious import collectors were way back when? I mean who was even buying Little Lulu anime in Japan to begin with?
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davemerrill
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by davemerrill »

the fansub of the Undersea Encounters/ 20,000 Leagues I watched was taken from a Japanese LD release from the 90s/00s. The Russian language YouTube version uses the Harmony Gold dub as its source, and that version got a home video release in some markets, though not in the US as far as I know. (the HG dubs of Little Women, Frankenstein, and Dracula did get US VHS releases, though)

I don't believe the Nippon Animation Little Lulu series got any sort of Japanese home video release, due to rights issues. FHE released one or two VHS tapes of the English dub in the States.

That's one aspect of tracking material like this down; the people that were collecting Japanese animation in the 1980s were collecting Dirty Pair, Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam, Yamato, Project A-Ko, and other SF action titles - the fandom was self-selecting for these kinds of properties. Later when Akira hit big, everybody "knew" that Japanese animation was slick high tech violent sexy action for grownups, because that's all they were seeing, and that's all the fans were talking about. Meanwhile, hundreds of Japanese anime shows that didn't fit into this box just didn't exist, as far as most of the fandom was concerned.
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by davemerrill »

davemerrill wrote: Fri Jul 06, 2018 8:06 am That's one aspect of tracking material like this down; the people that were collecting Japanese animation in the 1980s were collecting Dirty Pair, Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam, Yamato,
I think here I meant to add the modifier "in the United States" to the phrase "the people that were collecting Japanese animation in the 1980s", but I forgot. Wasn't there a way to edit posts before?
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by _D_ »

"Meanwhile, hundreds of Japanese anime shows that didn't fit into this box just didn't exist, as far as most of the fandom was concerned."

Which is why I'm having a hard time justifying saving anything other than the really popular stuff. BUT I'm going to try anyway. Found out recently about the situation with Esteban Child of the Sun (Mysterious Cities of Gold). The original Japanese dubbing was lost/destroyed prompting NHK to re-dub the series for release in the 1990s. NOW, try to find ANY episodes after 35 years for that show when you knew of no one who had it recorded as it aired in Japan as it wasn't popular THEN. Or the Canadian English dubbing of the 1980 Tetsuwan Atom series. I had the whole thing but erased it back in 1984/85 to put on other more popular series! Well, that is now lost as well with only a few examples in existence. Now i also find out about the French series Thierry la Fronde (Thierry The Sling) which ran in the middle 1960s in France, Canada and Australia, The English language version though is non-existent. The original French version though got release years ago. That was an iconic series that every Boomer kid in Canada must have watched but you can't ever see it in English again...

Isn't being an archivist fun?? :D
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by Drew_Sutton »

davemerrill wrote: Fri Jul 06, 2018 8:06 am That's one aspect of tracking material like this down; the people that were collecting Japanese animation in the 1980s [in the United States] were collecting Dirty Pair, Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam, Yamato, Project A-Ko, and other SF action titles - the fandom was self-selecting for these kinds of properties. Later when Akira hit big, everybody "knew" that Japanese animation was slick high tech violent sexy action for grownups, because that's all they were seeing, and that's all the fans were talking about. Meanwhile, hundreds of Japanese anime shows that didn't fit into this box just didn't exist, as far as most of the fandom was concerned.
I remember when I first heard about the Tom Sawyer adaptation, I was amazed that both there was an anime adaptation of it and that it was something that is quintessentially American to boot. I think I always figured there would be some Japanese animation that would target classic literature or folklore (like Nihon Manga Mukashibanashi or Night on the Galactic Railroad sans anthropomorphic cats) but certainly always felt that was outside the purview of 'anime fandom' in Japan as well as the States. Just as we had adaptations of classic literature marketed to children, there was a movement in Japan that there could be animation that was more than kids' stuff but unlike the US, Japan had actually acted on it. The more and more you dig this stuff up though, the more that view changes.
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by davemerrill »

I've got a French volume of Grandizer/Goldorak comics - would that be comics, or manga, or BD? They're European comics. Anyway, there's an ad in the back for children's costume play outfits for Albator/Harlock, Candy, and Thierry la Fronde, which at the time I figured was just a French historical or fairy tale character I'd never heard of, instead of a French TV series I'd never heard of.
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by _D_ »

Thierry La Fronde (Thierry the Sling) was a very popular series from the mid 1960s. It was like Robin Hood but set at the time of the 100 years War. It was shown in Canada in both French and English but (alas) the English version has been lost. It's out on DVD but French only.

I have a few anime adaptations of classic works like Little Women, Heidi Girl of The Alps, etc. Toei and other studios used to do lots of these in the 1970s and 80s. There is also the Moomin series which is still popular. Many of these were shown on the government broadcasting station CBC in English or French. I still have printed materials for them from the early 1980s as well as the French soundtrack records for Candy Candy and Albator. Many series like Grandizer were popular in French Canada. Still have an unopened soundtrack record for that one here some place. It was called Goldorak. Mazinger was also available in Quebec. There was lots of anime on TV in the early 1980s in Quebec but almost nothing in English Canada...
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Re: Beyond The Valley Of Further Under The Western Influence II: The Return

Post by usamimi »

It still kills me that Isao Takahata went as far as to take his animation staff TO CANADA to get inspiration for Anne of Green Gables, AND that a dub of it WAS made...but it was never released in the US or Canada :?: I keep hoping it'll make it over here SOME day....
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