The Old School Otaku Lounge

davemerrill wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2019 5:44 am

Drew_Sutton wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 5:27 pm

_D_ wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 3:37 pm

No, Japanese could go abroad. Maybe you're thinking of China.

So, there was a prohibition about Japanese travelling abroad ... before the 1860s (pre-Meiji restoration). The closed country (sakoku) policy not only restricted foreign contact through certain ports but it also limited Japanese from going abroad or emgrating to limit foreign ideas.

It's my understanding that immediately after World War 2, there were restrictions on Japanese citizens traveling abroad. When Shotaro Ishinomori took his round-the-world trip for Shueisha, it was a pretty big deal. I believe Tezuka's first visits to America in the 60s also were considered fairly special events.

Huh, I had no idea. I haven't read extensively about the immediate end to the war, regarding Japan, or the occupation of Japan but everything I have read never mentioned anything like that. Got some more reading to do, I think.

Was this travel restriction still in effect when Tezuka went to SDCC in the late 70's/Early 80's, along with him and Monkey Punch?

New episode went up earlier this week! A short ReView episode on the first 2 Orange Road OVAs http://animenostalgia.blogspot.com/2019 ... ep-77.html

Sorry I've been so quiet lately! I've been sick, but I still somehow managed to get a new podcast episode out today! https://animenostalgia.blogspot.com/201 ... akira.html

Great episode!

I like how you always ask how people got into anime, even though everybody always thinks the way they got into anime is the most boring thing in the world. ^_^ A lot of times what gets forgotten is that to people older or younger than the person really don't know how anybody got into anime outside of their generation and maybe the generations immediately before and after them. Younger fans are fascinated by things like APAs, while I think many older fans are intrigued by stuff like how someone became a fan of anime from YouTube robo-recommendations or from seeing emoji GIFs of anime characters on Gfycat.

The music in Akira is really intriguing, because listening to the soundtrack by itself a lot of the music (IMHO) seems just kind of OK (I'm looking at you, can't-breathe-clown), but that really seems to work in the film itself, so you'd assume that the music was written for the film. (Do you think the reverse happened, where the animators animated based on the music?)

Tokyo 2020 Olympics on their way -- I have the feeling this will give Akira the boost it needs with younger anime fans, but it's hard to say. Thematically Akira is in kind of a different place than a lot of anime now, but cyberpunk seems like a relevant genre for our times. ^_^;

Great episode, Usamimi! AKIRA was one of my first Cyberpunk anime alongside Ghost in the Shell and Cyber City Oedo, and therefore it holds a special position to me!

And since you talked about fan-made AKIRA materials, can I recommend Bartkira, which was essentially a frame-by-frame redrawn of Akira but with The Simpsons characters?

Also, on a side note, can you please give me some information regarding the "Lupon" thing you talked about? I am always interested in stuffs about name-changing because of copyrights.

Thanks mbanu! Yeah the music in Akira varies for me--some tracks I think work extremely well. Others are....kinda forgetable? But I really so enjoy that main theme from the beginning and end.

Fireminer wrote: ↑Sat Aug 31, 2019 5:40 am Great episode, Usamimi! AKIRA was one of my first Cyberpunk anime alongside Ghost in the Shell and Cyber City Oedo, and therefore it holds a special position to me!

And since you talked about fan-made AKIRA materials, can I recommend Bartkira, which was essentially a frame-by-frame redrawn of Akira but with The Simpsons characters?

Also, on a side note, can you please give me some information regarding the "Lupon" thing you talked about? I am always interested in stuffs about name-changing because of copyrights.

Thanks! I was aware of Bartkira, tho since we were on the topic of live action, that's why I thought the Project Akira fan film was relevant to the conversation. Bartkira's probably the most well known Akira fan thing now, though, so I didn't think it really needed to be brought up...even though there wasn't that much of an opportunity to talk about it anyway.

As for "Rupan" that I mentioned: back in the day when Animeigo had the license for several Lupin things, it was still in the era when the original character Lupin was based on (Arsene Lupin) was still held under copyright of the original author's family. So they had to find....creative ways to rename him. (Vrai mentions the original English release of Castle of Cagliostro, where they simply call him WOLF, lol) The character finally became public domain when the copyright ran out in....The early 00s? I think? So now people can call him Lupin all they want without worrying about lawsuits. Here's an old review on an Animeigo "Rupan" release years ago, lol: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review ... conspiracy

It is a pleasant surprise to see you review There Were Eleven, usamimi. I always think that the movie should be included in the bucket list for every sci-fi anime lover. It's such a shame that not more people are aware of it.

Also, have you and your guests ever discussed about how much early sci-fi manga and anime writers are influenced by Western authors? I remember watching There Were Eleven and mistook it for an American-produced work, just like when I watched Space Battleship Yamato for the first time.

Oh thanks for reminding me to post the new episode here, Fireminer! I'd forgotten http://animenostalgia.blogspot.com/2019 ... -they.html

As for your question, I've never done a whole episode on western influence on sci-fi in anime...When I come across documented quotes of creators saying they were inspired by Western things, tho, I definitely include it in discussions (like the creator of El-hazard being partly inspired by the Princess of Mars series, for example).

usamimi wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2019 3:22 am Oh thanks for reminding me to post the new episode here, Fireminer! I'd forgotten http://animenostalgia.blogspot.com/2019 ... -they.html

As for your question, I've never done a whole episode on western influence on sci-fi in anime...When I come across documented quotes of creators saying they were inspired by Western things, tho, I definitely include it in discussions (like the creator of El-hazard being partly inspired by the Princess of Mars series, for example).

I did remember seeing somewhere that Trigun's writer was influenced by American popular arts like comic books. Masamune Shirow was known to have an entire library of philosophical books in his house. And Tomino definitely had read Starship Trooper before making Gundam.

That said, have you done an episode on either Trigun or Excel Saga? I don't remember you talking that much about late 1990s - early 2000s shows.