This will undoubtedly bring back a flood of memories for some of you. I’m going to try and list as many of the first Japanese anime series and movies as possible that I can remember watching as a kid.

Astro Boy
What more can I say? It’s frickin’ Astro Boy, man. Soaring high in the sky… small, but only in size… you know, the whole deal. So far, up to that point in my life, all I had watched were cartoons like Spider-Man, The Mighty Hercules, Rocket Robin Hood, the Flintstones, Looney Tunes, and the Smurfs. All great shows in their own right, but either not known as masterpieces for their production value or not really pushing the envelope in terms of story. Keep in mind, I was only six or seven years old at that point. Production value and a story line weren’t exactly top priorities for a kid that age, but there was something refreshing and different about Astro Boy. You got a sense that everything was being animated and the they weren’t taking shortcuts. They used a real 3D perspective instead of an isometric one, and the closer a part of an object was to the “camera” the larger it was. Hell, it was just cool!

Actually, what I remember most about Astro Boy, and what is my fondest memory, are the two-part episodes entitled “The Greatest Robot in the World” where a giant robot, named Pluto, was created with the sole purpose of destroying all the other powerful robots in the world. I like that we got to see a handful of other really cool robots that were mostly all heroic and vigilant in nature. That’s something I’ve always admired. In Japanese culture, robots are generally seen as being good natured and designed to help humankind, whereas in western culture robots are usually portrayed as being evil monsters running amok, causing wanton destruction, and needing to be destroyed.

Dark Horse Comics started releasing the original manga in trade format back in 2002. There’s a compilation album from Japan that collects theme songs from the various TV shows involving Astro Boy, or rather, Tetsuwan Atomu. The theme didn’t change much from the 60’s one, albeit this one’s in English. There’s still a chorus of what sounds to be kids, but the 60’s intro sounds a little more like the intro for Howdy Doody. Also, a few years ago, I made a desktop picture that you can feel free to use (I’m a fan of the clean and minimalist look).

Robotech

I’ve already gone into quite a lot of detail with what I liked about Robotech in an earlier post. I’ll just reiterate that it was a very cool show. School let out at 3:30 and we all rushed home to catch Robotech start at 4:00. Every episode involved another space battle. People were getting killed all over the place. It truly was an epic story. Surprising, given it was based on three completely separate and unrelated japanese shows. Might be one of the reasons I like the new Battlestar Galactica so much.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz / Oz no Mahōtsukai

If I remember correctly, this used to air weekday mornings before school started, and came on after Teddy Ruxpin, or replaced it altogether. It was the first anime I can remember watching that had an ongoing plot from episode to episode (not unlike the aforementioned Teddy Ruxpin). I think I even faked being sick on a couple of occasions just so I wouldn’t miss the end of an episode. When I first started coming up with material for this post, I didn’t recall this show being an anime, or having anything to do with Japan whatsoever. The reason for that might be because, according to its Wikipedia entry, the English version which was dubbed by the Canadian production company, Cinar Films, apparently “attempted to completely occlude the show’s Japanese origins, going so far as to remove all Japanese names and studios from the credits.” Take that, Harmony Gold!

Robot Carnival

I don’t remember much of this one, but I think it’s the first feature length anime I’ve ever seen, and I saw it late at night on TV while I was doing home work for high school. I haven’t seen it since, either. All I can remember was thinking at the time that it was very weird and strange. I definitely need to check this one out again.

Speed Racer

I actually never saw Speed Racer until I was much older and in high school. By that point, I could distinguish between a western cartoon and a Japanese cartoon, but still hadn’t learnt the term “anime.” As I recall, the show was pretty hokey, but it had a kickin’ theme. Make sure to check out Sponge’s tribute version on the CD Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits, which also includes the awesome version of the Spider-Man theme by the Ramones.

Akira

I’ve talked about this one before, as well. It just gets better and better every time I watch it. It wasn’t my first exposure to anime, nor was it my first feature length anime, but it single-handedly kick-started my interest in anime that I’ve had ever since. It oozes with cool. It’s bathed in rich pools of coolness. It’s über-cool.

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

Touched on this one already, too. Again, yadda yadda yadda… cool.

Samurai Pizza Cats

My first exposure to an anime whose main genre is comedy. Another great theme. I love the characters names: Speedy Cerviche (a play on the words “service” and “ceviche”), Polly Esther (an obvious play on “polyester”), and Guide Anchovy (well, OK, nothing really clever about that one).

Sailor Moon

Another one of those continuation plots. This one became enormously popular. It spawned all sorts of toys and sequels. It got so popular that I started to get embarrassed that I watched it. I’ll admit though, the story wasn’t the reason I watched it. I just started high school, hormones are raging, and here comes a cartoon with cute girls in short skirts. You do the math.

My first exposure to an anime with long, boring, repetitive, drawn-out transformation sequences. Where I come from, we call that “filler.” If I had to pick one, and only one, it would definitely be Sailor Mars. *Rrrreow*

Dragon Ball

I’m pretty sure this is the version I watched a few times. Based on the Wikipedia entry, it’s the only one whose timeline makes sense. Might explain why it felt like there were so few episodes, if they only did 13 of them. I didn’t watch Dragon Ball Zed when it came out. Bulma wasn’t cute anymore, and the little annoying monkey boy grew up into an an even more annoying monkey man. Yeah, I don’t really have anything good to say about this show’s later incarnations and sequels. It’s really just here for completeness.

Ranma 1/2

I first saw this in my second last year of high school. We had a girl from China staying with us while she went to school here, and she was always bringing home odd and interesting videos that would get passed around amongst the youths of our city’s Chinese community. One was this cartoon of a boy that would turn into a girl when splashed with cold water. I think it was only the one episode, and it was all in Japanese with Chinese subtitles, so I understood none of it and was relying on this girl herself to translate into English for me. I don’t remember any of her explanation, but I do remember the scene in the bathroom where the boy turned into a hot naked chick. In retrospect, I’m surprised I didn’t try harder to get the name of the show for future reference. It took me at least another ten years before I stumbled upon it again. I’ve since watched the complete series and the OVAs, and only have one movie left I think. It’s a lot like Three’s Company, only if Jack Tripper turned into a hot chick when splashed with cold water.

My Neighbour Totoro / Tonari no Totoro

If Akira is über-cool, then Totoro is über-lovable. My first Ghibli/Miyazaki anime. This was another one of those videos that my Chinese friend brought home one day. Not really a lot of explanation is required. Basically, it’s Harry and the Hendersons, except replace John Lithgow with a cartoon of a four year old Japanese girl. Oh, and instead of a station wagon, there’s a Nekobasu (Cat bus). It has a superb soundtrack, too.

That’s it!

Sometime, I’ll write a post about my all-time favourite anime shows. But seeing as I have no idea when I’ll get around to it, here’s a teaser:

Best. Soundtrack. Ever. The prize of my collection…

Firefly

We’ve all seen Firefly, right? We all loved it, right? We’re all saddened to see it gone, right? If you answered “No” to any of those questions, then what the hell’s wrong with you?

I’ll admit, I never caught Firefly on TV back when it was still being aired. I’m not a huge TV watcher. I have a very short list of shows that I will always try to watch when they’re on: The Office, Corner Gas, Amazing Race, MXC, Mythbusters, and (most recently) House. There’s a longer B-list of shows, and a couple of shows that I’ve been auditing given the new fall schedule, but that’s for another time. A keen observer will notice there’s not a single sci-fi related show on that list. During its time, Firefly wasn’t on that list either. It simply was not even on my radar. Ask me then or ask me now to name you three sci-fi shows that are currently running, and I wouldn’t be able to do it.

It finally got to the point when practically everyone at where I used to work had seen Firefly. They would giggle with eachother and share their favourite quotes over lunch ’til it just became too much to bear. So they set me up with the DVDs, and I was hooked (BTW, thanks guys). I soon after went out and bought the set myself. That was two (maybe three) years ago. I’ve still only seen the majority of the episodes just the one time, but I like to consider myself one of the browncoats.

I can only speak for myself when I say why I like the show so much. The biggest thing for me was the writing, particularly the dialogue. For me, it’s the wit and humour that made it so refreshing and memorable. There are so many great lines and so many great scenes, that you can’t help but remember and cherish them. And the show seemed to have a very lively quality about it. Compare the handheld footage of Firefly to the typical rigid/panning shots of your other run-of-the-mill sci-fi show, and then tell me which one seems to have more energy.

It’s basically a western set in space. They’re outcasts and outlaws, just trying to make ends meet, being chased by bounty hunters and lawmen at every turn, but in space. A neat idea; a little Doctor Who-ish is some regards (another show that had no qualms about mixing genres), but definitely not a new idea.

What follows are some shows that, although might not have inspired Joss Whedon to create Firefly, might have influenced those of us who love his show to watch it (and get everyone we know to watch it).

SilverHawks (86/87)
I never watched this show when I was growing up. In fact, I don’t think I had ever heard of it until I started doing research for this post. Developed by Rankin/Bass (yup, the stop-motion Rudolph people), it was a followup series to their more popular show, the ThunderCats (another show I never watched, due to a preoccupation with Transformers). It had an electric-guitar-playing cybernetic cowboy… a sign of things to come, obviously.

(The animation looks really good. Was ThunderCats that good? Whatever… they’re cats. What were the bad guys? Dogs?)

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (86 - 89)
Don’t think I ever watched this one either, but I think I might have seen the toys in the Eaton’s Christmas Catalog as a kid. Must have had some success, as it looks like it ran for a couple of years, and has an official web site. It was created by Robert Mandell, who went on to write and direct Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. Yeah… I know.

BraveStarr (Sep 87 - Feb 89)
Now I’m pretty sure this was on TV in my area as a kid. If you guessed I never watched it, you’d be right. And if it looks like a cross between the animation styles of The New Adventures of The Lone Ranger and He-Man, that’s because they were all produced by the same animation company, Filmation. A horse that winks? No, thanks. Wouldn’t happen.

I was never a big fan of He-Man, either. Darn those Transformers. They really monopolized a lot of my time as a child. Besides, The Mighty Hercules could kick He-Man’s ass six ways from Sunday.

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs (Sep 87 - Sep 88)
I saved the best of the 80’s for last. Every Sunday morning on YTV, I’d sit at the dinner table with a hot steaming slice of corn bread smothered with butter and maple syrup, and watch Saber Rider. Not my first anime by any stretch, and I was I little old for it, but it sure had the (pardon the term) raddest theme for a cartoon up to that point in my life, TMNT notwithstanding (with X-Men having since claimed that title).

I’d watched Astroboy and Speed Racer when I was younger, but Saber Rider definitely kick-started my love for Anime. You’ll have to pardon the overuse of all the whip cracking. It’s just so goddamn cool.

Outlaw Star (Jan 98 - Jun 98)
So here we are. It’s a new decade with a new generation of kids. The whole “cowboys on horseback” stuff is gone. The new hero is the outlaw, being chased by bounty hunters. Being good is bad, and being bad is good. Big, complicated, chrome-plated guns are in. Spikey hair… in. What’s a horse? Let’s give him a fancy ship. Oh, and you have to give him a trenchcoat so we can show it flapping in the wind. He is a bad guy after all.

Trigun (Apr 98 - Sep 98)
Haven’t seen it, but I know someone who has recently. Maybe I can get him to say a few words. Looks like the same basic premise as Outlaw Star.

Cowboy Bebop (Apr 98 - Apr 99)
Here’s a bit of a departure. We’re back to following upholders of the law (maybe benders of the law would be more appropriate); bounty hunters. Not very good ones, though. Their bounties usually end up killing themselves or dying in some fashion before our heroes can cash in. A great theme, great animation (with a mix of CG), great characters, and if you listen to the English dub, great dialogue, make this one of the better anime of recent years. I don’t think I need to go further. Enough people have done the whole Cowboy Bebop/Firefly comparison thing.

Firefly (Sep 02 - Dec 02)
And just because I can, here’s the opening to Firefly.

So what does this all prove? Clearly, the idea of the space western is meant to be ingested by the public in stages. Here we have four shows that all came out in the late 1980’s, and three shows that came out in the late 1990’s. I don’t know how much more proof you need that Firefly was simple released completely out of sync of the space western sine-wave. I fully believe, that if Firefly would have been released two years from now, instead of four years ago, it would’ve reached far loftier goals than it has.

But then, I’m just one guy.

Sweet! I just received my prize for voting for Up a Paddle in their Podcast Pickle contest. I won Cromartie High School, Vol. 4. The weird thing is, I don’t even remember giving the Up a Paddle staff my mailing address.

It’s now officially on the list of stuff I still have yet to watch.

Didn’t get to do a whole lot of the stuff I wanted to do. Still haven’t watched the last few minutes of Lupin III: Voyage to Danger after falling asleep the last time. I only managed to watch the first 5 or ten minutes of City Hunter: .357 Magnum. And, when I finally had some time to myself, I was going to watch my long-awaited episode 2 of Neon Genesis Evangelion, only to find out that the sound wouldn’t play (which I only just found out is because I unknowingly had it encoded in 5.1 AAC audio and not stereo).

I guess the good news is my brother and I finally got around to playing our copy of Wizard’s Quest that we bought at a garage sale, like, 20 years ago brand new. And Carcasonne, too. Oh, and we watched Terror of the Autons.

Finally got around to see the Cowboy Bebop Movie (thanks, Kent), keeping on course with the whole anime watching kick I’m on again. Cowboy Bebop has been one of those anime series that I enjoyed watching, but don’t think it’s anything really special. Some (more like many) will argue that it has one of the best soundtracks in anime history. I’ve never been a big fan of jazz (and I haven’t been a fan of country in 20 years), and seeing that’s what Cowboy Bebop’s soundtrack mainly is, I find there are far fewer hits than misses throughout the series.

Having said that, I acquired the soundtrack to Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door about a year ago, and found the Hit-to-Miss ratio far outweighed in favour of the hits, so I already new what to expect. They’re far more enjoyable to just sit down and listen to (I think maybe I find the series music to be a little to frantic). All that allowed me to enjoy the movie much more than I do the series.

[If you want to know what I consider my most favourite soundtrack. It's Record of Lodoss War]

Of course, Spike and crew are still the worst bounty hunters in the universe. Spoiler: “Bounty killers” is probably more apropos. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them actually collect on a bounty. The bounty always dies, commits suicide, or gets killed, and the movie is no different. God! Throw me a bone!