Category: Anime

Henshin Heroes And Their Prevalence In Japanese Popular Culture

Published March 21, 2022

As someone who’s recently become fascinated by tokusatsu, I’ve been coming across various terms that I was previously unaware of before. One of these terms stood out to me though since it’s actually surprisingly applicable to various forms of entertainment outside of tokusatsu. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at Henshin Heroes and their prevalence in Japanese popular culture.

First off, I should explain what a Henshin Hero is. The Japanese word “Henshin” literally translates to transformation or metamorphosis. Thus, when we refer to a Henshin Hero, we are referring to a heroic character who transforms in order to gain access to their powers. I’m sure many of you can already think of various examples when it comes to Japanese media that this term applies to but let’s take a look at a few specific genres and examples.

Kamen Rider transforming while shouting “Henshin!”.

Leave a Comment

Some Fantastic Anime Series You Can Get In One Boxset

Published March 10, 2022

I’ve always found the concept of being able to buy an entire anime series (or any series for that matter) in a single boxset to be very appealing. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some fantastic anime series that you can get in one boxset. However, I should first remind you that I live in Ireland. Therefore, the anime boxsets that I typically collect are Region 2/B. I will try to take American releases into account but I thought it was important to clarify beforehand.

Having said all that, my first boxset is ironically an American release that works on my region 2 player. The 1978 Space Pirate Captain Harlock series is one of my favourite anime and Discotek made the brilliant decision to release the whole series in one boxset, all 42 episodes. Set in the year 2977, the series follows Captain Harlock, a space pirate who rejects Earth’s government but is still determined to defend the planet when an alien species known as the Mazone begin infiltrating Earth. Directed by the legendary Rintaro, Space Pirate Captain Harlock has an outstanding visual style which leads to some beautiful and trippy visuals, some of the best I’ve ever seen in an anime. Additionally, the story is surprisingly moving with some truly emotional episodes. If you can get your hands on it, I have no hesitation in recommending the Space Pirate Captain Harlock boxset.

The cover of Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

Leave a Comment

A Spotlight On The Spectacular Clamp Collective

Published February 28, 2022

It’s been quite a while since I last decided to shine a spotlight on someone. Considering how much I enjoy the works of the Clamp collective as well as having a discussion with someone recently how about intermittingly they release manga these days, I thought it worth shining a spotlight on the spectacular Clamp collective.

Interestingly, the Clamp collective initially began as a doujinshi group in the mid-1980s, producing doujinshi versions of Captain Tsubasa and Saint Seiya. The group originally consisted of eleven women and they began to create an original doujinshi work called RG Veda. They were eventually approached by an editor for a manga magazine called Wings who wished for Clamp to work for them. After a rocky start to their professional career, RG Veda ultimately proved to be a successful series and allowed Clamp to break into the industry.

Leave a Comment

The Fascinating History Of Anime Studio Sunrise

Published February 24, 2022

It was recently brought to my attention that Sunrise, undoubtedly one of my favourite anime studios, is going to be changing their name to Bandai Namco Filmworks in April. While it makes sense for Bandai Namco to consolidate their companies via a rebranding, I still admit that it saddens me to see this. Sunrise has always been an anime studio close to my heart and, considering how much I love their works, I thought it worth taking a look at the fascinating history of Sunrise.

Sunrise began in 1972 when a group of former employees of Mushi Production, the animation studio established by the legendary Osamu Tezuka, set up their own animation studio. By the end of the year, they had managed to release their first anime series, Hazedon. As time went on, they started to specialise in mecha anime, producing such series as Zero Tester, Brave Raideen and Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 while still producing non-mecha series such as La Seine no Hoshi, Kum-Kum and the 1970s Cyborg 009 anime series.

Leave a Comment

The Surprising Popularity Of Alice In Wonderland In Japan

Published February 21, 2022

I was recently listening to Dev Game Club, a podcast I’ve mentioned before, where they were discussing Kingdom Hearts, a game that I recall playing extensively during my childhood. While a lot of their discussion was quite fascinating to hear, I was particularly fascinated by their confusion over the first three Disney worlds you travel to. Considering the game came out in 2002, Tarzan (1999) and Hercules (1997) make sense but they were confused by the presence of Alice in Wonderland (1951) as one of the first worlds. One of them brought up the possibility that Disney’s Alice in Wonderland might be more popular in Japan than in the West. Thinking back, I do recall seeing numerous references to Alice in Wonderland in Japanese media. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the surprising popularity of Alice in Wonderland in Japan.

First off, let’s discuss the release of the original novel in Japan. I’ve found conflicting information on when the first Japanese edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was released with one source stating that it was first released in 1899 while another states that it was 1910. Regardless of when it was first released, it has continued to see numerous Japanese translations over the years.

A Japanese edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Leave a Comment

The Surprising Appeal Of Episodic Anime

Published February 10, 2022

If you’re an anime fan, I’m sure you’ve been tempted to show a series that you’ve found incredible to your friends. I know I have but I’ve also run into the problem that most anime is serialised, meaning that I have to show them many episodes of setup before the series can reach the best bits. Considering how limited the time we hang out together can be, it can be hard to get invested in something that seemingly appears to be all setup. Instead, besides movies, I’ve found it more useful to show them episodic anime that I really like which has resulted in a surprising appeal for me when it comes to these series.

Don’t get me wrong, serialised storytelling is one of the things that attracted me to anime. Back when I first discovered anime, I was watching a lot of Western adult animated series and being able to watch an animated series that took the time to develop the story and not wrap everything up within a single episode felt very refreshing. I still tend to prefer this type of storytelling but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to watch some episodic series every now and again. The fact that it’s easy to show to my friends is a bonus!

The cast of Lupin the 3rd. — Lupin the Third.

Leave a Comment

Why Are So Many Anime Series Shorter These Days?

Published January 20, 2022

I was watching a YouTube video recently where a guy expressed an interest in Attack on Titan but stated that he was afraid to start the anime because “there’s like a million episodes, I don’t know where to start”. The others explained to him that there were only about twenty episodes (this video was back in 2016 and they were referring to the 25 episodes that had aired before then). I was quite amused by this as I’ve seen plenty of people also make the assumption that all anime are long-running series. This viewpoint, while certainly never true, did seem closer to reality back when I first got into anime but it feels like a lot of series these days are much shorter.

Over the years, we’ve seen anime steadily go from producing multiple cours in the past down to most modern anime series consisting of only a single cour. Additionally, long-running anime has become increasingly uncommon with manga such as My Hero Academia, which in my opinion seemed tailor-made to be a long-running anime, instead being adapted into a one cour first season with several two cour seasons following.

Leave a Comment

Why Anime Visuals Are Upgraded For Their Home Video Releases

Published January 6, 2022

While it’s never happened to me personally, due to the fact that I watch the vast majority of my anime for the first time on physical media, I’ve met people who’ve noticed that the visuals of an anime that they’ve watched has been changed on DVD/Blu-ray. While not exclusive to the world of anime, Star Wars is a particularly infamous Western example, the idea of making further changes to a show/movie for their home video release is quite heavily associated with anime. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some anime that have had their visuals upgraded for their home video releases and why companies choose to do this.

Understandably, the history of this practise is relatively brief compared to the medium itself. The introduction of home video in the 1980s allowed the development of OVAs, anime developed specifically for home video, but the idea of making further changes to the show between the TV airing and the home video release didn’t arise until later on. Since the beginning of the 2000s, it has become surprisingly commonplace for anime series to air in underdeveloped states with the home video release that comes out afterwards looking more refined and complete.

A scene from Puella Magi Madoka Magica as it appeared on TV.

A scene from Puella Magi Madoka Magica as it appeared on DVD/Blu-ray.

Leave a Comment

The Devastating Impact Of The Dark Age Of Animation

Published January 3, 2022

I would hope that, by this point, readers are well aware of my passion for the medium of animation. While I do cover the topic of anime quite extensively, I’ve also spoken about my admiration for Western animation and my frustration at how many people look down on animation as being inferior to live-action. However, this viewpoint that animation is inferior to live-action did not simply come out of a void. Instead, this damage to the legitimacy of animation as a storytelling medium developed over the course of the Dark Age of Animation whose devastating impact continues to be felt today.

Prior to the advent of the Dark Age of Animation, animation was in a golden age with numerous popular theatrical shorts such as Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes, Disney, Betty Boop etc. earning critical praise and delighting audiences of all ages. Additionally, Disney were developing theatrical feature films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Peter Pan and more that proved to be financially and critically successful. However, the rise of television presented a new threat to the film industry and the box office failure of Sleeping Beauty, which was released in 1959, along with the death of the theatrical animated short heralded the Dark Age of Animation.

I view the box office failure of Sleeping Beauty as the beginning of the Dark Age of Animation.

Leave a Comment

The Fascinating Practise Of Location Scouting In Anime

Published December 23, 2021

You may have heard of anime pilgrimages in which you travel to a location that’s been featured in an anime. The reason that this is possible at all in the first place is because a lot of anime series and films base their settings on real locations. While this isn’t unheard of for other types of animation, just look at Saludos Amigos for instance, this practise seems surprisingly widespread in anime and so I thought I might take a look at location scouting in anime and why I find it so fascinating.

I remember the first time I heard about location scouting in anime was when I was listening a podcast (either Manga UK or ANN, I can’t remember) where I heard a story that an older couple in London were running their shop when a group of Japanese people came in and started taking pictures. A few months later, a few people came to the shop to visit and told the older couple that their shop had been used in K-On! The Movie. This movie was quite meticulous when it came to recreating London and the idea that the shop had been recreated in the movie was very interesting to me.

The Japanese poster for K-On! The Movie which itself is based on a real location.

Leave a Comment