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Errinundra's Anime

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ANN Yugo Serikawa page

My average ranking: 4.85

Director Pantheon: Yugo Serikawa▲▼ Rating▲▼
Cyborg 009 (TV/1968) So-so

Review

Cyborg 009 (movie) Not really good

It's tongue in cheek, frequently and deliberately over the top and it moves at a cracking pace. None of those qualities can save this 1966 film, however, from a being a chore to sit through. Everything is so implausible, so contrived and so piecemeal that it has no tension whatsoever. I much prefer Toei's eastern themed 1950s and 60s films: at least they have a strangeness that compensates for the poorly scripted plots. Cyborg 009 is the forerunner of much cyber anime - one can see how Ghost the Shell's Aramaki and his Public Security Section 9 are descended from Dr Gilmore and his team of cyborgs. Don't take that as a recommendation: Cyborg 009 may be breathless but it's also dull and corny.

Review of both this film and Monster Wars.

Cyborg 009 and the Monster Wars (movie) So-so

Perhaps I was inoculated by watching its older sibling the night before, but I found this 1967 sequel more bearable. The straight forward plot structure - our cyborg heroes must find and defeat the big bad, facing ever more difficult subordinates on the way - is a help rather than a hindrance while things are given a bit of a twist with the appearance of Cyborg 0010 and Cyborgs 0011 (yes, there are two). It still doesn't take itself seriously, which is a good thing, but, despite the cheesy phallic symbolism that accompanies some of the scenes with Joe and Helena, Cyborg 009: Monster Wars is still a kids' show: as a nine year old I would have loved it had I seen when it first aired. Toei may have found a broader market but the earlier eastern themed movies were not so juvenile.
(The) Littlest Warrior (movie) Decent

Unhappily I first watched this 1961 adaptation of Mori Ogai's Meiji period story Sansho Dayu immediately after experiencing for the first time Kenzi Mizoguchi's 1954 live action masterpiece Sansho the Bailiff based on the same source. Though pretty enough, the anime's technical, emotional and intellectual limitations are all too apparent alongside its live action counterpart. If ever you are tempted to watch the anime, don't bother. One of cinema's greatest achievements does the story far, far better.

Review

Maco, the Mermaid (TV) Not really good

Review

Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Mori wa Ikiteiru (movie) Decent

Uchū Enban Dai-Sensō (movie) Bad