Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Yokoyama Watching Diary
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GVman
 Posts: 729 |
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You and me both, buddy. Anyway, I've only seen the Giant Robo anime. I've been meaning to read Mars and watch Godmars and that RoTK anime for a while now, but I just haven't got around to it. And if I won the lottery, I would throw some money towards finishing the Giant Robo OVA series, but I'd also put some towards funding Imagawa finishing Getter Robo Armageddon the way he intended it to. |
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dangerwhat
 Posts: 187 Location: Central Florida |
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Giant Robo is definately one of my favorite OVA ever and one of the early things that really made me into an Anime fan - so thank you for covering Yokoyama-sensei and all of his great works. I liked the Tetsujin 28 remake series from Genon but it is a little dour in tone, to be sure.
I wish I had a tablet so I could be doing more with Anime on it as I'm sure that I whould be. Unrelated but I too am pining for Belle and Sebastian (Meiken Jolie, for some inscrutible reason)! I saw it on TV when I was in Italy and really adore it. |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4469 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Yes, that's the joke and why I'll stick to PCs, for the optical media drive and keyboard. |
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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I have a keyboard for my iPad. |
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ladybastet
Posts: 21 |
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I still don't know how to copy my DVDs but I need to learn how because I have too many out of print titles and I don't want to damage them (having suffered cracks in the past). As for an iPad, it has helped bring me into the 21st century world of streaming. I don't watch things on my computer but with my iPad running Mountain Lion I can mirror through my Apple TV and watch anything I want from the comfort of my recliner on the big screen TV. I am shamelessly spoiled rotten.
 
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theoriginalbilis
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I love my iPad. Instead of carrying my laptop everywhere now, most of the stuff I need for work/school are on it. When it comes to entertainment, I also stream anime as well as read comics and put video and music files on it for when I'm at the gym. Definitely helps to pass the time!
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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In the mid to late 70's there were 6 things from Japan that I remember watching avidly as a kid, Speed Racer, Godzilla, Gamera (during the Saturday afternoon monster fests), Space Giants, Battle of the Planets and later Ultraman. I also remember fondly watching the strange and wonderful world of late night Saturday sci-fi. It was a program block that would televise various features during the latter hours on Saturday. If it wasn't Mysterious Island one weekend, or It Came From Outer Space another weekend, it was the strange sci-fi movie from Japan where an alien race of "starfish" disguise themselves as humans and come to earth to deliver a message about the planet's future. Mind you seeing these films before bedtime even on a weekend set me up big time for long term nightmares. But there was one show I vaguely remember seeing one night. It featured a boy and his giant robot going up against an evil alien boss trying to take over the world. I never knew the name of this movie. It wasn't until my college years after meeting some veteran anime fans that the show I described to them was none other than "Johnny Socko". Of course a late friend of mine would break out one of the features just to show you one of the most funniest scenes. In it there were these bad guys flyng in a car and they see this giant eye monster. It flashes it's eye beam and one of the guys screams and jumps out of the car high in the sky and falls to his death. The shot of the guy falling is a doll it hits the ground with a sound like a pool ball on a table. The scale is all off between the guy (he's literally bigger than the objects around him) falling and the trees along with the ground bounces up. We could not stop laughing.
I learned that while Go Nagai was one of the first to create the idea of cockpit robot and the transforming interchangeable robot, Mitsuteru Yokoyama was the first to create the giant radio controlled robot. I had never heard of Gigantor. All I remember is that when you speak to older family members they talk about their favorite cartoons. I remember a guy asking me, "Do you know Gigantor?" I'm like, "Gigantor..." Then they would start singing the theme song. Even my mother has seen Gigantor and Astro Boy. I eventually had a chance to see it when a cousin of mine bought it for her 3 yr old son. You know those tapes that you find laying around in bargain bins at the supermarket or department stores. You don't know where they came from yet they looked like some insane bootleg. Mind you these are the same tapes that often times have porn hidden on them too. My cousin would watch this tape every night I baby sat, to the point he knew the script by heart and would laugh, laugh laugh. Back to my college years, when I attended the anime clubs in Philly, the guy who ran it decided to break out some classic anime one night. Folks there got a chance to see an episode of "Gigantor". And yes, folks did snicker at the name "Dick Strong". I guess Fred Ladd would roll his eyes as he's heard the joke enough. As my college years in Pillly came to a close, my old school anime friends got their hands on a trade of the first episode of the Giant Robo OVA. We popped the tape in and immediately our jaws fell on the floor. The opening sequence says it all, mass destruction, mysterious guys in hoods, the awesome heroes, Daisaku and the godly robot he controls while hanging on with his godly hands with a secondary opening teling you THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDPA'S GIANT ROBO!!! This show was TOO damn awesome and the animation was top notch and characters good and bad you loved. I'd watched quite a bit of anime in my day but this was the first time I had been taken by the simplicity that you find done by old school manga and anime veterans. I love this film and yet I never finished watching the series. My best friend finally sat down and watched the show when it was released here on VHS. He was huge Ginrei fan. I really need to break this series out and watch it again from the beginning. Giant Robo was also what made me go back and later watch and purchase Kishin Corps. I find it an odd coincidence coming across this column. I had just received word from an instructor that teaches where I work. He uses anime in his courses. He wrote me and stated that it was a shame that there was no Yokoyama in print. At first I didn't know what he was talking about until he replied back saying that there was no robot manga. Aside from Gundam, he was looking for something more classic. Then it dawned on me which Yokoyama he was referring. Then I was reminded that I wanted to get those Gigantor DVD sets for our library. I had been wanting to do this long ago but at that time I wasn't in control of a budget like I am now. Let the students see some old school robot animation. I forwarded him this column. I finally sat down tonight and read it and I began to become teary eyed. I had been told much about what Mitsuteru Yokoyama did regarding Tetsujin 28. I didn't know that he was responsible for other such creations. Since Giant Robo was the one series I held with such high regard by him, I was extremely shocked when I heard about the incident regarding his death. Because we had just lost Kaneto Shiozawa (D, Vampire Hunter D) some years before and now this. I couldn't understand how I could be so passionate about a man I barely knew. I only knew of 2 of his works, Tetsujin 28 and Giant Robo. I guess it's gaining knowledge of a legend and the legacy he left behind. Speaking of Godmars, while I didn't know that this was one of his creations either, did anyone know that Godmars was the model for a popular robot series that was created and marketed in the US? If anyone remember Mighty Orbots, the design alone is practically a dead giveaway. He was definitely a great man, we'll miss him. Hopefully some of his older work will see the light of day. Great column. |
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