Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Tatsunoko Time
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ParaChomp
 Posts: 1018 |
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Capcom introduced me to their works. Lots of good stuff; I've watched every series that made up the roster. My favourite is Tekkaman Blade having a nice rustic feel and an excellent story within an apocalyptic future.
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belvadeer
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Why was that? Let me guess, too hard for folks to figure out?
I have to agree. That U.S. one is so cheesy, cornball lame. Typical 90s action music nonsense. And were there seriously aliens in the intro? Since when does Speed fight aliens? Did I miss something? |
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weds
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Probably Saturdays, though I wouldn't rule out a really early Sunday morning showing along the lines of Sailor Moon. Neither Superbook nor Flying House run on TBN Prime anymore, and the two shows are pretty tough to catch on broadcast TV at all. Both shows run on Smile of a Child (a TBN subchannel) and Liberty Channel, which one might as well just stream from their respective websites or apps. When I have insomnia bad enough to still be up at 4AM Eastern, I'll watch Superbook on Smile. Superbook Classic has been all but pulled from circulation, otherwise, in favor of its 2010 CGI remake. The English DVDs weren't ever finished (I can't speak to a Japanese release), and no on-demand legit streaming option exists. Given that, back in around '04, CBN was touting Superbook as them doing anime before anime was cool (you can still find those videos on iTunes), I'm extra sad about that. Their timing was bad for the nostalgia market, though. Flying House fares a bit better: you can stream and/or download the entire series from CBN's website, and Word of Life Press Ministries will sell you a set of the raw Japanese episodes for about $500US. I won't pretend I haven't wished for $500 to fall out of the sky; Flying House is a lot better than it has any right to be until Paul comes along. |
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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Tatsunoko got put on my radar thanks to Casshern SINS* and Tatsunoko Vs Capcom. Figuring out who all those Tatsunoko characters in TvC was quite the learning experience. Yattermen definitely seemed like a show I could get into (I'll make a point to check out its stream I think). The trouble of course with older shows is that their writing styles are so... old school. Definitely something that can be enjoyed, but maybe only in moderation. Conceptually stuff like Gatchaman is quite cool. But the actual show can be a bit of a chore to watch I'm afraid.
*which is easily one of my favorite animes of all time. Why it has such a hard time getting fans... well isn't very hard to understand. Soul crushing depression is quite a hard sell to a mass audience I suppose... But if Attack on Titan can be a big hit.... |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4408 Location: New York |
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The term that best describes Sins is "Soul crushingly pointless.". No arc, no repercussions, just death and misery with nothing of value accomplished. And 90's US Speed was beyond awful. I think there's a reason MTV of all networks would air the original Speed Racer dub during that time. Why? Got me, but they did. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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OH OOOOH!! I had that comic!! I recognize that comic as if it were yesterday. It was my first Battle of the Planets comic. I don't know if I still have my issue stored away in a box or it could be gone to the 4 winds. Y'know how that goes.
I was a big Battle of the Planets fanatic back in late 70's. I remember many of days I'd rush home from school to watch it. Then there would be the days I'd screw up in school and had to miss it. I grew up watching Speed Racer as well. The area where I lived used to air it in the afternoons and then they moved it to the mornings. I was a wonder I could get to school on time. I never made the connection that these two shows were made by the same company, but they were my first exposure to animation in Japan. It would be years later that I would meet people who knew a little more about the shows Tatsunoko would put out. Nintendo taught me years later that the "tatsu" in the Mario games was Japanese for seahorse, thus I found myself looking back at Tatsunoko's logo. It all made sense. Then I would learn how much of the Klutch Kargo stuff made my Hannna Barbera would inspire much of Tatsunoko's 'Time Bokan' franchise. I didn't know if it I believed it, but you could ask any old school anime aficionado. There was a YTuber who's channel (before the fair use crackdown) was dedicated to robot shows. He did them according to year. 70's, 80's, 90's, etc... When the got to Tatsunoko's stuff I was wonder if there shows could be classified as robot shows. But despite all things if there was some weird robot contraption then that made it a robot show. I was amazed at how many shows they had all with the 'Time Bokan' subheading. Then they got to the show we know as 'Samurai Pizza Cats'. Mechanized robot animals. It seemed that their theme wasn't so much about the giant geometrical robotic behemoths but more along the lines of the robot who looked and acted more human or steam punk. I don't think I've ever seen a show of theirs where they had a giant robot. It seemed Toei and Dynamic Pro had that pinned down. I saw the Karas and I found it interesting. But again it seemed that this would be so many years later coming from this company based on their past record. Then there's Casshern that I know nothing about. I saw the movie and didn't really know what to make of it. I had started watching Sins but didn't stay long as I felt that I needed to revisit the past. It would have been nice to see these shows when I was a child I probably would have enjoyed them more. After spending my long childhood years with Underdog and Tennesse Tuxedo, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Captain Kangaroon, Saturday morning cartoons, Sesame Street, Zoom, and the Electric Company Speed Racer, and Battle of the Planets was the much needed change I needed and enjoyed but couldn't understand why. |
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belvadeer
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Soul crushingly pointless? I guess the themes of life and death went completely over their heads if that's the only way they could describe it. Hopeless viewers. Maybe because they knew the original Speed Racer was leagues ahead of whatever that abomination was trying to be. |
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Myaow
 Posts: 1068 |
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So in love with this article!! There's so much neato information I'd never heard before in it. I didn't know that Amano designed things for Tatsunoko but it TOTALLY makes sense-- I've always thought that characters from Gatchaman and Time Bokan look really pretty and elegant (and just look at the Maybelline eyelashes on Speed Racer!!) Now I can see the Amano fanciness all over them.
The story about Tatsunoko's involvement in getting Macross' US license messed up is outrageous too!! I had no idea they were behind that dilemma! |
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2819 |
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Well,I've seen a recent "Speed Racer" comic book that's out. And Nickelodeon tried to do an American version of "Speed Racer" with "Speed Racer:The Next Generation." And to be honest,I'd wish they'd have some episodes in which Speed Jr. and company went to Japan. The 90's American series had an episode that did that. Why couldn't the Nicktoons series have done that?
And I heard that there's a Tatsunoko series that was inspired by Hanna-Barbera's "Wacky Races" series. I don't remember the name of that series. Can anyone help me out with it? |
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victor viper
 Posts: 630 Location: The deep south |
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I'll have to throw out a nod here to Nurse Witch Komugi. While not the best or most well-known project that Tatsunoko has been affiliated with, it's notable for lightening up the Soultaker universe and for an awesome Gatchaman homage.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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I've been watching Yatterman at Anime Sols and I find it fairly funny, albeit relentlessly formulaic. I was reminded of Pokemon's Team Rocket as the villains more and more clearly became the main characters, and I'm not surprised to find that the connection is real.
Soultaker, on the other hand, I think is absolutely awful. It makes very little sense to such a degree that I suspect that it's some kind of self-parody that I failed to understand. |
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Sakura Shinguji
Posts: 190 |
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Strictly speaking, if you want to talk about Shinbo works that mark his turning point from "let's get that guy for cheap" to "did we really ask for that many shadows, colorful windows and Dutch angles," you'd have to go back just a bit earlier than The SoulTaker. Shinbo directed both Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko OVAs, but while 1996's first OVA series was relatively straightforward, the second OVA series in 1997 was a bit of a different beast, introducing some stutter to the narrative and a whole bunch of contrasting shadows, which at the time just seemed quirky and interesting but in retrospect I think would clearly allow someone who's seen things like Madoka Magica or Bakemonogatari to identify Shinbo as being involved without being told. And, then, 1999's Tenamonya Voyagers was truly the emergence of balls-to-the-wall Shinbo. Four episodes of extreme light-and-dark contrasts to abstractly define both character and environment shapes, long cuts involving a traveling camera, obscure character dialogue, strange jump cuts and scene changes, intense color choices, etc. Neither of those are Tatsunoko, so they wouldn't have come up in Mike's article anyway, necessarily. But in terms of the topic of how long ago was Shinbo identifiable, they're definitely the starting point moreso than The SoulTaker is. |
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ben_the_bear
 Posts: 10 Location: NC, USA |
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There was already a live action Gatchaman, and it was great! 1991's Chojin Sentai Jetman (Winged Squadron Jetman) is a Super Sentai tribute to Gatchaman, complete with a little kid and comic relief fat guy! All the birds match, except for Ken the Eagle. Jetman's leader was Red Hawk. My guess is that they wanted to avoid confusing Red Hawk with the leader of 1981's Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan, Vul Eagle.
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Mr Adventure
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You know if Tatsunoko wanted more North American market penetration, it'd be cool to get some super-hero crossover with American super-hero comics
I mean... think about this... Gatchaman meets The Fantastic Four. I'd buy the hell out of that. It was a dark day when Capcom let the Tatsunoko rights laps. Now we will never get Tatsunoko vs Capcom vs Marvel (which was always a fever dream of mine...) East Super-Heroes meet West Super-Heroes. Licence to print money. |
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belvadeer
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Duuuuuuude, that is a spectacular idea. :0 Heck, even though is slightly off topic, I've always wanted Japan to collaborate with DC to make a comic that has A-Ko in it since she's Superman and Wonder Woman's kid in Project A-Ko. 
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