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Buried Treasure - Eat-Man


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eely225



Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 96
Location: West Lafayette, IN
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:24 am Reply with quote
Eat-man '98 always seemed really unappealing. I'd really like to give this series a shot (if only for its unique portrayal of "god") as long as I can find it.

I'll admit that I'm too modern. This would only be the second VHS anime series I'd own, the first being Battle Angel Alita.
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Captain Crotchspike



Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 355
Location: Phoenix, AZ
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:34 am Reply with quote
Interesting article. I managed to snag the Eat-Man '98 DVD box for eight bucks at a Fry's Electronics a while back (they have everything there, I swear), and while it had some good production values, it was pretty ho-hum stuff for the most part. I thought I'd had my fill after that (HA! HA!), but this sounds like it could be worth tracking down.

Viz released two graphic novels for Eat-Man, and that was it. The second had cover art by Jim Lee, and it loudly proclaims this fact in the corner. Since it was the last volume released, it looks like that strategy didn't quite pan out for them. They're both out of print, of course, but easy to find online used for no more than three bucks.
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Fireline



Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 29
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:09 am Reply with quote
Watched this back in 2003 and frankly didn't care for it. Far too episodic, and the main character has absolutely no appeal at all. I mean, sure, he has a unique trait... but it's a really strange one, executed awkwardly, and the character behind the trait has absolutely no personality whatsoever.

And his name is Bolt Crank. Imagine trying to get into Trigun if Vash was named "Pistol Gunn."

Otaku ego-stroking "yeah, I've seen Eat-Man" aside, I can't really find a positive to the series, unfortunately.

(But I totally have seen Eat-Man.)
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RadicaLElly



Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Posts: 194
Location: Coral Springs, FL
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:21 am Reply with quote
I totally thought that was Mosquiton when I first saw that image on the main page. Master of Mosquiton would be a good title for a future Buried Treasure *hint**hint**wink**wink* =)
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sailornyanko



Joined: 22 Aug 2005
Posts: 134
Location: Mexico City
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:34 am Reply with quote
One of my all-time favorite anime. Why is it that I usually like anime that seems to be inspired under a fine dosage of LSD, dunno, but it's one of the shows that most saddens me that a legit DVD release with english or spanish subs isn't available.

If someone ever makes a R1 DVD release with subs on it, I'll be sure more than happy to buy it. ^_-

I'm so happy the dead Locomotion channel got this anime for Latin America and I could at least record it on vhs when I could on an all-night marathon (damn worth staying up so late!!! Anime exclamation). One of the few anime that has arrived to Latin AMerican TV subbed and not dubbed. I sure don't mind one bit, the Japanese voices rocked and I just can't even imagine the show dubbed really.

The 98 series is also good (the Francois episode is one of my all-time anime favorites), but it's lost that weirdness factor the original series had and Bolt is more cheerful than in the 1996 series.

Gotta admit, Bolt looks hilarious sleeping in the streets like a bum and then some dude shows up and offers him a suitcase filled with a kabong amount of cash and he refuses much to the surprise of all the other bums out there. Oh, and Bolt is hilarious as a construction worker cuse he sucks so much at it. Epic win.

As for Bolt being a god, in the episode of the nun it gets to the point of offensiveness cuse he literally admits he insults god's power because he apparently owns him on a one-and-one battle. You'll have to see the episode to believe it.

Another thing cool about the original series is that many of the women Bolt meets aren't really sainthood people. Even the nun who's pretty nice isn't a goodie good-shoes in a christian point of view (she openly murders one of her followers after he goes insane. The whole scene seems to be wrong on so many levels).

Some of the women have a twisted set of morals (like the solider babe who's innocent in a sense but she wants to recieve the death penalty to safe the butts of her solider comrades who left her to die). Bolt does act as a sort of observer of the world, but in a sense he always gives a sort of justice that isn't always good in a simple sense but definitely gives a sense of conclusiveness to each story. Gotta love the way Bolt shows his purple-gray eyes at the end of the military babe on death role episode. Probably one of only 2 times that his eyes are shown in the original series.

The finale is really good in it's hallucinogenic sort of way. Gotta love that weird rock music after he uh.. oh I won't spoil the finale, but the weird ship that floats around in the sky in each episode is an important keypart of the finale. Maybe Bolt isn't a god afterall...

I highly reccomend it if you like weird anime with little action (but the little that does appear is quite worth the wait), interesting stories in each episode (though the scientist in the island episode is probably the most boring of them all) but like to analyze the symbolism and phylosophy inside this strange series.

I'd love to read the manga too, but I believe VIZ only got the first few volumes translated. Maybe if Eat-man becomes released in spanish in Mexico or Spain someday... It could happen.
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Monster in a box



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 671
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:34 am Reply with quote
You managed to make it sound kind of interesting...but not 'watch in on VHS' interesting.

Also, I had never even heard of AWOL, but apparently it's OP is Rocket Dive. I know that song from GFDM. Enjoyable song, that.
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ximpalullaorg



Joined: 16 Jan 2007
Posts: 396
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:56 am Reply with quote
Honestly, I totally disagree. As a fan of the manga, the first anime adaptation of the series really doesn't work. I really didn't like how they portrayed Bolt in that series, not to mention the abysmal animation quality. Eat Man 98 is much more faithful, SAVE the last two episodes in which Bolt goes completely OOC.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:52 am Reply with quote
Kinda surprised to see Eat-Man here. It certainly looked like it could have been interesting and I had plenty of chances to pick up the clamshells at Suncoast (they always got a bunch of Animevillage.com stuff), but I seem to remember Animerica and Mixxzine (or were they Tokyopop yet?) shooting it down multiple times so I never took the plunge. Can't say I didn't remain curious about the series, though, it still looks like something I'd like.

Emerje
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 1708
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:02 am Reply with quote
Justin Sevakis wrote:
The Bandai VHS release can still occasionally be found used online. There are two different packaging versions, including the classy plastic clamshell modeled after the Japanese packaging that was only available through their website, and a more traditional VHS box that went to everybody else. I'm not sure the clamshell existed past volume 3.

My copy of the Eat-Man VHS box set contains all clamshells (though I like them a bit less than you seem to, as they don't stand up very well—the "feet" are too small).

Captain Crotchspike wrote:
Viz released two graphic novels for Eat-Man, and that was it. The second had cover art by Jim Lee, and it loudly proclaims this fact in the corner. Since it was the last volume released, it looks like that strategy didn't quite pan out for them. They're both out of print, of course, but easy to find online used for no more than three bucks.

These cover the two "courses" of the comics that Viz released.
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crazychild



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:22 am Reply with quote
I got lucky and managed to pick up the first five volumes of this series pretty cheaply a few years ago. I think I wound up paying about as much for the last volume as I did for the rest of the series combined.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2532
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:03 am Reply with quote
Hell yeah, Eat-Man!

Glad to see this title get some focus. Though in all honesty, I prefer Eat-Man '98, and with that the manga.

The original is just too... obtuse. Yeah, I said obtuse. But at the same time I still fully enjoyed the first show. I just consider it an alternate universe from the manga and '98.

But the opening song, Chiisana Koi no Melody, is in my opinion one of the best anime openings of all time. The song never gets old, and just makes you want to rock out!

I REALLY hope a company license rescues Eat-Man and Eat-Man '98 (maybe Media Blasters), and that someone license rescues the manga, since it becomes a whole lot better after the first two volumes.

And as for the other AnimeVillage.com titles, I'll agree that AWOL is absolute trash, but I liked Ehrgeiz; to me, it's a buried treasure in a slight sense.

But anyway... Come on Eat-Man lisence rescues!
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DuelLadyS



Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 1705
Location: WA state
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:20 am Reply with quote
Eat-Man is one of those shows/manga I came upon by chance in High School and loved. (It's also one of those shows I completely forget about existing until someone else reminds me again.)

I haven't seen this version, but I do have the '98 anime on DVD- it's one of the rare shows where I'll use that old otaku stereotype "the manga is better." Laughing

Given my interest in finding old VHS-release-only anime to add to my collection, I'm gonna have to look for this. Very Happy
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:49 am Reply with quote
Well, I picked up one volume of the old Viz manga on sale at like $10. It was pretty neat. Not sure if I'm in a rush to check out the anime though.
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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1419
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:57 pm Reply with quote
I felt vindicated by this column. I've seen a lot of people badmouthing this show because of its low budget and its lack of resemblance to the original manga, but I honestly think it's Koichi Mashimo's best work.

Mashimo simply made the character of Bolt Crank his own, adding many interesting quirks to his personality (you've gotta love that weird smile) and turning him into an embodiment of the mystery in all of us. Bolt doesn't know where he came from, nor his purpose in life, but he feels inexplicably drawn to Lavion, a broken airship that never crashes down. He spends the entire series chasing it, up to the last episode, when he finally gets aboard and finds some oblique (though satisfying, in my opinion) answers. Bolt's final line in that episode, written by Mashimo himself, is one of my all-time favorites:

spoiler["Only someone who has eaten metal while crying can really know what adventure tastes like."]

The opening and ending sequences, charming as they are, make it obvious that Studio Deen was working with a very limited budget, but the animation quality is as good as most mid-to-late '90s shows. People who thought the animation was bad should subject themselves to the last 4 episodes of Eat-Man '98 to see what bad animation really looks like.

Speaking of Eat-Man '98, even though I liked the 6 episodes based on the manga, I thought the whole "Ambrosian Days" four-parter was nothing but a hodge-podge of RPG cliches, and the final two-parter was so dull and badly animated that I don't even remember what it was about.

Much like sailornyanko, I originally watched this show on the Latin American channel Locomotion, subtitled in Portuguese. Ever since, I've been looking for a decent DVD release with subtitles in a language I can understand. I bought the Spanish release by SelectaVisión, but the video and the audio are full of glitches and the subtitles are terrible. I wish Bandai Visual or some other company would license-rescue Eat-Man and release a boxset. I would definitely buy it.


Last edited by Zhou-BR on Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1545
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:23 pm Reply with quote
Oh yeah, Eat-Man. One of my first series, and a great one at that. It really is an acquired taste; if you're approaching it expecting a concrete explanation to Bolt's background or a complex plot, you're going to be disapointed. And if you're looking to bond with Bolt as a character, ditto. Because Bolt isn't really the point of any of the stories (except arguably the final one.) They're a series of unrelated tales about different women which share a common character, who is usually the catalyst but never the focus. If you approach the show that way, you're much more likely to enjoy it.
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