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Buried Treasure - Galaxy Express 999: The Movie

I still remember having a copy of this taped off of TV back when I was little (no idea whether it was the good dub or not). Too bad we don't have it anymore.

penguintruth wrote:

On the subject of Rintaro, I was fond of Metropolis.

I consider Metropolis a so-so movie that could have been a good movie had it not been for Rintaro. The story is great, the art is gorgeous, and the script had potential (though it could have used some rewrites). However, all are stymied by all these absurd directorial touches that absolutely do not work -- from the Looney Toons fade-out bubbles that then relaunch in the same scene, to disastrously inappropriate musical choices (happy big band music while people are DYING IN A FIRE!?). They're stylish, but work against the story, the mood and the pace of the film. The end result is not the work of a filmmaker, but a fine artist masquerading as a filmmaker and giving himself away at nearly every opportunity. It's no wonder the Japanese public rejected it outright.

Any sympathy I further had for Rintaro was erased when I saw the interview with him where he basically admits Dr. Tezuka did not like the story and did not want it animated, so he basically waited for him to die so he could do it anyway. Absolutely disgusting.

from the Looney Toons fade-out bubbles that then relaunch in the same scene,

to disastrously inappropriate musical choices (happy big band music while people are DYING IN A FIRE!?)

The end result is not the work of a filmmaker, but a fine artist masquerading as a filmmaker and giving himself away at nearly every opportunity. It's no wonder the Japanese public rejected it outright.

Any sympathy I further had for Rintaro was erased when I saw the interview with him where he basically admits Dr. Tezuka did not like the story and did not want it animated, so he basically waited for him to die so he could do it anyway. Absolutely disgusting.

penguintruth wrote:

On the subject of Rintaro, I was fond of Metropolis.

I consider Metropolis a so-so movie that could have been a good movie had it not been for Rintaro. The story is great, the art is gorgeous, and the script had potential (though it could have used some rewrites). However, all are stymied by all these absurd directorial touches that absolutely do not work -- from the Looney Toons fade-out bubbles that then relaunch in the same scene, to disastrously inappropriate musical choices (happy big band music while people are DYING IN A FIRE!?). They're stylish, but work against the story, the mood and the pace of the film. The end result is not the work of a filmmaker, but a fine artist masquerading as a filmmaker and giving himself away at nearly every opportunity. It's no wonder the Japanese public rejected it outright.

Any sympathy I further had for Rintaro was erased when I saw the interview with him where he basically admits Dr. Tezuka did not like the story and did not want it animated, so he basically waited for him to die so he could do it anyway. Absolutely disgusting.

I got mine from dvdfromkorea.com ... I'd give you a link, but for some reason their site prevents it.

but without R2 capability your playback is limited.

2 Disc set: http://www.dvdfromkorea.com/shop/p_detail.asp?idx=3415

(you must copy the url from the search results page to to save a direct product link... something peculiar to how their site is set up.)

Actually, unless I'm remembering wrong, part of the manga WAS released in the US. It was serialized in the back pages of Animerica back in the mid-90's. I'm pretty sure it was never finished, though, and Viz never released a graphic novel to my knowledge.

Ever since I've known about this column, I've been waiting for you to do the GE:999 movie.
<snip>

To this day, I'm disappointed that it never saw an R1 DVD release. And it's so painfully unlikely that it'd ever be licensed again, with the market in its current condition. The only company that would even seem remotely likely would be Animeigo, and I don't even know what they do these days.

Speaking of Rintaro, I'd love to see a Buried Treasure about the "Phoenix" OVAs he did. There's like next to no information about those, except on tezuka.co.jp, and it seems like the 2004 "Phoenix" series almost deliberately avoided adapting any of the manga stories already covered by Rintaro.