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The Mike Toole Show - Tatsunoko Time


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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2545
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:30 am Reply with quote
I do wish Tatsunoko was slightly more popular over here than they normally are. On the one hand, they do a lot of "superhero" anime, which I guess hardcore anime fans don't want because it reminds them of American comics & cartoons. On the other hand, though, it's freaking "superhero" anime, which tends to be somewhat popular in the mainstream. Personally, I love seeing Tatsunoko's take on superheroes, and their creations are iconic for good reasons. I am really happy to see Sentai giving Gatchaman a re-release, especially on Blu-Ray; I put my ADV DVDs (all but Volumes 11 & 12) & the Urban Vision DVD for the OVA on eBay, and the auction ended yesterday at slightly over $200! I doubt Sentai's release will feature any sort of Alex Ross artwork, but saving shelf space will offset that.

As for Speed Racer X, I remember seeing a few episodes when it aired on Nickelodeon (on its short-lived SLAM! block, alongside Invader Zim), and I did like what I saw. I would hope that the lawsuit has been over with for a few years, since DiC died out back in 2009. I can only hope that AnimeSols can possibly stream Speed Racer X in its original "Mach Go Go Go" name, but I worry that Speed Racer Enterprises might have as much control over the original name as Harmony Gold has over the Macross name.

Finally, since Mike didn't bring it up, I will say that my interest in Tatsunoko titles was increased a lot mostly through Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, which I still feel is the absolute best entry in Capcom's Vs. Series of fighting games; excellent line-up; superb gameplay, & the best character balance in the entire Vs. Series (in my opinion). Too bad Capcom's Tatsunoko license has expired, because eventually that game will get rare & expensive. Plus, I would have loved to see what Capcom could have done with a sequel.
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DRWii



Joined: 16 May 2007
Posts: 636
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:36 am Reply with quote
I actually remember more-or-less liking "Generator Gawl"...buuuut I saw it once about 7 or 8 years ago in middle school, and I was really just getting into anime as a whole. So there's probably some nostalgia goggles there. It kind of amuses me that even back then I associated Tatsunoko with cool designs, though.

I'm definitely curious about "Gatchaman Crowds," primarily because Kenji Nakamura is directing. I really hope Tatsunoko lets him go "weird" with this show. Not necessarily "Mononoke" or "Trapeze" levels of weird, but weirder than "C" or "Tsuritama."
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Otaku_X



Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 298
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:41 am Reply with quote
Tekkaman Blade and the Original Gatchaman are both favorites of mine. And of course I have all of the original Speed Racer. But I had no idea Muromi-san was Tatsunoko. I've been watching that every week this season. Interesting.
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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 12:28 pm Reply with quote
Wow, somehow I've never heard of this studio before (even though I've seen several of their shows) although it looks like I've never absolutely adored some of their shows which could be why (I liked parts of both Casshern Sins and C-Control but also thought that both had too many flaws). But I'm cautiously excited for Gatchaman Crowds, no familiarity with the franchise at all so at least it should prove interesting!

Oh and if you're a featured speaker at Otakon does this mean there'll be a Dubs Time Forgot panel at Otakon?
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:07 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Not surprisingly, Tatsunoko would milk the Time Bokan cow until it keeled over, then set to work making hamburgers and wallets out of the carcass.


This is the best line in the whole article. XD

Tatsunoko makes interesting stuff and I only wish the U.S. could have had easier access to some of their earlier work, like Polymar. So many unforgettable shows if you managed to catch them and I don't think anyone here could forget Karas once they saw it. I even remember Littl' Bits back when it aired on Nick Jr. in the early 90s, and I could never forget Tekkman Blade when it aired on UPN. Good times.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2260
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:16 pm Reply with quote
Any reference to Mon Colle Knights is a good reference x3
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deathfromabove1993



Joined: 23 May 2009
Posts: 120
Location: Chicago, IL
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:47 pm Reply with quote
Tatsunoko is one of my favorite studios. I got into Gatchaman way into my third year of anime (and high school) and I liked it for the henshin/five-man team mix that I like when I watched Power Rangers as a kid. I also liked their work on Sket Dance.

I think now is a great time for Gatchaman to be revived. There's the live-action movie, the Gatchaman Crowds anime and the re-release by Sentai Filmworks, which I am really happy their re-releasing it on Blu-ray. I kinda wish though that they would make an updated version of the show, that was like the 2000 NTT commercial that they produced.
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EnigmaticSky



Joined: 06 Aug 2011
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:19 pm Reply with quote
I honestly haven't watched many Tatsunoko works. My friend and I sat down and watched the first Karas set on Netflix (I think it was divided as like the first half of the OVAs) and it was a pretty well animated mess that made absolutely no sense. There were a hell of a lot of colors at least. At the end there was a screen that said "Story by Tatsunoko," and my friend yelled "Oh my god! Brandon! There was a story!" We could not stop laughing. Laughing Supposedly the second set made it all make sense, but my friend declined to see any more of it.

I did see an episode of two of Casshern on tv and... It didn't do it for me. It seemed like a lot of emo and gausian blur for my taste. And I really was very interested in [C] Control, the Funimaton trailer was very interesting, and I wanted to hear how it used economics in it's ideas, but it just kept getting bad reviews...

I do want to check out TheSoulTaker after reading this article. It will be interesting to see where Shinbo started.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:39 pm Reply with quote
EnigmaticSky wrote:
I do want to check out TheSoulTaker after reading this article. It will be interesting to see where Shinbo started.


Then watch Metal Fighter Miku. He didn't start with SoulTaker, not even remotely close in time, but Mike was saying it was his first really recognizable work as Shinbo and not just a director to work on X or Y project.
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Harts



Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Posts: 10
Location: EU
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:26 pm Reply with quote
I haven't seen many Tatsunoko shows, so if I would go and try to pick my favorite then Sket Dance would be the one I would come up with, sorry:)
Anyways, after reading this article I would actually be gladly check out Yatterman but I live in the EU and thus can't access Anime Sols.

What I am pretty happy about is that I can contribute to anime that is on Kickstarter and gladly gave my money to Time of Eve (great series, I like this kind of sci-fi stories) and Masaaki Yuasa's 'wrestling' shenanigans.

Also, props to Daisuki for having some streams for EU too, really liking the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED stream there.
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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:30 pm Reply with quote
I'm actually trying to watch more shows from Tatsunoko so, this article was incredibly helpful. Let's see:

Karas was the first one I saw (and I actually bought the DVD from a convention) on Encore Wham! (I think). I found the story a bit hard to follow when I first saw it. It seemed like there were two (three?) stories going on at the same time; choosing the new Karas, finding the bad guy, and something about his brother. I have to re-watch it.

I saw Casshern Sins before even knowing that it was a remake of the 1973 Casshern TV series. I want to watch the original since the remake felt a bit too slow at times but, I did enjoy a few of the earlier episodes like the Woman of the Tall Tower.

Watched The Irresponsible Captain Tylor and, for me, the humor was quite subtle. I thought Capt. Tylor (Taylor?) was a likable, coy hero who still manages to come up on top at the end of the day. I might think about buying the OVAs...

Almost finished with Tekkamen Blade which might be my favorite series so far. Sci-Fi, space hero adventure shows are something I'm not used to seeing but, I'm enjoying it for the most part (I'll try the original later). I want watch more anime of that variety. I plan on trying more "hero" shows like Hurricane Polymer which, to me, sounds similar to Iron Man. I really want to watch Gatchaman but, I'll probably watch the upcoming Gatchaman Crowds first.

Not sure if it counts since Production I.G. (or rather IG Tatsunoko) is also credited, by I saw Video Girl Ai not to long ago and all it did was remind me of a bunch of shows with Tsunderes or Doll/Cyborg Girlfriends as wish-fulfillment in typical Shonen rom-coms.
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DaisakuKusama



Joined: 24 Aug 2008
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:09 pm Reply with quote
Really enjoyable article AGAIN, Mike. You never cease to amaze me.

For old school geeks, Tatsunoko was THE studio, with a level of influence simliar to GAINAX or Madhouse way back when.

You knew you were watching a Tatsunoko joint when you'd see that Sea Horse logo pop up in the middle of shows such as Speed Racer, and even episodes of Robotech. It was something of an in-joke...Do they still do that?

Loved Zillion. I remember buying those 6 episodes from Carl Macek at the monthly Shrine Auditorium conventions in the 90's. In fact, Anime Sols has Zillion as one of the potential series to stream on their survey, so I encourage everyone to sign that petition and ask for it! I've been waiting for years to see the rest of those episodes!

Finally, I enjoyed watching the Judo Boy OP. Over at Hey Answerman, the discussion in the forums involved how openings are being cut down to 30 seconds...That Judo Boy opening was nearly two minutes long!!!
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FLCLGainax





PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 8:36 pm Reply with quote
Ah yes, they were the studio that animated Samurai Pizza Cats. Introduced me to the wackiness of their earlier shows.
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CCharmanderK



Joined: 08 Jul 2009
Posts: 218
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:25 pm Reply with quote
Tatsunoko actually introduced me to anime. But not through the normal channels of shows such as Battle of the Planets and Speed Racer. No, my first anime, a Tatsunoko production, was a fantastic little Christian anime called Superbook (and it's sister-show The Flying House, but I like Superbook more), which I saw in the 1990s when it reran on the Trinity Broadcasting Network on Sunday mornings. Or was it Saturday mornings? I forget, I was 2 at the time.

Anyway, Superbook introduced me to anime, although I wouldn't know the actual term "anime" until around 2002, when I was introduced by a friend to Dragon Ball Z, and he specifically used the term "anime" to describe it. All those shows I called "cool-looking cartoons" (Superbook, The Flying House, Digimon, etc.) had actually been anime the whole time!

So yeah.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4371
Location: New York
PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:44 pm Reply with quote
Wouldn't exactly call Casshern Sins liked. It was the laughingstock of the new Toonami lineup.

Also, I'm cautiously optimistic about the new Gatchaman cartoon. Just because the description sounded absolutely nothing like Gatchaman.

97 Mach Go Go Go, if nothing else, had a rather well done remake of the original intro. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmBeLT5caGM

Beat the hell out of the American remake one. Ugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arU5EXJaMz8
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