Shelf Life

Breakfast of Champions

Gaogaigar is a delight to watch. It looks like it was a fun show to work on in real life. In the show, it looks like the secret government committee in charge of Gaogaigar would be super fun to work for. The only other anime I can think of with that kind of office “synergy” is Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but Section Nine is all dark and serious. Gaogaigar's enemies may cause a lot of property damage, but they don't feel any more threatening than Team Rocket.

This time around I started wondering about the office positions of the characters in mission control. The huge, muscular Kôtarô Taiga approves everything as some sort of executive officer, but the even more muscular Geki Hyuuma's job responsibilities are harder to figure out. Geki poses enthusiastically and shouts between Gaogaigar's moves during each battle, but I can't tell what he's contributing to the team. He seems to break office rules and regulations. Funnily enough, the dress code isn't on his list of infractions. Green Mohawks are apparently allowed in this government office.

In one particularly memorable Geki moment, the GGG team is before a government review board. Geki looks horribly bored by the proceedings, and when the team is called away on a mission, Geki flexes his muscles with delight, causing his shirt to explode off. It's very Legend of Koizumi. Dan Green does a fine job of bringing Geki's manliness to the dub.

I love the breathless pace of this show. Periodically, important exposition is doled out in the brief bit before the opening credits. It's as if the show itself is so excited to bring you the action scenes that there just isn't time to bore you with back story so they have to tell you really fast all at once. It's basically the opposite of Casshern.

Remember that morph animation effect that came out in 1998 or so? (I made this circa 1997.) Gaogaigar uses it a lot. The villains morph out of the walls. The head bad guy speaks with a morphing mouth movement. It's a tad cheesy by today's standards, but it looks so charming in conjunction with the cell animation. The whole series is just so freaking charming.

I want to watch Gaogaigar in my pajamas on a Saturday morning and eat sugary cereal. Fortunately, I can watch it on a Saturday night drinking beer¹ and still feel as if I'm nine years old on a Saturday morning. I don't even think kids can watch cartoons on Saturday morning any more.[TOP]

The Ashita no Joe manga was a smash hit in Japan, and it's still famous today. Everyone knows about Joe over there. It's a crying shame we haven't had more Joe in America!

This movie cuts together footage from the 79 episode Ashita no Joe TV series (from 1970) into an abridged version of the story. Even without the extra length, the story holds together nicely and it is totally amazing.

Our fighting protagonist Joe Yabuki is no goody two shoes. Teenage Joe lives in a ghetto defending his roving gang of young, petty thief orphan followers from tough guys! and yakuza. Joe's life changes when he meets a washed up, disbarred, alcoholic former boxing coach in the gutter. Danpei wants to train Joe to box, although Joe isn't interested at first.

Before Joe can even join a gym like the comparatively rich (but still working class) Ippo from Hajime no Ippo, he runs on the wrong side of the law and ends up in a prison-like juvenile hall. Joe doesn't take well to being bullied and ends up beating the shit out of his fellow inmates. This lands him a transfer to some kind of super juvenile hall, like Prison Prison.

For some reason, the higher security prison has a collective farm, where the delinquents are allowed to use pitchforks without supervision (seems safe enough). They tend pigs, which leads to inevitable manure hazing for the new guys, including Joe. This film had 100% more pig punching than I was expecting. (I promise it's not animal abuse, it was in self defense.)

Eventually Joe does get to box professionally, but it is a long and hard road to facing off against his first rival in a proper ring, starting from his humble beginnings beating prisoners and punching pigs.

The rich colors and heavy, stylized lines bring to life the determination and fiery spirit of the plot. The character designs are from another era entirely. The only time you ever see anime in this style is in parody in shows like Lucky Star or Sgt. Frog when they try to convey a manly spirit and a burning passion.

In fact, I wanted to watch Ashita no Joe because I've been on a mission to watch some of every title parodied in the original Japanese opening to Oh! Super Milk-chan. So far, I've sampled everything except Devil Man. I think it's important to be familiar with the classics. It's good to know your roots… even when those roots extend back to a country you've never lived in during a time before you were born.[TOP]