Seven Christmas Episodes to Wrap Up This Year With

Merry Christmas … er … Eve, everyone. To help celebrate the season and really kick off the end of this year’s blogging I thought what better way than to write about some Christmas related anime episodes. Now of course—as many big anime fans may already know, Christmas in Japan is a bit different from how the West celebrates it, with New Year’s being the bigger, more family oriented holiday and Christmas being a somewhat more intimate holiday for love. Because of that, anime has a lot of great romance related Christmas episodes, but they aren’t all about couples either, so don’t worry. 

Now usually people do “top tens” or “best [blank] of all time” when they make lists, but honestly those are kind of dumb, if I can be so bold. So instead of saying my list is ”the” best, I think I’m just gonna say this is a list of some great episodes, and there's tons more out there as well. Who knows, maybe next year if it goes well I can do another.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Have a great New Year’s, and without further ado, and in no particular order, let’s take a look at—

Seven Great Christmas Episodes!

Toradora! (episodes: 17 - 19)

Toradora! is a J.C. Staff anime from 2008 and in certain circles is considered one of the quintessential romance animes of its decade; and for good reason, as the show is an incredible ride to sit through. The basic premise follows its' cast and their tangled polygonal web of romances. Some end up well, while most seem to always fall apart, but that is true of first love for most people, huh? Ryuji Takasu a good hearted kid who is always mistaken for a delinquent because of his almost yakuza looks and Taiga Aisaka, the biggest bad ass in the school who just so happens to also be pint-sized and not look the part, are the characters at the forefront of the show. Together the two mismatched and misunderstood individuals end up in a bevy of drama, and perhaps the most well known of it all is none other than their Christmas themed story arc.

Honestly, because of that I don’t really want to delve too much into talking about it though, as it no doubt still makes people’s anime Christmas list every year since it aired. What finally accumulates in episode 19: Christmas Eve Party during the school’s … well, Christmas Eve party, is both incredibly touching and incredibly heart wrenching, and the emotions the characters go through will no doubt resonate with younger audiences. 

There’s nothing else more to say, though, other than: if you haven’t seen Toradora! already, get on it. 

Lupin the 3rd Part II/Red Jacket (episode: 64) 

You can’t get anymore classic than Lupin, one of the original animated TV shows meant for an adult audience. The Lupin franchise has had quite a run on Japanese televisions over the last 4 and a half decades with a TV Special (made for TV movie) made every year since 1989, 5 TV shows, 7 movies, and 3 OVAs. It’s pretty easy to say people love this goofy womanizer who also happens to be a world class master thief, and his motley crew. 

And in the second Lupin TV series’ 64th episode: Christmas at Tiffany’s, we finally get to see Lupin and company pull off a heist on Christmas. Being more or less coerced into it by the titular Jewelry Store owner and News-reporter Tiffany, Lupin and crew hafta rob a New York City Jeweler on live television. Can the greatest thief in the world pull off such a heist, or will all the cameras and broadcast finally be what Inspector Zenigata needs to catch him? 

While Christmas at Tiffany’s is more or less an average episode of Lupin at best, that’s still makes it quite a good watch. With a clever trick to beat the cameras, and a good change of pace from the typical Christmas fare, this episode makes for a much needed break from the usual fluff this time of year. Besides when else do we get to see Lupin namedrop Jesus Christ?

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in Pocket (All 6 episodes) 

The original Tonami Promo in 2002 with voice-over narration by Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime. 

Nowadays the Gundam franchise is no stranger to OVAs (Original Video Animation) but back in 1989 this was the first time it dabbled into this medium and simply knocked it out of the park here. I could really write an entire blog entry just on Gundam 0080 alone and still have things to say about it—it’s without a doubt one of the greatest OVAs in the series and also manages to be incredibly easy for new comers to get into; being one of the few Gundams that manages to make the intimidating Universal Century (or UC for short) timeline of the franchise new-comer friendly. Throw-in stellar animation, and fights that will just make your gut churn with dread and excitement at the same time, and you got yourself an absolutely fantastic 3 hours of material to watch.

As for the story, Gundam 0080 takes the focus away from the current frontline battles being fought and instead examines the everyday life of the people living during these times. The story is set near the very end of the One Year War, and thus is during Christmas season, making it almost Die Hard like. Beneath the exterior involves a plot that almost destroys an entire space colony, one of the first real positive looks the franchise has on a Zeon pilot, and an ending that is guaranteed to make anyone—even the coldest of hearts—cry. 

Gundam 0080 should not be missed, and having the voice of Metal Gear Solid’s Snake as one of the main characters in the English dub is just an added bonus.

Himouto! Umaru-chan (episode: 8)

This was not a show I thought I would like as much as I did, but this year’s (2015) Himouto! Umaru-chan really won me over for much the same reason that it seems to have won over everyone else this year; its relaxed, slower pace made it easy-going viewing—almost completely stress-free, and adorable to boot. There’s just something real sincere about this story of an older brother trying to take care of his younger sister who acts like a model student in public but is in actuality a huge pop culture referencing spoiled brat, and in episode 8: Umaru and Christmas and New Year’s sees our dysfunctional family and friends trying to get through the holidays. 

Different from most Christmas themed episodes however, this is a far more realistic and humble look at the holidays, as it involves coming home late from working overtime and just trying to make the best of what is left in the day. It’s a sweet look at a less than fortunate group of people who manage to somehow still make it all work, and is enough make you wanna say “d’aaahhh”.

Super Dimension Fortress: Macross (episodes: 35 - 36) 

The original Super Dimension Fortress Macross from 1982 is a classic mecha love story, that’s just ridiculous enough to work. These last two episodes see the love triangle at the center of the characters’ relationships is finally put to an end as main character Hikaru has to asks himself this holiday season if he really wants to settle for illusions of a past forgotten, or if he wants to try something else. As the finale to the original Macross, these two episodes bring about equal amounts of action and emotions. By this point it becomes increasingly clear that the characters will never have their fairy tale endings, but that’s what makes it so great—the harsh, more realistic representation of broken relationships, and wanting to just go back to how things were again—even as impossible as it is—is something anyone can relate to. This was a great way to end a famous mecha show. 

Magic Kaitou 1412 (episode: 12) 

The Kaitou Kid series started humbly in 1987 before manga-ka (comic writer) Gosho Aoyoma had his first hit with Yaiba the following year, and then became a household name with his mega-franchise Detective Conan/Case Closed in 1994, which more or less took over his life, and probably prevents him from going back to writing more Kaitou Kid stories. Nowadays the Kid is best known for being a regular returning character in Detective Conan, and one of Conan’s greatest rivals—a genius compromise Aoyoma figured out so that he can work on both at the same time. But in 2014, Kaitou was able to somewhat break-free from just being a regular in Conan with his own TV show Magic Kaitou 1412 that sought to adapt (yet again) Kaitou’s standalone stories from his own manga, as well as mixing in some earlier seen cross-over cases from Detective Conan but this time told from Kaitou’s perspective, as a way to raise up the episode count. 

The result is a pretty satisfying show for both old fans of Detective Conan and people who have no familiarity with the series, and in episode 12: Holy Night: Two Kaitou Kids! the show tackles … you guessed it, a Christmas episode. Much again like the Lupin the 3rd episode, this episode is more or less a standard Kaitou caper but told with some added Christmas flare. It’s a cute heist, with some nice Christmas season love between Kaitou and Inspector Nakamori, the man who has been itching to arrest Kaitou this whole time. What’s more not to love? 

Maison Ikkoku (episodes: 39 - 40) 

Maison Ikkoku is another hugely popular series from famous author Rumiko Takahashi (Urusei Yatsura, InuYasha), and while she has tackled many romance series before what sets this apart from a lot of her usual fare is that Maison Ikkoku happens to skewer a little bit older (being a seinen manga). This is a series that resonated a lot with me when I first saw it, and now happens to be one of my favorite romance animes, so I may be a bit bias when I say these two episodes might also be one of my favorite Christmas stories too. 

These episodes follow Godai while he’s still attending University. Christmas is coming around the corner and so he ends up working himself to the bone doing multiple odd jobs in order to obtain presents for everyone, with big plans to surprise Kyoko that evening at their Apartment's get-together. This beginning is pretty typical, but a few lost belongings later, and things really start to get going. Earlier that day Godai tried to have a stone Kyoko owned identified by someone at his University. As it turns out the stone was the first and only present Kyoko got from her now deceased husband (a former geology teacher), and through some bad luck on the train line, Godai loses it. Already bummed out from being reminded of her previous love, Godai now has to deal with such an important item being missing, and ends up wasting almost the entire Christmas eve night trying to search every train he can that goes through the station for it.

As the Christmas hours dwindle away, and the snow keeps piling up on him outside, Godai finds himself exhausted, and through a series of misfortunate happenings all his hard work even blows up in his face when his present for Kyoko ends up missing as well. Eventually Godai finds himself asking what even is the point of any of this anymore, as Kyoko waits more and more at their get-together, worried about him. Although the night eventually improves, it was never the perfect day Godai wanted it to be, and worked so hard for. It’s an endeavor I think almost anyone can really relate to. Maison Ikkoku always had a great mix of melancholic lows and sincerely sweet highs for its awkward couple, and these two episodes really managed to have both all at once. 

’Tis the season for Yokai

This year on November 30 we lost one of the quintessential founders of the modern manga—one Shigeru Mizuki; the creator of the mega franchise GeGeGe no Kitaro (2 Live Action Movies, 6 television animes, 2 iterations as a manga, its own tourist trap, and still going with rustlings of yet another TV anime to come). The Kitaro series was and still is a huge cultural touchstone in Japan, so much so that Mizuki is actually considered one of the leading experts on traditional Japanese folklore because of it. Besides his work on the supernatural, Mizuki was also a World War II veteran—even losing his arm in the war—and was an established story teller for mature adult comic readers as well because of this—with hit manga such as Shigeru Mizuki's Hitler, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, and Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan. Basically, Mizuki was a rare talent that could balance both young and mature readers alike, all because he wrote what he knew, and he knew the changes Japan went through from war, the horrors of war itself, and of course, he knew Japanese folklore—he knew it better than anyone else. 

To rewind for a moment and help better frame the context of his life, Mizuki lived a long fruitful life and passed away at age 93. Remember, he was a solider during World War II more than 70 years ago now. When he eventually returned to Japan he actually started as a Kamishibai (紙芝居, or "paper theater”), a now antiquated Japanese form of entertainment. The Kamishibai was somewhat akin to a traveling puppet show but done with paper slides instead and had a serialized story, meaning it was done in episodes. The Kamishibai would travel from town to town with their cart, sell treats to the children, and entertain them with their stories. After they leave for the next few towns they would eventually come back to the previous ones with the next episode in their story. Kamishibai were cheap and easily accessible, which helped them during the postwar era of Japan, and can be seen somewhat as a precursor to manga, but when television did become more and more accessible to the Japanese it all but died out. Today Kamishibai is mostly a memory from a simpler time, being at best seen as a forgotten art form, and referenced in entertainment. Most recently a series of animated horror shorts called Yamishibai (or Dark Theater) was created in a similar fashion to the slides used in Kamishibai for the TV Tokyo Network. It has been streamed on Crunchyroll and was just picked up for domestic home video release by Sentai Filmworks.

Mizuki’s early work as a Kamishibai saw him telling the story of Hakaba Kitaro (or Kitaro of the Graveyard), written originally by Masami Itou in 1933. Mizuki was asked by his Kamishibai employers in 1954 to continue this story and so he did. Mizuki rendition of the classic serial was supposedly popular, but the Kamishibai industry itself was quickly on its way out, and Mizuki began work as a Rental Manga creator, at first struggling, until eventually he caught a break with turning Hakaba Kitaro into a manga series in 1960. For the uninitiated, Rental Manga was a concept of its time, since many people in postwar Japan could still not easily afford luxuries; much of their entertainment was actually rented, and not bought, so after paying a very small amount of yen to read a manga you would return it to the store, sort of similar to the library system.It was under a system like this that a lot of famous manga got their early starts. 

GeGeGe no Kitaro circa 1968. The first time Kitaro and friends
made it onto television.

Of course, Rental Manga eventually became an antiquated thing of the past too, and as times changed, Mizuki more or less, kept the serialization going for Kitaro through different publishers and into the more modern concept of manga to be purchased. Throughout those years Hakaba Kitaro would transform into GeGeGe no Kitaro (i.e. Crickity Creak Kitaro or Spooooky~ Kitaro - with GeGeGe (ゲゲゲ) being a Japanese Onomatopoeia meant for scary locations) to better differentiate Mizuki’s rendition of the stories and accent other changes made during that time to the characters and tone of the manga. The name change in 1967 was solidified with the first TV anime in the following year, and the concept of the series from Kitaro being an indifferent observer of yokai and human alike into a full blown hero, and protector of humans from yokai; whose dream is for the peaceful coexistence of the two—made the series more action driven, and children loved it for that. 

But what about Kitaro himself, I’ve written at length about some background info, but some of you may be scratching your head at just what Kitaro is. Well the gist of the story more or less is that it follows a one eyed ghost boy named Kitaro, whom was birthed in a graveyard, and is the sole remaining member of the yurei zoku (or Ghost Tribe). Kitaro is accompanied by Medama-oyaji (or Daddy Eyeball) aka what is left of his father: once a full ghost man (mummy?) himself now all that remains of this spirit is his eyeball, albeit, it is anthropomorphic, at least. 

The two try their best to keep the delicate order of peace between the supernatural yokai (creatures of traditional Japanese folklore) and humans, while making sure the Ghost Tribe doesn't die out. Kitaro is able to fight back when needed through some moderate powers of his own such as shooting his own hair out like projectiles but he mostly gets by through clever gadgets he has. Together they encounter many returning characters such as Kitaro’s best friend and worst enemy Nezumi Otoko (or Rat-man), and others in their large ensemble cast of folklore creatures spanning not just from Japan, but even China, Europe, and America. It becomes a who’s-who of supernatural stories each week, and it’s easy to see how such a simple premise can carry a long way, especially with such rich detail on the folklore and all the creatures present in the series. 

Promotional artwork for the 2008 noitaminA television anime: Hakaba Kitaro. This adaptation
 showed the original, more darker version of the story that had not yet been brought to television.

It’s a bit unsettling, maybe even a bit creepy, but Mizuki’s writing remains a perfect balance of playful yet morbid all at the same time—with a fun sense of humor that never detracted from the overall tone. Perhaps more importantly though, is that Mizuki never shied away from being real in his work. Death obviously plays a huge role in every culture's folklore and Mizuki didn’t try to sugarcoat it, instead he embraced it in his stories. Death was a part of life, and the catchy Kitaro theme song that’s been on TV and in karaoke bars since the late 1960’s joyously boasts about how the characters never have to take tests or quiz, and how they never get sick again. Mizuki's depiction of the undead weren’t in pain, or unhappy, quite the contrary, the afterlife was a never ending party. Even the depictions of the afterlife as well, while true to the classic decor that one might expect out of hell: dark, eerie, otherworldly, and forbidding—wasn't all despair. No, instead the afterlife seemed to stick very close to being just another phase of life; and while we miss those who are separated from us, we all will eventually go there.

I always felt that death wasn’t something Mizuki wanted people to fear—in fact, fear in general seemed oddly missing from his Kitaro series. While it did indeed incorporate horror elements, especially that of American horror comics, and definitely may have spooked younger audiences, the take-away may not be what it seems on the surface, as it was actually the yokai, other supernatural entities, and folklore creatures who were on the end of extinction, not us humans. It was modernity that had weakened them and taken away their homes. Mizuki was the one who famously said that electricity did in the yokai more than anything else, as they can’t stand the bright city lights. This interestingly mirrors real life in a lot of ways as Mizuki watched on to see his country transform to become more western, and more “modern.” The folklore that he loved and grew up with was almost lost entirely to Japan, as it was thought to be more akin to their old, rustic ways of living, maybe even a bit hick-ish, actually. In a very literal sense modernity had all but wiped away the yokai, if not for Mizuki’s love and encyclopedic knowledge of the almost forgotten folklore, and how he brought it back into everyone’s homes with his manga, who knows what culture might have been lost otherwise.

Ushio & Tora, a 1990 manga with a currently (2015) airing anime. One of the many Yokai
anime and manga franchises that follows Mizuki's basic framework.

GeGeGe no Kitaro’s success lead to a boom in horror and yokai related stories in the mainstream media of Japan from then on, and many, many imitators came out riding its coattails in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Some of these imitators were rather good, being fondly remembered even today and have had their own reboots and sequels throughout the years, while others … are probably best left in the past anyways. Even more noticeable however is not the boom in horror/yokai themes that were created back then but the direct effect that Mizuki had left on that genre in total. Even to this day the basic backbone of every modern-day setting yokai story can be traced back to what Mizuki had written. Manga and anime like Kekkaishi, Natsume’s Book of Friends, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Ushio & Tora, and Yo-Kai Watch, just to name a few examples—all follow in Mizuki’s footsteps that modernity has taken away the yokai’s strength and their homes, that humans have overpopulated and almost wiped away their presence, and that even worse, we choose to not believe in them anymore.  

It’s hard to cry when the man who taught you not to fear death passes away; especially when he lived a fascinating and full 93 years, and will no doubt be remembered through his work for generations. Yet I was sad all the same when I did learn of his passing, and ever since then it gnaws at me that I haven’t seen any mainstream English anime or manga site really even do anything about it. There exist some great blog posts dedicated to Shigeru Mizuki for those who wish to read them, but sadly it seems his passing was all about ignored the next day by most. This really is what got me to write about him today, even if it’s the middle of December and doesn’t fit well with the Holiday Season. I do promise that next week will see something a bit more chipper and inline with the season, but for today, let's just remember what Mizuki has done, and be thankful for how much he helped to shape anime and manga, and maybe even a bit of Japanese culture, himself by keeping those old rustic stories alive. I know that while I'm playing my Yo-Kai Watch game in the coming weeks that I’ll feel a bit different knowing that they guy who debatably started it all is no longer with us. May he himself now party on for all eternity, in the afterlife he told us so many times before not to fear. 

Turn A Appreciation

Earlier this month, Right Stuf Inc. released the two feature length Turn A Gundam films, thus completing Turn A Gundam in its entirety, and finally bringing this series to North American shores almost a mere 17 years after it was originally released in Japan. The release of Turn A once seemed nigh impossible when Bandai originally passed up on the series and many others during their original major media outlet push of the Gundam franchise in North America circa Spring 2000. Turn A like many other older, and harder to market, entries became a skipped-over; thought to just be lost to time as Bandai continued to pick and choose other, newer, more marketable entries instead. That, of course, was until 2010 when Bandai finally announced they would release the series in 2011 ……. aaaaaaaaaaaaand then promptly canceled it in 2012 announcing that they will cease operations as of March 1, 2013.

The original trailer we got in 2011 for the then canceled Bandai Entertainment (USA) release of Turn A Gundam.

Sadly the cancellation was not much of a surprise to many of us, as the writing that Bandai Entertainment (USA) would go under had been on the wall for quite some time, but this continued the curse of Turn A, as well as the greater part of the Gundam backlog yet brought over. It seemed likely by then that all these forgotten entries in the pivotal mecha franchise that was Gundam, both great and admittedly not so great, were truly cursed to stay in Japan forever and never touch down on any other shore again. However this doom and gloom was not forever, and we’re now in the biggest resurgence of Gundam releases since the very early marketing push that truly got the franchise out here in full force all those 15 years ago, and North America is finally able to get official releases for all these once thought missed out releases.

I’ll come right out and say it, Right Stuf and Sunrise’s partnership to release Gundam titles is not only great for Gundam fans, but is also equally great for science-fiction anime fans in general. Yeah, it is a bit of a bold statement, but just go along with me, and let me talk about one of my personal favorite science fiction writers, and what his work on Turn A Gundam means. 

Yoshiyuki Tomino, a man with quite the reputation—the father of Gundam, and one of the pioneers of real robot mecha anime. He’s been in the industry since the earliest days; working in Mushi Pro, even brushing shoulders with the like of Osamu Tezuka. He’s seen everything the industry has to offer, and no doubt in my mind, played a major role in it, especially during his heyday of the late 70’s and 80’s. There’s a lot to say about the man, but perhaps all that it comes down to is this: crazy; for a lack of a better word, Tomino is crazy. Maybe even bat shit insane, actually. A real kook, if you will. And not just crazy like him being the classic “get off my lawn, you damn kids” grump nowadays that we all know and love, nor his classic disdain and general dismal of otaku and other Gundam projects he’s not affiliated with, a la Hideaki Anno. No, Tomino’s crazy was always present in his works; from having the entire universe explode, to classic high “kill ‘em all” body counts, to whatever goofy psychedelic thing this is suppose to be—Tomino’s works always fluctuated like this. It’s bizarre; it’s other worldly; and most importantly: always a spectacle. 

Whether he succeeded and created a masterpiece, or failed miserably with everything about his anime ending up in horrible flames, Tomino put on a show. The amount of depth, passion, and creativity was that always present in his works is admirable, and while his work fluctuated in quality just like it fluctuated in craziness, you could always tell, this is a man that isn’t afraid to fling around ideas, regardless of what might happen. Space Opera, Hard Science, The Evolution of Man, High Fantasy, Psychedelic Mysticisms, James Bond-esque Adventures, Goofy Written Song Lyrics, these are the sort of things Tomino brought to the table. He was the kind of man that took a regular toy ad and decided to transform it into an epic realistic war story, full of grim realties such as death, psychological issues, and pyrrhic victories. When a normal man would have handed in a by-the-numbers production, Tomino reeved up a big “screw-you” to his toy sponsors and instead made their product into an expansive space opera that skewed way out of the initial demographic.

Ultimately Gundam will always be greater than the sum of any thing else Tomino will ever do though, but it’s because of this and not in spite of this—that makes Turn A Gundam so special. It’s everything about Gundam’s, and even Tomino’s past wrapped up into one, but yet told in such a refreshing and different light, with a new, more positive outlook on life that Tomino had gained through his ups and downs. 

Now what makes it so unique you might ask. Well, let’s see, tell me if you’ve heard this one before in anime: In the far off future of mankind, after we’ve obtained the technology to travel space and terraform the moon, a catastrophic war happens destroying the entire Earth and restarting the human civilization still dwelling on the planet from the ground-up. The majority of the people still living on Earth—Earthers, are cut-off from ever really knowing of the technological feats they once accomplished; just seeing the old war stories as legends, and have no clue about human life existing outside of the Earth. After rebuilding their society and mother Earth, the best they can, Earthers have reached about the technological level of early 20th century Europe, think start of World War I. 

But now out of nowhere, the space dwelling people from the Moon—the Moonrace, have decided they wish to return to life on Earth again and begin their invasion with superior, (and in the eyes of the Earthers) futuristic technology. What ensues is a battle between early tanks, automobiles, and biplanes against space ships and mobile suits. Standing no chance at first it seems all the Earthers can do is negotiate their surrender. That is until they begin to unearth ancient technology of their own; buried deep within the Earth from a time before the catastrophe: ancient mobile suits (all of which are actually cleverly mobile suits seen in previous entries in the franchise such as the famous Zaku II) are found, and among all these mobile suits of ancient times is their biggest weapon against the Moonrace: the Turn A Gundam. 

It’s easy to see how different from the rest of the series Turn A Gundam is, but perhaps the most fascinating thing about it is how it disguises traditional Gundam story tropes because of its clever setting. At the core of the story’s premise is the classic “Earthnoid vs Spacenoid” conflict and the terrible cost of war that most Gundam stories have centered on since the very original. “Who has the right to own space?”, “Who has the right to own Earth?”, none of this has changed, but now it has had its lungs filled with a breath of fresh air given the set-up and its characters, who take the war in a very different direction from the usual Gundam cast, with the protagonist Loran Cehack never losing his pacifist ways. On top of that there’s countless comparisons to past Gundam and Tomino works that could be made, be it simple shots that completely recreate past famous scenes from other Gundam shows frame-by-frame, or the fact that the titular Turn A Gundam bears a mystic and mysterious dark past, as well as planet destroying power like another famous Tomino robot. Throw-in one of the villains being entirely self-aware of classic mecha tropes (along with his voice actor being a reportedly huge Gundam otaku) and what you end up with is a celebration of the past two decades of Gundam (the Turn A itself (∀ ) being a mathematical symbol meaning “for all in a set” ) and one hell of a fun science-fiction premise.  

Turn A Gundam is also noticeable for its many visual aspects having the titular Gundam as well as a few other mobile suits designed by “visual futurist” Syd Mead, best known for his work on the famous 1982 Ridley Scott film, Blade Runner. The mecha in Turn A Gundam are all vastly different from the norm in the franchise because of this, and have a more harder science feel to them. But visual prowess doesn’t stop there either, Turn A is the last Gundam show to be made with traditional hand painted cells, and what a show to end that era on. Funny enough, while being the last traditionally animated show of the franchise, it is also one of the first shows in the franchise to use computer generated images (CGI) as well, although that rarely shows up in the actual show, and is most noticeable in the eye-catches. While the animation budget itself is modest, Tomino brought his A-game, and through solid directing creates some really beautiful almost movie quality scenes for the show, going above and beyond in the detail depicted on the screen. Lots of richly drawn machinery is on display here with every intricate part of the mecha getting its close-up at one point or another, and the backgrounds, especially the rich environments such as the mountains, forests, jungles, and ocean, are all beautifully painted—Turn A’s animation really shows craftsmanship of a now mostly bygone era.  

Music is also wholly different from what you might expect out of a Gundam, with Yoko Kanno as the main composer for the series, and she really brings home an incredibly rich soundtrack with some truly chilling songs that will stay with you for years to come after you finish the show. Honestly between the stellar hand painted visuals, the rich orchestral and otherworld soundtracks of Yoko Kanno, the beautiful character designs from Capcom/Street Fighter veteran Akira Yasuda, and the early 20th century aesthetics of the series in general, it’s very easy to feel like Turn A was a product of another era; that it is much older than it lets on, but it really is from the turn of the century, being a product of Gundam’s 20th anniversary back in 1999, making it actually younger than the likes of the more robust and paint-by-number appearances used in entries in the series like Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and After War Gundam X. Turn A Gundam represents the best of the best for its time, and brings that “classic” feel despite this later release date, making for a show unlike the many other entries during the decade. Turn A isn’t stuck in the 90’s and remains aesthetically pleasing to this day, and will remain that way forever, escaping the many visual trappings and dated looks that 90’s animes are famous, nay… sorta infamous for.

Honestly, I can talk all day about Turn A Gundam, and praise it until you’d think my head is firmly wedged up my behind. The overused word of the day is unique, and no, you don’t need to go back and double check, I’ll admit I’ve said it a lot in this post, but that’s because I have never quite experienced something like Turn A Gundam before or since. It’s a must watch show for anyone who likes science-fiction, even if you are not into mecha. It’s an easy entry point that only gets better the more familiar you become with Gundam and Tomino’s past work, and never finds a way to overstay its welcome or gets old. Whether you’re an old fan or a new one, I truly think you owe it to yourself to check out Turn A Gundam, and I’m forever grateful for Right Stuf to finally give many people the opportunity to take this dive.

Turn A Gundam is just truly a unique piece of science-fiction animation by a creator who is just crazy enough to really make you see the genre in a whole new way. 

G-Reco Ramblings: Was it All Worth it? -- Long Post

Yoshiyuki Tomino’s most recent TV series from 2014, Gundam: Recongustia in G (Gandamu G no Rekongisuta) or more popularly shorthanded to G-Reco, was met with critical and fan disdain, and while sales were somewhat favorable for the series on a whole, it was so quickly hated by most that even bringing it up in any positive light would get you insulted. Heck even grumpy old Tomino eventually apologized for it and said he wasn’t pleased with the end result, himself. I originally didn’t want to talk about G-Reco because of this overwhelming negatively involved with the series; really, who would want to talk about something that will just get you hate-mail? But after a very fun rewatch of Tomino’s 1999 Turn A Gundam, I decided to overturn that decision of mine, and finally write down some reflections on G-Reco. 

The initial announcement of G-Reco in 2011 was a very exciting one for me, personally. Tomino casually revealed that he was working on a new sci-fi series, set very far off in the future and involved orbital elevators. “The ‘G’ will be the future of the Universal Century.” “The ‘G’ stands for gravity.” “The ‘G’ will be unlike anything else.” So much mystery and excitement was there for so little clear information, at this time it wasn’t even established if this series was an actual Gundam series, or something else entirely all on its own. The original teaser image of what was either a super slim mecha (beckoning back to Tomino’s 1993 Victory Gundam where as time progressed, the mechas became slimmer and shorter, and more easily maneuverable and easier to mass produce), or a man in a spacesuit, and it was standing on top of an orbital elevator. 

It was hard to tell much at that time, but Kenichi Yoshida was involved in the project as a character designer and had been on board since 2009 when Tomino initially approached him. I always liked Yoshida’s art and he had previously worked with Tomino on the critically panned but cult favorite Overman King Gainer, which won over the fans it did have with its strange otherworldly designs, bright and colorful characters and world, and but of course, Tomino’s general strangeness and unique sense of tacky humor; by no means a classic, it was a perfectly likable series for a specific group of mecha fans. So while we didn’t have a lot of information about G-Reco yet, it was enough to get me rather excited, but looking back now, man, did we really know so little about G-Reco would be! And honestly, seeing Tomino’s recent track record of releases like the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam A New Translation movie trilogy, where he, in my opinion at least, butchered his own previous acclaimed work very similarly to what George Lucas has often been accused of doing in the past decade, I probably should have geared my expectations lower.

Or maybe not. Tomino has always been an unique writer/director in that, while he is no doubt acclaimed for his huge hits of the past, and definitely has rightfully earned a claim to fame for helping pioneer the real robot subgenre and for bringing dark brutal TV shows to the masses decades before it was cool to do so, he’s also had awful, terrible, horrendous flops. For every Zeta Gundam Tomino has under his belt, there’s an equally bad creation like Garzey’s Wing. This, in my opinion, has always been the fun behind Tomino, though. You’re in for a ride no matter what he creates. Maybe it will be something incredible and blows you away with how imaginative and complex the world is, or maybe it’s an absolute mess and blows you away with how utterly ridiculous everything is and the general over-the-top insanity that fuels the characters in it. Either way I look at it, you’re in for a good time with Tomino, who will either give you a masterpiece, or a so-bad-it’s-good treat to snack on. 

When finally unveiled proper at the 35th Anniversary Celebration of Gundam in 2014, G-Reco had gone through massive changes from what we knew earlier. Anything resembling the earlier teaser image was gone, and now the series had a much different looking mecha known as G-Self. Even the spacesuits were much different in the final series, so if it was a person in a suit all along, even that no longer resembled the series. This time Tomino told fans that the ‘G’ in the title stands for, of course, Gundam, but also stood for Ground, which Tomino said, was the much more important meaning. We finally learned that G-Reco, or at least this finalized version of it, is indeed a Gundam show, and we were finally given insight as to where ‘Reco’ came from in the earlier known title from the teaser image too—owing that to the finalized name “Recongustia in G” (Reconquista of the Ground/Taking back the Earth). For the large majority of people, this 2014 announcement was probably the first announcement of the series to them, and the reactions were pretty evenly mixed among the mecha fans. When the series’ premiered a mere 7 months later however, all of that changed, and for the worse, as the immediate response was largely negative after its first 2 episodes (G-Reco aired the first and second episode back-to-back) and only continued to be more and more panned by critics and fans in both Japan and the the rest of the globe, as it continued to run.

So really, what went wrong with G-Reco? I’ve been going on and on about how it was hated by most, and how Tomino even apologized for it, so I probably should talk about why people reacted this way. Well at the core of all of its problems lies the fact that it did nothing to help ease the viewers into the world. The show started right off the bat without properly explaining anything to anyone watching it, and very quickly the political plot lines became very hard to follow, as viewers had to ascertain for themselves the politics of the world they were watching, which honestly wasn’t easy as Tomino kept introducing an overwhelmingly large amount of complex fractions and alliances and betrays into his world, as well as very complicated terminology he had characters through out right and left. As the show went on, many felt all they could do was scream out in frustration, “Who is even on what side?!” “What is going on?!” “Why are these people even fighting each other?!!!” 

Tomino didn’t really make any of this clear to anyone watching. On one hand, I gotta say, he was able to avoid the usual “plot dumps” or overly unnatural exposition that is often criticized in science-fiction works, but on the other hand, he did that by just outright ignoring it all together! Who even does something like that?! Actually, no, I take back my question. If someone were to do this, it would definitely be crazy grandpa Tomino, what am I even questioning here. G-Reco, isn’t really a too complicated plot either … well, once you are able to break down the world, its politics, its long list of terms and abbreviations, and its incredibly twisted and confusing web or character relationships, but doing so is not easy, especially on a first watch of the show. It is a sort of show that needs a complimentary compendium next to it to view. As I told a friend of mine, it’s an incredibly rich world, with fascinating histories ripe with politics, but you need some sort of book outside of the show itself to even understand a fraction of any of it. Overall, it’s a mess to untangle what’s going on in the show because of this, and it’s easy to see why a lot of people were turned off right away. 

The other issues of the show like the short episode count for the series resulting in some awkward pacing at times, that there isn’t a single episode without fighting because you gotta sell them toys, the very powerful but never really explained Gundam the protagonist pilots, and the required knowledge of past Universal Century Gundam series to understand how anything works in G-Reco (don’t know about Minovsky particles? Tough luck figuring out what’s happening with the robots half the time), are all much easier to overlook in the long run for fans. Now, one of the more obvious and bigger defenses I’ve seen for the show and all its shortcomings is that its short 26 episode run, makes it one of, if not the, shortest Gundam show out there, and if it only had more episodes it would be better. However, it’s hard to say if that can rightfully excuse everything. I’m sure had it got a proper 50 episodes, or heck, even 39 episodes, it could have paced some of its events better, and maybe it might have even better explained and elaborated on certain things in the show, but even from the start, G-Reco seemed disinterested from explaining much of anything to its audience, and I feel like blaming the episode count isn’t really a “get out of free card” here, sorry to say. G-Reco is a flawed show, there’s no avoiding that, when a large majority of people can’t even understand what’s going on throughout most of its airing, this isn’t very good story telling. Especially since Tomino wasn’t trying to throw anyone for a loop, this isn’t a mystery, this isn’t on purpose—the confusion is all created by accident and unintentionally bad story telling.  

So G-Reco definitely had problems … a lot of problems, but honestly … I loved every minute of it! There was a certain magic to G-Reco—how episodes were story-boarded and directed—that really made me feel like I was watching a long lost show from the 80’s or 90’s (except that it was somehow made in 16:9 widescreen). There’s something very familiar about how each and every frame of G-Reco is made that feels good to watch to anyone who has been longing to see something from that era now passed. It’s not the easiest thing to put into words, but the best I can say is that Tomino was able to make something that feels like a classic show, even though it’s not. For that alone I always found myself coming back to G-Reco, no matter how confusing it could be at times to follow. The old school sentimentalities on how to make an anime is pretty much all but dead nowadays, and as time moves on and on, and more old school animators continue to retire, it will definitely be lost altogether. In many regards that’s perfectly natural to happen as time continues on, but G-Reco made me feel like I was able to go back again to what things used to be like, even if just for a moment. I’m really happy that I was able to experience those old kinds of sentimentalities at least one more time. 

Tomino’s wacky characters and general odd sense of humor was a blast for me, too. Honestly I say G-Reco has one of the best Char Clones ever made, I mean c’mon, his name is literally Mask! It’s not even Kamen (仮面) or anything else like that, it’s honest to God, Mask in English (Masuku - マスク)! Oh Tomino, you have made all your poorly named past characters proud yet again and kept the tradition strong (here’s looking at you, Asap). But seriously, not only is Mask’s name so doofy that I can’t help to love him, he’s also just a different kind of take on a Char Clone that hasn’t been done much in the past Gundam series. When the show starts Luin Lee (the man behind the Mask) is seen with the protagonist, Bellri, the two of them are from the same military academy and already have a relationship with each other. Then there’s the fact that Luin already had something to prove, always fighting a perpetual uphill battle, coming from the Kuntala clan, which in the series was looked down upon and faced much persecution. 

Luin had to struggle to be accepted in both society and the military. He was a loser who had to work his way up to the top of the army (into his eventual Char Clone position), he wasn’t as naturally gifted as Bellri or didn’t luck into things like Bellri did (oh you protagonist, you, and how you always happen upon Gundams~). For once, the Char Clone had to prove himself, and had a complex about the protagonist, who lived a much easier life in comparison, and through Mask’s eyes at least, always got what he wanted without having to try much. It was Mask who always saw himself as Bellri’s rival, where as Bellri never even thought of him as one and didn’t care about that stuff. G-Reco puts the shoe on the other foot by making Mask much more hard working than Bellri, his protagonist counterpart. It’s a complete reversal the the original Amuro-Char relationship, and this time it is the Char Clone character that is the underdog, and not the protagonist of the show. And on top of all that, Mask had some of the hands down funniest moments in the show to boot. Seriously, it’s Tomino at his goofiest with this guy sometimes, and I just love it so much.

G-Reco was an estranged return to Gundam for Tomino, and with so many bumps on the road it’s hard to tell if the grumpy old man will come back and try his hand at something in the franchise again, or if anyone would even let him for that matter. And that’s not the only thing that’s hard to tell, it’s pretty hard to tell what Tomino was really trying to even do or say in G-Reco to begin with. There’s obviously some anti-war bent to the story, but that’s always been there for Gundam. The idea that Tomino was talking about an unprepared nation deciding to remilitarize once more after long periods of peace is also one that people like to bring up, and hey, given recent events; a topical and popular concept. Maybe it’s that those who are tied down by the chains of war and past cruelties will only find unhappiness and death, since Luin/Mask lived his whole life trying to prove he and his people deserved better only to become a power hungry war machine while the protagonist Bellri never even thought about those things and only wanted to live for the future. Or maybe it was just all satire that the modern Japanese are too soft, peace loving, and blind to all the war and terrible things going on in the world around them. Tomino himself said that for the first time in his Gundam career that he really wanted people to think about today's realistic problems, and so he threw in as many as he could think of that were affecting people. Really though, who even knows by this point, your guess is as good as mine, unraveling this mess isn’t easy in the slightest. 

On many levels G-Reco is just a sloppy retread of Tomino’s much better made Turn A Gundam; Universal Century is a relic of the past, eons have passed since war was raged, technology has regressed on Earth, Earth has taboos surrounding technology and space travel, the Earth civilization is less advance than the civilization that lives in space and said space people wish to take back (reconquista) the Earth. The similarities go on and on and on, and very blatant Turn A Gundam fan service is provided and thrown into the flames. Even certain characters and names (Ameria, you don’t say?) are obviously meant to invoke nostalgia for Turn A. Many fans desperately hoped for something, anything, to bridge the two shows together and blow their minds. And yeah, that of course never really happened.  We ended up titillation and that was about it.

Months after G-Reco's conclusion in March, an event was held at a Gundam cafe (Just this last August, (8/27)), when asked, Tomino confirmed that G-Reco is in fact set 500 years after Turn A Gundam, much to the surprise of many, even from the Producer of the show who sincerely thought Turn A would be after. It’s cool to hear right from the horse’s mouth, but it really does change nothing. The only thing that would connect either show is that they have similar terminology between both, and similar plot points get rehashed in G-Reco. Was Tomino just being cheeky and sticking it to Bandai again by making all their previous statements on how the two series aren’t related wrong, or is there something greater to these two series being together? I’d say it’s best to take any of this with a grain of salt, and not worry too much about continuity connotations, as I honestly feel the creators, especially Tomino, sure as heck didn’t either. 

Maybe Tomino just really likes characters like Lalah Sune, Loran Cehack, and Raraiya Monday, and that’s all there is to it. Maybe pretty multicolored lights make for nice effects, after all Overman King Gainer had a similar aesthetic going on with his powers, and Tomino thought it would be fun to tease that Moonlight Butterfly still exist in G-Reco. It’s hard to say, but at the end of the day it doesn’t change the quality of either show in question. Perhaps the best way to view this new revelation is to echo in one of the reactions posted to it. By creating a show after Turn A: the suppose end all of Gundam, Tomino has freed the series now. There is no end or no beginning anymore, and the creators of Gundam are free to do what they want, they are free from the chains of being just another show that will lead up to Turn A. We lose some of the coolness factor for Turn A in the process, which does make me somewhat sad, but now we no longer have to be concerned about the “end of Gundam”. The meta-series can move on and become anything it wants, not just another notch towards the eventual Turn A future of the series, it can go on to infinity.

At the end of the day, Tomino got to make his show, and whether or not he had to fight sponsors again and make compromises I don’t know, but he at least got to throw in some more things he always wanted to do, such as fleshing out the inner workings of his real robot science. As funny as it is Tomino’s “toilet in the cockpit of the mobile suit” was a practical addition and discussing how the spacesuits kept bodies warm even in the vacuum of … well … space, is also another welcomed small touch he brought in with G-Reco. Maybe, when you get down to it, G-Reco was just a vanity project, or better put, just something to keep the old man working and happy, which isn’t so bad. Besides it gave us all something to talk about again, which is what he wanted, whether or not it was good or bad, Tomino wanted to find a way to stay in our discussions, or so he seems to often say. 

Was doing all that worth it? I don’t know. But we got to see some “Happy Tomino” in rare form, with great eye catches and scene transitions, his signature poses he likes to put people into, and the wacky song credits that you just can’t help but to love. Even the grump himself, Tomino, shows up in the final episode and lectures the main character! C’mon, how can you not get a sensible chuckle out of that. It’s a flawed show, in fact, it borders on the pretty bad at times, but I loved the heck out of it, and am glad Tomino got to play around with the director’s seat at least once more. For all its story problems G-Reco had, Tomino has not lost a single of his talent directing. The kind of shots, scene transitions, and especially the fight cartography, is some of the best in years for the TV Gundam shows, and a lot more artful than really a toy commercial may deserve. 

G-Reco wasn’t exactly the show we all wanted, but next time I’m going to present arguably Tomino’s magnus opus, Turn A Gundam. So look forward to next time, and see you then. 

Broken Sword Playing it for Real this Time

My first encounter with Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars was many, many years ago around Christmas time. However, this isn’t some rose-tinted Christmas tale, no, it’s more like something that just randomly happened. You see, my parents bought both my brother and I random video games that year as presents, and well, bless my parents for trying, but all their choices were strange and kind of bad. Among the many odd choices and C-tier games that we would never play, was the port of Broken Sword for the GBA. This was the GBA game my brother got, while I got some really awkward and poorly controlled Monster Truck GBA game. I remember being kind of jealous of my brother since I figured a game with “Sword” in its title must be some Zelda-like game, or some sweet RPG. Much later I would realize it ….. definitely was not, but before then I remember asking my brother what it was like. His description? Some freaky clown blows people up, and you read a lot. A little bit later, the game would slip through the crack and I never thought about it again. Until now that is.

(Also amazingly after all these years I somehow managed to find the
 game when preparing to write this review — it still works too!)

Fast forward to 2015, and I ended up right in the middle of my point ’n’ click binge. Nowadays, I play through so many of these games on my computer and really love the genre, so of course, I became more familiar with the Broken Sword series and knew I would need to play it, eventually grabbing the entire series for real cheap at GOG.com during the big Summer sales event. The first Broken Sword game was released on a lot of platforms including Windows, Mac, and PSOne, but it also got that GBA port (maybe demake/downgrade might be a better term?), and an enhanced iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS release as well. The enhanced version started on the Nintendo consoles and was a Director’s Cut of the game, released somewhat close to the 15th anniversary (a little bit earlier) and most likely meant to cash-in on the resurgence of the adventure game genre that were profitable on those two consoles (Ace Attorney on DS, especially), then later landing on the computer and mobile markets. The Director’s Cut version is what I played on my Mac, which was mostly similar to the original release of the game in 1996, with some things added, a few things taken out, and some small amount of dialogue changed a little. 

So now that I love the genre and actually wanted to play the game, what’s my opinion? Well, for 1996 it’s easy to see that Broken Sword was definitely impressive; it’s full of lots of animation, voice acting, hand drawn backgrounds (by Don Bluth animators, no less!) that were painted-in digitally, and dynamic camera angel shots with a lot of sweeping movement—it’ obvious there was a real sense of direction and storyboarding with the imagery in the game. I even really liked the artwork for the character portraits (an added feature to the Directors’ Cut was the art drawn by comic book artist Dave Gibbons (Watchmen)). The puzzles too, aged really well and followed basic human logic and could be solved without much headaches, which is always appreciated in a genre full of psychotic puzzles (I’m looking at you, Gabriel Knight 3). But besides the presentation and puzzles, I thought the game aged badly. One of the biggest hurdles to get over for the game was definitely the voice acting which was … not good. I don’t want to say straight-out bad per se, since some actors help to outweigh others, with the lead character George Stobbart sounding pretty good, but some of those other, bad actors really drag down the good ones. 

2001's GBA Release

Original 1996 PC Release

2009's Director's Cut Release

The biggest point of contention being the other lead in the game Nicole "Nico" Collard. Nico’s voice actress is terrible! She’s a main character and her voice is absolutely unbearable to listen to. She comes off sounding very old, like a grandmother, and half the time reminds me of the classic Bible Black dub that’s known in infamy for its grandma voice high school girls. While I can understand and empathize with the fact that some of Nico’s wooden nature may come from both the dubbing's age and the fact of her character being French and trying to talk in English (with an accent),

it’s still just so bad that I can’t stand her. No matter the reason for it, Nico just sounds really awful, and brings down the entire atmosphere of the game whenever she is on screen. Playing as her was always the worst part of the game for me that I just wanted to rush through so I didn’t have to listen to her horrible sounding voice.

Nico’s segments in the game felt very awkward to begin with, however. Not only were they obnoxious from her actress’s terrible acting, but they also felt very disconnected from the main plot with George, and ultimately unnecessary. At first I didn’t think much of it, until I got to the ending and realized how little pay-off there really is with her segments. I later learned that these segments were added on for the Director’s Cut, and … yeah that explains so much. The small pay-off—essentially Nico decides she’ll never tell anyone what she was doing, even George—really makes a lot of sense when you realize it was shoved in their retroactively. Some people may like that they got to see more of Nico, and that she was no longer just a love-interest but also had her own story, but it just felt like filler to me, really uneventful filler that messed with the pacing of the overall narrative of the game and gave you nothing of value in the end since Nico decides to never tell anyone about her little misadventures anyways. 

That is not to say there weren’t problems with the narrative proper, either though. George’s quest throughout Europe wasn’t without its own problems. It took a while for it to sink in for me since the game starts with such a serious tone, but then later becomes so goofy. Broken Sword is suppose to be a funny game! Ah-ha! I get it now. The awkward juxtaposition of horrible murders and serious down-to-earth art design with goofy side-characters that are what you would expect out of Capcom’s Ace Attorney games, really gave me whiplash at first. But yes, the story is chuck full of humor, and in its defense once I got over the whiplash I was able to see that a lot of the game’s humor is great. Every NPC and side-character is really well written and interesting to talk to, not to mention rather funny. 

George himself is really likable, with a goofy sense of adventure, snide snark to the characters around him, and a long running joke that he can fit anything into the inside pocket of his jacket (with humorous animation of him shoving large objects in there). These do help get over the fact that the overall story about chasing the treasure of the Knight’s Templar is so average. Templar stories are overdone to death now, and Broken Sword dose get some free-pass since it beat Dan Brown and all the other overdone stories by at least 4 years, but in a post-Da Vinci Code obsessed world, it still hampered the game for me. Plus, the pay-off to the Templar story felt sloppy anyways. I recommend playing this one for the characters who aged a lot better and are still funny 19 years later and not so much the plot that lost a lot of its grit and interest. 

The European development team behind Broken Sword, Revolution, started out in 1990 with a clear goal in mind: to challenge the American ran market of Sierra and LucasArts who controlled the point ’n’ click industry. Between the six years since their start and the creation of Broken Sword they created another well respected game, Beneath the Steel Sky, and the engine they needed to take on the giants, their Virtual Theater engine. Broken Sword had fluid animation and hand-drawn backgrounds, as well as a lot of love put into it, which was something the other guys didn’t really have at the time of Broken Sword’s release (well sans the love part, they had that). 

While I think overall Broken Sword has not aged as well as some of the Sierra games its creators were trying so hard to beat, that it still managed to maintain an unique identity more than 19 years later. Add in the fact that so much of Sierra went into disarray and was side-lined for so many years (we’re just now finally seeing the rebirth of the King’s Quest series) it is quite a feat that Broken Sword was able to maintain a relatively consistent release schedule even landing a PS4 and Xbox One port for their most recent 2013 entry Broken Sword 5. It’s really something to admire that Revolution could keep the series going like it did. So yes, it was a bit of an awkward start for me, and not without my own complaints, but I ended up enjoying the beginning of this series, and am looking forward to trying out the next four games.