Robotech II: The Sentinels?

 

When the anime series Robotech came to the rescue of syndicated American TV in the mid 80s, its success created an audience eager for more, and producers Harmony Gold were ready to capitalize on that desire. The trouble with continuing that story was, well, Robotech was originally three different Japanese television shows, all with their own writers, artists, production teams, schedules and budgets, all completed before “Robotech” was even a trademark. Harmony Gold’s role in rewriting, editing, and repackaging the material, while not insignificant, was still less work than coming up with an entirely new series from scratch. Which is probably why HG’s first Robotech sequel took the easy way out. Robotech The Movie was a dubbed and rewritten Megazone 23, amended with some Southern Cross footage and some dialogue intended to fit the whole business in with the Robotech storyline. The result, immediately suppressed after test screenings, was an incoherent mess.

However, Harmony Gold’s next shot at a Robotech franchise opportunity took a completely different approach. New characters and mecha were designed, new storylines were composed, the production team constructed a galaxy-spanning epic that would reveal the mysteries behind the foundation of the entire Robotech saga. And the final result was… also an incoherent mess.

 

pre-production trade advertisement for Robotech II

But in 1988, all we fans knew was that show that had brought a lot of us into Japanese animation now had a sequel titled “Robotech II: The Sentinels,” and that this sequel had finally been released on home video, and that we were about to watch it at our local anime club meeting. Then we watched all 74 minutes of that video and we finally knew the truth, which is that Robotech II: The Sentinels is terrible.

Rather than being assembled, rewritten and recut from disparate elements, The Sentinels was conceived and commissioned from the ground up by Harmony Gold. Yet, due to production problems and various financing crises, The Sentinels we eventually wound up with was, ironically enough, also assembled, rewritten and recut. Production on Sentinels began even as the original TV series was airing. However, HG’s 65 episode plan ran into problems when on September 22, 1985 the Plaza Accord was signed, which among other things revalued the Japanese yen against the US dollar. What had at one time been cheaply produced Japanese animation was now significantly more expensive to produce. As a result, the price tag on The Sentinels ballooned and sponsor Matchbox pulled out, leaving Harmony Gold with a mere three episodes of usable footage. This, along with material from the original Robotech television series, is the Sentinels video release we were given. 

 

either too much hair, or not enough hair

Robotech II should have been an easy slam dunk, even with the show’s self-imposed goal of showing what happens to the Macross Saga characters after the events of that series arc while also providing connective material to the Robotech Masters (Southern Cross) series and laying the groundwork for the New Generation (Mospeada) batch of episodes. Had it been planned from the start as a direct-to-video special, it might have worked. Fans loved these characters and were ready to see more of their adventures. That is not what we got. 

 

 
What Robotech II delivers instead are once beloved characters redesigned to avoid copyright issues, because Macross copyright partners Studio Nue and Big West had not and would never sign off on any Robotech sequels starring their Macross IP. This results in scenes of the new-look Rick Hunter and retooled Lisa Hayes preparing for their wedding alongside their friends Slightly Off Lynn Minmay and Is That Claudia Grant, I Guess It Is. Yes, this wedding is taking place ten years after the end of the Macross Saga, because good space station caterers are hard to find, maybe. 

 

 

Comedy relief is provided by the hilarious little-kid antics of Little Dana Sterling and Little Bowie Grant, who apparently are the only ten year olds left alive on Earth. These domestic scenes are intercut with events across the galaxy on the planet Tirol, the homeworld of the Robotech Masters, who at this point in the story are on their way to Earth to make the Robotech Masters TV series a thing, and who have left their planet in the hands of an elderly man with an amazing beard. 

 

some of the amazing beards of Robotech II

 

A disturbing proportion of Robotech II: The Sentinels is devoted to middle-aged bores lecturing everybody in various contrived accents while sporting a startling variety of facial hair choices, epitomized by Tirol’s chief scientist Kabel as he wrinkles his elderly brow in confusion as their planet is invaded by the robot panthers and humanoid, phallus-dangling mechanoid destroyers of the Invid. You might recall the Invid as the Earth-invading baddies from Robotech The New Generation. 

 

Can this marriage be saved?

Here the foundation is laid for their future Earth attack as the bickering husband-and-wife team of Regent the tadpole-faced slug man and Regis the human-faced slug lady argue and whine their way through scenes which will have audiences thinking about couples counseling or divorce lawyers. Occasionally the slug man talks to a giant brain in a tank, merely one of many Robotech II scenes where dialog is spoken by people without mouths, or people wearing masks, or people with things obscuring their mouths, or people with their backs to the camera, so as to avoid the trouble of animating lip movements.

I watched and enjoyed the original Robotech TV series, and I can assure you that this show was not a success because of giant slugs talking to giant brains. Robotech was a success because it featured transforming robot fighter planes, well-animated action scenes, and cute girl singers. Robotech II: The Sentinels has none of this. All the returning characters are uglier and have stupider hair, and the new characters are also ugly and also have stupid hair. Popular Robotech singing star Minmay gets one song, which she’s forced to share with a brand new character that Robotech II never gets around to introducing. Other familiar Robotech characters are reduced to standing around asking plot-furthering questions, arguing their way through board meetings or sporting what appear to be gimp fetish masks, as we see Zentraedi commander Breetai wearing as he walks Lisa Hayes down the matrimonial aisle.

 

There’s very little Robotech mecha in Robotech II, which might have influenced Matchbox’s decision to yank the plug. The only transforming mecha we see in Robotech II are training flights flown by Alpha fighters, and all the other various Invid destructo-bots and mecha-dogs aren’t what we’d call toyetic. The Sentinels' mechanical design was by Tatsunoko’s in-house mecha design team Ammonite, previously seen mecha-designing shows like Starzan S and Southern Cross. Ammonite would create a slew of original mecha for Robotech II, and several designs would be repurposed for future projects like Red Photon Zillion, an ecological solution that proves every dark cloud has a silver lining.  After 74 minutes of confusing edits, flashbacks to Robotech episodes, a scene where some anonymous captain is profoundly and court-martially  insubordinate to Major General Rick Hunter, ponderous arguments between different sets of boring old guys, and Tirol’s beardo wizard staring into computer screens as robot dogs destroy his planet, viewers may cheer any hope of redemption. 

 

 
Of course, Harmony Gold would wring every bit of profit they could from the remains of this abortive series. Robotech II first got a home video release from Palladium, the Robotech RPG people, choosing for their cover art one of the Invid’s swinging-dick robo-marauders. Is there a better way to sell a Robotech sequel than  images of a scary dong robot? Later Streamline Pictures would offer a Robotech II VHS with distribution from Orion Pictures. A slightly altered version would appear on A&E’s Robotech The Complete Set DVD box, along with other sequel projects like Robotech The Shadow Chronicles and the Robotech version of the Mospeada OVA “Love Live Alive.”
 

yup, that robot has a wang

Robotech II: The Sentinels achieved its greatest success in other media. Del Rey would roll out the entire Sentinels story through five novels, while three different comic book companies released Sentinels-based comics and Palladium released a Sentinels RPG. Perhaps one of these ancillary media iterations dares to tell the audience exactly who the Robotech Sentinels are. This video never does. 

 

Robotech is a franchise that spawned novels, comic books, games, a large toy line, and a fandom that continues to this day.  What it hasn't spawned is a satisfying sequel, in spite of the efforts of Harmony Gold and a myriad of creative hopefuls, and in defiance of all the 80s nostalgia, remake obsession, and reboot mania that Hollywood can muster. Currently Sony Pictures is churning through the third attempt at making a live-action Robotech film. All we can say to this is good luck, go easy on the beards, and don’t put Breetai in a gimp mask.

-D. Merrill

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ninteen anime eighty-one part one

 

Hey gang, earlier this year during the online Anime North convention, I delivered a virtual presentation all about what Japanese animation was like forty years ago, back in 1981. Well, those convention panels, even online ones, move pretty fast. If you aren’t careful you’ll miss something. I know I did! So that’s why today here at Let’s Anime we’re going to take that presentation and turn it into a column that we all can enjoy at our leisure.

Of course, 1980 was a big year for Japanese animation; big movies, big franchises, big shows. But if you thought 1980 was packed with cartoon goodness, well, you hadn’t ain’t done seen nothin’ yet. 1981 made 1980 look like a quiet Sunday at Grandma’s. Don’t believe me? Just look at what we’re looking at first.

 

1981 had no idea this show was going to become a massive international success. King Of Beasts Golion was one in a long line of Toei super robot cartoons built around a toy – they literally designed the toy first and the show was written around its five combining lion mecha robot beast fighters. Golion came and went in Japan without making too much of an impact, but when World Events Productions localized it as Voltron, it was exactly what North American kids were looking for. Voltron and its various sequels, reboots, and remakes continue to loom large in our collective memories.

   

Meanwhile, American televangelist Pat Robertson was looking for a way to sell Bibles in Japan, and the ad agency he hired told him “make a cartoon.” Tatsunoko was contracted and the result was Anime Oyako Gekijo, or as it was called on CBN Cable, Superbook, the story of three children and a time travelling robot experiencing bible stories. Superbook aired on cable and broadcast TV, was released on home video several times, and currently exists, like the Bible itself, in several different versions. We’ve written about Superbook and Flying House and Superbook II before!

 

 

Speaking of co-productions, the legendary Greek epic of Ulysses got an anime makeover in Ulysses 31, a TMS-DIC co-production updating the Homeric epic to the 31st century. America didn’t get this show until a few years later but those who saw it were dazzled by the sweet Osamu Dezaki animation, which blew away pretty much everything else on the TV.

 

Over on the cable channels you might have been watching Nickelodeon when they aired MK Company/Visual 80/Toho’s Meiken Jori, or as we know it, Belle & Sebastian. Inspiring live-action films and Scottish indie pop bands, this adaptation of the 1965 French novel is about a boy and his dog and another dog on a journey through the Pyrenees as they elude the cops and search for mother. I’d say this one’s long overdue for a North American DVD release.

 

Can a gloomy abandoned girl find happiness again in the paws of a ridiculous stray dog? Find out in Ohayo Spank! This 65 episode TMS series was based on the Nakayoshi manga by Shunichi Yukimuro and Shizue Takanashi, and found success in Japan and Europe. Sadly, Hello Spank’s only North American foothold was an English-narrated promo reel and a children’s plastic chair.

 

The Robinson family gets marooned on a mysterious island in the Nippon Animation World Masterpiece Theater adaptation Swiss Family Robinson – Flone Of The Mysterious Island, based on the novel by Johann David Wyss. The 1981 anime series adds a Robinson daughter to the cast and you can watch it in English on Amazon Prime, if you want to know if they ever get off that island!

  

Another western literary adaptation is MIC’s Little Women teleseries, one of the many times Louisa May Alcott’s novel has been translated into anime form. This version lasted 25 episodes and was dubbed by Sound International Corporation, the same people that dubbed Honey Honey and Leo The Lion. Did it exist in America beyond a few VHS tapes?

  

The Three Musketeers battle again, this time as dogs, in Dogtanian, a co-production between Japan’s Nippon Animation and Spain’s BRB International. Enjoyed by children worldwide – there’s even an Afrikaans dub and an Albanian dub - one version of the English voices were provided by Americans living in Madrid.

 
 

Meanwhile over in Scotland, let’s say hello to Hello Sandybell, the Toei series about the young Scots girl with an enormous dog and a cottage surrounded by flowers. Will she finally be reunited with her mother? Will her romance with the handsome rich kid who lives in the castle up the hill finally be realized, or will her rival Kitty win out? Watch the show and find out. Fair warning: this show features a character named “Mark Brunch Wellington.”

 

 

1981 was a big year for romantic European gals. MIC’s Honey Honey, based on the manga by Hideko Mizuno, is literally chased around the world because her cat Lily happened to swallow the priceless gem the Star Of The Amazon. It seems Princess Flora of Austria promised to marry whoever retrieved the jewel, which she had inserted inside a fish, fulfilling some no doubt whimsical Central European tradition. A crew of ethnic stereotypes and handsome masked thieves track Honey from Austria to Germany, France, England, Spain, Italy, Iraq, Japan, Norway and Russia only to wind up in New York City. This 29-episode shoujo comedy was dubbed into English by Sound International, aired in the US on Pat Robertson’s CBN Cable, and has only had a few sporadic home video releases.

 

And in modern day Japan, the glamourous young teacher Miss Machiko is forced to endure a constant parade of sexual harassment from her elementary school class in a Studio Pierrot anime series that lasted 92 (!) episodes and inspired eight (!!!!) different live-action versions, all based on eight volumes of Takeshi Ebihara manga, because Japan loves this kind of thing, I guess. Don’t take my word for it, watch it for yourself on Crunchyroll!

  

Japan also loves pro wrestling and Tiger Mask II delivers the kind of powerful masked grappling that inspires millions of fans, and also inspires Tatsuo Aku to don the titular mask and become the second Tiger Mask in this sequel to the early 70s Toei hit, which was based on the popular manga by Ikki Kajiwara and Naoki Tsuji, and which also inspired real-life wrestlers, as well as a legacy in the ring and on TV that lasts to this day.

 

The 65 episode Tatsunoko series Dash Kappei stars diminutive high school sports champion Kappei and was remarkably successful in the ratings, maybe because of Kappei’s panty fetish. Nope, not kidding.

 

Etsumi Haruki’s Jarinko Chie, or Chie The Brat, or Downtown Story as TMS would have you call it, is the story of a short-tempered Osaka girl named Chie and her ne’er do well gambling father, as Chie valiantly attempts to get Dad meaningful employment and a reconciliation with mom.

 

Kenichi’s best friend is the little ninja Hattori, who has amazing ninja powers but is deathly afraid of frogs. Based on the manga by Fujiko A. Fujio, the Shin-ei anime series Ninja Hattori-kun lasted an impressive six hundred and ninety-four (694!!) episodes.

 

You might know Akira Toriyama for Dragonball, but his first manga success was Dr. Slump, the tale of a fumbling genius inventor and his greatest creation, the robot girl Arale. Toei’s cartoony, colorful, crowded, and crazy Dr. Slump anime series ran for 243 episodes, ten movies, a 1997 remake, and at one point crossed over with this series ---

 

Queen Millenia is based on the Leiji Matsumoto manga of the same name which was serialized one page a day, five days a week, for 1000 days, in the Sankei Shimbun and Nishinippon Sports newspapers. That was the plan, anyway. Toei Doga would animate 42 episodes about of the discovery of La Metal, the 10th planet, which not only is on a collision course with Earth, but whose advanced civilization sends a queen to secretly rule over Earth every thousand years. What happens when La Metal’s queen sides with the Earth people? This mashup of the Princess Kaguya tale, the kook-science works of Immanuel Velikovsky, and the film When Worlds Collide would be edited together with the 1978 Captain Harlock anime and be shown in America as “Captain Harlock And The Queen Of 1000 Years.” And as mentioned, there was that crossover with Dr. Slump.

Over at Tatsunoko, the Time Bokan series continued with the fifth installment Yattodetaman, as Princess Karen and her robot guardian Daigoron travel back in time to 1981 to recruit Wataru Toki and Koyomu Himekuri in a quest to capture the immortal fire-bird Phoenix - no relation to Tezuka's Hi no Tori.

 

Prince Mito and his loyal retainers set out in the super robot Daioja to inspect the galactic empire in this fifty-episode Sunrise sci-fi update of the popular Mito Komon jidaigeki television series.

 

Also from Sunrise, Fang Of The Sun Dougram documents the guerrilla rebellion of planet Deloyer from the corrupt Earth Federation and its puppet government. Created by Ryosuke Takahashi, this real robot series featured mecha designs by Gundam’s Kunio Okawara, and toys and model kits of this series’ mecha would appear in North America both badged as “Robotech” and under the Dougram brand, while Dougram manga by Yoshihiro Moritou would see print in Kodansha’s Comic BonBon, not to be confused with the completely different Dougram manga by Yu Okazaki, which was running at the same time in Adventure King, make up your mind Japan.

 
 

Robot mayhem continues from TMS with God Mars! Earth is attacked by the Gishin space empire, led by the dark emperor Zule. Our only hope is Crasher Squad member Takeru Myojin, who it turns out is actually a Gishin space alien with ESP powers and a six-god combination super robot that doubles as a planet-destroying bomb sent to demolish the Earth! Based on the manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, TMS’s God Mars ran for 65 episodes of colorful, science fictiony, very not-real robot action, and you can watch it right now streaming for free on Tubi.

Speaking of unreal robots, Sengoku Majin Goshogun is all about how the shadow illuminati Dokuga, secretly ruling the world for Lord NeoNeros, comes under attack by Good Thunder and the GoShogun team, using Beamler energy to battle for the fate of humanity! Ashi Pro’s Goshogun only lasted 26 episodes but its mix of colorful action and fun characters captured enough fans to get a compilation film and a sequel OAV. Portions of the show were dubbed into English as “Macron 1,” the television broadcast version of which contains music video segments featuring covers of popular 80s tunes. The Japanese series has been released in North America by Discotek and is streaming on Retrocrush.

 

Hiro Taikai finds a gold cigarette lighter that instead of helping smokers to get lung cancer, is actually the transforming sentient super robot Gold Lightan, sent to defend the Earth from invasion by the Mechanic Dimension. This Tatsunoko series lasted 52 episodes and is streaming on HIDIVE!

 

From the studio that brought you Little Women and Honey Honey comes Galaxy Cyclone Braiger, the first in Yu Yamamoto’s J-9 series. In the lawless Asteroid Belt, four outer space commandos for hire use their expanding plasma super robot Braiger to defy the cult-leader crime-lord Khamen Khamen, who plans to blow up Jupiter. Will he succeed? Get the discs from Discotek and find out!

 

Rumiko Takahashi’s outer space high school comedy Urusei Yatsura concerns itself with the tumultuous relationship between the space princess Lum and the Earthling reprobate Ataru, except when it focuses on their equally wacky friends and neighbors. Urusei Yatsura came to TV in 1981 courtesy Studio Pierrot, and its mix of girls, gags, and galactic shenanigans would last 218 episodes, spawn six feature films, appear in a Matthew Sweet music video, and generally obnoxious-alien its way into pop culture legend. The series was released in English by AnimEigo and the pilot was dubbed into English on two separate occasions.

That’s an awful lot of anime TV shows! Join us next time when we head to the movie theater, buy a ticket, some soda, a large popcorn, and some Twizzlers, and also take a look at the Japanese anime theatrical films of 1981!

-Dave Merrill

Thanks for reading Let's Anime! If you enjoyed it and want to show your appreciation for what we do here as part of the Mister Kitty Dot Net world, please consider joining our Patreon!

Eagle Sam The Anime Olympic Eagle

It's Summer Olympics time again and the world's athletes are sweating it out in Tokyo while the world watches... from home, because COVID-19 is still a thing and spectators aren't allowed into the games. Fans of Japanese animation have been making Akira references since the Games were announced, the news media has had fun misidentifing Odaiba's Gundam statue, and in general Japanese pop culture has been an inextricable part of these 2020/2021 games. But did you know evidence of a Japanese anime connection to the Olympics might just be all around you?

Now pitching for the Dodgers, Eagle Sam The Olympic Eagle

Back in 1984 the Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles, and the committee selected an all-American mascot, Sam The Eagle. Sam was designed by Disney artist Bob Moore to be a friendlier, cuddlier version of America's national bird, the eagle, which is typically seen as stern and intimidating. Sam The Olympic Eagle would appear on a wide variety of merchandise and as a graphic element on hundreds of Olympic publications, and the mascot suit character would be seen around the world as part of Olympic events. 

 

However, one iteration of Sam The Olympic Eagle would only be seen in Japan. Taking this eagle to its bosom, more than forty Japanese companies licensed the character, releasing hundreds of character goods. A TV cartoon to sell this merch was a natural move, and Dax International, fresh from Vickie The Viking and Kirin Masterpiece Romantic Theater, got together with TBS to air the anime version of Sam The Olympic Eagle under the title "Eagle Sam." Please, we ask you, don't confuse this Eagle Sam with the Eagle Sam that narrated Disneyland's "America Sings" attraction. The Eagle Sam animation aired Thursdays at 7 from April 1983 until March 1984, for a total of 51 episodes.

Eagle Sam in April 1983's "My Anime"

You'd think an animated cartoon about an Olympic mascot would involve sports, but Eagle Sam has more important things to do - he runs a detective agency in Birdie Town, and that Uncle Sam hat? It's magic! Keiko Han voices Canary Carina, Sam's sexy secretary. Tagging along on adventures is Canary's younger brother Guzlan, and the whole crew is constantly coming into conflict with Albatross, Birdie Town's police chief. 

 

Eagle Sam and Canary

If the human being characters sometimes look a little Lupin III-ish, well, that's no surprise, as character designer Yoshio Kabashima also worked on Lupin's second TV series. Sam has adventures around the town and around the world, but strangely enough, there's nary a pole vault or 100 yard dash or diving competition in sight. 

one reason this show might not have made it to export

Eagle Sam shares this un-Olympic quirk with Japan's other Olympic-mascot-themed anime, 1980's Misha The Bear Cub. This TV Asahi series was built around Misha, the mascot for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and aired from October 1979 until April 1980. Misha is a cuddlier version of the Russian bear designed by Viktor Chizhikov, and he - Misha, not Viktor - lives in an animal town with his mom and dad and his bear girlfriend Natasha, who is also voiced by Keiko Han.

 

Misha and friends and Moscow Olympics logo

Misha's non-track-and-field adventures among the small-town animals are pretty typical kiddy cartoon fare for kiddy cartoons around the world, with the possible exception of episode 18. That's when Misha meets Kunta, the bear mascot of Hokkaido Television Broadcasting, who was named after Kunta Kinte, the star of popular HTB series "Roots." This mascot meeting of the minds might be the loudest echo of the Russo-Japanese War we'd seen in anime until 2018's Golden Kamuy.

Misha vs Kunta

Nippon Animation's Misha made it to France, Italy, and Arabic and Spanish-language markets, and was re-run on Japanese TV in 1999 and 2009. Eagle Sam, on the other hand, not only never aired outside Japan, but hasn't aired since and so far it has yet to see any home video release at all. I guess we know who won that particular Olympic competition.

Eagle Sam merchandise found in America's antique malls

On the other hand, if we want to talk about the availability of merchandise starring Olympic mascots who had their own Japanese TV cartoons, well, Eagle Sam is going to win hands down. Ever since I started keeping an eye out for him, I've seen Eagle Sam merch showing up in antique malls and vintage markets all over the place. He's definitely a 1980s anime character that will never be misidentified as a "Transformer." If you're interested in owning a bit of Olympic / anime history, Eagle Sam mugs, glasses, shirts, plasticware, and plush toys aren't too hard to find, especially every time the Summer Games roll around and the antique mall vendors fill their booth up with seasonal items. Prices can vary widely due to the Crazy Grandma Price Guide effect, so be cautious. 

hey buddy, they won't even let ME wear it

Well, you can't keep a good eagle down. Sam the Olympic Eagle is still seen every year as the mascot of the Mt. SAC Relays at Mt. San Antonio College, part of the LA84 Foundation's endowment, using the surplus from the 1984 Olympic Games to "promote and expand youth sports opportunities in Southern California." Keep up the good work, Eagle Sam!  And if you want to know what it was like to actually BE Eagle Sam, check out this podcast interviewing one of the people inside the Sam mascot costume! 

 

DISCLAIMER: OLYMPIC® is a trademark of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”). Any use of OLYMPIC® in this blog is strictly for informational and commentary purposes. The Let's Anime blog is not an official blog of the USOPC. The Let's Anime blog is not a sponsor of the USOPC, nor is Let's Anime associated with or endorsed by USOPC in any way. The content of this blog does not reflect the opinions, standards, views, or policies of the USOPC, and the USOPC in no way warrants that content featured in Let's Anime is accurate.

 

-Dave Merrill

Thanks for reading Let's Anime! If you enjoyed it and want to show your appreciation for what we do here as part of the Mister Kitty Dot Net world, please consider joining our Patreon!

shaggy dog story

What can I say about a show that features anthropomorphic animal versions of human beings having adventures - without sounding like one who's joined the Furry Revolution, I mean? Well, two words may serve to relieve the discomfort bubbling up through your pyloric valve- Hayao Miyazaki. Yeah, that's right, Comrade Nausicaa himself, together with Tokyo Movie Shinsha and the Italian TV company RAI, produced this animated, walking, talking dog version of England's own Sherlock Holmes. So put those fursuits away, boys.

Originally known as FAMOUS DETECTIVE HOLMES, this show was one of the mysterious gray areas of Miyazaki's resume; we knew he worked on it, but we didn't know when and where and for how long, and more importantly, we couldn't get good copies of the darn things. Well, back in 2002 before Pioneer became Geneon and went out of business, they heard our pleas and released HOLMES on two different 2-sided DVDs. Side One has five episodes in English, and the other side has the same exact episodes in Japanese, with subtitles. Extensive research has determined that the English versions of these episodes come from the same bunch that Just For Kids released on cheap, 6-hour, KayBee Toys Clearance Bin Home Video several years ago. You may have noticed them taking up shelf space next to their Macron One releases. 

This dub is, however, NOT the English dub that certain sharp-eyed anime fans may have remembered seeing on the Showtime cable channel years ago - that version featured a Sherlock Holmes that was, in fact, referred to as "Holmes", as well as British accents that might be a tad more authentic, for the simple fact that they might actually be voiced by British people. This edition is perfectly acceptable, however. The dubbing is Englishy enough, the transfer is excellent, and we're even given the original Japanese opening and ending credits. The box itself is really classy, and the liner notes reveal several interesting things about the production of HOLMES; namely, that the show was a 1981 co-production between TMS and RAI, originally produced in English, and it was cancelled after 4 Miyazaki-directed episodes, and then two other Miyazaki episodes were completed and shown on a double bill with NAUSICAA, and then they went and got Kyosuke Mikuriya to make twenty more episodes for the 1984 TV season. And now I've given all the surprises away.



But even if you know all its secrets, HOUND is still worth watching. There are those among us who shudder at the thought of a period cartoon starring talking dogs; I am one of those people. I prefer my anthropomorphic canines to stick to late-night poker games. However, if you can't trust Hayao to turn even the most unpromising premise into entertainment, who can you trust? Nobody, that's who. HOUND is full of the kind of detailed, hyper-kinetic set-piece action scenes that made Miyazaki memorable. The characters - canine as they may be - are as fully realized as cartoon characters can be, from facial expressions to clothes to nervous habits. And the backgrounds! SOMEBODY at TMS did their homework, because this show features some of the most beautiful background work I've ever seen in an animated television show. Edwardian London comes to life with crowded city streets, train stations, department stores and government offices and the ramshackle apartments on Baker Street where Holmes and Watson relax between cases all realistically and vividly portrayed. Virtually every shot is crammed full of period detail. Other, lesser cartoons would suffocate under such baggage; HOUND thrives on it.

That's not to say this show is an exercise in historical accuracy. Great liberties are taken with regards to mechanical contrivances; especially those of a certain Professor Moriarty, the self-styled 'Napoleon Of Crime', whose wizardry at late 19th century gadgetry would only be matched by the similar antics of the character Grandes from Gainax's 1991 series SECRET OF BLUE WATER. Not that I would point the finger of plagarisim at that much-and-justly-maligned series - no, the animation that was shameless in its theft from HOUND would be Disney's own GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE, which managed to crowbar entire scenes from SHERLOCK HOUND - and what it didn't steal from HOUND, it swiped from CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO. But I digress. Suffice to say that HOUND is probably the only show that can utilize painstaking recreations of Victoria Station circa 1901 AND Space Invaders sight gags.

Why only the Japanese and the Italians could produce the quintessential Sherlock Holmes cartoon is a question better left answered by semiotics professors or popular culture majors, and why it stars talking dogs is probably not going to be touched except by somebody's overpaid psychologist; and why the whole mess actually works is a completely different story altogether. While not as thrill-intensive as your typical robot cartoon or sci-fi epic, HOUND succeeds with its own brand of tweedy, low-key adventure.

Mrs Hudson - your typical quiet Victorian lady

Of course there are some who won't find HOUND a masterpiece. Sherlock Holmes fans, in particular, aren't going to be very impressed, because as near as I can figure HOUND barely gets within striking distance of any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's actual Sherlock Holmes stories. I don't particularly consider this a deal-killer - how many LUPIN III episodes are based on Maurice LeBlanc's actual LUPIN stories? - but it's refreshing to see a show obsessed with background accuracy yet blissfully unconcerned about actually giving us a Red-Headed League, or for that matter, a Hound of the Baskervilles. Yet, comparing HOUND with Holmes gives us some insight into the transformation from human sleuth to dog detective. The human Holmes is, to be blunt, kind of a jerk. He's an arrogant know-it-all with a big nose; tough to wrap a children's cartoon around, to be sure. I certainly can't see Doyle's Holmes spending quality time with children the way Miyazaki's Hound does. However, let's face facts; if I was a big fan of nineteenth-century English literature, I wouldn't be reviewing many Japanese cartoons.

Even though this DVD features very little in the way of extras or special goodies - very little meaning, absolutely nothing - the quality of the animation and the charm of the show itself make SHERLOCK HOUND well worth sniffing out. While the DVD is currently out of print in the United States, streaming episodes of SHERLOCK HOUND are available on streaming video. So be sure and enjoy your 1980s Japanese cartoon based on 1890s fiction with the technology of the 21st century! Professor Moriarty would be proud.

-Dave Merrill

Thanks for reading Let's Anime! If you enjoyed it and want to show your appreciation for what we do here as part of the Mister Kitty Dot Org world, please consider joining our Patreon!