Mecha-May and Mew-Bot and SPT Layzner

We live in an amazing age of technology, when computers and robots can accomplish the most outstanding feats. One such outstanding feat is available now for you to enjoy, as Mecha-May the robot anime fan and her long-suffering producer Mew-Bot Five Thousand explore the 1985 Nippon Sunrise mecha series SPT Layzner, thereby obviating the need for me to write about the series! Truly we live in an age of wonders. Now enjoy the video! 

write 'em, cowboy

I was there in the 90s and let me tell you, things were pretty grim. For us anime nerds, I mean. There we were, sitting around our anime clubs and cons, looking at the fandom we’d built around the science-fiction anime-boom giants of the late 70s and the 80s, realizing that those shows were gone. The Macrosses and Yamatos and Dirty Pairs had vanished, the Cobras and Captain Harlocks and Bubblegum Crisises had all popped along with the bubble economy, and as much as the retailers wished it wasn’t so, there was only one Akira. Sure, there was still plenty of anime to watch, but Japan had moved on from space opera; now everything was either high-school this or fantasy sorcerer-elf that, or somebody cooking something tasty in the middle of a forest in the middle of a Ghibli film, which, it’s fine, but there’s a specific itch that wasn’t getting scratched. 

 

That is, not until Cowboy Bebop showed up. Crashing into our eyeballs like, yeah, like a tank, this Sunrise show absolutely changed the game, flipped the table, set the rule book on fire and ignited a series of demolition charges around the perimeter of the stadium in which the game had been played. There it was, there was the rocket sock-’em space adventure we’d been missing, built around a framework of Tarantino and John Woo, with characters that looked like human beings instead of candy packaging mascots, backed by a soundtrack of… is that jazz? Is this music for grownups? Is this that rare, almost mythical beast, a Japanese animated TV show that isn’t childish or embarrassing or pandering, a show you can show your parents? Your roommates? Your girlfriend?

 

It's no surprise that a stylish, action-packed anime series wearing its global pop cultural influences on its sleeve would fit perfectly into a media landscape filled with maturing cartoon fans ready for the next big thing, primed by decades of TV syndication culminating in an American cable network seemingly built just for this show. At least that's what it felt like when Cowboy Bebop premiered here in North America; like the show had been custom-built for kids who four or five years back had been hypnotized by Sailor Moon, Teknoman and Ronin Warriors, who might be growing up and away from primary-colored justice fighters, who were ready for something starring grownups with jobs and nicotine habits, ready for a Japanese animated TV series that, for once, was going to impress the hell out of their friends and relatives who might still be mocking the concept of "animation for adults." 

Telos Publishing’s release of Satoru Stevenson’s Three, Two, One: Let’s Jam! The Unofficial And Unauthorised Guide To The Original Cowboy Bebop is also not a surprise, it’s more a case of the series finally getting the kind of exhaustively comprehensive guide it’s always deserved. And let me just say when I use the terms “exhaustive” and “comprehensive” I am not kidding, this book is more than six hundred pages long and it is all meat, no filler, filled with details about the creative staff, animation production, musical composition, the live action shows Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe used as creative signposts, the Buddhist parables that inspired storylines, the episodes that came a little too close to current (1990s) events for the Japanese TV networks, and facts about every episode, the world of 2071, the PS1 game, the Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door film, the PS2 game… in short, if it’s not in this book then you don’t need to know it, at least when it comes to Spike, Faye, Jet, Edward, and Ein The Wonder Dog. 

 
What is kinda surprising is that a Bebop book like this hasn’t appeared sooner, and that other series haven’t had similar treatments. I'd love to see a comprehensive English-language book about, say, Astro Boy or Mazinger Z, or Gatchaman, Space Battleship Yamato, Mobile Suit Gundam, or Macross, you name it, there's a cherished cultural icon deserving of a long-form print edition overview. Somebody get busy, because Three, Two, One: Let’s Jam! is more than a book, it’s a call to action for everyone who’s filled hours, shelf space and valuable mental real estate obsessing over their favorite anime shows, a challenge to start working on your own resource guide for your own icons.

If you're hoping Three, Two, One: Let’s Jam! dissects the live-action Netflix Cowboy Bebop, well, keep hoping. While the streamer's perhaps ill-advised remake did bring the original to Netflix for the first time, Stevenson’s book deflects with the deft sidestep "coverage of such an adaptation is beyond this book's remit," a sensible position, and anyway, the book’s already six hundred and thirty nine pages long, spending more pages to discuss a Netflix version nobody liked is probably foolish.

Fans of Movie International's 80s cult super robot drama Galactic Gale Baxinger and it's ending credits song "Asteroid Blues" will be fascinated to learn, as we do in Stevenson's book, that Bebop creator Watanabe denies any connection between the Baxinger tune and the title of Bebop's first episode, a claim I simply don’t buy. Look buddy, you made an anime about outer space bounty hunters, Baxinger is an anime about outer space bounty hunters, part of a series of anime shows about outer space bounty hunters known collectively as the J9 series, which was a reference to the Sony SL-J9 Betamax... a Betamax that itself shows up in an episode of Cowboy Bebop. You say you weren’t thinking about J9 at all, huh? Sure you weren’t.

But enough about merciless J9. The fact is that Three, Two, One: Let’s Jam! is an awe-inspiring chunk of scholarship that is unique in the annals of English-language anime research, a singular achievement that is a worthy addition to any library on Earth, Mars, the asteroid belt, anywhere in the Solar System, really. Cowboy Bebop fans will be consulting this book for the details on whichever episode Adult Swim’s airing tonight, up until 2071 and beyond.

Thanks to Satoru and Telos!

-Dave Merrill

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you know, for kids

Here's a fun thing, a translation of a children's book from the 1982-83 Nippon Sunrise anime series SENTO MECHA XABUNGLE.  Let your children drift off to dreamland with this tale of one man's search for bloody outer-space wild-west vengeance! Translations by, and many thanks to, Ric Zerrano.

(Click on images to do an enlarging Mecha-Change)

 

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Welcome To The GALATT

In a defenseless world where war has been outlawed, only one brave scientist stands between the alien hordes and our precious Earth. Can his super robot creations protect us all from destruction?

Sure, this is the basis for hundreds of Japanese cartoons. But CHORIKI ROBO GALATT (aka “Galatt The Great”) dares to take this concept and “transform” (haw haw) it into a gag comedy! Premiering on October 6 1984 and lasting until April of next year, GALATT’s 25 episodes were a humorous digression among Nippon Sunrise’s more serious mid-80s series like VIFAM, the sadly neglected PANZER WORLD GALIENT, and HEAVY METAL L.GAIM. Yet GALATT’s squat comedy robot action idiom would live on in later Sunrise series like GRANZORT and WATARU, as well as the Ashi Productions hit NG LAMUNE & 40, and something called S.D. GUNDAM, whatever the heck that could be.

our heroes Michael and Patty and their robot pals

Two things distinguish GALATT. One is the Yumi Murata theme song, which is fun and funky with great 80’s style techno hooks. I mean, come on, hear the song and you’ll be mumbling “G-A-L-A...T-T” to yourself for weeks. The other thing is the running gag about how our genius inventor, Dr. Kiwi, is a total child molester. Seriously, he spends the show trying to grope the female lead, 13-year old Patty Pumpkin. Hell, he spends the OPENING CREDITS of the show trying to grope Patty Pumpkin. And this is not portrayed as a serious issue, as a “very special episode” of DIFF'RENT STROKES guest-starring Gordon Jump, or as anything anybody should be particularly concerned about. It’s just joke fodder. Oh Japan, you so crazy.

Yes, even in the opening credits.

When he isn’t trying for the inappropriate touch, Dr. Kiwi is working the whole DR SLUMP comedy inventor motif pretty hard. The show as a whole owes a lot to DR SLUMP, actually; a wacky SF gag show starring a loser inventor can’t help but feel similar. Of course Dr. Slump lusts after the more age-appropriate Midori and rightfully considers 13-year old Akane a total pest.

creepy Dr. Kiwi 

Anyway, in between his “Barely Legal” subscription renewals, Dr. Kiwi invented a super metal out of stuff he had lying around the house. Just in time too, because the Universal Real Estate Syndicate has arrived to carve Earth up into subdivisions and turn it into a galactic Levittown with their legions of giant combat robot Century 21 sales representatives. This is terrible for just about everybody except Dr. Kiwi, because Dr. Kiwi has been using the threat of alien invasion to bilk cash out of people for years. Now that the aliens have finally arrived for real, it’s time for Dr. Kiwi to deliver the goods!

Michael, Patty, Dr. Kiwi, annoying rich kid Camille Cashmere

Since Dr. Kiwi spends a lot of time hanging around the local junior high (WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN??) he knows Michael Marsh, your typical clean-cut wide-awake youth. Michael has a squat robot watchdog-buddy named Janbu, which after some retooling from Dr. Kiwi is suddenly able to transform into Galatt, a brave robot fighter with a Galatt Blaster, a Galatt Javelin, etc. Michael’s girlfriend, the aforementioned, long-suffering Patty Pumpkin, ALSO has a robot helper, and this “Patigu” also gets the power upgrade –including factory-standard Patigu Slicer and Patigu Shot. When annoying rich kid / rival Reggie Mantle – er, I mean Camille Cashmere comes to town, his robot butler “Kamigu” also gets the Galatt treatment to become an 8.8 meter robot with a green color scheme, and a bazooka.

our heroes and their robots in upgrade mode

And just when you think things were getting too linear, the show will casually toss in a cameo from the Sumo Sisters, “Dosukoi the elder and younger”, two schoolgirls whose name is a sumo wrestler exclamation and whose task in GALATT is to keep the nonsense at appropriately high levels.

okay then

Veteran mecha designer (you’ve seen his work in something called GUNDAM) Kunio Okawara’s substantial yet classy design work is on full display in GALATT; the cutesy Janbu robots are both functional and friendly and the Galatt-sized combat mecha satisfy both as inspirational pieces of design and as fighting machines. Guest mechanical designs were by Koichi Ohata, known for his later work on everybody’s second least favorite anime M.D. GEIST. Character designer Toyoo Ashida, credited on everything from SPACE BOY SORAN to SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO, from DEL POWER X to, unsurprisingly, WATARU and GRANZORT, brings his 1980s A-game to the show with headbands, sideways-mounted sun visors, and the popular “overalls with one strap down” look for ladies that has mesmerized the male gaze since overalls were invented.

Galatt LP cover art by T. Ashida

And that’s the show; Michael, Patty and Camille battle space pirates and evil plans of the Galactic Real Estate Overlords while defending Patty’s virtue from the grotesquely inappropriate advances of Dr. Kiwi. GALATT fansubs are nonexistent and even raw Japanese episodes were hard to come by, so the series didn’t get the same critical examination afforded anime from the same time period. Considered alongside contemporary shows like VIFAM, GIANT GORG, etc, it would be easy to assume GALATT has the same narrative heft. But let’s face it, VIFAM this ain’t. GALATT’s a lightweight; a gag-a-minute show with pleasant visuals and a disturbing pedo subtext that likely explains its absence from the overseas market.

Patty's super robot combat suit by Jockey For Her

Poorly translated GALATT episode guide:

1. Galatt challenges the arrival of evil!

2. If a dog barks, a mechanical monster will appear!

3. The appearance of Camille, the beautiful rival!

4. Born with a smile – Patigu!

5. Dangerous mistake! Good weather is sometimes bad

6. Kisses are wasted on pirate children

7. Find the master thief, Janbu!

8. Eggs falling from the sky?

9. Battle! This obstacle course is murder!

10. Is it an ancient romance? The Doctor’s Abnormal Greed

11. Wandering Hero: Space I

12. Dinosaur Ranch Death Duel: Space II

13. A Stuntman Reeks Of Danger: Space III

14. The Messenger Of Justice Is A Bounty Hunter? Space IV

15. Return With A Disadvantage

16. The Customer Has Psychic Powers?

17. Remember to dance, Janbu!

18. The Doctor’s End Is Cold

19. Heart Pounding! A Corps Of Beautiful Women in the Clouds?

20. Galatt might also like love

21. What the heck? Sara Marian Dothan is kidnapped?

22. Meow of surprise! Tsu Mihi’s exclamation of love!

23. Galatt crisis – Michael’s mistake!

24. Never surrender! Battle of the fireworks counterattack!

25. Shout it out loud – DOSUKOI!

It's cool when girls hit on you but NOT LIKE THIS

We can’t fault GALATT for being merely diverting – let’s be honest, one of the characters is named “Patty Pumpkin”, and expecting it to be another XABUNGLE or L.GAIM is asking too much. Like they say in the fight game, you gotta punch your weight, and as a zany gag show involving space robots and whacked-out mad scientists GALATT holds its own with the best of this admittedly small sub-sub genre.

good-bye

--Dave Merrill

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NAUGHTY AND ANCIENT

KUM KUM THE PREHISTORIC MENACE

I’d seen stills from this show and some of Yas’ typically excellent artwork here and there for years, but I’d never thought it was anything more than some illustrations, maybe a children’s book or two. I certainly didn’t think it was a Nippon Sunrise series produced in 1975 that ran for 26 episodes, and was not only a success in most of Europe, but was dubbed into English by Paramount and became an integral part of the TV childhoods of kids in Australia and England. America, however, was bereft of KUM KUM. We had to satisfy our prehistoric desires with LAND OF THE LOST and KORG, 70,000 BC and VALLEY OF THE DINOSAURS and CAPTAIN CAVEMAN. Okay, that last one, not so much.

WANPAKU (“naughty”) OMUKASHI (“ancient”) KUM KUM is a fun little series, a prehistoric children’s adventure show that freely mixes comedy, action, myths and facts but remains firmly grounded in the day to day lives of the Mountain Folk, a tribal people just on the cusp of civilization. Kum Kum lives while mankind transitions from being hunter-gathering wanderers to becoming a agricultural, settled, animal-domesticating language-developing society. The Mountain Folk have learned to plow and plant, but still do a lot of gathering.

The Wise One has writing, but only he can read it. Occasional travelers demonstrate things like wheels, wagons, and war; but the Mountain Folk still make do with hunting and fishing. A rudimentary religion is demonstrated by Dark Eyes, the resident fortune-teller and soothsayer, who also demonstrates that this level of civilization possesses sophisticated hairpiece technology.

Our hero Kum Kum isn’t a BAD kid, just curious, mischievous, impulsive, sometimes unthinking, occasionally vindictive. Sure, those ingredients sometimes add up to “bad”, but when he crosses the line, the Wood Cave is always waiting. That’s where we find Kum Kum when the show opens, waiting out yet another stretch of hard time as a result of yet another prehistoric escapade.



Kum Kum’s world is a fun place to be a kid; plenty of forests and mountains to roam through, animals to chase, fish to catch, and friends to tease. Kum Kum’s gang – Butterfly (Chiru Chiru) , Little Rock (Aaron), and Bumbles (Mochi Mochi) run roughshod through the little Mountain Folk tribe, causing no end of headaches to Kum Kum’s dad Strongarm ((Paru-Paru), mom Flora (Malu-Malu), toddler brother Tum Tum and teenage sister Wildflower (Furu). Wildflower is smitten with the Wise One’s son Roman who lives up to his name by roaming far and wide across the unknown prehistoric landscape. Roman roams because his home life is mostly occupied by arguing with his hairy, pipe-smoking father, whose original Japanese name is “Kuropedia.” In spite of courtship attempts made by Little Rock’s enormous, slightly slow brother Jumbo (Goron) and Roman’s temptation to join the Nomad tribe and marry Rose, - not to mention opposition from both Strongarm and the Wise One - true love triumphs and Wildflower and Roman are (SPOILER!) married in the final episode.


Just a few things keep KUM KUM from being an animated, archeologically approved version of one of those natural history museum dioramas; one is the dinosaur that lives in the lake, and the other are the Cheeky-Squeakies.

Saurus is the dinosaur; this old and amiable Apatosaurus is possibly the last surviving dinosaur. He’s happy to chew his cud in the lake and occasionally act as a giant playmate for the children. Sure, we all know that dinosaurs and human beings were separated by a few million years, but here at KUM KUM scientific rigor takes a back seat to cartoon fun.

However, the Cheeky-Squeakies (“Pyonki” in Japanese) have no analog in the fossil record. These bouncy, big-eyed little mascots hop all over the countryside and give the children something to chase in idle moments. Occasionally they catch some, harness them up, and go skiing over the tall grass. We learn in a very special episode that the Cheeky-Squeakies are vastly older than man, have a language and a culture, and occasionally go to war with each other underground in ritualized combat that recalls the classic Uncle Scrooge story “The Land Beneath The Ground”, though unlike the struggle between the Terries and the Fermies, the Cheeky-Squeaky war does not cause earthquakes.

It’s pretty clear that this prehistoric land is supposed to be Japan. We’re treated to establishing shots of blossoming cherry trees, the volcanic nature of the land is remarked upon in several episodes, and we even get to see monkeys enjoying hot springs and an instance of the Japanese folk belief that fish can predict earthquakes. But the question of whether or not Kum Kum's people represent the Jomon culture will have to be answered by more knowledgeable archeologists.

The English language dub firmly presents Bumbles as a male, but I’m not convinced that Mochi Mochi isn’t a girl, a gangly, Big Ethel sort of gal. The female Japanese voice actress and the hair bow may be circumstantial evidence, but it wouldn’t be the first time a character’s gender was switched in the localization. The English voice is a hoarse goofball intonation that could go either way. And let’s face it, these are six and seven year old kids, gender is pretty much academic at this point. (editors note: recent footage screened here at the HQ proves conclusively that Bumbles is a cave-boy)

Kum Kum makes an appearance on an all-Yas character poster

KUM KUM carves its own niche between the One Million BC melodrama of Ishinomori’s ’71 Toei anime RYU THE PRIMITIVE BOY and the 1974 TMS caveman gag comedy GIATRUS THE FIRST MAN- the laughs and life lessons are parceled out in equal doses. Kum Kum’s bad behavior has consequences beyond the Wood Cave and frequently the tribe is forced to struggle for their very survival against the elements, destructive animals, or even other tribes. Parents and children fight and things don’t always wrap up neatly before the end credits. Kum Kum – and by extension the young viewing audience - are forced to come to terms with rather adult concepts like, you know, death. But the Mountain Folk’s life isn’t particulary nasty, brutish, or short – sure, there’s hard work and primitive conditions, but there are also strong family and community bonds, festivals, friends, dinosaurs, and a whole world full of wonders without any schools or homework. It’s no wonder this show was appealing to an entire generation of kids around the world, including the relatives of Argentine footballer Sergio Aguero, who thought the young future soccer star resembled Kum Kum and dubbed him a mispronounced “El Kun.”

(I now pronounce you caveman and cavewife)

KUM KUM was produced by Banjiro Uemera, who would later produce the fine Star Wars ripoff MESSAGE FROM SPACE. In his capacity as head of ITC Japan, he was responsible for 1982’s sf actioner TECHNOVOYAGER, otherwise known as THUNDERBIRDS 2086. He also produced the When Animals Attack film ROAR, starring Tippi Hedren and her animal friends (and daughter Melanie Griffith). Interestingly enough the show is an early directorial attempt by Rin “Shigeyuki Hayashi” Taro, who would go on to work for Toei and direct SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK, the two GALAXY EXPRESS MOVIES, and from there to direct HARMAGEDDON, DAGGER OF KAMUI, METROPOLIS, X, DOOMED MEGALOPOLIS, PHOENIX, and other anime works. But the primary creator behind KUM KUM is obvious from even the most casual glance; the distinctive art style of Yoshikazu “Yas.” Yasuhiko. Yas.’ CV includes MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, BRAVE RAIDEEN, DIRTY PAIR, VENUS WARS, ARION, GIANT GORG – Yasuhiko’s classy linework and graceful characters are an unmistakable hallmark of the classic era of Japanese animation. KUM KUM’s Yas. character designs are front and center; Kum Kum and his pals wouldn’t be out of place roaming the corridors of White Base as refugees from Side Whatever, and the flowing robes, bearded giants, and vital natural landscape would return in works as diverse as GORG and ARION.

What makes KUM KUM so fascinating, for me anyway, is that I’m a guy who spends way too much time thinking about Japanese cartoons (obviously). Have been this way for years. And yet here’s a show with a pretty impressive pedigree (Yas, Rin Taro) that not only had I never heard of, but that had been dubbed into English and shown around the world, to boot! It just goes to show, the more you know, the more you realize there’s yet to learn.

(no-pants cave kids)

Why did KUM KUM never make the transition to American television? One reason leaps to mind: prehistoric children don’t wear pants. So the next time you’re thinking darkly of American exceptionalism, remember that sometimes Uncle Sam is, like Kum Kum, still trapped in the dark of the Wood Cave, waiting to be set free.

(bye bye Kum Kum!)

-Dave Merrill

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Aura Battling The Blue Light Special

The great part about working for K-Mart back in 1985 - working part time after school, of course - was that you got to wander the toy department and marvel at the bewildering display of Japanese robot toys that were imported by every toy wholesaler with a couple of containers to fill on the next boat from Taiwan and a desire to cash in on the transforming robot toy craze. Okay, I'll be honest. The ACTUAL best thing about working part time for K-Mart was that you got paid every week in cash. Dirty, floppy cash money straight from the registers, handed to you in a little envelope through a barred window next to the time clock. None of this wimpy check nonsense or the effete snobbery of "direct deposit" - just a fat envelope of F. Olding Money for high-school me to blow on comic books, movies, renting a tux for the prom, and oh yeah, crazy Japanese toys. We'd make the rounds of the Toys "R" Us, the Circus World, the odd discount place at the outlet mall, the doomed aisles of the Zayres and the Richways and the Phar-Mors, hoping to blow our minimum-wage pay on toys from shows we'd never seen like Xabungle or Galactic Gale Baxingar or the enigmatically titled "Psycho Armor Govarion".

But at K-Mart I could haunt the aisles AND get paid for doing so. One of the things I picked up was this swell Dunbine toy. Aura Battler Dunbine is, of course, the 1983-84 Sunrise anime series directed by Yoshiyuki "Zanbot 3" Tomino about a regular Earth guy named Shou Zama. One day he gets magically transported to the fantasy-type world of Byston Well, where he becomes the pilot of the "Aura Battler" Dunbine and is caught up in a war that spreads across both Byston Well and Earth. More information about Aura Battler Dunbine can be found in the used DVD racks of your local retailer.

This 1:60 scale toy stands a little less than 6" tall and came in both black and the more traditional Dunbine purple. I went for black because that's how I roll. At any rate, this toy is unique, not just because it's based on a Japanese cartoon that wouldn't see an American release for nearly twenty years, but also because it's just a darn well-put together piece of fantasy super robot plastic.

The joints are all articulated with hinges set on pegs - the wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips and knees not only bend, but can rotate, giving the toy a really wide range of movement. The wings are translucent and fold underneath their canopy. The claw-like feet are metal and the ankle joints move, too. It's an amazingly posable figure.

It even comes with a tiny inch-high Shou Zama figure that looks swell, but isn't good for much besides falling over or getting lost. If you open Dunbine's cockpit you'll see another Shou already in position. Two Shous? I guess they figured you'd lose one. Actually the pegs holding the joints tend to slip out, so if you aren't careful you'll lose quite a bit of this toy when the cat knocks it off your desk.

The packaging is, as one would hope, a classic of weirdly transliterated Japanese. What did children think when they browsed the K-Mart toy aisles and wanted to know more about the mysterious "Dunbine"? Did they suspect that "Shot Weapon" was somebody's name? Were they relieved to find that the "reaction of aura is good"? Was ADV's release of Dunbine on DVD in the United States merely the final link some kind of cosmic chain of events that began in the mists of Byston Well, or Taiwan, whichever is nearer?

Only Yoshiyuki Tomino knows, and he ain't telling. We are only certain of one thing; this Dunbine toy is way better than the purple vinyl Dunbine I picked up at Spencer's Gifts in the mall.

-Dave Merrill

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