Last night while cruising the local video store, I swung by the Anime section
to see what I could find. I was looking for something in the "space war" genre
in order to get my FULL THRUST creative juices flowing. After careful
consideration of the titles I decided to rent the japanese animated "classic"
(who is doling out the classic status) "Space Battleship Yamato." After
spending 158 minutes of my short life watching this movie I came to a vital
revelation:
THIS THING REALLY SUCKS!!!!
I can't tell what I thought was worse: The chessy dialouge (Maybe it just
didn't translate into subtitles well.), the bad animation
(Its like "Speed Racer" only with starships.), or the insane plotline (A
starship built from the wreck of a WWII Japanese battleship? That's one
way of taking nationalism one step too far.) I don't know what the Anime fans
see in this thing. "Akira" was good anime, "Robotech" was good Americanized
Anime, even "Voltron" was good Anime when compared to this leaker.
My next adventure into Anime will probably be the "Mobile Suit Gundam" series
(If I can find it on video.). Before I blow another buck
and a half on something that could be terrible, can I get some
dime-store reviews.
BTW I recieved a URL for FT conversion to Gundam capital ships (the Mecha is
considered fighters). You can find it at:
http://www.javanet.com/~scottd/Gundam/gun-ft.html
I plan on adding this URL to my page (along with some others) ASAP.
Later,
Excerpts from FT: 30-Jul-96 Yamato: Why did I watch it? by "Mark A.
Siefert"@csd.uw
[snip]
> After spending 158 minutes
Obviously, you are not of the True Otaku.
Thankfully, neither am I. You're right, it does; and I haven't even watched
the whole thing.
[snip]
> My next adventure into Anime will probably be the "Mobile Suit
> Gundam" series (If I can find it on video.). Before I blow another
Be very, very careful with Gundam. I've only seen Gundam 0083; it was pretty
good, but got rather confusing towards the end... for one thing, they were
making references to stuff that happened in a prior movie, and also required
you to have a bit of knowledge about the Gundamverse in general.
If you want to go for mecha shows, two that are out there are "Gunbuster" and
"Detonator Orgun"; which one you should watch really depends on your mood. If
you think you can take one of those "Everything's trying to destroy the Earth,
so let's take some nubile young females, teach them to use big f*cking mecha,
and hope they save us in spite of their relationship problems," etc, then go
for Gunbuster. Actually, it's not quite that bad, but you really have to keep
in mind
that Gainax's only really serious production was _Wings of Honneamise_
(which is another I'd recommend). While Gunbuster is Gainax's "let's see what
humans can do if we try" it's a bit... disguised. Detonator Orgun is in a
similar vein (Earth being threatened) but without all the nubile young
(animated) females with relationship problems. It's one that I like a great
deal, though not all my friends agree with me.
Anyway, good luck.
Excerpts from FT: 31-Jul-96 Re: Yamato: Why did I watch.. by "Mark A.
Siefert"@csd.uw
> Actually what I am looking for is a good capital ship conflict
> cartoon. While I am sure that mecha have their place, I want to see
Heh. Not many of those, though -- anime has always loved its mecha.
(I've never quite been sure why, but that certianly hasn't stopped them.
^_- )
Hmm... from what I've seen, Legend of the Galactic Heroes probably is your
best bet here. (Might not be a surprise, since it does get a mention in More
Thrust....) I've seen a synopsys & some screen shots, and while several of
them feature a ship that looks a *heck* of a lot like the Sulaco, there are
other ships out there... one, I think it's a fighter, looks very odd indeed.
I'll try and find the pictures again, and post the URL.
Other ship-to-ship fights... well, Irresponsible Captain Tylor might
have a few, but again, I haven't seen it, past episode four anyway. (And while
some ships do shoot at each other & blow each other up, that was... an
accident. Not combat.)
Unfortunately, both of the above titles haven't been released commercially,
which means you'll have to find yourself an anime club that has them.
I'll certainly post if I can come up with more titles.
Later,
> Aaron P Teske wrote:
Actually what I am looking for is a good capital ship conflict cartoon. While
I am sure that mecha have their place, I want to see cruisers and battleships
duke it out if lasers and missles while
frizzy-haired protagonists (with badly drawn noses) speak out of sink
about the mysteries of life. Needless to say, Yamato didn't float my boats
(pun intended).
Later,
> Mark wrote:
> Actually what I am looking for is a good capital ship conflict
> cartoon.
I you are looking for capital ship conflict then, so am I, my best to date
'Lensman', thanks for the warning on 'BS Yamato'
Gunbuster - story & animation are a dog don't bother
Wings of Homminase - OK film but no cap ships so don't bother
Opinions sought on
Robotech - which episode numbers?
Tim
The Gall Force movies have some excellent ship v ship engagements. (LOTS of
missiles)
> Mark Siefert wrote:
> After spending 158 minutes
Thanks for the review; I'd actually considered renting it because I'd heard so
much about it. I guess I'll save my 2 bucks! Let us know if you do ever find
any worth watching.
----------
From: timj@uk.gdscorp.com
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 1996 8:36 AM
To: FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Yamato: Why did I watch it?
> Mark wrote:
> Actually what I am looking for is a good capital ship conflict
> cartoon.
I you are looking for capital ship conflict then, so am I, my best to date
'Lensman', thanks for the warning on 'BS Yamato'
Gunbuster - story & animation are a dog don't bother
Wings of Homminase - OK film but no cap ships so don't bother
Opinions sought on
Robotech - which episode numbers?
Tim
A realy good fleet action was on EXO-Squad, I just wish that I could
have gotten the episode name and number.
The fleet of the Humans vs the Neo-Sapians, There was even a super
dreadnaught used by the Neos and cloaking was used by both sides as well as a
lot of ECM to jam missiles.For a cartoon it is a good source for FT and DSII
It's on every Sunday morning on USA network.
> On Thu, 1 Aug 1996 timj@uk.gdscorp.com wrote:
> Opinions sought on
Actually you should try the Original japanese Macross: The Movie. Excellent
animation and lots of missiles and beams carving up capital
ships. Try your local anime club for a sub-titled version or perhaps
the Australian dubbed version. May be hard to find since it was eleased in
the mid-80's and never translated by a commercial company.
On Jul 31, 1996 22:39:12, '"Mark A. Siefert" <cthulhu@csd.uwm.edu>' wrote:
> Actually what I am looking for is a good capital ship conflict
Try to find _Legend of Galactic Heroes_. There you have a German
Imperial
structure-type empire versus an almost American, free market type of
Republic. You get massive capital ship battles. Of course, the fleets tend to
run into the thousands of ships and crews die by the hundreds of thousands.
But I enjoyed the (unfortunately, really low quality) video cassettes I have.
I have to admit, _Yamato_ has a special place in my heart, because I can
remember watching it over breakfast before school when I was just a little
tyke. Apart from Speed Racer and Kimba, it was the first anime I ever saw.
Thank you, UHF channel 52 in Los Angeles.
> Michael Kwan wrote:
Ditto. Has anyone watched the new version of Starblazers with the new Yamato?
> Mike Wikan wrote:
Definitely! This series had some awesome ship combat scenes. Cool designs with
a flavor of technology from the Alien movies.
> I have to admit, _Yamato_ has a special place in my heart, because I
Yeah, pretty much the same deal for me. Except it was Ch38 out of Boston in
the mid to late 70s.... Upon rewatching the first four episodes rented
from my friendl;y local blockbuster, bure, it's not _great_, but bad?
Battlestar Galactica was _bad_, Yamato is just poor.
Battlestar Galactica was not bad. Galactica 1980 was BAD. phffft
All right, I've read all of the responses to Mark's note and nobody has
stepped up to give a response to his review of Space Battleship Yamato.
Don't let one movie spoil your opinion of the series. The movie Space
Battleship Yamato was made after the original TV series had run and condensed
the entire series into a 135 minute movie and even made some changes in the
plot. There are 4 other Yamato movies that are much better than this one.
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato (IMHO, you're better off finding the
subtitled version of this movie. They did a poor job of translating for the
dubbing.) The crew of the Yamato steal the Yamato from storage to investigate
a call for help and discover that a comet heading toward Earth is really the
evil Comet Empire bent on conquering the galaxy. It contains some good fleet
battles and a desperate battle at the end that results in death of most of the
crew and fighter pilots along the Yamato itself. (Be warned that the final
"death sequence" drags) This movie resulted in the second TV series being
produced that expanded out the story and changed the ending with the Yamato
being spared. I can't recall now which episode it is, but one of the episodes
toward the end of the TV series contains a great battle sequence involving the
Yamato and a fleet of Earth Defense Force carriers involved in laying a trap
for the invading Comet Empire fleet.
Space Battleship Yamato - The New Voyage
This movie takes place after the second TV series (The Comet Empire) and
involves the Yamato and it's previous enemy Desslok in a chase with a runaway
planet and a battle with the Dark Empire who caused it. Only 2 big battles and
an average plot.
Be Forever Yamato The Dark Empire return to hold Earth captive with a huge
bomb while the Yamato travel to their enemy's home galaxy to find the trigger
and save the Earth. Again a few battle sequences and average plot. If you like
underground resistance plots, check this one out.
Final Yamato If you have 3 hours (that's right, a 3 hour animated movies) I
recommend this movie. The plot would take a while to explain and it's late
now, but the basic plot is Earth in danger, Yamato is their only hope. Several
great battle sequences, including the unusual scene of the Yamato doing barrel
rolls while firing it's main guns. (it has to be seen for a good smile)
The Bolor Wars (3rd TV Series) The basic plot is that Earth is caught in the
middle of a war which cause the Sun to start to build up to supernova. Yamato
must either find a new home for Earth or a cure for the Sun's problem. This
series contains less episodes than the other 2 because of budget contraints.
(Some great plot ideas were lost and story itself seems rushed)
Although the 3 TV series (The Quest for Iscandar, The Comet Empire, and the
Bolar Wars) contain good battle sequences involving capital ships and
fighters, they suffer the problem of being "Americanized". Scenes of violence,
brief nudity, references to WWII, and death were removed because these
episodes were being shown on TV to kids. Hence the dubbed storylines seem to
be very weak. Someday I would love to watch a subtitled version of the TV
episodes to compare with the dubbed episodes.
Mark mentioned that he thought the animation was not that good; that is was
too much like Speed Racer. You have to remember that Space Battleship Yamato
and the first TV series were created back in the 70's and animation has "grown
up" since then.
Please let me know your thoughts about this note and I will try to clarify
what I have stated. (I usually don't get things right the first time.)