The Golden Ani-Versary, 1978: The Year of Leiji Matsumoto

Galaxy Express 999, 1978

Alternate title: In which AJtheFourth attempts to force you to watch Ringing Bell.

Fifty years ago, a little anime titled Tetsuwan Atomu, or Astro Boy, directed by creator Osamu Tezuka, aired on January 1st, 1963. Its popularity marks the beginning of what we now know as the anime industry. To celebrate this Ani-Versary (yes, mind the pun) Geoff Tebbetts of AniMaybe organized an amazing tribute to the past fifty years of anime with various anime writers, researchers, and bloggers picking specific years to cover. I’m honored to be a part of this project, and recently wrote an article on the year 1978 which covers, among many things, Leiji Matsumoto’s Galaxy Express 999 and Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Hayao Miyazaki’s directorial debut in Future Boy Conan, and the most depressing children’s movie ever imagined: Sanrio’s Ringing Bell. Please head over to The Golden Ani-Versary of Anime to read all of the articles. Then watch Ringing Bell and let me know what you think.

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 24 END

“As it turns out, living was a punishment.
I’ve been punished in small doses living as a Takakura.
…But, still, we were together.
We took all the punishments, no matter how small and trivial.
They’re all precious memories.
Because the only reason I felt alive was because you two were there.”

-Himari Takakura, Mawaru Penguindrum, Episode 24

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 23

“I’ve had enough of listening to your bullshit you stupid bitch. Hurry and hand over your rotten, delusional ambition, this ‘Fate Diary’ to that dumbass.”

-The Princess of the Crystal (Momoka Oginome) to Ringo Oginome, Mawaru Penguindrum Episode Five

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 22

"Coming to see you...right now!"

ajthefourth: Towards the end of Revolutionary Girl Utena, director Kunihiko Ikuhara and his writer Yoji Enokido decide to re-introduce the audience to its Greek chorus element, The Shadow Girls, by showing them briefly out from behind their customary screens and shadow puppetry, talking to the main character, Utena Tenjou, in class. The Shadow Girls then proceed to put on a play for Utena and the two other main characters. In doing so, they present what has come before and recontextualize it a bit; setting the stage for the series’ final arc, The End of the World.

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 21

The "Takakura Family" admires the new paint job on their house.

ajthefourth: This episode was a visual feast, especially for anyone who pays any sort of attention to color, color saturation, and basic blocking and storyboarding. As a general rule, we tend to adjust the light/darkness levels on images before putting them into blog posts to make more striking or well-lit images; however, for this part of the post, I feel it necessary to note that I have changed nothing (light/darkness, or color saturation levels) in these images and they prove my point magnificently. This episode was beautiful.

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 19

"I remember now...the person who shared the fruit of fate with me was..."

 “Am I not good enough?”

-Seiya Kou, Sailor Moon: SailorStars

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 18

ajthefourth: Please disregard a few of the speculations I made on Tabuki’s character last week. Although I still see him as partially representing that equalizing sort of attitude that I described from a few interviews in Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, it goes a bit deeper for Tabuki personally. I was wrong in saying that he has completely shut down emotionally, for there was still one thing that could stir Tabuki’s heart: Momoka.

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 17

"The sins of the parent aren't shared by the children."

vucubcaquix: I was honestly a bit at a loss for words for last week’s post. I didn’t dislike it and found it quite funny, but the animation was a bit weak in places and there wasn’t much to visually parse amidst the gags and slapstick. That’s not so for this week. In fact, halfway through I had to remark to my partner how absolutely beautiful some of the compositions for the scenes were. It’s not just the beauty that struck me, but also what’s being communicated through the imagery.

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 11

"Who would've thought the curse from 16 years ago would take this form? What drama, what a fate!" -Masako Natsume

ajthefourth:  Okay, now we’re going to need everyone to take a deep breath, scream, do whatever you need to in order to get over that “HOLY SHIT IKUHARA ACTUALLY WENT THERE ASDGHJKL#*#$^@!!” feeling.  We’ll wait, we had to get over it ourselves after all.

Colloquium: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 10

"I've come to a good stopping point."

ajthefourth: Backtracking a bit, Mawaru Penguindrum‘s cold open this week is dedicated to reminding us that Shouma was hit by a car in episode eight.  Fortunately, Shouma appears to be physically unharmed; however, the consequences of his car accident, and the way that episode nine played with the audience’s perception of Himari’s character cast a very interesting shadow over this tenth episode of the series.