Forum - View topicPile of Shame - California Crisis
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
|
|||
1. It was the 80s. 2. OVA market for original properties is beyond dead. |
||||
|
||||
Ian K
 Posts: 250 |
|
|||
Because gaijin angered the anime kamis by downloading fansubs instead of purchasing DVDs. The kamis saw that the gaijin were ungrateful for their gift of 'japanimation', and refused to give a portion of their worldly possessions to support the labor of the kamis' servants. The kamis then sent a virus called 'moe' into the world. This virus spread through the new animes, corrupting their burning manly passion with perversions of all sorts. The kamis saw their work, and proclaimed it good. "Only when the gaijin have repented of their greed and returned to the true path of capitolism will we restore japanimation to its true passionate glory." - The Book of Desu, Chapter 12 Verses 7-11 *Note: kami means god Back to the matter at hand: I actually found California Crisis' 'bad writing' kind of refreshing. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing I love more than a well-crafted narrative. However, most narratives in anything are bland and uninspired. So if you know you aren't writing the next War and Peace, why bother with them? Why not just say "here's something cool", and to heck with the lame justifications and over-used narrative shortcuts? |
||||
|
||||
|
vincent_vincent
Posts: 31 |
|
|||
|
i find the fact that no one mentioned how cool Miho Fujiwara - Streets are Hot quite disturbing
|
||||
|
||||
Beltane70
 Posts: 4013 |
|
|||
|
I remember hearing about this OVA toward the beginning of my anime collecting, but never got around to seeing it until two years ago or so.
The art style made it a bit difficult to watch since they went a bit overboard with the shading, especially since they seemed to outline what felt like every single shade they used. |
||||
|
||||
|
dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
|
|||
Confirmed to be the 1956 300B: 
Note the letter "B" at the center of the plaque. |
||||
|
||||
zawa113
 Posts: 7360 |
|
|||
|
Man, I so find 80s anime and manga so freakishly charming. I'm finding myself liking the tropes of the 80s more and more, which is weird as I was born just barely in 1988, so it's not like I really lived through the 80s. But OVAs that are designed to celebrate the 80s in particular tend to be over the top and ridiculous to any form of logic. I also watched Harbor Light Story the other day, and it was a special kind of awful too (seriously, how did no one notice that the boy interest person was clearly a terrorist?) and then save the day with dancing, awesome! It's like, they just don't make things with the 80s brand of self praise anymore, and I miss it. Even on good 80s things, I miss it.
Like I'm thinking back to Megazone 23 Part 1, I quite liked Megazone, and it also had that inexplicable "go be a dancer' thing going on, but then, part of the reveal spoiler[is that they're in a giant spaceship that's clearly stuck in time (the 80s, obviously). When the main guy asks why are we stuck in the 1980s, the answer is basically "the 80s were cool/peaceful"] which kinda made me pause for a moment there, because that was kind of a weird answer. It's like 80s things date themselves like nothing else (well if they clearly take place in the modern 80s or a parallel, so not things like VOTOMs, which date themselves on animation). It's like most things couldn't resist having a touch of 80s in them, like Macross (which I adore). I don't think many 90s things dated themselves as hard, or at least I don't think they did it on purpose. Like Key the Metal Idol from the 90s, main dude works in a VHS rental shop (lol), but I don't think it went out of its way to date itself the way 80s things did. And California Crisis is uber 80s, so I found it to be pretty awful, but charming anyway, though the ending, definitely not worth the pay off. And I would like to see something else animated like that, it was cool. Of course, I'm also re-reading Cipher, which is 80sriffic all on its own (down to the mangaka talking about the Thompson Twins in the 1/4 columns all the time and having a character wear a "Sex Wax" jacket and having people talk about 80s pop culture a hefty amount), but then you see the OVA they based on it, and they tossed out all the story and characters that helped make the manga delicious (in addition to the 80snesS) in favor of injecting as many terrible 80s tropes and covers in there as humanly possible, and it dates itself well beyond hilarious. |
||||
|
||||
enurtsol
 Posts: 14902 |
|
|||
|
I seem to recall seeing a box art that looked something like:
|
||||
|
||||
|
dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
|
|||
Here's a sharper, larger image of the VHS case insert slip: 
|
||||
|
||||
blacotaku1
 Posts: 35 Location: Lexington, SC |
|
|||
Yes! I thought the same. |
||||
|
||||
|
Descent123
|
|
|||
And it even has Phil Collins, OH BOY! 
|
||||
vanfanel
 Posts: 1261 |
|
|||
Thank you! I couldn't have put it better. The 80's was a unique time in Japan and America both, I think. It was a fun time, and at least in the USA we liked ourselves better too, I think. Things weren't perfect, of course, but...I don't know. There was an energy, an optimism and an excitement kind of unique to that time. The cold war was ending, the space shuttle was flying...it felt like the sky was the limit. Then grunge took over in the 90's and everyone got jaded and pessimistic about everything. Boo! But I love old OVAs and movies too that encapsulate those times. It's one of the things I love about Kimagure Orange Road. "Megazone 23" was brought up, and YES! They froze the clock in the 80s. That wasn't nostalgia at work; it was "we love where we are right now." You can get a sense of that in Macross as well. |
||||
|
||||
|
vanfanel
Posts: 1261 |
|
|||
Lovely post. I have nothing to add 
|
||||
|
||||
Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2968 |
|
|||
|
Well,vanfanel. You might not have anything to add but I do. I've yet to see "California Crisis" but I hope with all the publicity this thing has gotten,that someone will bring this to America. It may not have had the research into American life done like "Cipher" had,but it will be interesting to see. It's a little like "Gunsmith Cats,"another OVA that was based on American culture.
I don't know how the anime gods will feel about how some Americans wanting to bring "California Crisis" to this country but they might think say something like this: "Why would any Americans want to see this? Just because an anime doesn't automatically mean it's going to be good. There are far better anime that could be brought to America,including stuff that's set in America. Stuff like 'Cipher' which is in English for heaven's sake! Another really great anime that's set in America is one called 'Legendz,'a 'Pokemon'-type show that would be great for Americans to see." "Another really good anime is called 'Turn A Gundam.' They're so much better than 'California Crisis.' The same people who want to bring this to the United States must be the same people who made 'MD Geist' such a hit. Well,there was one good thing. At least American fans managed to salvage 'Big O' from oblivion so there's at least something good there. We just wish American fans would be a little more choosy over which anime to bring over there." "With 'California Crisis,'there seemed no reason for the chase or the orb thing. Why should this be brought to America? Why? There seems to be be no other reason than to bring an old anime to America that wasn't even very good to begin with. It's just ridiculous and serves no good purpose." That's probably how the anime kami or gods would feel about this subject. |
||||
|
||||
|
belvadeer
|
|
|||
That was an awesome read, though there was no need to put an "s" at the end of kami or anime since both can still be read as plural that way. Regardless, I laughed, thanks for that. X3 |
||||
Toriko36
 Posts: 205 Location: Hoboken, NJ |
|
|||
9800 yen for this 45 minute OVA? Seeing this is amazing. I cannot believe that almost 30 years ago, some people were paying $100 for this. I still remember when I got into Anime and it was $25-30 for 3-4 episodes per VHS. Great article Justin, always a pleasure reading your writing and am eagerly awaiting your next article. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group