Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Rise of Super Robot Island
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8502 Location: Penguinopolis |
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If it's super robot, my preference is for anything Imagawa does. Giant Robo, Shin Mazinger, Tetsujin 28, G Gundam, he's got a great record.
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Macron One
 Posts: 151 Location: Netherlands |
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Fascinating article, Mr. Toole!
Even though i'm not that much into super robot stuff, i gotta say i do love me some Nadesico and Gekiganger ( even have a Gekiganger III cel ). I'm also going to double-dip on Nadesico because of the remaster and Gekiganger III OVA. I hope however that Rightstuff will consider doing a Blu-Ray release for Nadesico, considering there's already a japanese BD release out there and the fact that Nadesico was one of ADV's bigger hits during it's early days. It may not be quite as well-remembered as EVA, but i suspect it is a title that would still command enough interest to warrant a US Blu-ray release. I agree that it's a pity we don't see many robot anime produced anymore these days. I don't know if this is a valid comparison, but i've always considered super robot anime to be the Japanese equivalent of US TV westerns in as far as they both dominated TV entertainment for so long and to such an extent that they eventually started to be seen as too stale and formulaic, and wore out their welcome. |
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exedore
Posts: 20 |
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The vanishing thing is actually in the Japanese version of Bismark: the villains (can't remember the name now despite owning the show on R2) inhabit vapour bodies that dissolve when shot and free the conscious.
They did cut a LOT of the man on man violence out of the original, though, such as a scene where someone gets kicked in the nuts and another where Bill/Colt interrogates someone via Russian Roulette. The other hilarious thing about the dub is finding all the references to big pop songs of the day in it: it's rare that an episode DOESN'T have a song quip. The dub version was also way more popular in Germany, where the local edition ran ad infinitum in the early days of cable/satellite, and Colt was played by a then-unknown named Christian Tramitz who would go on to be a massive comedy star as part of the bullyparade team and star in films like Der Schuh des Manitu. |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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His easily the king of super robots, he manages to keep the things we love about super robots while putting a new twist on them. Gear Fighter Dendoh and Getter vs Neo Getter are the two super robot series I wish we had got here. From what little I saw of Gear Fighter Dendoh seems awesome, and I have watched the scene of Texas Mack countless times. |
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Generic #757858
 Posts: 1354 |
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Ah, Saber Rider. The show that made me fall in love with awesome giant robots. Really wish we could the original uncut Bismarck, I'd buy that in a heartbeat.
Batarack really does look like the Getter Team got their combinations mixed up 
Yeah, Super Robots really aren't going that strong these days. I did immensely enjoy Mazinkaiser SKL though, wish we'd get more of that. And of course, anything Super Robot related from Imagawa (or Gainax) would be superduper awesome. Aquarion might be worth a glance too. Shin Getter VS Neo Getter is nice, but I much prefer the other two Getter OVAs. Still would buy the DVD, but what I really, desperately need to have finally licensed is GaoGaiGar FINAL. |
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1461 |
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Wow, that's fascinating. I didn't know Saber Rider was the David Hasselhoff of Americanized anime. Back when this show aired here in Brazil, I was really into '80s super sentai like Changeman and Flashman, and while the animation clearly looked Japanese to me, I wondered why Fireball wasn't the team's leader, even though he wore the red suit. Now I know why. |
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3187 |
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I like Zeorymer. Masato and I share the same birthday
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SantaBla
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Nagai had nothing to do with the manga version of Getter Robo Go.
In fact, it was all done by Ishikawa, both scenario and art. The same could be said for the original manga as well. Last edited by SantaBla on Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Wait, Nozomi is re-releasing Nadeisco? When did this news happen, this is the first I've heard of it! But as a show I've always wanted to see, I'll likely be getting it, and it even sounds like this will become the definitive edition. (Ok, checked the page for Nadesico, they announced with Gasaraki back in August. Nozomi seems to do this thing where they announce three or four licenses at once, then trickle them out slowly over the course of a year Gasaraki and Dirty Pair just came out, so soon.....soon)
I feel like I see more shows with giant mecha (like Armored Trooper VOTOMs) then actual super robot shows. Though I did really like the 2004 Tetsujin 28, some of the best $20 I've ever spent over at TRSI. Giant Robo was really good too, another well spent $20 (and the second Ginrei special reminds me of an abridged series, with good guy henchmen considering becoming bad guy henchmen because the bad guys have far better benefits and a 401K) I think when it comes to more modern super robots, I'm all for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which is pretty much a throw back to ridiculously over the top mecha shows as is. It's the sort of show where when one character decides to be genre savvy and combine mecha, everyone goes "can you do that?" then he promptly shoves one robot into another and goes "there, close enough" but then it actually works in a crowning moment of awesome. And then the show is determined to turn it up to 11 with almost every single episode, things can always get more over the top is the lesson. And the laws of physics and probability mean nothing, I can't tell if they mean less to Pinkie Pie or this show sometimes. So yeah, I adore this series, one of my favorites of all time. Still, I keep thinking of series with mecha than ones with ridiculous robots punching stuff, so I keep thinking Macross (well the giant transforming robot was pretty big for the time, but then mecha were never really the focus of the show is what I'm saying). I'm not sure if I'd consider Ryosuke Takahashi stuff to be super robot as it's usually something overly depressing and there are mecha there because dude, mecha are cool (when I first started watching FLAG, I was confused on why there would need to be a mecha there, then I remembered it was Ryosuke Takahashi). I've only seen a little bit of Teknoman (which I couldn't keep watching because of all the puns during combat in the English dub, but I did get the Tekkaman Blade bargain bundle on TRSI recently), but that might fit in. It fit into Tatsunoko vs Capcom just fine (though I wonder if people in personal armor is an entirely different thing, like a subgenre of mecha, although neither Tekkaman Blade nor Karas were wearing armor if you know what I mean) But as tough of a time as I have telling the difference between super robot and just plain mecha, I still like them both, especially if they're older. Also, the term "nerd-catnip", as a cat person, I am totally using this word. |
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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I haven't really sat down to watch any relatively new Super Robot shows after Shin Mazinger Z ended, so yes...I'll be glad to join the Yasuhiro Imagawa appreciation brigade without making much of a fuss in this particular respect.
I don't know if I should bother with Aquarion Evol so I'll wait to hear some final impressions on that, and Mazinkaizer SKL was fairly entertaining...but, in all honesty, it wasn't quite my favorite representation of Mazinger Z or, for that matter, Mazinkaiser itself. Other than that, everything else I could mention that wasn't referenced in the latest article goes way back to the early-to-mid 2000s at most, if we temporarily ignore Gurren Lagann just for the sake of argument. With a couple of exceptions, I did tend to enjoy a lot of the Super Robot stuff that was made around that time (say, Diebuster and maybe even GUNxSWORD or Godannar if you want some less obvious choices). Last edited by nightjuan on Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:32 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2680 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Does that mean Super Robot Island is located somewhere in Delaware? If so then that's awesome, since it's only a state away from me! Anyway, I love these returns to SR Island. Mechander Robo is definitely a show I've been intereted in watching, for much of the same reasons Mike mentioned: The interesting plot idea, the violent manner Mechander takes out the enemies (though Mike forgot to mention the Shark-shaped missiles it shoots from it's feet, the glaives located on the back of its feet, and the flamethrower it shoots from its chest... Yeah, a super robot with a flamethrower!), and I'm interested in seeing how Wako Pro managed to re-use footage in order to make each episode. And, hell, not only did Wako Pro get Okawara to design the mechs, they even got Akira Kamiya to voice Jimmy Orion! Too bad only one episode has been fansubbed... As for the English dub, Mike, there are a couple of places online that seem to be selling bootleg DVDs of the Phillipino English dubbed version. Also, that Tetushin 28 (2004) movie has been fansubbed, Mike, so there's nothing to stop you from watching it. Man, did Dangaioh get shafted for its DVD release; I don't even consider it as existing in this world... I'm a little pissed that Gunbuster got a good DVD release, but Dangaioh never did (not that I hate Gunbuster, because I really like it... But Dangaioh did deserve better). Also, while the whole "Side Kick Wave" thing is fairly infamous, the VHS tapes I have for Dangaioh does feature subs that say "Psychic Wave", so U.S. Renditions did fix that error on re-prints. As for Great Dangaioh, that show really didn't improve much, Mike. The best part of the show were the cool-looking mechs that the new Dangaioh fought, and the Great Dangaioh itself, which only appears in the last episode, looked cool as well. Finally, G Dangaioh does next to nothing to continue the story; you find out what happened to Mia Alice, but G Dangaioh ends with an even less decisive-ending than the original. It's almost as if G was only the second part of a three-part story that we'll never see the end of. I do agree that Shin Getter vs. Neo Getter needs a DVD release over here, and I'd love to see Armageddon & New Getter get re-releases as well. Well, at least Armageddon, since it and Shin vs. Neo got BD releases in Japan, so I'm sure they both look awesome. Finally, if you're looking for more mech anime to talk about next time, Mike, I do want to hear your thoughts on Acrobunch (i.e. Indiana Jones with a super robot), and there's titles like Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Platinumhugen Ordian (i.e. Eva with Norse mythos), Daitarn 3 (i.e. James Bond with a super robot), or even God Mazinger. And, hell, if you're running out of stuff, Mike, you could always starting going into stuff that's mech-ish, like Detonator Orgun or Tekkaman Blade (hey, SRW used them, so I'll count them), or even stuff that uses mechs in a slightly different way, like B't X. I just love Super Robot Island... I'd love to see a convention panel version of this series of articles. |
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rti9
 Posts: 1241 |
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What the hell... Odd final student project. I would add Silverhawks to that list. |
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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I always thought the reason why Shin vs. Neo didn't get picked up here was the whole "Manhattan gets destroyed" thing, not to mention the fact that Jack King's Engrish would be almost impossible to really dub-over, since its more of a vocabulary thing than just slapping a Texas accent on him.
I can't wait to hear you talk about Dendoh, its one of the things that has been on my "must watch" list for a while, but there isn't an applicable English version anywhere, so no go for me... |
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Melanchthon
 Posts: 550 Location: Northwest from Here |
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There was a Japanese Blue-Ray remaster of Nadesico, I've seen it and it is beautiful. I hope Nozomi releases it, it would fit their modus operandi perfectly. //In all honesty, I hate, hate, hate giant robot shows. These shows are the fingernails dragging across the chalkboard of my soul. So you'll can keep these shows, and I'll take the stupid boobie comedies, and let's call it even. |
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ljaesch
Posts: 299 Location: Enumclaw, WA |
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Ah yes... Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. I remember watching that in first-run syndication when I was in junior high.
I actually own the DVD box set, and for me, it was quite a trip to re-watch that series again nearly 20 years later. I agree with Mike that it's easy to tell which scenes were newly animated. I think his screen caps really illustrate the inferior quality of the newly animated material. And there were definitely a number of music references in the show. There was one I caught when I re-watched the episodes in the box set that I hadn't realized was there when I first watched the series as a teenager. In one episode, there's a bounty hunter named Dooley. Since I first watched Saber Rider, I was introduced to the song "Tom Dooley" by The Kingston Trio, and I suspect the character's name was inspired by that song. Like someone else said in this thread, I would love to see an unedited version of the original Bismarck series. Not that Saber Rider was bad, but it's not as good of a series as it could have been. |
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