Japanese stuff

Don't everybody answer at once.

Quack, Don

Hey, it was the weekend!

The first Japanese toon I remember seeing was Tobor the Eighth Man. I know now that Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion were earlier, but I didn't see them until after Tobor. Gigantor started next, and then Speed Racer. Speed made a huge impact in my neighborhood.

After that it was years before I noticed any more Japanese toons. I seem to recall seeing names like Robotech and Macross and Akira in Bud Plant's catalog in the 80s.

Tobor and Gigantor have been on my list all along, but I hadn't thought of Macross, Robotech and Akira. (Much of what I do here starts with it suddenly occurring to me that such-and-such applies to this work, just as common sense would dictate if I had any.)

Speaking of Gigantor, this doesn't apply directly, but I expect this research will eventually lead me to the sub-genre of Japanese animation where giant robots are controlled by human pilots in the head. ("Mecha", right? From the uncertainty, you can tell I'm, like, really, really into this stuff.)

And that will lead to examing a question I've been wondering about for a while. Is this, like many other areas of cartooning, an area where the original innovator was the great Carl Barks? It's not exactly like they're ignorant of his wonderful work in Japan, or anywhere else. When he died, the hush that fell over the comics industry was world-wide.

Anyway, around 1960 or so (I could look up the exact date, and will when it's time to examine the question for an article, but I'm too lazy to look into it for a mere message board post), he did a story called "The Paul Bunyan Machine", where The Beagle Boys used such a robot in an attempt to glom Uncle Scrooge's money.

Was that the first use of one? I'd like it if it were, because that would give me an excuse to sing his praises, which I'm always glad for a chance to do. Anyone know?

Anyway, thanks for chiming in, Rob. Those are good suggestions. Anyone else?

Quack, Don

I always presumed that the giant robot craze in general was a spinoff of Godzilla and co (Mecha Godzilla being an example). Of course I could be wrong on this.
I don't know much about the genre to confirm Don's theory about Carl Barks innovating mecha, but I have read that most of the classic Japanese animators were influenced by the Disney and Fleicher cartoons.

Anyway, good luck on your research!

Thanks, Red. I'm pretty sure Mecha Godzilla isn't the actual origin of the sub-genre, because a quick check of [url=www.imdb.com]the Internet Movie Data Base[/url] shows 1974 as the date of Gojira Tai Mekagojira (Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla), and surely, it must be older than that.

Or is it? I just don't know.

Anyway, I can sure see the influence of Disney and Fleischer in that stuff. But the good ones, anywhere in the world just about have to be influenced by Disney and Fleischer.

Thanks for posting. The more I find out about this stuff, the better I'll be able to post quality work work about it in the weeks to come.

Quack, Don

I would start with some of the newer stuff to be honest, Naruto is pretty big (I know quite a few people who Naruto cosplay). Ninja scroll is one of the older animes, where i got my name. Ghost in the Shell, Full Metal Alchemist, those two are big as well. Trying to think of more but nothing comes to mind... you can watch all the episodes and movies of Naruto online, I don't have a link handy for you though - just google it.

I will, Tessai. Thanks for the input. I think I'm going to fill in the older stuff first, tho, before getting to the more modern stuff, just as I do with the site as a whole. (I have a general rule against writing up things from the past ten years.) This will ease me into the topic, and hopefully I'll know more about it in general by the time I get to the ones you name.

So many toons, so few brain cells . . .

Quack, Don