Golden Ani-Versary's Coverage of 2004 is Public! Why Did I Choose 2004, Anyway?

First off, for those who do not recognize this banner, if you're not reading the Golden Ani-Versary blog then you have a lot of reading to do! Thought up by Geoff Tebbets, former reviewer & columnist for the now-defunct Animerica magazine, the blog's purpose is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy's debut on Japanese television by covering each year in detail... With the help of 49 other contributors! Who's helping out? Here's a portion of the list: "Anime Anthropologist" Charles Dunbar, old-school anime blogger Dave Merrill, ANN's Mike Toole, Assistant Prof. Akiko Sugawa-Shimada of Kansai Gaidai University (an honest-to-god Ph.D.!), blogging duo the Reverse Thieves, Anime World Order's Daryl Surat, Patrick Drazen (writer of Anime Explosion: The What? Why? And Wow! Of Japanese Animation), Brian Ruh (formerly of ANN fame), Ani-Gamers' Evan Minto, and that's not even one-fifth of the roster! This is, most likely, the biggest & most ambitious chronicling of anime history in English... EVER! Anyway, each writer takes a year and writes about what made it identifiable: The popular shows, the innovative creators, the notable moments, etc. This has been going on since January, so why wait until now to bring it up? Because my essay is now up, that's why!

When Geoff revealed the idea of this blog, I was on-board as soon as I could send him a message, and there really wasn't any deciding what year I wanted to cover: 2004 was my first choice. Yeah, I could have gone a bit more research-worthy & chosen an earlier year, but I chose 2004 for good reason... In fact, I chose it for numerous reasons.

Kick-Heart: Anime For The (Non-Japanese) People... Really, Really, Weird Anime

If there is one absolute truth it is this: Anime is made for Japanese people. Sure, there are exceptions, but those are because non-Japanese companies are involved. Within the past year, though, that idea has been challenged to an extent. Time of Eve, though made a couple of years ago, used Kickstarter to fund an international home video release of its Movie edit, & even earned enough money to commission at dub done by NYAV Post. Most recently, & still running, is the second episode of Little Witch Academia, which was already going to get made, but is using Kickstarter to add more length to the new episode & already earned more than 2.5x its goal with still slightly over three weeks to go! But everything needs an origin, and for Kickstarted anime that start is Kick-Heart.

On October 1, 2012, anime studio Production I.G. & director Masaaki Yuasa (of Mind Game, Kaiba, & The Tatami Galaxy) announced a Kickstarter program to fully fund a 10-minute anime short about a love-story between two wrestlers, with the legendary Mamoru Oshii acting as a project consultant. It was truly a one-of-a-kind idea: Anime fans funding the creation of an anime, regardless of actual length? It was too good to be true, but over the entire month, the program earned the $150,000 goal in its entirety & even went beyond that, totaling $201,164. With that amount reached, the anime was extended to 12 minutes (the final running time is ~13 minutes), Spanish subtitles would be added to the video release along with English subs, an English dub would be done featuring Richard Epcar (Batou in Ghost in the Shell), & a special "Backer Dub" would be made featuring select backers that could make it to the LA dubbing studio. Well, after some screenings at film festivals earlier this year, Anime Expo a couple of weeks ago, & a short LA theatrical screening this past weekend (they're trying for an Academy Award), the final product has finally become available to everyone who pledged $5 or more via digital download, with those who pledged at least $30 receiving a DVD version a little later (at least $60 for the Blu-Ray). So, now that Kick-Heart is out, was the wait & pledging (I pledged $115, which also gave me a mention on the $100+ Sponsor Credits page) worth it? Or did Masaaki Yuasa do what he does best: Messing with people's minds?

Koukou Butouden Crows: Hello, Rude Boys, Crazy Boys, & Lonely Boys

When it comes to Japan's "yakii/delinquent" entertainment culture, there's nothing bigger than the world Hiroshi Takahashi created. Though he did some fairly no-name manga in the 1980s, he hit it big in 1990 with Crows, which told the story of the delinquent students in the rough & tough Suzuran High School. Crows ended in 1998 after 26 volumes, and Takahashi kept the series alive with some spin-offs & side-stories until 2002, when debuted a proper sequel called Worst, which is only now ending at 33 volumes. To help show off how foreign the yankii culture is to North America, one only has to look at what we got of Worst. Digital Manga Publishing released the first three volumes in 2004, which didn't require one to know anything of the previous series to enjoy, & the sales were so bad that DMP dropped the series faster than a potato that's on fire. Hell, ANN actually had an entire article back in 2008 solely to explain the appeal of the franchise! Meanwhile in Japan, the franchise, collectively called Crows x Worst, is a national phenomenon comprised of a large amount of manga, three live-action movies directed by Takashi Miike (two Crows Zero prequel movies [the first of which we got via Media Blasters] plus the upcoming Crows Explode movie), a giant line of collectible figures, a few video games (including an ultra-rare beat-em-up for the Sega Saturn that uses a super-deformed look & a recently-announced iOS game), & finally a rare two-episode OVA from 1994 made by Knack, the masters of poorly-made anime... So can you believe that the anime is actually really good?

Harumichi Bouya is the new transfer student coming to Suzuran High School, nicknamed the "School of Crows" because of the jet-black school outfit & the fact that all of the students are hated delinquents. Harumichi quickly becomes friends with Yasuo Yasuda, a small & weak boy who is easily preyed upon by the large Akutsu. Though Harumichi has no interest in the existing gang wars in Suzuran to determine who can lead the school as a unified group, a feat that has never been done in the history of the school, he still gets involved when his beastly power in fighting attracts the attention of Hideto Bandou, who leads a division of a motorcycle gang called The Front of Armament.

The Daisuki Deluge: Underlooked Anime That Deserve The Chance Part 5: Nihon Ad Systems

We've finally made it... It's the end of "The Daisuki Deluge"! This series of posts easily took a month that was lacking in posts & turned it into one of the busiest months for the blog, since my first two months. Anyway, last on the chopping block is NAS, which is short for Nihon Ad Systems (the "Ad" itself is short for "Animation Development"). Much like Aniplex, until 2005, they don't do animation themselves, but they are involved in the production of titles, & therefore they have the main rights over some anime. Overall, NAS doesn't have a big list of titles in general, though there are some noticeable ones, like Kuroko's Basketball, Ginga e Kickoff!! (i.e. the sports anime from Spring 2012 that CrunchyRoll didn't pick up), Crayon Shin-chan, Akazukin Cha Cha, Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Medarot (a.k.a. Medabots), Full Moon wo Sagashite, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Series, Bomberman Jetters, cultural icon Doraemon, & even non-anime titles like Kamen Rider Wizard... But, naturally, none of those titles were listed on the surveys! Instead, NAS listed exactly five titles on the surveys (not even six!) so unlike the other companies I covered, where I chose the titles that personally interested me, I'll instead just be covering all the titles NAS is (presently) willing to offer to Daisuki at some point or another.

WARNING: NAS uses really small images!

The Daisuki Deluge: Underlooked Anime That Deserve The Chance Part 4: Aniplex

Toei, TMS, & Sunrise may be the only animation studios supporting Daisuki, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any more anime to choose from. Sure, those three studios are big enough to have the main rights behind their own shows, but for many other studios those rights belong to other production studios, and probably the biggest one of them all right now is Aniplex. Originally called Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) Music Publishing Inc., before changing to SPE Visual Works Inc. & then Sony Music Entertainment (SME) Visual Works Inc., Aniplex handles the planning, production, & distribution of any & all anime that Sony Music Entertainment Japan is involved in. The company is so successful that, in 2005, they opened up their own animation studio, A-1 Pictures, & opened a North American division, Aniplex of America. Nowadays, Aniplex of America is known for, essentially, doing what Bandai Visual USA did in terms of releasing anime in North America with Japanese Region 2 DVD & BD pricing... But they are able to actually make money with this method! Anyway, out of what Aniplex is willing to offer for Daisuki, most of it is either already available on DVD/BD or, at the very least, can be watched via streaming; that makes me unwilling to list titles like 009-1 & Nerima Daikon Brothers (i.e. titles that desperately need more appreciation). Luckily, there is an unavailable title every now & then.

If Anime Sols has the works of Osamu Tezuka at their hands via Tezuka Productions, then Daisuki should be there with Tezuka's compatriot, Shotaro Ishinomori. I've already mentioned 009-1, but another Ishinomori title Aniplex has is 2000-2001's Android Kikaider - The Animation, based on the 70s manga of the same name. Whereas Tezuka's Astro Boy was heavily influenced by Pinocchio, Ishinomori's Kikaider was both Pinocchio as well as a Frankenstein variant, with lead character Jiro being made with the ability to understand the difference between good & evil as well as the concept of being human. The anime adaptation, made by Radix & Studio OX, was most-definitely a dark robot tale, with its 2001-2002 sequel OVA, Kikaider 01, taking some even darker twists. Bandai Entertainment licensed & released Kikaider from 2003-2004, & even got it aired on [adult swim] (where it obviously bombed), but the DVDs are now getting pretty rare & expensive to get a hold of. Also, in September 2003, Japan received a final OVA, Guitar wo Motta Shonen/The Boy with the Guitar - Kikaider vs. Inazuman, which put a much more concise & upbeat ending to the Kikaider anime series. Unfortunately, Bandai licensed the show before this OVA was made, so they were never able to release it, though the complete collection box coincidentally had an open DVD spot left over. It may not be the kind of series for those who want fast-paced action, but Android Kikader could definitely use a second chance now.