The Gundam Timeline Tangle. Making sense of mobile suits....
By Andrew Osmond.
The beginning of 2021 sees Anime Limited release the film Gundam NT and the second half of the series Turn A Gundam. These anime were made nearly two decades apart, but they have similar agendas. Both set out to consolidate the complex Gundam franchise, but in drastically different ways. So, it’s a good time to dive into the gnarly issues of how the Gundam franchise fits together: its multiple calendars, its recurring stories, its conflicting timelines and timescales.
Interview: Rory McFarlane. "...working on Cyber City was definitely one of my personal highlights.".
By Andrew Osmond.
While the score for the Japanese release of Cyber City Oedo 808 (included on the subtitled version of the film) was composed by Kazuhiko “Kazz” Toyama, it was replaced completely on the English-dubbed version. Andrew Osmond talks to Rory McFarlane about how he composed the new score.
Momotaro’s Devil General. Was anime's first English voice-actor a prisoner of war?.
By Jonathan Clements.
He shrugs and stammers, he mumbles and prevaricates. He can't surrender because he is not in command of all the troops, you see. The first English-language voice-actor in anime appears in the final scenes of Momotaro, Sacred Sailors (1945), desperately trying to wave away the demands of the Japanese victors on Devil Island. To this day, nobody knows who he was...
A couple of years ago, a Japanese film historian scoffed at me for suggesting that the voice of the devil general in Sacred Sailors might have been provided by a prisoner of war. The idea, he said, was "preposterous", although since there is ample evidence of many such personnel, I can only assume it's a subject unmentioned in Japanese schoolbooks. And to be fair, unmentioned in English-language schoolbooks, too.
Interview: John Wolskel. "You could do Devilman in a day...".
By Andrew Osmond.
The decidedly colourful English dub for Cyber City Oedo 808 was adapted by John Wolskel. He adapted several other anime titles for Manga Entertainment as well, often “in-your-face” actioners where Wolskel was encouraged to make the dialogue as edgy (and sweary) as possible. In this interview with Andrew Osmond, Wolskel remembers how a vampiric motorbike led him into working for Manga Entertainment, and into the most lurid excesses of anime…
Books: Cooking with Ghibli. Watch anime. Make dinner. Learn French..
By Helen McCarthy.
Les Recettes des Films du Studio Ghibli by cook Minh-tri Vo, with photos by Apolline Cartier and film research by Claire-France Thevenon, is out now from Ynnis Editions in France, just in time for your New Year’s Resolution to…. cook a bunch of dishes inspired by Studio Ghibli films, while practising French.
This cheerful paperback entices Studio Ghibli aficionados into the kitchen to re-create meals seen onscreen. It presents some challenges, not least linguistic. My schoolgirl French was reassuringly equal to the challenge, although anyone whose curriculum didn’t include la cuisine might also need a dictionary for help with some kitchen terms.