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.
Books: Japanese Drinking. How "dry" does Dry January have to be...?.
By Shelley Pallis.
Masaaki Watanabe’s anime series Bartender is part of a long tradition of TV shows about smart loners who help others in secret. Its leading man is cut from the same cloth as many a medical maverick, discussed in the same tones of hushed admiration as the trouble-shooting physician Black Jack, as a man with the “glass of the gods,” able to mix the perfect cocktail. Drop into his bespoke establishment, Eden Hall, and bartender Sasakura will be your confessor and psychiatrist. He’ll watch your hands and your face, he’ll talk over your problems, and then he’ll come up with a drink to make your problems go away.
It wasn’t all that long ago that cocktails were regarded as a medicinal pick-me-up, dished out by apothecaries at what might be better describes as the town pharmacy. Bartender reclaims the public house as a form of retreat and therapy, reimagining alcohol not as a poison, but as a medicine. It would surely come as no surprise to the authors of a new book, The Japanese Guide to Healthy Drinking: Advice from a Sake Loving Doctor on How Alcohol Can Be Good For You. Continue Reading
Anime Streaming Guide 2021. The world of anime, from your sofa....
by Chris Perkins .
2020 turned out to be a year none of us are likely to be forgetting in a hurry. But in its final month, news broke that will alter the streaming anime landscape forever. Sony Pictures Television’s Funimation bought their biggest rival, Crunchyroll, from owners AT&T/Warner Media for a deal worth over a billion dollars. This is likely to lead to some big changes in the coming months, but it’s too early to say what exactly they may be. Funimation isn’t likely to spend a billion just to shut their rival down, but we’ll have to see exactly what the future of anime streaming will be. Most obviously, the two will no longer be competing to licence shows, but beyond that, only time will tell.