Henshin Robo Genndyzer (Or, Mike’s Quickie Review of SYM-BIONIC TITAN!)

Going through my referrals, I discovered that the one entry on this blog that always generated a large portion of the weekly hits turned out to be my report of Genndy Tartakovsky’s new series, Sym-Bionic Titan. It wasn’t so much because of it being a hard-hitting article, but rather the wait for its broadcast felt like listening to the first prolonged note of a three-hour opera –you want it to just start already! Thankfully enough, as of Friday night, that first note finally carried into what we came for.

Sym-Bionic Titan finally made its premiere on Cartoon Network, one of the two things worth watching that night (the other being the Star Wars: The Clone Wars season premiere. Screw everything else), and I’ll just tell you right now: It was worth every second of the wait. I posted about it on Facebook straight away, telling my friends “Animation buffs, you will love what they did with the style and backgrounds. Mechaholics, you will love all the homages and nods. Star Blazers[/Yamato] fans, you will cream yourselves at the climax”. Really, that’s the shortest possible way I can best sum up this premiere, but if you want the long-version? Hit the jump.

An Open Question To Plex

Hey there, Plex.

Remember when you guys created Victory Mars or Ryuuseioh? Do you have any recollection of intricacies that ignited the fantasies of the kids everywhere (in Japan)? Because lately, now more than ever, I’m curious as to whether or not you’ve any idea what you’re doing anymore with these Super Sentai mechs. Especially when seeing this latest contraption for Goseiger….

….and realizing that, holy Tezuka, you’ve truly sunk to the bottom of the barrel: You’re actually ripping off of yourselves.

There have been people who believe that Goseiger is just a buffer year for Toei, flying under the radar just enough to make money for next year’s series. That would make sense, given its incredibly bland presentation, but look at Go-Onger‘s utter travesty of mech design, or Shinkenger‘s Samurai Haoh (which ultimately got spammed and took away from my initial excitement in its appearance). This isn’t just a case of bad execution; there’s no challenge anymore. No innovations. Nothing to make them more than lumps of interlocking plastic that you’ll eventually sell off on eBay. The art of Super Sentai mech design has dumbed down.

The sad part isn’t that Plex and Bandai are going to get away with this, nor is it that there’s really nothing I can do about it, save me getting a job within their ranks. It’s the fact that once again, there’s something that used to be creative and awe-inspiring that has been simplified where it didn’t need to be. I know it sounds dramatic, but I do sort of feel bad for the future in that case.

Rather than the inner child who grew up playing with the likes of the Galaxy Mega and Oh-Blocker, it’s the aspiring designer in me that just wants to know, “When the hell is it going to get fun again?”

MECHA MADNESS: VOLTES V Show-Notes

I recently did a bit for Anime82′s Mecha Madness regarding Voltes V, one of my favorite mecha anime of all time. Because there’s a lot of stuff that I feel needs mentioning, I’m doing a show notes page to keep it all in one place. If you’re coming here after the review, hope you enjoyed it! If you haven’t listened yet, what are you doing?! Go listen right now!

Mazin-Follow Up: SKL Thus Far

I’ve been noticing pingbacks to my post from awhile back regarding the initial 2channel rumors about Shin Mazinger, thinking that these are details of the forthcoming Mazinkaiser SKL (Skull) series. Because of my Friday ACE duties on OUSA.com, I’ve been really bad at keeping up with this blog so I figured that while I’ve got a moment, I’d breathe some life into this thing and get down what we DO know about this show.

It’s being produced by Brain Base:
Brain Base was the animation studio responsible for two of the more prolific and highly recommended Dynamic Super Robot OVAS: Shin Getter VS Neo Getter Robo and the original Mazinkaiser series. To date, BEE Media nor any of the team of Shin Mazinger have been revealed as staff. Yes, I know you’re hoping for Imagawa to be involved with this one too but we haven’t heard anything yet. EDIT: No official mention of Brains Base involvement! Three cheers for internet inaccuracy!

It will be set in an alternate reality:
This will be separate from the previous Mazinkaiser series and any other Dynamic Super Robot timeline. That’s not to say that references won’t pop-up. Case in Point: The Silene-esque Aphrodite robot that can be seen behind Kaiser SKL (Should we be calling him Skull!Kaiser?) in the promotional artwork. Speaking of our title mech….

The New Mazinkaiser Will Be Broken:
Aside from the rather intimidating Skull Pilder, Skull!Kaiser will not only have the rather intimidating-looking Ganzantou [lit. "Fang Slash Blade"] sword in the promo art, but his rendition of the Fire Blaster–Mazinkaiser’s “Breast Fire” attack–has a unique twist; the chest plates are in fact two handguns. Now if they can be guns AND use the Fire Blaster attack….yeah, BROKEN.

And that’s about it. There have been rumblings on how the lead character might be the son of Kouji and so on, but not a lot has been backed up. I do want to bring up one thing to keep in mind in regards to everybody disappointed that this isn’t a Shin Mazinger sequel: In the past, whenever it came to the Dynamic Super Robot OVAs of the 90′s, they always tended to be consecutive. When Change! Shin Getter Robo ended, we almost immediately had news of Shin Getter VS Neo Getter Robo. When that ended, we were greeted with news of the first Mazinkaiser series in the final episode. If Brain Base is involved, whose to say that news of Shin Mazinger‘s next great chapter isn’t just waiting in the wings?

In the meanwhile, if you’re looking for a place to keep up with updates, there’s a rather slick Facebook group devoted to finding everything out about Mazinkaiser SKL the moment it comes online. Until then, courage.

Bikkuri-Synchron Maximum!

As if in response to my J9 entry, these Bikkuriman-inspired pics have turned up: