Anipages

I'm a little late in wrapping this show up, and other people have written better overviews of the good and bad aspects of the show than I probably can (notably Colony Drop and Analog Housou), but I've just seen the last episode so here are my thoughts.

I'd read the reviews, so I knew what was coming. All of the flashbacks we were presented as gradually building up to some big reveal about Fujiko's past turn out to have been planted in her brain by someone. They weren't Fujiko's memories at all. The whole show was a MacGuffin. Purporting to tell the story of Fujiko's origins, it does no such thing, and closes laughing in your face as the characters ride off into the sunset. Perhaps that is a fitting origin story for characters as protean as the Lupin III characters. There can be no origin story, and every purported origin story should be taken with a grain of salt.

The beauty of Lupin III is that its characters are so malleable. They've been re-invented constantly over the years. Everyone has a different notion of who Lupin really is in terms of his personality and visual rendering. The roundly drawn gentleman thief of Cagliostro couldn't be further from the rubbery, horse-faced schmoozer of Part 3, but both are Lupin. The characters have an amazing resilience to inhabit different personalities and situations, and that is undoubtedly part of the franchise's undying appeal. The Lupin characters here are as different as each previous Lupin III outing has been from its predecessors, but in their own way they are valid.

The problem here is that some of the changes they've made simply don't add up. My initial impression after watching episode 1 was that Zenigata's personality change didn't contribute anything and deadened the character for no reason, and Oscar was a useless add-on. I expected that impression to change as the show progressed. It didn't. Zenigata was never much of a serious opponent to Lupin or Fujiko, and Oscar was nothing more than an annoying concession to female fanservice. Fujiko, the main character, never takes anything like a leading role in her own show. She seems more of a trembling victim most of the time, which I think does her character a disservice.

In a show that was already lacking in a sufficiently strong running story, it seems doubly problematic to not only basically throw the whole story at you in the last episode, but then basically go on to say that everything that happened in the show prior to now was just BS. It comes across as saying to the audience that you're an idiot for having invested in the story and expected things to lead where the storyteller made it seem like it was leading. There's a difference between surprising the audience with an unexpected twist, and simply being capricious and taunting. The ending doesn't satisfy, it merely jerks around spasmodically in a way you didn't expect, then stops. The show had already failed to build any cohesive characters for you to invest in, and the ending doesn't offer any catharsis.

The show was extremely ambitious, and I'm almost willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for that reason. Few shows made these days can lay claim to attempting to go against the grain of the industry the way this show has, and it deserves praise for that. It almost comes across as an anti-moe anime, a morbid deconstuction of the idea of the lolita. With its feminist spin, adult themes and sophisticated writing, it was a more serious-minded and intellectualized Lupin III than has probably ever been seen. Maybe the Lupin III characters weren't enough to support such an experiment, but at the same time, who is to say what the real Lupin III is? There is no one Lupin III. Every Lupin III outing is the product of a particular team of people working at a particular time in anime history, and therefore putting the unique stamp that only they are capable of putting on the characters.

But it seems it was overweeningly ambitious, because the writers were not up to the task of putting the package together in a satisfying way. A haltingly successful deconstruction of narrative more tantalizing than convincing, it fell short as good storytelling. They clearly attempted to divide the story up over the allocated 13-episode span in a way that would provide variety and unpredictability and maintain suspense, with a different character highlighted early on, an action episode here and a story episode there, and the story gradually unfolding throughout. But the narrative merely wound up feeling disjointed and random and lacking in a cohesive central thread, and the story was not enough to support a whole series, as it could not be told in enough detail to make sense until the very last moment. I completely agree with Analog Housou that this story would have been much better suited to being told in a 90-minute TV special format.

Initially the show seemed to suggest that youthful physical and sexual abuse led to Fujiko's present day personality. It's good that that turned out not to be the case, but on the flipside, we never come away with any insight into Fujiko's personality or past. Fujiko didn't evolve out of the experience into the liberated, confident, sex-hungry lady she is today through the pain of the experience of being controlled by and overcoming her oppressor. She wasn't changed by the whole experience. She was that way to begin with. That is certainly more satisfying and less condescending than what the show seemed to be building towards, but at the same time it obviates the whole point of the story.

Ironically, filler episodes with no relation to the main story like episode 5 turned out to be the most memorable episodes in the series, largely due to the prowess of the team behind that particular episode. The moments of the show that felt best were not when the new characters like Oscar were on the screen, but when the old team dynamics began to fall into place and we could see the old characters we knew and loved beginning to emerge. The show simultaneously failed to work on the merit of its experiments, nor to usurp the musty old elements of the show. It felt like it only begrudgingly allowed the characters to be themselves, and it was those moments that shined.

The quality of the show did little to help. The animation was stolid and lacking in spark for the most part, save a few episodes or scenes where the animation stood up due to a talented person. That said, in view of the fact that they were clearly at a disadvantage in terms of schedule, I would have been willing to overlook the inferior quality of the animation, and judge them by what should have completely been in their control, namely the story. They should have made absolutely sure they had a rock-solid story even if they could not get the schedule to make each episode look perfect. The story should be the foundation. Their failure in this regard is where I can't bring myself to give the show a pass. At the same time, I can't believe that this show had that much less schedule than a show like Kemonozume or Kaiba, also one-season auteur-driven outings, and those shows were far more solid in terms of both animation and storytelling.

The big hype at the beginning of the show was that Takeshi Koike was designing the characters. That turned out to be a huge deception. I and probably others foolishly expected that he would be there behind the animation throughout the series, perhaps the way Kazuto Nakazawa was such a whirlwind force raising the quality of Samurai Champloo throughout the show. That did not turn out to be the case at all, either due to the much slower nature of Takeshi Koike's style or, more likely, because he simply didn't want to invest himself too much in the project for whatever reason. Either he was busy with other work or didn't have much faith in the project. After some work in the first episode, he was absent until the final episode, in which he drew some animation of the slo-mo bullet sequence.

The problem with the failure of the Takeshi Koike promise is that it also spelled out a failure in the animation department in general. Having his name attached led to expectations of extravagant animation, even if not of his hand, to bring alive his character designs, but the character animation was barely functional more often than not. As with many aspects of this project, enlisting Takeshi Koike seems to have been done capriciously and without sufficient thought in terms of what that required in terms of the animation, and whether his designs were appropriate to the limitations of the schedule. Obviously Redline could not have been produced in Fujiko's schedule, so perhaps Koike's efforts would have been futile anyway. Basically, despite them having gotten Takeshi Koike onboard as character designer, the characters didn't feel like his because they were so badly drawn most of the time.

On the visuals side, the show did carve out its own stylistic niche, with its moody compositions, obsessive character hatching, creative flourishes like the silhouette sequence and boat ride in episode 11, and the determinedly hand-drawn feeling of the drawings. I wasn't convinced by some of the decisions, though, especially the hatching, which felt unnecessary to the end. The obsessive depiction of owls of different kinds also felt somewhat self-indulgent and artsy rather than artistic. Aside from the affected pseudo-literary writing, that's my lingering problem with this show: it attempts to be artistic, but winds up being merely sophomorically artsy.

I want to see a Lupin III that's relevant to our world today - that addresses issues of relevance to the very different world we live in. There's no point in wallowing in old-fashioned stories of the kind that were told in the 1970s and 1980s outings. I know that, even though it's those Lupin III outings that I feel worked the best overall. Later Lupin III outings felt like hollow mimicry. At least this show is no half-hearted copy of a template. It's a bold new vision, albeit a deeply flawed one. I like that this show attempted to create a contemporary Lupin III. This show seemed somehow distantly inspired by various edgy topics in today's society - from Bhopal to child trafficking - and for that I appreciate what it tried to do, although I think they were too oblique about it still. While it's not a show I ended up liking, it's a show I very much wanted to like.

I think it's commendable to have such strong women voices as Mariko Okada and Sayo Yamamoto leading the way with a show like this. There have been women directors previously, but this is one of the first shows that was clearly a showcause of an auteur vision rather than merely a workmanlike production in which feminine and personal identity did not play a part. Their personalities come through loud and clear in the material, for good or ill. I can't bring myself to let my overwhelmingly negative opinion of the show overshadow the fact that they clearly put themselves on the line with this show and tried some daring things - some of which succeeded and others didn't - and for that they command respect and show a positive example.

The second-to-last episode begins the descent to the climax on the roller-coaster ride that has been Lupin III: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Appropriately, this episode takes place in a creepy abandoned amusement park, with an extended action scene on a roller-coaster. Fujiko and Zenigata embark on a not-so-fun ride through a funhouse that plays out like a sick version of Disney's It's a Small World ride (the holiday season display in particular appears to have been directly copied), replete with creepy children's choirs, replaying through imaginatively twisted imagery the disturbing history of Fujiko.

The episode is full of reveals and explanations, without quite making everything clear. Some things we could piece together without being told: Fujiko tried to kill the tattoo girl because she was being controlled by someone else, as Fujiko had been, and Fujiko wanted to 'kill her own past'. Others are news to me: The experimental drug research was not limited to Fujiko but also involved kidnapping little girls the world over. Fujiko gives Zenigata the key to linking a recent string of disappearances around the world. All the players are present in the same episode for the first time - Lupin, Goemon, Jigen, Zenigata and Fujiko. My problem with the show is that it doesn't really have a story; it just teases you for 10 episodes and then tells you what happened at the end, rather than providing a story that unfolds throughout the show.

I appreciate that the show is attempting to create a heady and edgy mixture of blunt sexuality, dark imagery and psychological drama aimed at adult viewers, and it's great to have a show that is at least attempting to do something sophisticated and smart in anime. It's one of the few Lupin shows that is genuinely for adults. But something that turns me off about it is the way the show rubs your face in the anguish, cruelty and masochism, for example the gag about the doll that screams 'More!' as it's being shot, rather than being a little more subtle about it.

The strange thing about the story to me is that, even as they're revealing things gradually, and you begin to understand the pieces of the puzzle, it's still hard to make sense of it in your head. It remains a blur, rather than feeling like it at comes into focus. It feels like needlessly confusing and jumbled storytelling.

When Jigen comments that this whole thing has nothing to do with him, and asks why he has to be involved, Lupin comments that he and Jigen are nothing but unwitting cast members pulled into the story of Fujiko Mine. Meaning to say, all of the later stories would not exist if it weren't for this story of Fujiko.

The episode is satisfying due to the storyboard by Yokoyama Akitoshi, which makes the rather jumbled storytelling clear while watching, and switches seamlessly between drama, action and visual storytelling. I particularly liked some of the background drawings like the drawing of the mansion pictured above. Perhaps they had reference material, but if not, it's an impressively creative design. The whole funhouse scene had a lot of nice visuals. It was a clever way of representing Fujiko's history, with the three stages of Fujiko's growth from infancy to adolescence to adulthood embodied by the different dolls of the funhouse. Overall the episode created a dense narrative texture that is impressive for being so layered. The scene with the tickets was pretty funny.

The animation was slightly stronger than usual, but still uneven. There were several surprise faces - Masaaki Yuasa and Hiroyuki Imaishi and other talented names like Osamu Nabeshima, Hiroshi Shimizu and Yoshio Mizumura. There was even Hirotoshi Takaya as one of the four co-sakkans under the four sakkans. On top of having no less than 8 sakkans, there was a slew of seconds, showing that right down to the end it was a battle. Imaishi's scene was patently obvious - falling into the water - as was Yuasa's - the dolls with huge boobs. Lupin running down the building reminded a bit of the scene in Cagliostro where Lupin runs vertically down a wall to save Clarissa as she's falling. The whole scene on the roller coaster prior to Imaishi's scene was also pretty nice.

Fujiko goes on a spree impersonating Lupin, Lupin cuts himself shaving, and Oscar dreams of wedding dresses. That, and lots and lots of owl men.

This episode is devoted to exploring Oscar's character with a story about how he impersonates Fujiko in an attempt to get Zenigata to try to kill Fujiko. Why he has a vendetta against the "spitpot" I'm not exactly sure, other than that she slept with his heartthrob Zenigata. A little bit of back story is finally revealed about the relationship between Oscar and Zenigata, but it feels like too little too late. The character remains just as annoying and misplaced as before, with his overplayed melodramatic screaming and shouting that don't make any sense and ridiculous costume that doesn't look like a regulation police uniform to me. (high heels?) The writers may be telling a very deep and powerful story through Oscar and Fujiko, but it's too bad they forgot to let us in on what it is.

It feels completely arbitrary how one of the side-characters will without fail be absent. This time Goemon and Lupin were there so Jigen had to be absent even though he and Lupin seemed to have formed a pretty close relationship already by the time of the previous episodes. Goemon's and Lupin's scenes were reminiscent of the old show, with Goemon going around splitting things and Lupin defusing a bomb, and wound up being the parts of the episode that were the most fun to watch, which is to say the least annoying. The shot where Goemon buys a falafel right before Lupin does the same was fun, reminding that they still haven't met each other. The odd thing is that Fujiko doesn't play a very big part in her own show. She's either absent or zoned out and doesn't do anything a lot of the time other than have flashbacks.

They're obviously trying to do something very postmodern with the schtick about the owl-men observing Fujiko as if they were the author of a story observing the character whose story they were writing, but it is done so repetitively without any clear meaning that it just comes across as a pretentious attempt to be artsy and sophisticated. Scenes such as the infant Fujiko being electroshocked in a room full of stuffed animals are clearly meant to, well, shock, but they occur over and over without us understanding the context, so they have no impact other than to seem like self-indulgence for shock effect on the part of the writers.

The episode was fairly competently directed and interesting otherwise, even with a cute little section done in Michel Ocelot cutout style explaining how Oscar planned to steal the wedding dress. Whoever storyboarded and directed the episode decided to use a silly pen name, so I don't know who it was. The storyboarder was 袋小路ピーチク and the co-director was 梟小路パーチク, which is a pun that's hard to translate, but basically involves cul de sac, owl, and the onomotopoeia for a bird's chirping - which is an obvious reference to the line in the episode where Oscar sits down on the stairs in despair when cornered by the owl men and asks them, "Go on, chirp away!" Clearly this suggests the point of this episode - about exploring how Oscar came to feel cornered.

The episode also featured another person using a pen name, Hiromichi Kojinanokuni, which is Tomonori Kogawa of all people. He has apparently gotten a second wind after an extended period away from the front lines and now does lots of animation on various TV shows using pen names. I'm curious what part he did, although I'm sure his style is nothing like what it used to be during the days of Ideon and Xabungle.

Another person present was Kaichiro Terada, whom I presume animated the water effects during the bridge scene at the beginning and the smoke effects during the tiara scene. I like his effects work. Motohashi Hideyuki was again present.

"The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk" - Hegel

Philosophical musings and trippy imagery are the order of the day in this episode, which is a mindf*** and a half. This episode is also the best in the series so far in my opinion. Too many of the previous episodes have been either side-stories which although fun seemed merely to be biding time, or else hobbled by weak directing or animation. This episode didn't have fantastic animation per se, but it felt strong overall in every respect - directing, script and animation - and most saliently, it finally did what this series should have done a lot sooner, and that's dig into the meat of the show's hinted-at running story.

After so many coy hints in previous episodes, this time clear revelations are made about what the deal is with the owl-men and Fujiko's flashbacks. It's still impossible to piece everything together clearly, but for the first time in the series you come away feeling like what you're seeing makes sense - not in terms of the story, which is still unfolding, but in terms of the show's identity. The show didn't seem to know who it was much of the time. I feel they waited to long to tip us in on the very basic premise of the show. Instead of doing 9 meandering episodes with little progress in the main story save hints in flashbacks, the whole series should have been devoted the main story. It feels like in this episode, for the first time, they've created an episode squarely focused on the main story of this series, and done it in a way that's entertaining rather than merely clumsily artsy.

This episode was difficult to penetrate, but also undeniably brilliant and engrossing. I think it's the most cleverly and methodically constructed episode so far. The script and directing work in sync to create a labyrinth of the mind in which you never know what is real and what is imagined, all while the back story gradually comes into light. The episode teases you about what is real and what is imagined, and how to piece together the confusing information and strange images you're presented, much as Lupin doesn't know whether he's finally woken up to reality or is still dreaming yet another dream within a dream. Your expectations are constantly upturned, and the truth is hidden somewhere within the haze.

The script courtesy of Dai Sato is dense and full of literary allusions and quotes and foreign words and witticisms. The storyboard is by Yoshimitsu Ohashi. Ohashi has had a long and prolific career directing and animating dating back to Nadia of the Blue Water. Most recently he directed Sacred Seven. He was also character designer and chief animation director of one of my favorite anime, Green Legend Ran.

Ohashi's storyboard does a fantastic job putting Dai Sato's script into dramatic form and playing off the allusions and hidden meanings in the script. Every moment seems to drip significance both visually and verbally in a complex cross-hatching. A butterfly drifting across the screen at a certain moment echoes something in the script on the tip of our understanding. The episode has many striking images such as the candyland of the infant Fujiko, Lupin transpierced by an owl, and the actual photos of flowers that litter the episode. (Mixing in live action bits at significant moments is a tactic used previously in Kemonozume.)

With its references to arcane literary, philosophical and mythological figures and foreign words from Minerva and Glaucos to Hegel and memento mori and Fräulein Eule, this episode is ripe for analysis. It downright begs the audience to (try to) deconstruct its various hidden meanings. There's also a fascinating repetition of images and words throughout the episodes, such as the butterfly that appears at various moments, and the repetition of the word Fräulein Eule. It's a great script and impressive in a different way from Dai Sato's already impressive script for episode 7, showing Sato Dai's versatility.

At a more basic level, it was nice to see Lupin finally given a big role, and the interaction with Zenigata was satisfying, especially the surprise moment where right as they're facing one another off, they're attacked and wind up having to join forces. The only disappointment is that none of the other side-characters were present. It seems to be policy in this series that only two or so of the main characters are present in each episode, never the whole gang together.

Incidentally, in terms of the animation, there's one lovely bit of animation at the point I mentioned above where the masked men leap up from the flowers and blast away at Zenigata and Lupin with machine guns. I assume this must have been animated by Shin Itagaki. I wish the whole show moved like that scene. Other notable animators in the episode included Hideyuki Motohashi and Kenichi Shima. Kenichi Shima is a youngish animator about whom I don't know much other than that he was involved in Tatami Galaxy, Redline and Brave Story - as well as this cool little vid with music by Satoshi Murai. He just seems like an animator worth keeping an eye on for some reason. (What a coincidence I singled him out - I just noticed he is the animation director of the next Fujiko episode.)

After Armor Trooper Votoms (1983-1984), Ryosuke Takahashi continued making robot shows at Sunrise, although from what I've seen none of them were quite the same as Votoms and tended to adhere more closely to the Sunrise robot template. The next show he did after Votoms was Panzer World Galient (1984-1985), which seems to mix fantasy with sci-fi. Then came SPT Layzner (1985-1986). I just had a chance to watch Layzner for the first time and enjoyed it, though it's very flawed and far from a classic like Votoms.

What Layzner has going for it is some tremendously strong animation from Anime R. Essentially, the animation of Lazyner was provided by three studios: Anime R, Dove and Bebow, in descending order of importance.

Anime R is by far the most important presence on the show. This is perhaps the show with the highest concentration of Anime R animation. 21 out of the show's 38 episodes were entirely (or mostly) animated by Anime R. The opening and ending were animated by Anime R animators Kazuaki Mouri, Toru Yoshida and Fumiko Kishi. The character designer was Anime R founder Moriyasu Taniguchi, who was invited back to design his own characters because of his great work as sakkan on Votoms. Taniguchi would also go on to be character designer of Mellowlink, in which Anime R provided about half of the animation. The other half was provided by Dove.

The story

Layzner is an odd show. I want to like it, but the story is too cliched and too much of a mess, largely due to circumstances beyond the control of the writers and director. When it works, it works well, and comes across as a more realistic version of the alien invasion story. The writing is fairly strong thanks to the sci-fi anime masters Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Yoshitake Suzuki (AKA Fuyunori Gobu), Yasushi Hirano and Tsunehisa Ito. The characters feel individual and the urgency of the situation is convincing. The biggest problem is that it isn't consistent to the initial premise. To be more blunt, SPT Layzner jumps the shark big time. The last half of the show is a classic example of a show jumping the shark. It feels like two shows crammed into one, neither of them very happy about being forced to abide one another.

Part one begins as your typical Sunrise show: An alien army is coming to invade the earth, but a mixed alien-human named Eiji defects from the army to warn the earth of the impending danger. Along the way he saves a group of children visiting the Mars base, and enlists them to pilot giant robots and fight their way back to Earth. Sunrise was apparently so pleased with the setup of Round Vernian Vifam, in which a group of children visiting space one day suddenly find themselves caught in the middle of a war, that they decided to copy it almost verbatim in SPT Layzner. Anime advances by small variations on successful formulae.

The setup is hardly original, and it tested my patience for a while, but eventually I got into it on the strength of the animation and the fact that the story is told in a fairly hard-boiled and no-nonsense way. It proceeds very slowly, meticulously depicting each step of the way as the kids battle their way back to earth. By the time we get to episode 24, the story has gotten fairly interesting, taking on a bit of sociopolitical commentary. The protagonist Eiji is interrogated by a suspicious U.S. army rather than welcomed with open arms as he expected, and a lot of the drama comes across as an angry satire about the atmosphere of international suspicion during the Cold War. The writers do a good job with this material. I was starting to like the show by this point.

Then bam. Right when the story seems poised to finally start coming to a head after such an extended and even plodding setup, suddenly things do a 180. All of the many character interrelation and plot element threads that had been patiently built up and interwoven over the course of two dozen episodes are peremptorily dropped without any warning. Part two begins abruptly after a recap episode in episode 25. Suddenly all the characters are grown up and we're in a post-apocalyptic future in which the earth as been taken over by the aliens and everyone has big hair, shoulder pads and hockey masks straight out of Mad Max, or more relevantly, Fist of the North Star. Masked police go around burning books just like in Farenheit 451. (Oddly, some animator drew Katsuhiro Otomo's Highway Star as one of the books being burned. Otomo's influence apparently extends into the post-invasion future.)

Fist of the North Star is the appropriate comparison. It was airing simultaneously, and was likely copied intentionally. It seems that sales of the kind of toys the show was advertising had begun to drop across the industry, and so at midpoint into the series they decided to completely change the show's story and opt for the popular post-apocalyptic formula in a desperate attempt to increase ratings and hence boost toy sales. The story is now about Eiji leading a resistance against the occupying aliens. It's basically Fist of the North Star meets Gundam, without the exploding heads.

The change in tone and style is so radical and without warning that it's difficult to take the show seriously from this point on. And not long after they begin the second part, suddenly the show gets cancelled, and they have to rush the ending. Part 2 was probably planned as two seasons, but was reduced on short notice to one, so they had to suddenly skip ahead in episode 35 and jump right to the ending in episode 38, without explaining how we got there. The Ideon movie was famously released to complete the story after the TV series was unexpectedly canceled just short of completion. So it went with Layzner. After the show ended, two 60-minute recap OVAs were released (one for part one and one for part two) followed by an OVA telling what happened between episode 37 and 38. Many shows during the ensuing years did the same, but in the OVA rather than theatrical format, and Layzner was one of the first.

If anything, the show is an interesting case study of the way in which forces greater than the director and his staff have historically controlled the length and content of TV anime. Seasons are added and canceled capriciously and on short notice, causing the staff to scramble and come up with ad-hoc solutions. Ironically enough, this sometimes produces a happy ending. The final Ideon movie and final SPT Layzner OVA wound up bringing their stories to a conclusion in better quality than could have been expected within the originally anticipated TV schedule. But it should be remembered that both were made only at the insistence of their directors, who felt compelled to give their audience their rightful catharsis.

Episode 26: Hiroyuki Okiura

Anime R in SPT Layzner

If there's one reason to watch the show despite the story's flaws, it's because Layzner is in a way the summum opus of Anime R.

Moriyasu Taniguchi's characters have never gotten such a grand stage, and they've never been so appealing. Taniguchi's characters are pleasingly stylized, with elongated heads and angular features. This dude in episode 37 is the most extreme character design in the show, but gives a quick sense of his style. I like his designs far more than Norio Shioyama's, which seem bland and old-fashioned. Taniguchi had verve and his characters felt more cutting edge for the time, although he was clearly influenced by Tomonori Kogawa, and by Masami Suda of Fist of the North Star by the time of part 2.

The real star of the show, though, is of course the mecha and the mecha animators. Designed again by Kunio Okawara as in Votoms, the robots are brought alive with energy by the young animators of Anime R. Just about every episode of the show has some pleasing mecha animation, and a handful of the episodes have some of the best mecha animation of the entire period. Layzner is one of the feasts of mecha animation of the 1980s.

Basically the Anime R staff is the same as Votoms, except that everyone has been bumped up a notch in the hierarchy. Toru Yoshida is now a mecha sakkan and Hiroyuki Okiura is now a genga man.

The Anime R episodes of Layzner are split into three teams, each headed by a different animation director, to enable them to cover the whole show:

Sakkan	Key Animators
谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi	逢坂浩司 Hiroshi Osaka 沖浦啓之 Hiroyuki Okiura 山田香 Kaoru Yamada 浜川修二郎 Shujiro Hamakawa
貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida	加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 岩村幸子 Sachiko Iwamura 野中幸 Koh Nonaka 小森高博 Takahiro Komori
村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka	中島美子 Miko Nakajima 山本佐和子 Sawako Yamamoto 黄瀬和哉 Kazuchika Kise 大島康広 Yasuhiro Ohjima

There is some variation in the arrangement early on, but this is the basic arrangement they settled into. There's one strong mecha animator in each group who was usually in charge of the mecha in their team's episodes, with the rest handling the characters: Hiroyuki Okiura under Moriyasu Taniguchi, Toru Yoshida under Fumiko Kishi, and Sawako Yamamoto under Hiromi Muranaka.

Note that, soon after this, the Hiromi Muranaka group split into a separate but affiliated sister studio called Studio Mu. At this point in time the Muranaka team is still credited as Anime R, but Studio Mu has shown up in the inbetweening credits.

Episode 17: Toru Yoshida

Toru Yoshida was involved in episodes 1, 6, 11, 17, 21, 28, 34, 38. He apparently did some of his best work on Galient between Votoms and SPT Layzner, but sadly I skipped over that one, so I'm missing an important piece in the evolution of his style, but I will get to that show eventually. Episode 17 with the unmanned robots attacking the kids on the moon is one of his best episode, with very stylish and exciting mecha drawings and effects. As impressive as Yoshida's work was on Votoms, you can see significant improvement here. The mecha animation is among the most powerful and detailed of the era. I like that by this point Yoshida has gone beyond his Kanada-school influence and developed his own style: more realistic but still extremely exciting and thrilling, with a focus on densely packing the screen with effects and movement.

Sawako Yamamoto was involved in episodes 7, 14, 19, 24, 29, 36. I wasn't familiar with this animator prior to watching Layzner, but she apparently went on to do a lot of mecha work later in her career, a rarity for a female animator. Sawako Yamamoto was the mentor of another of R's many alumni, Asako Nishita, who was one of the more prominent female animators of the 1990s and 2000s. Yamamoto was one of the mecha sakkans on Ryosuke Takahashi's recent Gasaraki, which was apparently his ultimate attempt to do a 'real robot' show and do it right. Episode 36 of Layzner in particular features some great mecha fighting in the streets presumably of Yamamoto's hand. Episode 29, meanwhile, doesn't feature any mecha animation and is all focused on character animation, showcasing what the Mu team was better known for.

Hiroyuki Okiura was involved in episodes 12, 16, 20, 26, 33, 38. He actually acted as mecha sakkan in his episodes from episode 20 onwards even though he is not credited as such. Okiura had similarly actually drawn key animation on Votoms (1983-1984) and Galient (1984-1985) even though he was still being credited with inbetweening. His official debut as a genga-man came on Bismark (1984-1985), in which he drew all of the mecha action scenes in the episodes in which he is credited. So technically Layzner is his sakkan debut, although his official sakkan debut only came with Black Magic M-66 a year later.

Okiura is the star mecha animator of Layzner. If you watch nothing else of the show, Okiura's scenes are worth seeking out on their own merits, especially episode 26. What made people sit up and pay attention still comes through loud and clear almost 30 years later. Even amidst all of the great work by Yoshida et al. on the show, there is something fundamentally different when Okiura's work comes on the screen. First of all, it just moves more. Okiura was inspired by Takashi Nakamura, and his goal was to create the richest and most dense animation he could. Due to the restrictions on the number of drawings (about 6000 in Layzner, still way more than the average episode today), Okiura had to work closely with his fellow animators to calculate the number of drawings in each shot. He had them use less drawings for the character scenes so that he could use more drawings on the mecha scenes. On top of this, the mecha animation feels more realistic in its movement. The movement is more detailed and weighty, and more precisely calculated. Whereas many mecha animators just threw their mecha about in whichever way - whatever looked coolest - Okiura had a patently more methodical way of moving his mecha. The camera angles feel more realistic and have more variety. You already sense that Okiura is one of those animators who animates like a director. Okiura had apparently convinced the director of Bismark to re-storyboard the last episode of Bismark so that it had more action scenes because Okiura felt it did not have enough action. He wanted to be challenged, not given an easy way out.

His work on episode 26 in particular is one of the classics for the ages. His scene starts from the point where Layzner comes out of the water. The maniacal level of detail in the fragments should immediately remind of his mob scene in Akira. I recommend watching some of the other mecha scenes first for comparison purposes so you can see how different Okiura's animation is, but even if you don't, I think it should still come through loud and clear how impressive Okiura's animation is. It was this episode that first revealed his true powers to the world and showed that he had some uncommon skills that surpassed even those of the many other great Anime R animators who inspired and taught him. Episode 33 is also notable for being the only episode with mecha action from start to end. The animation isn't as powerful as episode 26, but the sheer amount of movement packed into the episode is impressive.

The remarkable thing: he was aged only 19 when he worked on Lazyner. He turned 20 during Black Magic M-66. Anime had a lot of early bloomers, but Okiura is one of the most memorable.

Bebow

The other episodes are all decent, with some good animation here and there, but nothing that equals the best R episodes. Bebow's good work was mostly done in the character animation. Bebow handled episodes 23, 32 and 37. Notable names in their episodes include Akihiko Yamashita, Masahiro Yamane and Masanori Shino. Episode 32 was actually Masahiro Yamane's debut. He is one of the best mecha animators of the 1990s, during which time he did a lot of work with Masami Obari on Sunrise 'yuusha' shows, helping define their mecha animation as mecha designer and mecha sakkan. The best Bebow episode is probably episode 32, which features the bad guy you love to hate, Gostero, who seemed to die several times in the series only to keep coming back, hamming it up with a whole episode of his outrageous antics. The drawings all feel patently Bebow, and they show how good they are at drawing the body and face in various poses.

There is one oddball episode in the bunch: episode 15. It was sakkan'd by the Studio Z5 team of Hideyuki Motohashi and Chiharu Sato. It stands out for the more Kanada-style effects work and mecha posing and the way the characters are drawn in a more 'bikei' character style that is obviously the work of Hideyuki Motohashi.

On the directing side of things, the series features episode storyboarding/ directing work by Tetsuro Amino early in his career, prior to debuting as a series director. Other storyboarders/directors include Takashi Imanishi, who I mentioned in my post on Votoms, and Katsuyoshi Yatabe, who went on to direct many of the same Sunrise 'yuusha' shows I mentioned earlier. Toshifumi Takizawa pays a brief surprise visit in episodes 12 and 17 as storyboarder, and as usual, his episodes stand out for their more cinematic feeling. Episode 12 in particular is a very fine Takizawa episode, while in episode 17 the combination of Takizawa's storyboard and Toru Yoshida's fantastic mecha animation makes for riveting viewing. I think the series would have benefited from his more serious style of directing, but obviously he was busy with other projects.

The final OVA

The final OVA is a combination of footage from the last TV episode with new footage interspersed to flesh out the scenes that they had not had enough time to elaborate upon. The character animation appears to have been re-drawn, but the mecha animation was re-used.

For the new bits, there are some impressive mecha action sequences. Okiura surprisingly didn't animate any mecha scenes, although some of the footage he animated for the final TV episode (the part where Layzner is flying through space surrounded by a halo at the very end) was re-used in the OVA. He animated the fistfight in the cylinder. This is because he was too busy at the time working on Black Magic M-66. The mecha sequences were presumably animated primarily by Toru Yoshida, Sawako Yamamoto, Hiroshi Osaka and perhaps some others including Hiroshi Koizumi of Dove. Toru Yoshida is only credited as an animation director alongside Moriyasu Taniguchi and Kishi Fumiko, but this presumably means mecha sakkan.

I'll close by noting that you can see future director and producer Shinichiro Watanabe and Masahiko Minami here in the credits as animation runners. Both started out as runners at Sunrise before evolving in their respective directions.

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Blue Comet SPT Layzner 蒼き流星SPTレイズナー (TV series, 38 eps, 1985-1986)

Storyboard		Director	Sakkan	Key Animators
1	あかい星にて			アニメ・アール Anime R 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 岩村幸子 Sachiko Iwamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida
2	彼の名はエイジ			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 高橋幸治 Koji Takahashi 佐久間信一 Shinichi Sakuma
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino			八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
3	その瞳を信じて			長崎重信 Shigenobu Nagasaki 布告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 杉山東夜美 Mayami Sugiyama 臼田美夫 Yoshio Usuda
川手浩次 Hirotsugu Kawate		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	伊東誠 Makoto Ito
4	心のこしての脱出			谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi 横山健次 Kenji Yokoyama アド・コスモ Ad Cosmo 直井正博 Masahiro Naoi
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino		今西隆志 Takashi Imanishi	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
5	まもられても、なお…			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 高橋幸治 Koji Takahashi 藁谷均 Hitoshi Waratani 遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 山内貴美子 Kimiko Yamauchi
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
6	とり残されて			アニメ・アール Anime R 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 岩村幸子 Sachiko Iwamura
川手浩次 Hirotsugu Kawate		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida
7	血はあかかった			アニメ・アール Anime R 中島美子 Miko Nakajima 山本佐和子 Sawako Yamamoto 黄瀬和哉 Kazuchika Kise
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino			村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka
8	彼の叫びに応えて			寺東克己 Katsumi Terahigashi 佐藤千春 Chiharu Sato 杉山東夜美 Mayami Sugiyama 臼田美夫 Yoshio Usuda
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino		今西隆志 Takashi Imanishi	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
9	生きる道を求めて			長崎重信 Shigenobu Nagasaki 遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 布告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 山内貴美子 Kimiko Yamauchi
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			桜井美知代 Michiyo Sakurai
10	エイジ！？と呼んだ			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 高橋幸治 Koji Takahashi 藁谷均 Hitoshi Waratani
川手浩次 Hirotsugu Kawate		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase 江上潔 Kiyoshi Ekami	八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
11	地球の艦が来た！			アニメ・アール Anime R 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 岩村幸子 Sachiko Iwamura
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino			貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida
12	さよならの赤い星			アニメ・アール Anime R 逢坂浩司 Hiroshi Osaka 沖浦啓之 Hiroyuki Okiura 山田香 Kaoru Yamada 浜川修二郎 Shujiro Hamakawa
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		今西隆志 Takashi Imanishi	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
13	宇宙にむなしく			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 藁谷均 Hitoshi Waratani 佐久間信一 Shinichi Sakuma 中野美佐緒 Misao Nakano 西村誠芳 Nobuyoshi Nishimura
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
14	異星人に囚われて			アニメ・アール Anime R 村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka 中島美子 Miko Nakajima 山本佐和子 Sawako Yamamoto 黄瀬和哉 Kazuchika Kise
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino			村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka
15	蒼き流星となって			遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 寺東克己 Katsumi Terahigashi 佐藤千春 Chiharu Sato 杉山東夜美 Mayami Sugiyama 山内貴美子 Kimiko Yamauchi 臼田美夫 Yoshio Usuda
川手浩次 Hirotsugu Kawate		今西隆志 Takashi Imanishi	本橋秀之 Hideyuki Motohashi 佐藤千春 Chiharu Sato
16	月よ！こたえて			アニメ・アール Anime R 逢坂浩司 Hiroshi Osaka 沖浦啓之 Hiroyuki Okiura 山田香 Kaoru Yamada 浜川修二郎 Shujiro Hamakawa 青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 長崎重信 Shigenobu Nagasaki
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino		江上潔 Kiyoshi Ekami	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
17	群がる殺人機			アニメ・アール Anime R 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 岩村幸子 Sachiko Iwamura
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida
18	そして地球へ			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 藁谷均 Hitoshi Waratani 佐久間信一 Shinichi Sakuma 中野美佐緒 Misao Nakano 西村誠芳 Nobuyoshi Nishimura
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino			八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
19	とどかぬ想い			アニメ・アール Anime R 村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka 中島美子 Miko Nakajima 山本佐和子 Sawako Yamamoto 黄瀬和哉 Kazuchika Kise 遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 杉山東夜美 Mayami Sugiyama 山内貴美子 Kimiko Yamauchi 臼田美夫 Yoshio Usuda
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka
20	レイズナーの怒り			アニメ・アール Anime R 逢坂浩司 Hiroshi Osaka 沖浦啓之 Hiroyuki Okiura 山田香 Kaoru Yamada 浜川修二郎 Shujiro Hamakawa 青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 寺東克己 Katsumi Terahigashi
川手浩次 Hirotsugu Kawate		今西隆志 Takashi Imanishi	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
21	我が名はフォロン			アニメ・アール Anime R 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 岩村幸子 Sachiko Iwamura 長崎重信 Shigenobu Nagasaki 佐藤千春 Chiharu Sato 長谷川浩司 Hiroshi Hasegawa
加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase			貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida
22	フォロンとの対決			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 藁谷均 Hitoshi Waratani 佐久間信一 Shinichi Sakuma 中野美佐緒 Misao Nakano 西村誠芳 Nobuyoshi Nishimura
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino		江上潔 Kiyoshi Ekami	八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
23	奇跡を求めて			ビーボォー Bebow 沢田正人 Masato Sawada 筱雅律 Masanori Shino 南伸一郎 Shinichiro Minami 山下明彦 Akihiko Yamashita 山本正文 Masafumi Yamamoto 遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 寺東克己 Katsumi Terahigashi 佐藤千春 Chiharu Sato 山内貴美子 Kimiko Yamauchi 臼田美夫 Yoshio Usuda
川手浩次 Hirotsugu Kawate		谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe	中村悟 Satoru Nakamura
24	光になったエイジ			アニメ・アール Anime R 村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka 中島美子 Miko Nakajima 山本佐和子 Sawako Yamamoto 黄瀬和哉 Kazuchika Kise スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 藁谷均 Hitoshi Waratani
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino			村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka
25	駆けぬけた宇宙
		高橋良輔 Ryosuke Takahashi
26	時は流れた！			アニメ・アール Anime R 逢坂浩司 Hiroshi Osaka 沖浦啓之 Hiroyuki Okiura 山田香 Kaoru Yamada 浜川修二郎 Shujiro Hamakawa
加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase			谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
27	華麗なるル・カイン			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 藁谷均 Hitoshi Waratani 佐久間信一 Shinichi Sakuma 中野美佐緒 Misao Nakano 西村誠芳 Nobuyoshi Nishimura
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe		江上潔 Kiyoshi Ekami	八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
28	クスコの聖女			アニメ・アール Anime R 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 野中幸 Ko Nonaka
今西隆志 Takashi Imanishi			貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida
29	再会・謎の招待状			アニメ・アール Anime R 村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka 中島美子 Miko Nakajima 山本佐和子 Sawako Yamamoto 黄瀬和哉 Kazuchika Kise 大島康広 Yasuhiro Oshima
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino			村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka
30	ベイブル奪回作戦			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 寺東克己 Katsumi Terahigashi 佐藤千春 Chiharu Sato 杉山東夜美 Mayami Sugiyama 山内貴美子 Kimiko Yamauchi 臼田美夫 Yoshio Usuda
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino		藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
31	仕組まれた聖戦			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 佐久間信一 Shinichi Sakuma 宇津木勇 Isamu Utsuki 阿部和彦 Kazuhiko Abe 山田浩嗣 Hirotsugu Yamada
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
32	ああ、ゴステロ			ビーボォー Bebow 矢木正之 Masayuki Yaki 辻清光 Kiyomitsu Tsuji 筱雅律 Masanori Shino 河上裕 Yutaka Kawakami 山根理宏 Masahiro Yamane 山下明彦 Akihiko Yamashita 佐藤敬一 Keiichi Sato 小曽根正美 Masami Kosone 沢田正人 Masato Sawada
加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase			沢田正人 Masato Sawada
33	死鬼隊の挑戦			アニメ・アール Anime R 逢坂浩司 Hiroshi Osaka 沖浦啓之 Hiroyuki Okiura 山田香 Kaoru Yamada 浜川修二郎 Shujiro Hamakawa
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino		江上潔 Kiyoshi Ekami	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
34	狙われたアンナ			アニメ・アール Anime R 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 野中幸 Ko Nonaka 小森高博 Takahiro Komori
知吹愛弓 Ayumi Tomobuki		今西隆志 Takashi Imanishi	貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi Mecha sakkan: 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida
35	グラドスの刻印			スタジオ・ダブ Studio Dove 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 佐久間信一 Shinichi Sakuma 遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 山内貴美子 Kimiko Yamauchi 臼田美夫 Yoshio Usuda 加藤義貴 Yoshitaka Kato
川手浩次 Hirotsugu Kawate		藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto	八幡正 Tadashi Yahata
36	敵V-MAX発動			アニメ・アール Anime R 村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka 中島美子 Miko Nakajima 山本佐和子 Sawako Yamamoto 黄瀬和哉 Kazuchika Kise 大島康広 Yasuhiro Oshima
網野哲郎 Tetsuro Amino		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	村中博美 Hiromi Muranaka
37	エイジ対ル・カイン			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 寺東克己 Katsumi Terahigashi ビーボォー Bebow 矢木正之 Masayuki Yaki 沢田正人 Masato Sawada 河上裕 Yutaka Kawakami 山根理宏 Masahiro Yamane
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
38	歪む宇宙			アニメ・アール Anime R 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 吉田徹 Toru Yoshida 井上哲 Tetsu Inoue 逢坂浩司 Hiroshi Osaka 山田香 Kaoru Yamada 浜川修二郎 Shujiro Hamakawa
高橋良輔 Ryosuke Takahashi		江上潔 Kiyoshi Ekami	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi Mecha sakkan: 沖浦啓之 Hiroyuki Okiura

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Blue Comet SPT Layzner ACT-III: The Seal 2000
蒼き流星SPTレイズナー ACT-III 刻印2000
(OVA, October 21, 1986)

Director:	高橋良輔	Ryosuke Takahashi
Character Design:	谷口守泰	Moriyasu Taniguchi
Mechanical Design:	大河原邦男	Kunio Okawara
Storyboard:	網野哲郎	Tetsuro Amino
	加瀬充子	Nobuko Kase
Technical Director:	加瀬充子	Nobuko Kase
Animation Directors:	谷口守泰	Moriyasu Taniguchi
	吉田徹	Toru Yoshida
	貴志夫美子	Fumiko Kishi
Key animators:	山田香	Kaoru Yamada
	野中幸	Ko Nonaka
	沖浦啓之	Hiroyuki Okiura
	逢坂浩司	Hiroshi Osaka
	浜川修二郎	Shujiro Hamakawa
	井上哲	Tetsu Inoue
	糸島雅彦	Masahiko Itojima
	佐々木一浩	Kazuhiro Sasaki
	小森高博	Takahiro Komori
	村中博美	Hiromi Muranaka
	中島美子	Miko Nakajima
	山本佐和子	Sawako Yamamoto
	黄瀬和哉	Kazuchika Kise
	大島康広	Yasuhiro Ohshima
	古泉浩司	Hiroshi Koizumi
	西村誠芳	Nobuyoshi Nishimura
	中野美佐緒	Misao Nakano

Lupin and Jigen save a mute tattooed girl from the inexplicable wrath of a possessed Fujiko as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. They're in no rush to disclose the gimmick too quickly, though, and we don't learn much new information in this episode aside from seeing just how deeply disturbed and disturbing a character Fujiko is in this version, seemingly driven mad by her inner demons. The script even makes a joke about how slow the revelation is coming, when Jigen, voicing the audience's impatience, asks Lupin to confess what he knows about Fujiko, but Lupin rejoinders tauntingly in the voice of the writers, "I'm not going to give it away that easily."

Aside from more of the same disturbing flashback sequences, I fairly enjoyed this episode. The whole episode proceeded in the form of an extended action sequence that was fairly well paced and choreographed and entertaining to watch. The production values remained stolid at best, but were probably above average for this series.

Lupin and Jigen got a lot of screentime and exchanged entertaining banter. The dynamic felt good, like in the old Lupin. Their behavior and actions also brought alive their personalities well. The sequence at the beginning with a disheartened Jigen trying and failing to win a prize at the shooting gallery was funny in the spirit of the old Lupin, and the story about the freak show actually being a pretense for a secret auction reminded of a similar setup in an episode in the first series. Not to mention there were several smuggled goods auction plots in the second series. The script was written by main writer Mari Okada.

The only odd thing about the episode was Fujiko, unsurprisingly, who behaved like a bizarre stone-faced zombie the whole time, like a sexy Terminator out to kill the girl for some unknown reason. We never even find out why in the end. The trauma of some kind of sexual or physical assault is hinted to underpin her personality in this show, a serious subject that sits uncomfortably beside the old Lupin gang antics.

The storyboarder was Yoshitomo Yonetani. He's a veteran from the 1980s who started out at Toei and did a lot of work for Shin-Ei, but I'm not very familiar with his work. I haven't seen almost any of his work until this, but in looking him up I read that one of the recurring motifs in his work is foreigners speaking bad Japanese, and what do you know, there are foreigners speaking bad Japanese in this episode. There isn't really any narrative need for that scene to have been there, so it's obviously his trademark that he wanted to insert. Kind of a lame trademark, if you ask me. I like how he managed to create fairly interesting action throughout the episode. The action scene on the gondola was pretty nice. It's a great idea for an action scene. It's just that the scene lacks tension for some reason, perhaps because he didn't process his own storyboard, or because the animation of those scenes isn't very dynamic. I particularly liked how during the chase at the onsen in the second half Lupin is constantly making wisecracks and pulling faces, never taking it all seriously. Also, the avant jazz music complemented this scene very well.

There was one bit of animation that caught my eye. It's where the movement suddenly turns to ones in slo-mo as Lupin, Jigen and the girl run away from Fujiko in the room. It was strangely out of place and unexpected, although Yonetani did storyboard much of the action in this episode using slo-mos. That seems to be his style. Their run down the corridor right afterwards also had a nice feeling to the timing. Yonetani even inserted one more joke about gaijins in Japan during this chase, as the group leaps into a room where a gaijin is dancing with a geisha. This guy really has a weird obsession with making fun of gaijins in Japan. Which I can't really fault him.

There goes my punctual schedule of blogging this series each week. But I'm not going to give up like I did on Denno Coil. I'm going to catch up. There's not much left to go anyway.

The story this time is about a fortune-teller who supposedly can predict the date of a person's death. There have been a few fortune-teller stories in the old shows, and the main character here is a little reminiscent of Pycal from episode 2 of the first show, the famous foe whose magic powers were the product of technological trickery. The nice thing about this episode is that it's a fairly intriguing story, and it manages to involve Lupin and Jigen in addition to Fujiko. I wouldn't say I exactly loved the episode - it was a little slow and the quality was typically low - but at least it was written in a way that forces you to pay close attention.

The thing I liked about this episode is that Lupin was Lupin-like, with his Monkey Delivery Service rescue of Jigen, disguise, comical cooking scene (his gnocci didn't look very appetizing), and the way he sees right through the fortune-teller's tricks and describes various ways of killing someone on a foretold date. Also, starting with this episode Lupin and Jigen seem to begin to warm to each other and develop into their familiar odd couple relationship.

The story was not bad, but I found the script a little confusing. Even after watching it a second time knowing what was about to happen, I was still lost. There were a lot of oblique references to plot points the audience has no way of knowing as of yet, obviously meant to prompt speculation. It feels like they went a little too far into the ellipsis. The scriptwriter is Junji Nishimura, who has been a director all his career. It seems he started writing scripts in the last few years. It's not a bad script, it's just really challenging to follow, partly because so much of what's mentioned you have no way of knowing.

Beginning with this episode, the show is finally bringing the back-story into focus. Only hints have been dropped here and there so far in the flashbacks about what exactly went on in Fujiko's past, but this episode finally reveals the name of the mysterious owl-man character who seems to have done something unwholesome to Fujiko when she was a little girl, and hints at a complicated web of control and manipulation involving the fortune-teller, Fujiko, Lupin and the owl-man. This Fujiko back-story seems to be the whole point of the show, so it feels weird to me that they only drop hints about it stammeringly for 3/4 of the series rather than diving right into it, and finally begin actual storytelling just a few episodes from the ending.

I like that Fujiko has been decisively given a refreshingly more complex personality. She's not an easy character to read. The problem is I find the directing of her personality a little erratic and inconsistent. I think they need to be prepared to follow things through with elaborate detailing of the intricacies of her thought process if they're going to bother to do a radical overhaul. It feels to me like they're skimping on the difficult character writing pretending that they're just being stylish and subtle about it. If Fujiko is to be perfectly OK with cold-bloodedly shooting the guards in the face when there probably wasn't any need for her to do so, which is obviously pretty shocking, then her personality has to have been elaborated in a way that her doing so makes sense. As it is, that scene just comes out of the blue, and passes without any comment by the directing. Even Jigen says he doesn't want to have to pull the trigger unless absolutely necessary. I got a similar feeling of confusion when Oscar, a police officer, casually menaces to kill one of the other officers in an early episode, and the directing treats this as if that were completely normal and acceptable.

The animation was as weak as usual. Sadly, it's clear that a low level of animation is the norm for this series. They must really have had no schedule for this show. At this rate, we'll be lucky if we get one more really well-animated episode.

In the shadow of Gundam, one of the most successful and long-lived of Sunrise's real robot shows has been Armored Trooper Votoms. I finally had the opportunity to watch Votoms for the first time just recently, and find it still holds up very well after all these years, especially as a contrast with the overwrought style of Yoshiyuki Tomino. Where Yoshiyuki Tomino's Gundam is filled with flamboyant intergalatic drama and angst and robotic heroics, Ryosuke Takahashi's Votoms is earthy and dark and anti-heroic.

Watching Votoms made me realize what I found tiresome about Sunrise's shows: they're always full of kids, and the drama is hence full of puerile antics and melodrama. Votoms is refreshing because all of its characters are adults, and the drama is for the most part cool and restrained and intimate rather than grandiose and theatrical. It's one of the great classics of hard-boiled realistic sci-fi in anime.

The protagonist of Votoms is a cold-hearted soldier by trade, not a kid forced against his will into battle. Where the kid protagonists of the various Gundam outings are against war initially but eventually seem to succumb to the temptation of glory and become heroes, the protagonist of Votoms, Chirico Cuvie, is an anti-hero from the outset: a stone-faced soldier with blood on his hands who finds himself most alive in the heat of battle. Rather than the violence-glorifying heroic action of a Star Wars, the world of Votoms seems closer to the inglorious mud and blood of a Vietnam war film like Apocalypse Now. Flag is one of the best anime of recent memory, with its realistic style and believable geopolitical drama, and the roots of the war documentary style of Flag go back to Votoms.

What I like about the show is that it's one of the most original amid the huge crowd of 1980s robot shows. The characters are all adults, and are for the most part relatable without behaving in an unduly exaggerated way. The story is a refreshing change from the cliched Sunrise formula. Rather than being a grandiose space opera filled with philosophical banter, the essence of the show is a small-scale story about the dirty everyday life of soldiers. The eternally defiant protagonist embodies a kind of anarchic heroism out to destroy all hegemony. There is a lot of good animation throughout the show's various outings. It's a pleasure to finally be able to discover this gem of a saga.

The story of Votoms is simple in outline: The mercenary Chirico seeks the truth behind why he was betrayed by his comrades, and eventually this transforms into a quest to discover the truth of his own identity. Many people have written about Votoms in more insightful detail about the show's political overtones and story intricacies than I possibly could, so I'll skip over the details of the story focus on what really interests me, and that's the technique.

Initially broadcast as a one-off TV show from 1983 to 1984, Votoms spawned a nearly overwhelming number of sequels, prequels and offshoots of various lengths and styles, making it a daunting show to dig into, since unlike Gundam most of these actually take place on the same continuum and feature the same characters. I didn't know where to start initially, since a number of the followup OVAs take place before the TV series, but I found it best to go in production order to appreciate how the staff's technique and approach to the material evolved over the years.

The style changes dramatically over the years, since the show has been in production almost continually since 1983 right on down to last year with the most recent outing, Alone Again. Initially it was all hand-drawn, but starting with Pailsen Files in 2007 they switched to using CGI for the robots. This post will focus on everything that was done in the hand-drawn period:

- The TV series (1983-1984)
- The three ensuing one-shot OVAs:
      The Last Red Shoulder (1985)
      Big Battle (1986)
      The Roots of Ambition (1988)
- The 5-episode OVA series The Radiant Heresy (1994-1995)

The only thing I haven't watched from this period is Mellowlink, produced 1988-1989, as it's a side-story not involving Chirico. The CG outings starting with Pailsen Files appear to have been produced by the same team that did Flag.

The animation subcontractors behind Votoms

There are two basic stars of the animation of Votoms: Anime R and Studio Dove. Although other subcontractors worked on the show, these were the two studios whose animators provided the most impressive animation in the series.

In the TV series, Anime R is the real star. Studio Dove is present, but they don't start shining until the later OVAs. The Last Red Shoulder featured good animation from Anime R, Studio Dove, Bebow and Magic Bus. Big Battle and The Roots of Ambition were mostly animated by Studio Dove. Mellowlink was animated by Anime R and Studio Dove. The Radiant Heresy from several years later features a completely different animation staff, so its animation looks and feels distinct within the Votoms saga. The next outing came more than a decade later with Pailsen Files, which had CG mecha.

The escalating quality of the mecha animation in Votoms is a beautiful thing to behold. You can see with each passing year the animators becoming stronger at their craft. Anime R shines in the TV series, Studio Dove shines in the last two one-shot OVAs, and Mellowlink was evenly divided between Anime R and Studio Dove. I have yet to see Mellowlink, but I assume it is the culmination of these respective studios' work on the show.

I've written about Anime R many times in the past (Black Magic M-66, Dragon Slayer, Sukeban Deka), and their work on Votoms is one of their defining moments. It was their work on robot shows like Votoms and then Bismark and SPT Layzner that propelled Osaka-based Anime R to fame as one of the best mecha animation subcontractors in Japan, and THE best animation subcontractor outside of the Tokyo region.

Anime R was one of big supports of Ryosuke Takahashi's Sunrise robot shows. They were involved right from the start with his first 'real robot' show Dougram (1981-1983). They worked on his Votoms (1983-1984), Galient (1984-1985) and SPT Layzner (1985-1986). Incidentally, it was after having proven their mettle on all these Ryosuke Takahashi robot shows that Anime R was called in to work on Black Magic M-66 in 1987.

Founded near the end of the 1970s by Moriyasu Taniguchi 谷口守泰 and Harumi Muranaka 村中博美, the studio initially featured talented animators like Kazuaki Mouri 毛利和昭 and Fumiko Kishi 貴志夫美子 on shows like Ideon and Dougram. It was right around the time of Votoms that many of the names that went on to propel Anime R to fame joined the studio: Hiroyuki Okiura 沖浦啓之, Kazuchika Kise 黄瀬和哉, Hiroshi Osaka 逢坂浩司, Toru Yoshida 吉田徹 and Masahiko Itojima 糸島雅彦. Their work was so impressive that many of these animators left Osaka for Tokyo because they were in such demand. Although Anime R is in the distant past for them, without Anime R we might not have gotten some of our best animators.

The Votoms TV series (1983-1984)

The defining characteristic of the show is of course the unusual mecha. Rather than one-shots like a Gundam, the scope dog in Votoms is a mass-production model. So although some might be customized with different weapons, they're all essentially just mass-production bipedal armed military vehicles. Hence they don't have the heroic nuance of a Gundam. The unique scope design is also quite interesting and refreshing, as I always found robots with faces ludicrous.

This doesn't change the fundamental fact that this show was a commercial to sell robot toys, but at least the robots were a refreshing change from the typical humanoid robots. The various details of the mecha such as the pivoting action and camera lens-inspired eyepiece were clever and made the mecha feel like a military weapon where each part had a practical use, rather than a hero robot whose parts were just there to look cool. The scary-looking infrared goggles the pilots have to wear also added to the impression of utilitarian accuracy in the paraphernalia, not to mention creating a sort of emotional distance appropriate to the more emotionally stark atmosphere.

The irony is that the toys saved the show. Ratings were low, but strong toy sales saved the show from being canceled. I would have thought they wouldn't have sold because they're not the kind of cool toys I wanted as a kid - I loved transforming toys like the Autobots and Transformers.

The TV series is roughly divided into three arcs: episodes 1-13, 14-26, and 28-52. Each arc has a different tone and setting. The first is a Blade Runner-esque story set in a future overrun by motorcycle punks, the second is a Vietnam war movie-style story, and the third is in more of a conventional Sunrise space opera style reminiscent of Ideon.

My favorite by far is the second arc, the Vietnam arc, and that's where I feel the show shows its true potential and intent. I feel like this is what Ryosuke Takahashi really wanted to do with this material. I wish the entire series had been like this arc. The other arcs we've seen done to death in other shows, but there's nothing quite like the Vietnam arc of Votoms in any other anime. Rather than a space opera or post-apocalyptic action movie, it's a realistic and gritty war movie.

Episode 16 I think is the exemplary episode in the Vietnam arc. It tells a story similar to what we've seen in Vietnam war movies like Apocalypse Now, and focuses on the whole guerrilla war aspect in a way that none of the other episodes do sufficiently. The team is going upriver when they run across a small village and decide to investigate. The complexity and pathos of the situation comes through well in this episode, with the locals being brutally threatened with execution by the military outsiders because they're suspected of hiding guerrillas. Episode 21 touches on this again with an incident where they investigate a temple and find it to be an arms stockade. It's in the moments inspired by reality like this that the conflict at issue in this arc comes alive the best.

When I feel the show works its best is when the side-characters are absent and we're focused on Chirico and his army platoon. There are three side-characters who show up on and off throughout the show. I never got used to them and continued to find them immensely distracting and annoying. It's the moments in the show that they were absent, particularly during the Vietnam arc, that I liked the show the best. These characters felt like a mindless concession to the convention of comic relief, when this show didn't need any such thing.

The first arc is my least favorite because the post-apocalyptic situation is cliched and the side-characters are particularly annoying. The last arc building towards the climax starts out somewhat boring, but gets interesting eventually despite feeling like it cops out on being a hard-boiled military series in favor of becoming a grand space opera with supernatural overtones.

The sub-plot involving romantic interest Fiana didn't wreck the atmosphere as I thought it would. I thought their relationship worked rather well, especially in episode 29 where it's just Chirico and Fiana. They made an odd but interesting couple, drawn to one another for a reason that is never entirely made clear, and both equally emotionally distant.

The mecha star of Votoms TV: Toru Yoshida

Toru Yoshida was a mecha/fx animator in episodes 14, 22, 29, 33, 39, 46, and 52

With remarkable consistency, he was responsible for the most exciting mecha animation scenes in the show. Almost every episode that I had singled out as having particularly impressive animation I later discovered to have been of the hand of Toru Yoshida. The reason it wasn't immediately obvious to me was that he is not credited in many of the episodes he worked on.

Toru Yoshida had just begun as an inbetweener at Anime R in 1983 working under Kazuaki Mouri on the gag show Sasuga no Sarutobi. Anime R at the time was divided into two sections: one working on Sarutobi and another working on Votoms. Yoshida wound up being called over to work on the Votoms section because Yoshida had drawn some mecha in Sarutobi and Moriyasu Taniguchi suspected Yoshida might be of more use on Votoms.

Although he is credited as an inbetweener for a few episodes, and receives his first genga credit in episodes 33, 39, 46 and 52, Yoshida in fact drew key animation in several episodes prior to this. He drew uncredited key animation in episodes 14, 22 and 29. I had noted the effects animation in these episodes but couldn't for the life of me figure out who was responsible for it. Later on, I discovered that Yoshida confessed on his personal web site to having drawn key animation uncredited on these episodes, and it dawned on me that it was Yoshida who had drawn virtually all of the parts in the show that struck me as being particularly well animated.

Yoshida started out distinctly a Kanada-school animator in terms of his style of FX, presumably influenced by his mentor Kazuaki Mouri, but quickly developed his own very unique take on FX animation that would go on to influence the likes of Shinya Ohira. He is one of the great FX animators of anime history, one of the pioneers of a quasi-realistic approach to FX leavened by thrilling Kanada-style timing and forms.

Episode 14 features some of the earliest good mecha action work on the show, with an exciting scene in the forest at the end full of zippy movement and lively FX. This was Toru Yoshida's uncredited genga debut. Episode 22 features a great battle scene in the river at the climax. Episode 29 has some nicely drawn mecha in space at the end of the episode, though there isn't much action. The first half of episode 33 features the beautiful smoke FX that Yoshida was so good at. Episode 39 features a good battle in the second half with lots of angular effects and lush smoke. Episode 46 is the climax of the show's animation: it's the biggest bash of good animation in the show. If you only check out one episode for the animation, it's this one. It's packed head to toe with great mecha and fx shots.

Just about the only episode with good animation that I can't attribute to Toru Yoshida is episode 27, the climax of the Vietnam arc. It has a number of very cool shots of flowing smoke as well as nice mecha action. Although Bebow is not credited, this was clearly a Bebow episode going by the staff involved, none of whom was involved in any other episode.

In an interesting side-note, Toru Yoshida was apparently one of the inbetweeners of Daicon IV. Yoshida isn't part of the proto-Gainax group, so I didn't see how he could have gotten involved, but it makes a bit more sense knowing that Daicon IV was made as the opening film of the Japan Science Fiction Convention, which was held in Osaka that year.

The character animation star of Votoms TV: Moriyasu Taniguchi

Taniguchi's Chirico versus the standard Shioyama Chirico

Anime R founder Moriyasu Taniguchi acted as the sakkan on all of the Anime R episodes: 2, 9, 14, 22, 29, 33, 39, 46, and 52.

The remarkable thing is how much Taniguchi's drawings stand out. His episodes are one of the classic examples of how a good sakkan can elevate the quality of an episode. His drawings look very different from the original designs by series designer Norio Shioyama, but the funny thing is, they look better. Taniguchi actually upstaged the character designer. His drawings have a much more sharp and refined look in terms of the facial features, and he even invests his character animation with more subtelty and nuance than the other episodes. The characters look and behave in a more convincing way in Taniguchi's episodes than in any of the others. In many of the other episodes, the characters are quite badly drawn, and their acting and expressions don't match what is happening in the script. It's only under Taniguchi's hand that the characters come alive and become more expressive in a way appropriate to the given situation.

Episode 29 is one of the best episodes in the show, with some of the best Taniguchi drawings in the show. It's a superb episode all-over, probably my favorite in the show due to fantastically moody directing by Masashi Ikeda 池田成 that gives the episode real atmosphere and tension. I wish more of the episodes in the show had felt like this episode. I like that the episode features only the two protagonists. There are no other characters to ruin the atmosphere with hijinx or other distractions. On top of that, there are some Toru Yoshida mecha drawings at the end. Masashi Ikeda went on to become the director of the smash hit Samurai Troopers (again with character designer Norio Shioyama) as well as the latest entry in the Votoms saga from last year, Alone Again.

I sense the influence of Tomonori Kogawa in Taniguchi's drawings in such things as the way the eyes are drawn, and in the way he draws the face when looking up at an angle, something Tomonori Kogawa pioneered in Ideon. His drawings just feel better stylized than Norio Shioyama's. Evidence to how highly Ryosuke Takahashi thought of Taniguchi's work is the fact that Taniguchi sakkan'd the last episode, rather than the character designer, as is normal. The series closes with Taniguchi's radical interpretation of the characters, rather than the original character designer's own drawings. Ryosuke Takahashi wound up coming back to Taniguchi and appointing him character designer a few years later for one of his other triumphs, SPT Layzner, in which Anime R provided a tremendous amount of good animation (alongside Dove). Perhaps in honor of Norio Shioyama's generosity with Taniguchi's liberties on Votoms, Taniguchi apparently refused to act as chief animation director on the show to respect the individuality of the individual sakkans.

The directing star of Votoms TV: Toshifumi Takizawa

In addition to being the "chief episode director", Toshifumi Takizawa 滝沢敏文 drew the storyboard for no less than 13 episodes: 4, 6, 9, 13, 18, 27, 30, 33, 35, 38, 45, 51, and 52.

I wrote about Takizawa extensively before in my posts on Dirty Pair and Crusher Joe. I love his directing style, and Votoms is one of his biggest projects from his Sunrise period.

His work on the TV series comes between his early work on Ideon and his work on Dirty Pair. I'm not sure exactly what the nature of his work consisted in this show, but I presume it to have been something along the line of 'director of the episode directors'; maintaining a consistent tone to the episodes by guiding the episode directors. In the episodes he storyboarded you can clearly see his distinct approach to directing at work even though he did not do the actual processing of any of his episodes. The episodes are full of the focus on visual storytelling and forward momentum that made the last Ideon movie so powerful, not to mention the Dirty Pair and Crusher Joe OVAs.

Takizawa drew the storyboards for the climax of the three arcs of the TV series: 13, 27 and 51. Each of these is a great example of his directing style at its finest. He brings each arc to a conclusion in magnificent form with extended action sequences that unfold largely through visual storytelling without relying excessively on dialogue. Episodes 27 and 51 are particularly impressive in this regard.

Votoms OVA 1: The Last Red Shoulder (1985)

The first of the many OVAs to be released came out just a year after the TV series ended. Chronologically, it takes place between the end of the first arc (the Blade Runner-style Udo arc) and the beginning of the second arc (the Vietnam-style Kumen arc).

Story-wise, this is one of my favorite Votoms outings because it doesn't feature any of the annoying side-characters, and it's exclusively about Chirico and his soldier comrades on a mission. This is the episode where they introduce the character of Pailsen, who played a big role in Chirico's past. He just recently got an extensive prequel OVA series with 12 episodes in Pailsen Files, which chronologically is the earliest outing in the saga. It's all quite confusing to try to organize. Here in The Last Red Shoulder, Chirico and his former war buddies go after Pailsen to kill him for using and then discarding them when they were no longer needed.

This episode features some good action animation in the climax, which is presumably of the hand of Toru Yoshida, who here receives his sole Mecha Animation Director credit in the series. (if you don't count Mellowlink) The animation only credits Anime R as a studio without crediting any of the specific animators. Similarly, the credits list Studio Dove, Bebow and Magic Bus without listing who from these studios was involved. Studio Dove was involved in the TV series and went on to do the animation for the next two OVAs, and its star mecha animators were Hiroshi Koizumi 古泉浩司 and Hitoshi Waratani 藁谷均, so perhaps they were the ones involved here. Perhaps the Bebow animators were those in episode 27.

Unfortunately, the episode was not directed by Toshifumi Takizawa because he was busy directing Dirty Pair, but he would come back with the next OVA. It's not as exciting as the Takizawa-directed episodes, but still quite enjoyable.

The assistant technical director here was Takashi Imanishi 今西隆志, who started out as runner on Votoms. He switched career to directing with this episode, going on to become the technical director of Roots of Ambition, episode storyboarder/director of Mellowlink and finally full-fledged director of Radiant Heresy.

Votoms OVA 2: Big Battle (1986)

In the next OVA outing, Chirico and his sidekicks fight a maniac driving a gigantic tank. Chronologically, this episode depicts the events that transpired between the climax of the third arc of the TV series (the space opera-ish Quent arc) and the cold sleep depicted in the last episode as having taken place a year after the events of the TV series climax.

Takizawa comes back as the storyboarder and director of this episode, so this is probably the most thoroughly Takizawa outing in the whole Votoms saga. The directing is indeed fantastic. The scene where a minute goes by wordlessly as water floods in and the characters hold on for dear life is full of amazing tension, and I love the attention to little details such as where Chirico has to crawl backwards on his back with his shoulder when he's pinned to the floor, or Fiana's aghast reaction when her hand quickly jerks under the control of the machine. Takizawa also meticulously depicts how the time bomb is armed: twist two knobs, press them down, then press a button on the side. The climactic episode of the TV series was also a meticulously detailed depiction of Chirico going around pushing in rods to shut down a massive computer. I also like how when the bad guy gets shot in the head, his cyborg implant deflects the bullet and you can see the metal peeking through his skull.

The animation is really strong throughout, and this time it's not Anime R who's to thank, it's Studio Dove. This perhaps makes sense because Takizawa had since formed a close relationship with Studio Dove during the course of his work on Dirty Pair. Indeed, they provide excellent work here in no way inferior to Anime R. Norio Shioyama's drawings here are also far better than they ever were, and the characters look fantastic as a result, almost reminiscent of the style of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, with great feature definition and more nuanced character acting. It feels like we're finally seeing Norio Shioyama's characters brought alive in a way that does them justice, as opposed to being re-invented through the lens of Moriyasu Taniguchi.

The scene where the protagonists drive up to the big tank are particularly impressive for the amount of detail packed into the shots and the precision with which effects are layered on top of one another. The scene feels very dense visually, with every little element being controlled carefully. It makes for an exciting scene that vividly conveys the speed at which things are happening.

The only problem with this otherwise excellent and supremely entertaining OVA is that it doesn't really feel like what I want to see from Votoms. It's too fun for that. I expect dark, bleak soldier action from Votoms, not the madcap action we're regaled with in this episode. The episode essentially feels more like a Crusher Joe episode than anything. That's not a bad thing per se; it's just different. This is essentially an entertainment side-story rather than a beefy story contributing to chronicling Chirico's past like the previous and next OVAs.

Votoms OVA 3: Roots of Ambition (1988)

The third of the one-shot OVAs following the TV series is chronologically the earliest in the saga. This is the starting point of the whole story. Here we find out how Chirico came to have a vendetta for Pailsen.

This is by far my favorite single outing in the Votoms saga. This OVA pins you to your seat, as well as digging into the nitty gritty of Chirico's sordid past. None of the previous Votoms are quite this bleak and intense. It delivers exactly the kind of story I want to see from Votoms: a hard-boiled story about Chirico and other soldiers told through tight dramaturgy and fierce mecha battles, without silly antics. Hard-boiled indeed, this is by far the bloodiest Votoms outing. Blood and death are depicted here more bluntly than ever before.

The quality is also the best of any of the Votoms OVAs. The animation this time is entirely done by Studio Dove, and this OVA singlehandedly proves that they are one of the criminally underappreciated subcontracting studios of the 1980s. With a mere five animators, they manage to provide a level of quality that is nothing short of stunning. The mecha and effects animation is far more intricate and nuanced than anything before. This is clearly the culmination of Dove's work on Sunrise mecha shows. The mecha animation here would have been the work of Hiroshi Waratani and Koji Takahashi, while in the previous OVA it would have been the work of Hiroshi Waratani and Koizumi Hiroshi. The other Dove animators listed would have done the characters.

By 1988, mecha animation was becoming more and more realistic. It was only a year later in 1989 that Mitsuo Iso drew his groundbreaking realistic animation for the opening scene of War in the Pocket. The speed of the evolution of mecha animation in the 1980s was remarkable. Just a few years earlier this level of detail would have been inconceivable.

Helping to give this amazing animation its impact is the fact that the episode was storyboarded by Toshifumi Takizawa. His storyboard creates a perfect balance between the drama and the episode's thrillingly choreographed action sequences. Takizawa didn't direct the episode; that was done by Takashi Imanishi, whom I mentioned before. This was one of his first steps towards the director's chair. Together they make this episode into a magnificently crafted piece of entertainment.

Votoms OVA series: The Radiant Heresy (1994-1995)

After The Roots of Ambition, the last Votoms outing the Dove and R team worked on would be Mellowlink, but I haven't seen that, so I'll leave that for another time. Several years later, this new 5-episode OVA series came out. This time the staff was pretty much completely different except for the leads of director Ryosuke Takahashi and character designer Norio Shioyama, so this outing feels quite different from everything that came before. There is a lot more connection with the present in terms of the staff. People like Jiro Kanai, Norio Matsumoto, Yutaka Nakamura, Yasushi Muraki, Akitoshi Yokoyama, Masami Goto, Isamu Imakake, Toshihiro Kawamoto and Akihiko Yamashita are all still very active in this or that production today.

Toru Yoshida is another element of continuity. He is the mecha animation director again. A few other Anime R names are scattered throughout the credits, including Takahiro Komori and Fumiko Kishi, while one or two Dove names are also to be seen, but for the most part it's new faces.

As the preceding list indicates, the genga staff is pretty impressive, although the animation isn't the extravaganza this would seem to suggest. The animation is rather strong at some fundamental level even when the animation isn't particularly impressive. I think that's due to one of the most surprising names in the credits: Hisashi Nakayama. None other than Hisashi Mori. He was involved in each episode doing key animation and/or layout assistance. I suspect it's his hand in maintaining the quality of the layouts that gives much of the animation its vague feeling of fundamental strength.

I'm not able to identify his animation with complete certainty this early on, but the scenes with Loccina in episode 3, for example, jumped out at me the first time I saw them, and feel like they might be of his hand. They're my favorite scenes in this series. There's a strange dynamism and roughness to the animation that doesn't look like any other scene in this OVA series. It was great seeing this character brought back from the TV series, as he's one of my favorite characters, and interesting to see him come back in the form of a half-crazed monastic scholar of all things Chirico. The gritty drawings in the scene combine with the gravelly, possessed voice-acting of Banjo Ginga to great effect. Of course, this doesn't jibe with the fact that Mori started out as a mecha animator, so maybe he just handled the mecha scenes. Some of the effects in the first half of episode 2, for example, feel like Mori, as do the gorgeous explosion and flame effects near the end of episode 1.

The character drawings of Chirico and Fiana here are a little disappointing. It feels like after the peak of Big Battle Norio Shioyama never quite managed to draw the characters as impressively again. They feel somewhat bland and expressionless. Some of the side-characters like Loccina are a notable exception.

The battle at the beginning of episode 5 has a really nice timing to it, though I can't pinpoint who it might be. Masami Goto maybe? It's the same with the other episodes. There are nice bits here and there, though it's hard to say which animator in the above list did them as this is still pretty early in most of their careers.

The mecha animation overall doesn't feel like it tops what was achieved by Studio Dove in The Roots of Ambition, even though there are moments were the mecha animation clearly shows a new and more modern take on FX and movement compared to the animation in that 1988 OVA. The animation of the Dove animators and Toru Yoshida just felt good to watch in a way that most of the mecha animation here doesn't, and it was done by way fewer animators.

The story of the episode is fairly interesting. Taking place many years after the events of the TV series, it places Chirico in a world in which he has come to be viewed with something approaching religious fear. The story makes some smart commentary on the political use of religion, a subject Ryosuke Takahashi came back to in Flag, but the directing is somewhat lacking in dynamism and it makes me long for the days of Toshifumi Takizawa's directing. Takashi Imanishi's directing isn't bad per se, it's just a little plodding. Even in the action scenes there's never a feeling of real tension.

The episode does benefit from impressive attention to detail in the spirit of the Sunrise productions of this era, with highly detailed backgrounds and stills of the mecha being packed with far more detail than pre-1990 mecha were.

The story ends on a real downer, I must say, and I wish they hadn't done what they do at the end.

In memoriam Hiroshi Koizumi

I'd like to take a moment to remember Hiroshi Koizumi. He will not be familiar to anyone over here because he died suddenly in 1988 not long after working on Big Battle. He was killed in a freak car accident when a truck rear-ended him while he was stopped at a red light on his motorbike on his way home from work.

Hiroshi Koizumi was one of Studio Dove's great animators, and certainly one of the best mecha animators of the 1980s in Japan. However, due to the fact that he worked at a small subcontractor and died so early into a short career (he only debuted in 1983), even in Japan among animation aficionados he is not very well known, to say nothing of over here.

Koizumi was responsible for drawing no less than 10% of the animation of that classic of mecha space operas, Char's Counterattack. That is an astounding amount of animation by any standard, especially by the standards of such a high-quality film. Apparently much of the climax of the film in this video is his work, including the magnificent hand-to-hand mecha combat at the beginning. He drew many shots in the first half of Five Star Stories, another movie from this era with impressive mecha animation. As the best animator in the studio, he was the only Studio Dove animator working on these two prestigious feature films. His last job was as mecha animation director of episodes 2 and 4 of Mellowlink, although he is not credited as such and only Studio Dove is credited as the mecha animation director for some reason. He was scheduled to be the mecha animation director for each Dove episode.

Here are some links to a few genga drawings by Koizumi that never got used. They were uploaded by Nobuyoshi Nishimura of Studio Dove.
Anna from Layzner
Kei from the Dirty Pair TV series
Doodles on a genga for Ninja Senshi Tobikage

Hiroshi Koizumi works:
Dougram (1981-1983)
Votoms (1983-1984) 8, 12, 18, 20, 23, 28, 31, 35, 41, 45, 49, 51
Dorvack (1983) 31
Vifam (1983) 30
Bismark (1984) 4, 26, 33, 37, 43, 47
El Gaim (1984) 22
Galvion (1984) 14, 21
Galient (1984) 5, 10, 14, 18, 21, 24
Tobikage (1985) 2
Z Gundam (1985) 8, 13, 17
SPT Layzner (1985) 2, 5, 10, 13, 18, 22, 27, 31, 35
Votoms: The Last Red Shoulder (1985)
Dirty Pair TV (1985) 8, 9, 25, 26
ZZ Gundam (1986)
Galient OVA (1986)
Votoms: Big Battle (1986)
El Gaim OVA (1986)
Dead Heat (1986)
Dragnar (1987)
Dirty Pair movie (1987)
City Hunter (1987) 7, 8, 16, 12, 19, 22
Kimagure Orange Road (1987) 5
Mister Ajikko (1988) 33
Gundam: Char's Counterattack (1988)
Mellowlink (1988) Mecha Sakkan 2, 4
Five Star Stories (1988)

I hope this can help in small part to get him some recognition, even if it's a little late after all this time.

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Armored Trooper Votoms 装甲騎兵ボトムズ (TV series, 52 eps, 1983-1984)

Storyboard		Director	Sakkan	Key Animators
1	終戦 War's end			清水恵蔵 Keizo Shimizu 川筋　豊 Yutaka Kawasuji 牟田清司 Seiji Muta
京　春香 Kyo Haruka		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	清水恵蔵、塩山紀生 Keizo Shimizu, Norio Shioyama
2	ウド Udo			上井康宣 Yasunobu Inoue 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 河村佳江 Yoshie Kawamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase
松野達也 Tatsuya Matsuno		知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
3	出会い Encounter			森　安夫 Yasuo Mori 山中英治 Eiji Yamanaka 奥田万里 Mari Okuda
松野達也 Tatsuya Matsuno		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
4	バトリング Battling			布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 加藤誠一 Seiichi Kato
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe	神宮　慧 Hajime Jingu
5	罠 Trap			加藤　茂 Shigeru Kato 多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga 木のプロダクション Kino Production
加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase			上村栄司 Eiji Kamimura
6	素体 Protid			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi	西城　明 Akira Saijo
7	襲撃 Raid			谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa 新田敏夫 Toshio Arata
川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata			谷沢　豊、新田敏夫 Yutaka Tanisawa, Toshio Arata
8	取引 Transaction			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
9	救出 Rescue			上井康宣 Yasunobu Inoue 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 河村佳江 Yoshie Kawamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
10	レッド・ショルダー Red Shoulder			多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga 加藤誠一 Seiichi Kato 金子紀男 Norio Kaneko
知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi			鈴木英二、塩山紀生 Eiji Suzuki, Norio Shioyama
11	逆襲 Counterattack			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa
吉田　浩 Hiroshi Yoshida		桐野克己 Katsumi Kirino	西城　明 Akira Saijo
12	絆 Bonds			布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata
吉田　浩 Hiroshi Yoshida		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	神宮　慧 Hajime Jingu
13	脱出 Escape			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 二宮常雄 Tsuneo Futamiya 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe	鈴木英二、塩山紀生 Eiji Suzuki, Norio Shioyama
14	アッセンブルEX－10 Assemble EX-10			上井康宣 Yasunobu Inoue 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 河村佳江 Yoshie Kawamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase
松野達也 Tatsuya Matsuno		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
15	疑惑 Doubt			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa 奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno
吉田　浩 Hiroshi Yoshida		桐野克己 Katsumi Kirino	西城　明 Akira Saijo
16	掃討 Search and destroy			谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa 新田敏夫 Toshio Arata 金子紀男 Norio Kaneko 笹木寿子 Masako Sasaki
知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi			鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
17	再会 Reunion			多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga 神宮　慧 Kei Jingu 加藤誠一 Seiichi Kato
高橋資祐 Motosuke Takahashi		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	神宮　慧 Hajime Jingu
18	急変 Turn of events			八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura 布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	上村栄司、塩山紀生 Eiji Kamimura, Norio Shioyama
19	思惑 Anticipation			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa 奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno
康村正一 Seiichi Yasumura			西城　明 Akira Saijo
20	フィアナ Fiana			中村プロ Nakamura Pro アニメ・アール Anime R マジックバス Magic Bus 加藤　茂 Shigeru Kato 布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata
-		高橋良輔 Ryosuke Takahashi	塩山紀生 Norio Shioyama
21	遡行 Upstream			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 加藤　茂 Shigeru Kato 笹木寿子 Masako Sasaki 山崎享子 Ryoko Yamazaki 清島孝一郎 Koichiro Kiyoshima
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			鈴木英二、塩山紀生 Eiji Suzuki, Norio Shioyama
22	触発 Contact			上井康宣 Yasunobu Inoue 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 河村佳江 Yoshie Kawamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase
池田　成 Masashi Ikeda		桐野克己 Katsumi Kirino	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
23	錯綜 Complication			八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata 多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga 谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa
知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi			神宮　慧 Hajime Jingu
24	横断 Crossing			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa 奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno
富沢雄三 Tomizawa Yuzo		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	西城　明 Akira Saijo
25	潜入 Infiltration			谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura 布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 神宮　慧 Kei Jingu 金子紀男 Norio Kaneko
加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	上村栄司 Eiji Kamimura
26	肉迫 Closing in			八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata 青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 神宮　慧 Kei Jingu 多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga 福井享子 Ryoko Fukui 清島孝一郎 Koichiro Kiyoshima
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
27	暗転 Turn for the worse			寺東克己 Katsumi Terahigashi 所　智一 Tomokazu Tokoro 矢木正之 Masayuki Yaki 遠藤栄一 Eiichi Endo 坂本英明 Hideaki Sakamoto 詫　祐二 Yuji Tsuge
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi	塩山紀生 Norio Shioyama
28	運命 Destiny			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata 二宮常雄 Tsuneo Futamiya マジックバス Magic Bus アニメ・アール Anime R 中村プロ Nakamura Pro
-		高橋良輔 Ryosuke Takahashi	塩山紀生 Norio Shioyama
29	二人 Two			上井康宣 Yasunobu Inoue 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 河村佳江 Yoshie Kawamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase
池田　成 Masashi Ikeda		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
30	幻影 Illusion			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa 奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		津田義三 Yoshimitsu Tsuda	西城　明 Akira Saijo
31	不可侵宙域 Forbidden zone			布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa スタジオダブ Studio Dove
池田　成 Masashi Ikeda		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
32	イプシロン Ipsilon			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 神宮　慧 Kei Jingu 加藤誠一 Seiichi Kato 多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura 清島孝一郎 Koichiro Kiyoshima 福井享子 Ryoko Fukui
知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi			上村栄司、塩山紀生 Eiji Kamimura, Norio Shioyama
33	対決 Showdown			上井康宣 Yasunobu Inoue 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 河村佳江 Yoshie Kawamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 吉田　徹 Toru Yoshida
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
34	惑星サンサ Planet Sansa			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa 奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno
池田　成 Masashi Ikeda		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	西城　明 Akira Saijo
35	死線 Near death			藁谷　均 Hitoshi Waratani 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		津田義三 Yoshimitsu Tsuda	鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
36	恩讐 Love and hate			神宮　慧 Kei Jingu 谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura
高橋資祐 Motosuke Takahashi		康村正一 Seiichi Yasumura	上村栄司、塩山紀生 Eiji Kamimura, Norio Shioyama
37	虜 Captive			多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga 加藤誠一 Seiichi Kato 青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi
知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi			鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
38	暗闇 Darkness			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西城　明 Akira Saijo 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa 奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	西城　明 Akira Saijo
39	パーフェクト・ソルジャー Perfect Soldier			上井康宣 Yasunobu Inoue 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 河村佳江 Yoshie Kawamura 加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 吉田　徹 Toru Yoshida
池田　成 Masashi Ikeda		谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
40	仲間 Friend			アニメ・アール Anime R 中村プロ Nakamura Pro オールプロダクション All Production
-		高橋良輔 Ryosuke Takahashi	塩山紀生 Norio Shioyama
41	クエント Quent			スタジオダブ Studio Dove 藁谷　均 Hitoshi Waratani 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	八幡　正、塩山紀生 Tadashi Yahata, Norio Shioyama
42	砂漠 Desert			布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura 谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa 福井享子 Ryoko Fukui
津田義三 Yoshimitsu Tsuda		津田義三 Yoshimitsu Tsuda	鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
43	遺産 Legacy			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 神宮　慧 Kei Jingu 木下ゆうき Yuuki Kishita 清島孝一郎 Koichiro Kiyoshima
知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi			鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
44	禁断 Forbidden			中村プロ Nakamura Pro 西沢　晋 Shin Nishizawa 奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno 松下佳弘 Yoshihiro Matsushita 和泉絹子 Masako Izumi 時矢義則 Yoshinori Tokiya
加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase			西城　明 Akira Saijo
45	遭遇 Encounter			スタジオダブ Studio Dove 藁谷　均 Hitoshi Waratani 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi きのプロ Kino Pro 多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe	鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
46	予感 Intuition			加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 吉田　徹 Toru Yoshida 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 糸島雅彦 Masahiko Itojima
池田　成 Masashi Ikeda		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi
47	異変 Fortuity			布　告文 Tsugefumi Nuno 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura 谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa 加藤誠一 Seiichi Kato
津田義三 Yoshimitsu Tsuda		津田義三 Yoshimitsu Tsuda	鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
48	後継者 Successor			奥野浩行 Hiroyuki Okuno 柳沢哲也 Tetsuya Yanagisawa 石田　誠 Makoto Ishida
知吹愛弓 Tomobuki Ayumi			西城　明 Akira Saijo
49	異能者 They of special powers			スタジオダブ Studio Dove 藁谷　均 Hitoshi Waratani 古泉浩司 Hiroshi Koizumi 溝井裕二 Yuji Mizoi 多賀一弘 Kazuhiro Taga
康村正一 Seiichi Yasumura			八幡　正 Tadashi Yahata
50	乱雲 Thunderhead			波戸根良昭 Yoshiaki Hatone 松原徳弘 Norihiro Matsuhara 塚本　篤 Atsushi Tsukamoto 佐々木喜子 Yoshiko Sasaki 貴島優子 Yuko Takashima 河口俊夫 Toshio Kawaguchi 香川　浩 Hiroshi Kagawa
谷田部勝義 Katsuyoshi Yatabe			鈴木英二、塩山紀生 Eiji Suzuki, Norio Shioyama
51	修羅 Battle			青鉢芳信 Yoshinobu Aohachi 神宮　慧 Kei Jingu 上村栄司 Eiji Uemura 谷沢　豊 Yutaka Tanisawa スタジオダブ Studio Dove
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		川端蓮司 Renji Kawabata	鈴木英二 Eiji Suzuki
52	流星 Shooting star			加瀬政広 Masahiro Kase 吉田　徹 Toru Yoshida 貴志夫美子 Fumiko Kishi 糸島雅彦 Masahiko Itojima
滝沢敏文 Toshifumi Takizawa		加瀬充子 Nobuko Kase	谷口守泰 Moriyasu Taniguchi

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The Last Red Shoulder ザ・ラストレッドショルダー (OVA, 54 mins, 1985)

Created by & Director:	高橋良輔	Ryosuke Takahashi
Character Design & Anim. Dir.:	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
Mechanical Animation Director:	吉田徹	Toru Yoshida
Script:	はままさのり	Masanori Hama
Storyboard:	加瀬充子 谷田部勝義	Nobuko Kase Masayoshi Yatabe
Technical Director:	加瀬充子	Nobuko Kase
Assistant Technical Director:	今西隆志	Takashi Imanishi
Key Animation:	アニメアール	Anime R
	スタジオダブ	Studio Dove
	スタジオビーボオ―	Studio Bebow
	マジックバス	Magic Bus
	福井享子	Ryoko Fukui
	清島孝一郎	Koichiro Kiyoshima

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Big Battle ビッグバトル (OVA, 56 mins, 1986)

Created by & Director:	高橋良輔	Ryosuke Takahashi
Character Design & Anim. Dir.:	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
Script:	はままさのり	Masanori Hama
Storyboard & Technical Director:	滝沢敏文	Toshifumi Takizawa
Key Animation:	スタジオ・ダブ	Studio Dove
	西村誠芳	Nobuyoshi Nishimura
	藁谷均	Hitoshi Waratani
	中野美佐緒	Misao Nakano
	佐久間信一	Shinichi Sakuma
	古泉浩司	Hiroshi Koizumi
	服部真奈美	Manami Hattori
	福井享子	Ryoko Fukui
	加藤義貴	Yoshitaka Kato

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Red Soldier Document: The Roots of Ambition レッドショルダードキュメント 野望のルーツ (OVA, 57 mins, 1988)

Director:	高橋良輔	Ryosuke Takahashi
Character Design & Anim. Dir.:	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
Script:	吉川惣司	Soji Yoshikawa
Storyboard:	滝沢敏文	Toshifumi Takizawa
Technical Director:	今西隆志	Takashi Imanishi
Key Animation:	スタジオダブ	Studio Dove
	中野美佐緒	Misao Nakano
	佐久間信一	Shinichi Sakuma
	高橋幸治	Koji Takahashi
	藁谷均	Hitoshi Waratani
	西村誠芳	Nobuyoshi Nishimura

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The Radiant Heresy 赫奕たる異端 (OVA, 5 eps, 25 mins each, 1994-1995)

Created by & Chief Director:	高橋良輔	Ryosuke Takahashi
Director & Storyboard:	今西隆志	Takashi Imanishi
Episode Directors:	原田奈奈 中野頼道 大熊朝秀	Nana Harada Yorimichi Nakano Nobuhide Ookuma (Takashi Imanishi)
Character Design & Anim. Dir.:	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
Assistant A.D.:	横山彰利 (+小林利充	Akitoshi Yokoyama Toshimitsu Kobayashi in ep 2)
Script:	吉川惣司	Soji Yoshikawa
Mechanical Animation Director:	吉田徹	Toru Yoshida
Music:	乾裕樹	Hiroki Inui
Key animation:	(Episode 1)
	阿部邦博	Kunihiro Abe
	村木靖	Yasushi Muraki
	小森高博	Takahiro Komori
	舛館俊秀	Toshihide Masudate
	松本憲生	Norio Matsumoto
	松本文雄	Fumio Matsumoto
	加藤茂	Shigeru Kato
	中野美佐緒	Misao Nakano
	中山久司	Hisashi Nakayama
	馬場俊子	Toshiko Baba
	貴志夫美子	Fumiko Kishi
	スタジオダブ	Studio Dove
	吉田徹	Toru Yoshida
	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
	A.D. help:	小林利充 Toshimitsu Kobayashi
	Layout Assistant: 中山久司 Hisashi Nakayama
	(Episode 2)
	アニメロマン	Anime Roman
	スタジオダブ	Studio Dove
	安藤美行	Miyuki Ando
	金井次郎	Jiro Kanai
	尾形雄二	Yuji Ogata
	加藤茂	Shigeru Kato
	[Chinese names]
	横山彰利	Akitoshi Yokoyama
	中山久司	Hisashi Nakayama
	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
	Layout Assistant: 中山久司 Hisashi Nakayama
	(Episode 3)
	飯野泰造	Taizo Iino
	服部真奈美	Manami Hattori
	加藤茂	Shigeru Kato
	金井次郎	Jiro Kanai
	佐藤修	Osamu Sato
	永田正美	Masami Nagata
	[Chinese names]
	吉田徹	Toru Yoshida
	小林利充	Toshimitsu Kobayashi
	中山久司	Hisashi Nakayama
	中村豊	Yutaka Nakamura
	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
	京都アニ メーション	Kyoto Animation
	(Episode 4)
	服部真奈美	Manami Hattori
	門上洋子	Yoko Kadogami
	馬場俊子	Toshiko Baba
	鵜飼美樹	Miki Ukai
	岡田和久	Kazuhisa Okada
	江原仁	Jin Ehara
	川元利浩	Toshihiro Kawamoto
	入江泰浩	Yasuhiro Irie
	中田雅夫	Masao Nakata
	加藤義貴	Yoshitaka Kato
	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
	横山彰利	Akitoshi Yokoyama
	吉田徹	Toru Yoshida
	小林利充	Toshimitsu Kobayashi
	Layout Assistant: 中山久司 Hisashi Nakayama
	(Episode 5)
	門上洋子	Yoko Kadogami
	馬場俊子	Toshiko Baba
	中野美佐緒	Misao Nakano
	久行宏和	Hirokazu Hisayuki
	金田正彦	Masahiko Kanada
	服部真奈美	Manami Hattori
	加藤義貴	Yoshitaka Kato
	後藤雅己	Masami Goto
	山下明彦	Akihiko Yamashita
	牧野行洋	Yukihiro Makino
	小森高博	Takahiro Komori
	西村貴世	Takase Nishimura
	塩山紀生	Norio Shioyama
	横山彰利	Akitoshi Yokoyama
	吉田徹	Toru Yoshida
	中山久司	Hisashi Nakayama
	鈴木勉	Tsutomu Suzuki
	今掛勇	Isamu Imakake
	[Chinese names]
	アニメアール	Anime R
	スタジオダブ	Studio Dove

Despite mediocre animation and barely functional directing, this was a good episode due to the clever script by Dai Sato. I'd even go so far as to say this is the best episode yet due to the script. I was wondering what had happened with the previous Dai Sato episode, which was a boring trifle, but the man shows that he is still a master with this episode.

Lupin III was a product of the cold war, with its James Bond-inspired sexy spy action and intrigue, and this episode tells an alternative version of one of the pivotal events of the cold war, the Cuban Missile Crisis, complete with Kennedy, Castro and Khruschev lookalikes in analogous roles.

The episode is true to the spirit of the old Lupin III while being smarter and packing much more of a sting. With the old shows I often felt like they were never quite reaching the full potential of the material. When not about bank heists, the stories were often inspired by the real-life geopolitics, but more often than not the satire was blunted in favor of coy and facile slapstick. The writing was never smart or edgy enough.

Dai Sato here writes exactly the kind of story I wished I could have seen in the old shows. I wonder if he might not have been inspired by the recent spate of revolutionary biographical films like The Motorcycle Diaries and Carlos. Without glorifying the revolutionary, he casts a somewhat cynical eye on all the parties. He has the Castro stand-in drop a reference to a Japanese revolutionary who was his inspiration, presumably in reference to the late 19th century revolutionary and leader of the Shinsengumi Toshizo Hijikata, so that Japan winds up retroactively laying claim to the revolution. Classic subversive Dai Sato. Don't forget that Japan had its own red revolutionaries in the 60s with the Asama Sanso Jiken. Too bad he was unable to work in some reference to that.

The story is a bit needlessly convoluted, with several confusing time shifts to explain how Fujiko and Goemon got involved, but the story is full of smart touches and keeps you on the edge of your seat with its recreation of the tension of the Cuban missile crisis.

The revolutionary figure at the head of the story at one point is greeted by a chanting crowd, prompting Fujiko to call him a "rock star", which feels like a commentary on how pop culture today has turned onetime revolutionaries like Che Guevara into nothing more than empty icons on t-shirts. Fujiko asks him what his real motivation is - world revolution or merely the thrill of causing chaos - and his ambiguous answer that he just wants to keep dancing is satisfying for having a human ring rather than sounding like pat propaganda.

Fujiko comments on the hidden motivations of geopolitics of the cold war and beyond in the more cynical and informed voice of a denizen of the post-2000 era when she remarks that the reason for all the interest in the revolution on a puny Caribbean country isn't ideology but rumored oil reserves. The comment clearly is meant to evoke Iraq and inspire a healthy skeptical view of history.

Fujiko plays a fascinating combination of roles here, a regular Cassandra representing in a single individual the conflicting hidden currents of the powers at work behind the scenes. Journalist covering the Cuban revolution on the surface, she was in fact hired to assassinate the pseudo Castro, as we know the US attempted to do, while underneath she has her own motivations that remain tantalizingly murky to the end. This may very well be one of Fujiko's best roles ever.

The only disappointment is that none of the other cast members except Goemon play a role, and Goemon's role is a bit thin and underdeveloped. He seems to have been cast only so that he could serve in the climax. The absence of Lupin and Jigen seems to confirm this - they weren't needed for this story. The climax is admittedly quite brilliant in true Sato Dai fashion. It's the craziest and most fitting thing imaginable for a samurai cutting the missiles in half to solve something as insane as the Cuban missile crisis.

The drawings were weak. There isn't much good to be said about the animation. At some points the drawings were downright bad. Castro's hand was bigger than his head in one of the early shots, and in several other places the animators were clearly having difficulty rendering the character designs. That would have been less of an issue had the sakkans had more schedule to correct the drawings. Koike may draw cool characters, but clearly drawing cool characters is different from good character design, if the object of character design is to facilitate drawing by the range of drawing skill levels likely to be encountered by a given production.

At the very end Fujiko yet again bares her inhumanly firm tits for seemingly no reason whatsoever, which seems symptomatic of why the nudity bothers me - not because I don't like nudity as much as the next guy, but because it just doesn't make any sense and seems thrown in for no reason but to meet some kind of tit quota per episode.

Don't watch this episode with grandma.

Episode 5 was an anomaly in this show - a straightforward but cleverly written caper unfolding through dynamic action, in the spirit of the old Lupin III. That's not what this show is really about. Episode 6 is what this show is really about. To my eyes, this episode is the most dense expression yet of the show's purpose.

It's doing the show a disservice to simply view it as a prequel. It's something different from that. It seems to me a deeply revisionist outing that aims to undermine the male-centric sensibility of the old franchise.

The name of the show was the first provocation. For the 40th anniversary of Lupin III, they scored the sly coup of dethroning the protagonist right in his glory moment in the guise of a side-story about one of the sub-characters, in the process reversing the dynamics of the old show and making the erstwhile protagonists an afterthought, as Fujiko was often treated.

Fujiko, despite being depicted as a cunning foe in the old show, was basically the product of a male gaze in terms of her visual rendering and sexual meaning. The remarkable thing about the new show is that, despite Fujiko being naked much of the time, she isn't erotic. I'm almost reminded of the anti-eroticism of the nude scene in Godard's Contempt. The nudity doesn't come across as titillating. Fujiko seems to feel contempt for anyone who would lust after her. Despite the prevalence of mammaries, the show will be of little 'practical use' to fans of Seikon no Quaser. The nude drawings are pleasing for not being fan-servicey in the traditional sense, not the lust-filled products of male fantasy. The drawings (and spirit of the show) remind me of Kazuko Nakamura's curvy, feminime, de-eroticized Cleopatra.

They have chutzpah, and I have to hand it to them for that, at least. It almost seems to be missing the point to complain that the characters are too different, there isn't enough action, the animation isn't good enough, though I can't deny that those are the first things that spring to my mind while watching this show, since it's the early Lupin III that made me a fan of this show, and this is essentially a different beast altogether. It seems like a different audience.

As for this episode, it's basically Lupin III via Brother, Dear Brother, with its bizarre girls' school in which apparently every girl has a lesbian crush on their teacher - which in turn reminded me why I couldn't get past episode 1 of that show. Instead of a male fantasy, now it's a female fantasy, and I'm not sure it's much of an improvement. I just didn't find the episode particularly interesting or entertaining. All of the characters were ridiculous to me, especially Oscar (a nod to Rose of Versailles?).

The episode was written by Mari Okada and storyboarded/directed by Shoko Nakamura, so it's a thoroughly female gaze episode. You know it's girly when they call in Tadashi Hiramatsu, who presumably did the scene near the end that refreshingly had some sprightly drawings/movement for once.

We've been seeing flashbacks to Fujiko's childhood for a while now, usually drawn in a bizarro byzantine style, and there was a particularly bizarro one this time around, with Fujiko eating mice while owl men experiment on her, interspersed with borderline illegibly florid Gothic type-on-steroids doggerel and avant garde background noise. The flashbacks seem to be building towards a revelation of some new sexual, druggy, disturbing vision of Fujiko's childhood.

There was a curious moment where they reference the famous line near the end of Cagliostro where Zenigata says to Clarissa that Lupin has stolen the worst thing of all... your heart. The suggestion is treated as nothing so much as a joke. Aside from being a playful reference to one of the movies that established the franchise, it seems to poke fun at the naive romanticism of Miyazaki's Lupin to underline how much more rooted in frank sexuality and psychology this series is.

They gleefully revel in the prurient stuff in this episode, with Fujiko deep-tonguing schoolgirls and being doused with wine while strapped naked to a bench, which bothered me less than the pretentiousness and literary affectations of the script. Kemonozume had a much more sexually frank shower love scene that I found quite beautiful, so the sexual material is not what bothers me. If anything, what bothers me is that all of the characters seem sadistic for no good reason, and the script is weirdly eager to devise cruel turns of phrase, i.e. calling Fujiko a "spitpot". A spitpot? Huh? The writing is way overbaked. Belladonna is one of my favorite films, and Borowczyk one of my favorite directors. I wanted to see more adult material in Lupin III, so I find it ironic that I'm disappointed by what I'm seeing. I also found the episode needlessly confusing in terms of the directing. Confusing directing isn't artistic, it's just confusing.

At least the squirrels were funny.