Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 31, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
This amazing footage is a must watch if your grew up with Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) — it’s from a Japanese TV show which shows cast members breakdancing to the opening theme music while dressed in the appropriate costume. Found via Patrick Macias…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 7, 2010 in Animation
Asahi.com has reported that Yoshinobu Nishizaki has passed away. Nishizaki was the producer of Space Cruiser Yamato which was known as Star Blazers in the United States — a franchise that played a pivotal role in the history of anime. What’s very sad about this was that after years of legal troubles a live action version of the cherished retro anime series is getting a great deal of positive feedback from those who have seen the first sneak previews of the film. Had he lived the triumph of that film would have been a great personal victory to Nishizaki. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 25, 2010 in Animation
This wonderful late 70s Japanese commercial features a Space Battleship Yamato bicycle — a show which was known to early day anime fans as Star Blazers. What I love about this bike is that it seems to have included a faux wave motion gun and came with its own uniform too: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 28, 2010 in Animation
This latest trailer has quite a bit more detail than the previous one, and what’s interesting is that the special effects seem pretty darn good (which isn’t always the case with Japanese live action science fiction films). I should also note that the Star Blazers fanboy within me is very happy that they’re staying so true to the original concept. Read more…
Astronaut Soichi Noguchi (seen on the left) grew up watching Space Battleship Yamato which is well known to American fans as Star Blazers. And here he is on International Space Station making us Earth bound retro anime fans very proud. Here’s the official caption for the photo from NASA which sadly omits the fanboy reference: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 19, 2010 in Animation, Tech
Anybody who grew up with Star Blazers is going to want to download this Yamato iPhone app right away! The app was released to promote the new Yamato film which came out last year — the only catch is that he navigation is in Japanese, so here’s a quick tour: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 10, 2010 in Animation
A good friend just gave this poster to me and I have to say that just seeing it made my inner child scream for sheer joy! Also fans of Star Blazers should take note: Amy Howard Wilson (the voice of Nova) has announced that at the ICON science fiction convention this year that Eddie Allen (the voice of Leader Desslok), Ken Meseroll (the voice of Derek Wildstar) and Tom Tweedy (the voice of Mark Venture) will be in attendance! The convention takes place March 26-28th in Stoney Brook, New York.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 25, 2010 in Animation
Leiji Matsumoto was born on this day in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1938 — and he went on to dominate anime in the 70s much to the delight of a generation of fanboys including yours truly. He got his start in 1953 drawing romantic shōjo manga for girls and although he disliked this genre you can see the influence it would play in the many strong (but rail thin) female characters which would be featured in his work for years to come. Read more…
The good news: Hollywood won’t ruin this film! The bad news: There isn’t a very strong tradition in Japan for making live action science fiction films. Mind you I’m not saying that this can’t be done, but the odds are against you. So given that I’ve got to say as an ancient Star Blazers fans that this trailer has me much more excited than the animated film that came out this year, which to be fair got better review than I expected. Here’s a screen-by-screen breakdown of my thoughts: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 6, 2009 in Animation
If you grew up loving Star Blazers the good news is that the website for the live action Space Battleship Yamato film is now live! The bad news? There’s very little detail on this film on the website at all. There’s a listing of the crew which stars Takuya Kimura, a launch date of December 2010 and a tiny visual of the Yamato stuck in the mud: Read more…