A Japanese Documentary on Star Blazers

Shown above is a clip from a Japanese Documentary on Star Blazers, NOT Space Cruiser Yamato but the American translation! It’s funny for me to see the American version with Japanese subtitles.

Just looking at that short clip I can see why I loved the series – within the first few minutes you find out that Wildstar is a little bit complex because his brother was killed off before the show started. I realize that in Anime today that’s a throw away device, but way back when in the 70s the most complex plots in animation were unmaking Scooby Doo villans. To me that’s just one reason why this series was revolutionary.

Credit for Star Blazers being seen by Americans should go to Claude S. Hill who was behind distribution of the show from the 70s and the 80s. Sadly Mr. Hill passed away in 2005, but it was because of him at an entire generation of fans got to discover anime for the first time. Claude Hill was very much a kid at heart which is why he got into the business, in addition to Star Blazers he also distributed a number of other shows including Rocket Robin Hood and the Steve Krantz Marvel Comics cartoons from the 60s. In addition to the above Claude Hill gave me first break as a graphic designer and was also just a real good guy (one of the rare ones in the business), so I miss him a great deal…