It's a little-known fact that the original title of the Mobile Suit Gundam series was "Gunboy," supposedly a play on the title of the Sam Peckinpah film "Convoy" (pronounced "Konboi" in Japanese.) According to the entry for Gundam on Wikipedia Japan (so it must be true), the show's creators decided to change the name after seeing this 1978 commercial for Mandom aftershave.
If it's true, Charles Bronson's contented sigh of "Ahh, Mandom" apparently changed the face of anime history. It wouldn't be his last brush with the genre, either: he -- or rather, his ass -- made a posthumous guest appearance in the preview for 2004's Crayon Shin-Chan the Movie: Sunset of the Kasukabe Boys. What a tangled web we weave.
Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
It kinda sounds like he's mumbling his line: 'Mmm... mandm.' Gotta love the way he spins the top off that bottle, though; that's classy.
Posted by: Davecat | February 06, 2009 at 02:28 PM
Then you must have heard about the comic duo "Bronsons"
http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Kaede/2066/bronsons.JPG
Posted by: Aceface | February 06, 2009 at 09:36 PM
One of Evan Dorkin's Eltingville comics had these guys trying to deprogram one of the geeks by embracing "mandom." "Reject fandom! Join us in mandom!"
And what the hell is it with the Japanese and Charles Bronson? I saw a vintage vinyl figure of him at Gojira-ya once that was priced at over $1,000.
Bringing it all together, Evan Dorkin and his wife Sarah Dyer have written jokes for some of the English-dubbed Shin Chan episodes.
Posted by: Roger | February 06, 2009 at 09:49 PM