AltJapan

The History of Robot Anime

The Japanese government commissioned a report on the history of Japanese robot animation. Yes, the government. My government's robot studies are undoubtedly focused on stuff like killer Predator and Reaper drones. Japan's? Astro Boy, Tranzor Z, and Voltron. More power to 'em, I say. (Pun intended.) "Japan" and "robots" go together like chocolate and peanut butter. It's fair to say that no other country has become so intimately associated with robots both real and fictional.

But until now, precious few have explored the history of the robot shows that are a virtual synonym for Cool Japan. Ryusuke Hikawa wrote the majority of the report. He's been on the front lines of otaku culture since day one, chairing the fan club that played a big role in getting the Space Cruiser Yamato movies made back in 1977. Today he's one of Japan's top anime critics and I can't think of anyone better suited to have authored the report along with Sunrise's Koichi Inoue and writer Daisuke Sawaki. 

AltJapan was hired via the Mori Corporation to translate the 90-page beast into English. And now it's available for free download on the Agency for Cultural Affair's Media Arts Content site. (Scroll down for the  English link.)

Domo Arigato, Giant Robotto

I'm just honored to have penned an article with a title like this. Why DOES Japan love giant robots so much? Find out in my feature for the Japan Times. Illustration by Hideo Okamoto.

Lego Evangelion

Three years in the making. In scale with standard Lego mini-figs. By master brickster Moko. Full story & build history here (in Japanese).

Grendizer Go!

Incubot, proud purveyor of all that crazy stuff we wish we'd owned as kids, is proud announce the launch of the Grendizer USB figure! Yes, Grendizer: that classic Seventies Go Nagai anime show featuring UFOs, giant robots, screw punches, more UFOs, and screaming robot space-turtles. Did I mention UFOs? And robots.  Anyway, viddy this:

Freshly launched on Kickstarter, it's yours for a $45 contribution. 8 gigabytes, docks with the Spacer, which in turn acts as a USB hub that plugs into your PC via a fold-away cable... You know you want this.

Kanzen Henkei

"Kanzen Henkei" means "perfectly transforming" in Japanese. It was a buzzword of the Eighties toy world. Now it's back again, because robot builder Kenji Ishida has succeeded in creating the world's first perfectly transforming remote-controlled car.

I interviewed him at Maker Faire Tokyo 2012 - check out both the text and the video at the Yattar Japan website!

I Can't Live Without my Radio

All tucked in? Heeeeere we go.

Once upon a time, not long ago, Japanese electronics ruled the worldwide marketplace.

It's true! Seriously! They were so renowned for their quality and sense of design that a little-known entrepreneur by the name of Steve Jobs visited Japanese factories in an attempt to figure out how to make his own company's computers more stylish.

They were so renowned for their sense of design, in fact, that a short-lived fad for plastic model kits of boomboxes and stereos actually swept the land. In a country with as much pocket money as Bubble-era Japan, it might seem odd that people would pay money for non-functional versions of things that they could actually purchase on store shelves.

But the yen was weak. Stereos were expensive -- the equivalent of hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars. Not to mention the small floorspace of many urban Japanese homes, which limited the amount of equipment even wealthy gear-heads could own. Aoshima included every tiny detail of the originals -- even little records to put on the turntables. 

So plenty of audiophiles suffered with cheap systems for actually playing music, while gazing at the tiny plastic scale representation of what they actually wanted to own. If you ever wanted a clear picture of how a bubble-era otaku spent his days, that is probably it.

Eventually, Aoshima ran out of consumer gear to portray and expanded into entire studio setups. "Hello FM-kun" replicated an actual radio DJ's setup -- perfect for those long afternoons spent listening to FEN. This one actually featured a light up "on air" lamp.

The Otocon series replicated a then-cutting edge karaoke setup -- so unrelentingly old-school it used tapes instead of laser discs. Otocon upped the ante with little working speakers that could be plugged into the headset jack of a "real" system and even included little cut-outs of hearthtrob Emi Kagami.

Of course, this being the Eighties and this being Japan, there was only one logical conclusion to all of this stereo madness: a stereo that transformed into a robot. Meet Popy's Compoboy. ("Compo" being the Japanese term for a compact stereo system.)

Conclusion: if Japan still produced things like this today, we'd all be listening to music on iCompoboys instead of iPods. 

Science dropped. Class adjourned.

(And thanks to machinesoldier for the Compoboy images!)

Most Disturbing Macross Valkyrie Art That Wasn't Explicitly Drawn for the "All Porn" Day of Comiket

1) Cross-dressing transforming robots:

2) Hastily drawn robot tailgating parties:

3) Fumbling robot menage-a-tois:

4) Peeping tom transforming robots on lovers' lane (why do I suspect I accidentally hit on this site's top new keyword combo search?) Bonus points for the "black velvet" style.

Gunpla

Somewhere in Yokohama, circa 1989 or 1990. This was my first exposure to a "real" Japanese toy store. While I don't rock M.C. Escher tee shirts anymore, I still have that same expression frozen on my face today.

Die Walküre

Last Man Standing

Kappa Machine & innumerable victims, from a recent magazine photo shoot.