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                                  STUFF\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

        "Reviews and Information on Japanese Animation Software"

                           ISSUE 20 3/28/1994

This is the 20th in a series of files of comments and reviews of anime
(Japanese animation) items that we have bought. Please direct all comments
to us by E-mail or post us a message in the Forum. We also welcome any
reviews, artwork, or comments you would like to have included in the next
ANIME STUFF issue. Also please send us any comments about any incorrect
information contained here. A correction will be placed in the next ANIME
STUFF.

The ANIME STUFF Staff...

- Tom Mitchell : Editor, Writer, Graphics, CompuServe & GEnie Distributor
 CompuServe Address : 76701,273 or 75156,1067
 GEnie Address : TOM-M
 Internet Address: [email protected] or [email protected]

- Masaki Takai : Writer & BBS System Distributor
 CompuServe Address : 75106,3257

- Albert Wong : Writer, Index Research
 CompuServe Address: 72657,2103
 Internet Address: [email protected],
                   [email protected],
 Prodigy Address:  WJTM10B

- Marijan Adam : INTERNET Distributor
 INTERNET Address : >INTERNET:[email protected]
                              or [email protected]
 GEnie Address : M.ADAM1


Contributing Authors for this Issue:

- Eric Gustafson
 CompuServe Address : 73243,3012

- Hitoshi Doi
 Internet Address: [email protected]

- Curtis H. Hoffmann
 Appearing in this issue courtesy of Hitoshi Doi.
 Internet Address: [email protected]

- Sean M. Puckett
 Albino Frog Software, Inc
 Post Office Drawer 5822
 Hollywood, FL  33023  USA
 CompuServe Address: 71572,2576

//////////////////////////ANIME FACT & COMMENT\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Welcome everyone to this 20th issue of Anime Stuff! I guess you could
consider this a "Spring cleaning" of sorts thanks to the special focus of
this issue: THE LOST INTERVIEWS. These excellent but incomplete
interviews and a few other things have been sitting on my hard drive for
a while, and I wanted to be sure and get them to our readers before we
start cluttering up the drive with issue 21.

I have a lot of things on my mind in regards to our hobby, and so I've
jotted down a few notes on some things I'd like to mention and comment
on. If you have any opinions on these or other things, please send them
to me. I always enjoy discussing the details of our hobby!


STUFF INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS SWETT PRINTED AT COMIC MARKET: In an
unexpected surprise, an Anime Stuff reader named Eiji Ohmori approached
Chris at the last comic market and asked him if he could distribute the
interview I did with Chris at the Comic Market. Of course we'd say yes!
Chris sent me a copy of Eiji's printed translation, and it was fantastic!
I'm sure I was almost as surprised at Chris was. Eiji and his group did a
great job re-printing our interview in Japanese. (I'm using it as a study
aid!) Thanks, Eiji!

HDTV: Of course the Japanese government is retracting a few statements
made last month about adopting the proposed American digital system of
HDTV and dumping the analog MUSE system. It will happen of course. I
doubt that the Japanese will let themselves fall behind in such a vital
technology and also loose out on the lucrative American market. I don't
see what their problem is. Japans investment in MUSE is nothing compared
to potential profits and benefits of a digital system. And of course,
just like Japan's TV industry did with the old American NTSC TV standard,
they have another chance to beat us at selling us our own inventions. For
us anime fans, our big concern is a compatible HDTV system. We were
rather lucky to end up having compatable television systems between the
U.S. and Japan with NTSC. I hope it remains that way. I certainly plan on
being an anime fan at the turn of the century too!

DIRTY PAIR FLASH: At that time I write this, I still have not seen the
new Dirty Pair OAV series DIRTY PAIR FLASH. As a die-hard fan, all I can
say is that it better be good. The radical character design changes and
the obvious aim of the OAV to place the Lovely Angels into the "magical
girl" genre has me worried. But DP creator Takachiho supposedly approves
of this, and early word from some of my friends say that this show is
pretty good, so perhaps I shouldn't worry. We'll see...

GENIE'S WASTE OF SPACE: Stuff's official outlets are CompuServe,
Internet, and GEnie. Even though we upload the latest issues to the Japan
Roundtable on GEnie, someone else ALSO uploads a copy. And on top of
that, they take all the graphics out, editing our content. Grrr...For one
thing this confuses downloaders. And it also wastes file space with large
redundant files! Sloppy.

NEW FILE FORMAT FOR STUFF, OPINIONS PLEASE: I'm sick of ASCII. Really,
really sick of ASCII. I've always wanted to do a "published" version of
Anime Stuff with fonts and integrated graphics. Several new technologies
now make sharing such documents across computer platforms possible. I've
been reviewing COMMON GROUND and Adobe's ACROBAT formats, and have
decided that for the next issue I will be producing it using Common
Ground format. This "digital paper" issue would be compatible with Mac
and Windows formats, and includes free viewing software. If you'd like to
see Anime Stuff featured in such and advanced format, let me know. I'm
looking forward to trying this out. I also suspect that I will be making
Anime Stuff issues shorter and more frequently issued. I'd certainly like
to change the format.

ROBOTECH AGAIN: Who would have thought that you'd log into CompuServe and
find that it's 1985 again? From the amount of folks chatting about
Robotech, you'd think it was "deja vu". Let's face it, Robotech is back
and just about as big as ever. Ok, so there's one good thing to all this
in that it introduces some new fans to anime. But I can also think of 4
bad things about it: 1) It bores us all stiff, 2) it sets anime in the US
back 9 years with it's popularity by justifying the editing of anime in
the minds of producers, 3) ROBOTECH fans rarely explore anime, being
satisfied with the tacky story distortion that makes up the show (witness
the popularity of those cheesy novels), and 4) Carl Macek's head gets
bigger for all the wrong reasons.

AH! VS OH! AT ANIMEIGO: The biggest anime controversy of the year?
AnimEigo goes "OH!" when the manga, the video, and everything else says
"AH!". Well, sure, the show's creator basically says it makes no
difference to him. I suppose they want to play off off of the English
expression "Oh my god"! Still, will AnimEigo be changing the small
English title on the OAV to say "OH!" instead of "AH!"? (^_^) The real
name change that irked me this past year was was GUNNM becoming BATTLE
ANGEL ALITA in the US market. And it's worse to be corrected by new fans
that don't know any better when you use the original title. (^_^) Keep
the original names so we can at least keep some consistency, please.
Except for translating purely Japanese titles, of course.


That's it! Once again, thank you for indulging me in my random thoughts!
Please proceed to enjoy this latest issue of Anime Stuff! And to everyone
that contributed to this issue, thanks!

- Tom Mitchell
 Publisher

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AS20COVR.GIF - 522 x 681 x 256 colors GIF graphic file: The cover for
this issue of Anime Stuff. A shaft of light reveals the Lost Interviews!

//////////////////////////////////VIDEO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

RANMA 1/2 OVA #1
(Pony Canyon/Shogakukan Video PCLE-00002, Y4500)

Everything must come to an end... And then spawn an OVA series.
Such is the case with Ranma 1/2, the first OVA of which was released
only a year after it went off the air in Japan.  Five more are to
follow, released at approximately two-month intervals - with the second
to come in December '93.  (Viz Video will be releasing the series
domestically, dubbed into English.)

The hectic plot centers around Shampoo, who has been devoted to the
uninterested Ranma since early in the television series.  In this
OVA, the tables are turned - Shampoo's unfortunate discovery of a
cursed brooch reversing her personality and making her hate Ranma
with a passion.  Ranma takes this as a challenge and sets off to make
Shampoo interested in him again.  Akane and Moose, both disgusted
with this turn of events, try to stop Ranma from marrying Shampoo,
while Colonge does everything in her power to encourage the marriage.

This sort of behavior is very hazardous to Ranma's health - he/she
gets beaten up a lot - by Akane, Shampoo, Uuchan, Kunou and Ryoga -
in fact, by most of the cast.  By the end of the OVA, he winds up
in a hospital bed... With people waiting for him to get better so
they can beat him up some more.

The thirty minute OVA fits neatly onto one CAV side of a disc,
though it exhibits the sort of jitter every few frames that is
usually associated with poor production.  (This is only evident when
you're stepping through it, mind you.  On normal playback, the disc
is flawless.)

<Freeze frame tip - watch the explosion the second time Shampoo
hits Ranma with her bicycle.>

Should you buy this disc?  Well, for the drooling Shampoo fiends,
there are lots of reasons, including the gratuitous shower scene.
Also, you get to see Ranma struggling with the entirely unfamiliar
science of courting.  It's great fun.

On a technical level, the animation is far superior to the television
series (as is to be expected from an OVA), and the music is well done
and well executed, with the exception of the somewhat overdone ending
sequence.

- Eric Gustafson

//////////////////////////////////AUDIO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

THE CRIMSON PIG/PORCO ROSSO Original Soundtrack on CD (Animage Records,
TKCA-30596, 3,000 Yen)

For the soundtrack to Hiyao Miyazaki's PORCO ROSSO, composer and long-
time collaborator Jo Hisaishi has presented us with another wonderful
score. Stepping away from synthesizers again for the most part, he's
given us a full orchestra sound and playful composition that is
everything the pilots in the film were: romantic & funny, introspective &
egotistical, adventuresome & bombastic.

The score falls somewhere in between Jo's scores for Laputa and Kiki's
Delivery Service in attitude, but peppered with parade tunes and
mandolin, the score takes on a very Italian flavor that provides hints of
the film's Mediterranean setting. The disc's 24 tracks also include the
romantic ballads sung during the bar scenes and ending credits of the
film with Japanese and French vocals. A must for Miyazaki and Hisaishi
fans, and for those who like to hear genius at work and play with an
orchestra. The sound quality of the recording is outstanding as well!
Highly recommended.

- Tom Mitchell


THE WEATHERING CONTINENT - Original Soundtrack on CD (Victor, VICL-302,
3,000 Yen)

Certainly one of my personal favorites, and one of the more unusual
sounding and strikingly recorded soundtracks of any recent anime. Michuru
Oshima's score for the exotic and solemn film The Weathering Continent
matches the film's dreamy and harsh fantasy setting with a sound that is
equally detailed and lush. Joining his music on the album is Yui
Nishiwaki with her strong and smooth vocals on some contemporary and
moving ballads that perfectly offset and punctuate the mood of the score.

The music ranges from bold and brash rumbling percussion to the
contemplative tinkling of harps and strings. Perhaps the most startling
feature of the recording are the instruments used. They are very exotic.
In fact the composer and musicians made it a point to find some strange
instruments to use in order to punctuate the fantasy and ancient settings
of the film. The soundtrack reminded me of Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack to
the film Arion, but this recording's compositios are more contemplative
and much better engineered. I'd highly recommend it for fans of this
unusual film and for listeners who'd like to give their ears a
vacation...say to the exotic sounds of ancient Atlantis, perhaps?

- Tom Mitchell

//////////////////////////////////VIDEO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

WINDARIA - New Laserdisc Pressing (TAXCO, SBLL-24, 5,200 Yen, 113
minutes, Stereo, Digital Audio)

Windaria, a fantasy fairy tale from hell, is the story of how one man's
greed and blind ambition can destroy everything and everyone he loves as
he becomes a pawn in a war between two kingdoms. This stunningly
beautiful and sadly romantic tale, famous for it's depressing ending, has
been re-released in a new laserdisc release that outshines previous home
video versions of the film.

If you like Windaria, this new LD pressing from Taxco is a must! The
previous LD version that had been available since just after the film's
1986 release featured a good video transfer, and excellent analog sound.
This new release is a major upgrade! It features a slightly wider
letterboxed transfer, a higher resolution video master, better pressing
quality for the LD, and digital sound that takes you to the limit of the
film's wonderfully engineered stereo soundtrack!

Contrary to rumors about this release, this LD does not feature a Multi-
Audio option of book readings on the analog tracks. The digital and
analog tracks are exactly the same throughout the disc. The bonus on the
LD comes in film content. This new disc features the original theatrical
trailers and some test footage for Windaria. If you have the old disc or
tape, I strongly recommend upgrading to this version. And it's even
cheaper than the original release too! For those of you who have never
seen Windaria, check it out! It features beautiful artwork, character
design, and simple but emotional romantic drama that has not been matched
in any anime fantasy film since. Awesome battle scenes for you mecha
heads too! Just be sure to keep a box of tissues near by, 'cause you're
gonna need 'em.

- Tom Mitchell


////////////////////////////////ANIME LIFE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

======================================================================
Once again, Curtis H. Hoffmann has provided us with another insightful
article full of his observations about anime. This time he turns his
attention to the many cheats and cliches that can be found in almost
every animation film. Don't hold Anime Stuff responsible if after reading
this article you find your eyes drawn to many of the "features" Curtis
mentions! - Tom


                 Cheats, Cliches, Cartoons, Anime...


  Version 1.5.  Copyrighted November 30, 1992, by Curtis H. Hoffmann.
  Permission is granted to cross-post this file in whole to other
computer networks (in fact, I'd be very happy if someone would crosspost
this to Fido.)  This file may be reprinted in a fanzine or newsletter
as long as I'm notified, in exchange for a copy of the issue this
article appears in.  This article can not be altered, or reprinted in a
for-profit magazine, without permission.

  Added in this version: But They All Look Alike
                         Joke Cola
                         Self-Reference
                         Cross-References
                         Punny Names

  There are many ways to cut corners in the process of creating
animation.  I'm going to try to describe some of them, as I also attempt
to catalog the cliches used in both western and Japanese cartoons.  If
you have any comments on this file, feel free to make them.  If you have
anything to add to the list, please do so.
  Most of the names used here are my own creation, and are not in
common usage anywhere else.

Simple definitions:
  Anime   -- Japanese produced and directed paint-on-cel animation.  Has
             no inherent implications as to quality of the product.
  Cartoon -- Encompasses paint-on-cel-based animation from around the
             world, but normally is applied only to North American
             productions with little story-telling potential that are
             aimed at children.

Added changes came from:
  Enrique Conty        [EC]
  Derek Upham          [DU]
  John Martin Karakash [JMK]
  jeffj@yang (ChaOs)   [JJ]

                       ------------------------
                     Animation Cheats and Cliches
                       ------------------------

  Shooting on 3's:
  In film, there are 24 frames per second.  For video tape, there are
30 frames.
  Really fluid animation is gained by drawing one frame of a
character's movement per frame of film.  However, this is only
necessary when a character is moving from left to right (or right to
left,) and the camera is panning along the background artwork.  This
prevents a strobing-effect that occurs when the background moves too far
on the screen from one frame to the next.
  Normally, the animator can make do with one drawing per 2 frames of
film.  This is called "shooting on 2's."  Most theatrical films, and
some TV cartoons are shot on 2's, and everything looks fine.
  However, you can save money by skipping some work, and shoot 3
frames per drawing.  Many TV cartoons are shot on 3's or 4's, which
gives a very jerky feeling to the action.  Something like _Hammerman_ is
shot at least on 4's, if not on 8's.

  Simplicity:
  The standard western cheat is to simplify the character design, so
there are fewer lines to draw per frame.  This is obvious both in the
body features, and the clothing elements.  You can also see this in
Anpan-man, Mary Bell, and Chibi Maruko-chan.

  The Blend:
  When you have a very detailed image, like the close-up of a person's
face, it takes a lot of time and effort to animate it smoothly.
Instead, you can paint maybe 4 or 8 "extreme poses" and film them as
static images.  The next step is to use post-production editing to fade
from one still to the next.  Alternatively, a few in-between cels
can be painted that have ghosts of the extremes, which gives the same
effect, but with much less work than if every single frame had been
created from scratch.  This may cut the total number from 60 drawings,
to 15, or 8.
  The final results may be used to heighten the emotional effect of a
scene, or to simply stretch out the action of a complex drawing.
Usually, you'll see this when a crying girl turns away from the hero, or
when a top sports player dives for the ball during a crucial play.

  The Triple Repeat Attack (TRP):
  When someone gets hit hard, the camera pans by a single still of the
attack three times, occasionally with little variations in each pan, like
zooming in a bit further for each pass.  It is very easy to over-use
this device for even the most trivial of situations.  It is very much a
cliche, but it's also a cheat since you may only have one drawing for 10
seconds of film.

  Chan-Style, or Super-Deformed Style:
  Admittedly, this is a purely Japanese technique that is mostly just a
cliche, and not necessarily a cheat.  But, the results are the same --
less work per frame.
  Both techniques consist of drawing a normal character as if he were a
5 year-old, with a larger head, smaller body, and chubby limbs.  Most of
the details will be lost at the same time.  These are done mainly for
slapstick comedy effect.

  The Assembly Sequence:
  You'll see the Assembly Sequence normally in a kiddie power-suit, or
mecha show.  It consists of the character (like Sailor Moon, or Metal
Jack,) calling out something ("Make Up!" or "Jack On!") which will be
followed by stock footage of the character standing around while the
suit or outfit wraps itself around him.  By itself, this is no big deal.
Except, that it's the exact same sequence from one episode to the next.
In this way, the animators save themselves about 1 to 3 minutes of
animation per character per episode.
  It's both a cheat, and a cliche.
---
  Also an amusing example of your 'suit up' cheat was noticed by me
and my roommate on the Ghostbusters (NOT the Real Ghostbusters BTW).  We
calculated that over half the show was suit up/reused cels/commercials.
Which brings me to the cheat most beloved by advertisers, the long-
block-of-commercials-then-a-short-reminder-of-what-show-you're-watching-
and-
then-more-commercials cheat! [JMK]


  Separated eyes and mouths:
  The opposite side of the coin from Simplicity is Shading and Detail.
Here, the animators (usually Japanese,) have added so much detail and
color to the character's face that it's too much work to redraw it in
each frame as the character talks.
  So, instead of redrawing the face a lot (which allows you to get a
jaw that moves as the character speaks,) you draw the face on one cel,
and the mouth and eyes on another.  (Admittedly, western animators use
this technique for the same reasons, but the faces in their drawings
have much less detail to begin with.)

  Gaping Mouth Wounds:
  In TV, it's not necessary to get the lip-sync down really tightly
when a character talks, which means that sometimes the mouth moves even
when the character has stopped talking.  This saves work, because you
don't have someone tied up with the very time-consuming task of breaking
the dialog down into single frames, and vowel sounds.
  The extreme case, though, is when you don't worry about the specific
dialog matching up with the shape of the mouth.  Now, you only have 4 or
5 standard mouth positions (open, closed, partially opened, and
yelling,) instead of the normal 7 or 10, and you just jump them around
under the camera roughly in time with the dialog.  This is common both in
anime, and western cartoons.

  The Hold:
  When a character is thinking, or becomes stunned, he'll freeze on the
screen.  The only action comes from a camera pan in, or out.  The Hold
also occurs when one character stops talking and the other begins. Anyone
not talking simply freezes on the screen.  This saves the studio a lot of
time and money, because the alternative is to draw separate frames with
the character's clothes rippling in a breeze, or the character's face
reacting to whatever is being said.

  Statue Crowds:
  Crowd scenes require a lot of work, and time that the studio can't
afford to spend.  Therefore, crowds will be treated as background
artwork.  The only element of movement comes from the camera panning
across, and the only signs of life will be the voice actors cheering as
voice-overs.  Occasionally, mouths will be painted on separate cels for
one or three audience members to do a little yelling on their own.

  The Cycle:
  This is a classic animation technique all studios use extensively.
The basic idea is to put the character into a repeating action cycle,
and just draw the first few cels necessary for it.  The normal example
is a simple walk, which only takes 7 to 12 cels for a sequence that may
last 30 seconds.  Disney is famed for its use of more complex cycles in
its early short cartoons.

  4-colors VS 256:
  Simply by looking at most western TV animation, you can tell that the
animators are saving themselves a lot of effort by eliminating shading,
and reducing the number of colors in the clothing designs.  Fewer colors
means less work, fewer costs, and a more boring image.  The Japanese will
use more colors and the GMW technique at the same time.

  Last Week's Re-Cap:
  When you have an episodic adventure series like Dragon Ball, or Dodge
Danpei, you'll get a re-cap of the action from the previous episodes
before the show starts up with the new stuff.  This means that the
animators are saving themselves about 3 to 5 minutes of work by
reusing old animation with a voice-over narration.

  The Repeat Thingie:
  Occasionally, you may notice a character doing one action in one
scene, and later doing the exact same action in an entirely different
scene.  This is a case of reusing existing cels with either a different
background, or a different prop (changing a hammer for an ax.)  Some of
the really bad American moralistic cartoons from the '60s used this
technique A LOT.

  Recycled Animation:
  Disney does this occasionally.  When the cels are filmed for any
given show or movie, the cels themselves will be either tossed or washed
and reused.  But, the pencil drawings will usually be stored for future
works.  This way, all that's needed is to xerox the existing artwork, and
change the color scheme for the new scene.
-------
  FILMATION seems to use this technique a lot.  Compare He-Man, She-Ra,
Tarzan and Star Trek some time.  The poses and layouts are almost
exactly the same (the "Close-up-with-half-face-visible", especially).
[DU]

  Rotoscoping:
  Rotoscoping is done by projecting live footage under a sheet of paper
to allow the animator to trace the picture, frame by frame, before
modifying it.  The advantage is that the animator doesn't have to figure
out how a character moves through trial and error.  The down side is that
the result usually looks pretty cheesy (just look at any Ralph Bakshi
movie.)  While the Fleischer Brothers used rotoscoping (and created the
process,) very artfully, it's still obvious when it's employed.  Disney
tried using rotoscoping in a number of his films, but the results
weren't to his liking, and the animators just redrew those scenes,
anyway.
  Note: Venus Wars did not have rotoscoping in the motorcycle scenes:
that was an example of optical printing (adding animation over live
footage.)

  Xerox:
  Originally, when a pencil drawing was cleaned up, the ink and paint
department would trace the pencil lines onto the cels via multicolored
inks (which allowed for more subtle shadings, and details,) before the
paints were added.  Now, it's easier to xerox the final pencils onto a
cel.  The drawback is that the xerox lines look rougher, may have breaks
in them, and will be all in black (removing the element of subtlety.)
-------
  A nice counterpoint to this was the work in the GIANT ROBO OVAs.  From
what my sources tell me, the final pencils are xeroxed, but then a second
cel is overlayed on the first, and this second cel is hand-painted.  The
resulting cel-work is simply amazing. [EC]

  Speed lines:
  This is a cliche used to get a heightened emotional response, while
also filming a static pose.  When a character starts an attack, the
background is replaced with streaks of color, or simple racing lines.
This doesn't actually save the animators any work, and adds a little
more work for the camera operator because the backgrounds need to be
changed more often.  But, since the background was static to begin with,
and the main character has also become static, the speed lines help liven
things up a bit.

  Collars and Talking Heads:
  Hanna-Barbera is notorious for this trick.  Rather than redrawing the
entire character for each frame that the mouth moves, you give the
character a collar, and then place the head on a different cel
underneath the body cel.  The body is usually then kept stationary,
and the head cels are changed in sequence.  Although, if the character
does walk and talk at the same time, it's still less work to animate than
otherwise.

  Shimmering eyes:
  This is both a cliche and a cheat.  Take a Hold, and just redraw some
white highlights inside the pupils.  Why draw an emotional face, if you
don't have to?

  The 'No Face':
  One cheat that I didn't see mentioned is the 'no face' cheat.  Put a
helmet on a guy/gal/thing and you've saved yerself tons of time.  Put
him/her/it in a whole suit and voila! minimal use of shading/movement
is required. [JMK]
  (Curtis comments: Not exactly true.  Bubble Gum Crisis used this
pretty heavily, but it still had a lot of shading on each suit.  The
primary savings come from not having to show the character blink or
talk, and there are less details to draw the first time around.)

  Re-used sounds:
  A number of people have commented on the fact that the sound tech will
steal sound effects from movies like Aliens, and Star Wars, for certain
situations, rather than create an entirely new sound himself.  I haven't
noticed this myself, but there's a growing consensus that this happens a
lot.  The reasons should be obvious.

  Photo Backgrounds:
  This is a common manga technigue.  The result is a highly realistic
background image that looks like it was xeroxed before being
photocopied.  It provides the illusion of added depth to the manga,
while saving the artist a lot of work.

                       -----------------------
                            Anime Cliches
                       -----------------------

  The Multiple-Character-Single-Gasp Reaction:
  I find this to be one of the more annoying time-consuming Japanese
cliches.  It's very simple -- something startling will happen, or a
character will get smashed up.  Then, the camera will pull in for a
close up of each of the other characters -- one at a time -- as they
gasp or speak the guy's name.  This has been happening too often in
Dragon Ball Z.  The result is to force a heightened sense of suspense,
and to stretch out a fight scene while doing a small amount of work.
  Example -- Piccilo will get punched into the ground.  The camera then
cuts to a close-up of #18, who will gasp.  Now, cut to #17, who will
gasp.  Then, cut to #16 for a gasp.  Next, cut to Kiririn to gasp.  And
continue down the line until you run out of characters.  Repeat this
operation 2 or 4 times per battle per episode.

  The Raging Flames/Crashing Surf:
  An alternative to Speed Lines -- when a character gets overly
emotional, or "highly charged," the background will be replaced by
roaring flames or surf.  This is just an intensity-building device, used
extensively by Rumiko Takahashi.

  The Slash Split Screen:
  Another cliche, related to the Multi-Character-Single-Gasp Reaction,
the difference being that the MCSGR is sequential, and the S^3 is
more-or-less simultaneous.  When the main character is hit, the first
reaction will appear in the top portion of the screen, the second
reaction appears on the bottom, and the remaining reactions will be in
the middle of the screen.  _Dodge Danpei_ uses this technique.  Bubble
Gum Crisis does the same thing, but usually when the Knight Sabers are
preparing to go into battle and all of them say "roger," or "Knight
Sabers -- Go!"

  Tokyo Feet:
  This is a term coined by Larry Greenfield to describe the cloud of
feet and sweat (sometimes tears) that surrounsd a character when he goes
into panic-mode.  There is no longer a relation between the character's
feet and the ground, as the character just slides back and forth on the
screen. Again, the result is also less work per frame.

  The Temple Vein:
  Especially in manga.  When a character gets stressed-out, or angry,
a cross-like outline of a 4-way vein intersection will pop up on their
forehead.  Sometimes, this gets carried to extremes, as in the manga
where an identical vein pops up three different places on the back of a
guy's hand.  (Real veins don't act like that.)

  "Poits":
  In the wonderful world of the Japanese language, several words exist
that are nothing more than sound effects (like "niko," for the sound of
a smile.)  When you're watching anime played for laughs, a wide-eyed
character blinking in surprise will make a "poit", or "pika" sound
(occurs a lot in Urusei Yatsura, and Kimengumi High School.)  And, in
Project A-ko, when C-ko smiles in front of the class, she says "Niko."

  Trick Dreams:
  A common story device used to hook the viewer's attention.  Employed
heavily in Kimagure Orange Road.  Basically, something really bad or
really good will happen to the star right at the beginning of the
episode, only to turn out to be a dream.

  Rain Shimmers:
  Not necessarily a cliche or cheat, but a commonly used special effect
in anime.  There's a lot of rain in the spring and fall in Japan, so
rain has become an accepted plot device (plus, when bad events happen to
the principle characters, rain will start falling to symbolize their
plight.)  To show that the rain is hitting trees, people, or animals, a
light halo will shimmer around the tops, heads, and shoulders.  A
separate set or 4 or 5 cels will be used for this, if the characters are
just standing and talking.

  The Background Cameo:
  One of the most prized anime devices for fans.
  Because it takes a long time for an animator to finish a sequence or
background, said animator will add silly things to make their job more
fun.  Such as the Star Trek USS Enterprise blueprints in _The Nolandia
Affair_, and the appearance of The Dirty Pair's Kei in a background shot
in the _Fist of the Northstar_ movie.  A little of this shows up in _The
Simpsons,_ but is more common in anime movies and OAV's than TV shows.

  Jumping Talkers:
  When a Japanese studio has a medium-range shot of a talking
character, they'll redraw the entire figure even though only the mouth
is moving.  This is not an easy operation, because the body has to be
copied and painted without variations, and the cycle cels have to be
registered exactly.  So, when a character bounces up and down as they
speak, you know that the registration slipped.  Nadia is a featured
Jumper in Nadia: Secret of Blue Water.
  This phenomenom is not really a cliche or a cheat, but it is peculiar
to anime.

  Tear Floods:
  Yet another Japanese cliche used instead of animating an actual
emotion.  Several series (like Kimengumi High School) have parodied this
cliche, with characters holding buckets to catch someone else's flood.

  The Tear Pendulums:
  One of the stranger cliches, also a twist on the Tear Flood.  When
you get hit in the head, tears well up in your eyes.  You may even get a
a little tear running down your cheeks a bit.  Well, this teardrop looks
almost like a ball on the end of a string.  Take this image 10 steps
further, and you get a white pingpong ball swinging from a white stick
under each eye.  This device occurs a LOT in manga, and some silly anime
(most notably, Ranma 1/2.)  (It took me a long time to figure out what
these things were.)

  Snot-Nosed Kids:
  In Japan, it's not polite to blow your nose in public -- instead,
you're just supposed to keep sniffing until you have the chance to "do
your business in private."  Because of this, colds (the cold-sufferer
will voluntarily wear a face mask to keep from infecting other people in
public,) sneezing on people, and runny noses are commonly used as gags
in manga, and in anime to a lesser extent.  The standard joke is to show
an uncultured kid, or a frightned man, as someone with snot running down
his lip (and frequently into his mouth.)

  The Nose Bubble:
  A related gag to the S-NK, is the simple rendering of someone soundly
asleep, blowing snot bubbles through their nose.  This is the visual
clue that tells you that this people is sleeping, and is commonly
accompanied by lip-, or chin-, drool.

  The Sweat Drop:
  You'll also see this in manga when a character gets nervous,
apprehensive, or scared.  A large teardrop will appear somewhere on the
character (many times, on the back of the head.)  Occasionally, the
sweat drop will be placed on a separate cel, and slid down the
character's face (the face is in a Hold.)  It's easier than animating
the face for those emotions.

  The Stunned Fall-Over:
  One more Japanese cliche.  When someone says something stupid or
unexpected, everyone else will fall flat on their face or back.  In many
cases, one character will fall over, and then reappear with The Bandage
on their forehead.

  The Writhing Face:
  To show intense emotion (usually frustration or anger,) the animator
will draw the face in two extreme poses (with maybe one in-between pose
for filler) with the teeth grinding and eyes opening or closing.  These
few cels are alternated under the camera to give the impression of the
desired emotion, but the actual effect is to make the character's eyes
and mouth writhe around on his face.  Happens extensively in Dragon
Ball Z.

  Super Deformed Ugly:
  This seems to be the counter-point to the "super-deformed' style,
where the character is made to look more cute.  In SDU, the eyes get
deformed, the mouth contorts in a "jaw on the ground, while slurping a
lemon" grin, and shade lines will appear around the eyes, and bridge of
the nose (either the character is blushing, suffering from burning eyes,
or has smelled something REAL BAD,) and there will be an over-all
simplifying of features.  Although a lesser form of this is used heavily
in Yawara, the true SDU appears in college "bad boys and girls" manga.

  Behhhh:
  One of the best cliches, you'll get this when one character is acting
uppity, and the other "dis's" him.  One finger pulls down the lower lid
of one eye, the tongue is stuck out, and the character says "behhhhh".
Very common in anime and manga.

  Fake Fighting:
  Again, when a character gets uppity, another one will smash him in
the head with a fist, a bat, book, or shoe.  This normally looks pretty
painful, but has no lasting effects.  Characters may even get into
full-blown brawls, and be covered in lumps from head to toe, but will
completely recover in the next panel or frame.

  The Bandage:
  When someone gets bopped in a Fake Fight, they will immediately
receive a bandage in the next frame.  Which will disappear as soon as
the joke is over.

  The Head Job:
  Another bizarre visual device.  When an animal/beastperson gets very
excited/angry, it will attack you.  Normally, on the arms, hands, feet,
or legs, if this is a western story.  In anime and manga, this beast
will attach itself to the top back part of your head, and will hang
there for the length of the scene.  Examples of this can be found in
_Dragon Half_, _Ushio and Tori_, and _Dragon Ball_.  Sometimes, the
person's entire head will be engulfed.  Normally, like Fake Fighting,
the beast will not leave a permanent mark on you (In Dragon Ball, a
ghoul does this to Kuririn during battle, leaving a circle of blood
fountains on Kuririn's scalp, and requiring the use of bandages during
several episodes before Kuririn can recover.)

  The Called Shot:
  Of all of the anime cliches, the Called Shot has to be the most
disliked, and embarrassing, to the new fans.  Basically, the character
will strike a pose, or wield a certain weapon, and call out the name of
whatever attack he or she will now use.  "Dragon Punch!"  "Flaming Iris
Sword!" or "Buster Shield!"
  One of the main reasons this action is employed so heavily in anime
and manga is simply that the audience has no other way of knowing what
the hell the character is doing, otherwise.  Further, there is something
of a history behind this action -- including Kamen Rider and Ultra Man
-- and that is the fact that so many martial arts techniques have such
names.  "Round House Kick," "Side Snap," "Inside Leg Throw," and "Tiger
Claw."  And, an observer unfamiliar with a particular martial arts
school, would be completely clueless when one technique is used, or
another.
  To western audiences, this is merely a silly thing -- "Why don't these
guys just trash each other and get it over with?  Who cares what the
technique is called?  I just wanna watch these bozos kick each other's
butts."
  A variant of this is used in Hokuto no Ken, where the attack is made,
and then the name of the technique is emblazoned on the screen over a
still painting of the hero.

  The Big Gun:
  Doesn't have to be a gun, but it's a big "mega-nuke" attack that
usually takes out anyone it's aimed at.  Often has incredible special
effects.  A downside of this is that they tend to be overused.  (Like in
Voltron - every episode, without fail...)  Examples:  "Form Blazing
Sword!" from Voltron, the Wave Motion Cannon from Star Blazers, the
SDF-1 Main Gun from Macross, Captain Planet himself from Captain Planet
and the Planeteers, and what we like to call the "Mandala attack" from
Shurato. [JJ]

  Missing Bars:
  This is a rather interesting artistic technique where a character is
behind a fence, or in a prison, and the bars or chain links that would
normally hide the face simply are not drawn in.  Shows up in various
manga.

  But They All Look Alike!:
  This is one of the first things non-fans notice when they watch
anime, and it is both a cliche and a cheat.  In manga, the designs
usually vary enough from one character to the next that you can easily
tell them apart.  But in anime, because it's so important to remain
consistent from one frame to the next, the director may make the
characters look alike to make them easier to draw quickly, and then
differentiate them by changing their hair colors.  Case in Point: Sailor
Moon and Sailor Venus.  This is also represents a cost savings, when
the rest of the characters' costumes are the same colors, and it's not
necessary to maintain another batch of paint shades.

  Cross-References:
  This is not quite the same as the Background Cameo, but it's closely
related.  Simply, it's just a case of a popular character from one
series showing up in some form in another series.  A November
installment of Twinkle^2 Idol Star has a villian wearing a Sailor Moon
t-shirt.  In Gun Buster: Over the Top, a poster from one of Miyazaki's
films is tacked up on a wall.  And, in a Self-Referential Cross
Reference, Usagi plays a Sailor V (ie. -- Sailor Moon) video game in
many episodes.

                       -----------------------
                           Animation Flaws
                       -----------------------

NOTE: There are many ways a studio can err in its work -- skipping a
frame or two of motion, flipping the frames so that a couple are out of
sequence, using the wrong colors on one or two cels, screwing up cel
registration, and so on.  The following error(s) revolve around the
specific skills (or lack thereof) used in animating a scene or
character, that can be seen consistently in the productions of one or
more studios.

  The Flat Mouth:
  Kissing, eating, blowing whistles, and anything else that requires
using the mouth.  When you watch anime, you'll notice that the
characters' mouths just lie flat on the cel, without deforming properly
to adaption to the actions they are taking.  It's most obvious when a
character is eating -- the food comes up to the mouth, the lips surround
a bit of the food, the food just disappears, and the character makes
chewing motions.  It's the surest sign that you're watching a cartoon,
and is a consistent flaw even in the most well-made productions.
Western cartoons have a similar flaw, but generally avoid the problem
entirely.

                       -----------------------
                        Scriptwriting Cliches
                       -----------------------

NOTE: These are cliches that appear in other forms of entertainment and
storytelling, and aren't peculiar only to animation.

  Knuckle Cracking:
  As everyone knows, when a huge, strong guy is about to beat the crap
out of a victim, he will crack his knuckles as a part of flexing his
hands.  This has been turned into an anime cliche, and extended to the
point where REALLY vicious guys crack the muscles and joints in their
neck.  Real people can not do this.  Do not try this at home on your
little sister.

  The Flashback:
  Standard cliche in anime, used to fill in story details that the
audience doesn't already know, but which will immediately justify the
character's next actions.  A very common plot device used in episodic
serials.

  Ripping the Disguise:
  A previously unknown character is doing all sorts of amazing feats.
At an appropriately dramatic scene, the character grabs at his/her
shoulder and PULLS.  Cloth flies in front of the camera, and when it
settles down we see one of the regular characters in his/her usual garb.
The previous outfit/physical features were a disguise. [EC]
  This is used with variations in all western forms of entertainment.

  Cute Bastards:
  One of the worst developments to come out of the western world.  To
make a show appeal to small children, an otherwise unnecessary character
will be added to the line-up.  This character will be cute, appealing,
and utterly loathsome to adults.  Scrappy-Doo is an excellent example of
this.  If carried to extremes, the entire cast will be thus
metamorphised, as in The Muppet Babies, and the new version of Tom and
Jerry.
------
  Can you say "Slimer and the Ghostbusters"?
  What's interesting is that Scooby-Doo may be an example of this as
well.  I'd read a long time back (can't remember the source, now) that
the Scooby-Doo concept had originated in Great Britan.  It was then a
series with the Mods (Fred and Daphne) versus the Beatniks (Shaggy and
Velma) racing to solve various mysterys; Scooby was a minor character.
When they took the concept to the U.S., they cutified it. [DU]

  Narrative Voice-Overs:
  Both a plot device, and a cheat.  The plot element of a NVO is
obvious -- to fill in details for the audience, rather than to make
those details a part of the story leading up to that point.  The cheat
comes in because the action on the screen will turn into a Hold with a
camera pan or pull out.  In animation, the work is shifted from the
animators to the cameraman and the narrator.

  Too Many Commercials:
  Refer to the note by JMK at the end of the Assembly Sequence entry.

  The Five Man Band:
  (This is an anime cliche that a friend of mine calls "5 character
theory". As far as I know, the first instance of this is in Science Ninja
Team Gatchaman, aka Battle of the Planets.  Since then, it's appeared in
shows like Voltron, Mospeada aka Robotech III, several live action shows,
and even movies, like Star Wars.  The five character types are:) [JJ]
  The Hero:
     Upstanding, idealistic, handsome.  Usually the protagonist of the
     show, although people tend to think that The Other Guy is
     far cooler.
     Examples include Luke Skywalker, Fred from Scooby-Doo, and Scott
     Bernard in Robotech III.
  The Big Guy:
     Big, and strong.  Sometimes dumb, but usually turns out to be very
     friendly.  Examples: Chewbacca, Lunk from Robotech III, Ryooma from
     Shurato.
  The Other Guy:
     Usually cool and disreputable.  If someone has facial hair, it's
     probably him.  Quite often the most effective person on the team.
     Lancer from Robotech III and Han Solo are classic Other Guys.
  The Chick:
     The token female on the team.  Sometimes she knows what she's
     doing, but not always.  Princess Leia, the princess from Voltron,
     Daphne from Scooby-Doo.  Sometimes, The Chick is an androgynous or
     homosexual male, like Reiga from Shurato.
  The Pet:
     Usually annoying to anyone who has entered puberty (and thus
     discovered The Chick)  Frequently incompetent.  The 'droids from
     Star Wars, Cheop (sp?) from Battle of the Planets, Pidge from
     Voltron, the Copper Kid from Silverhawks, and Scooby-Doo from his
     own show.
  The Mentor:
     This is an optional archetype.  Often appears to guide the
     characters, provide advice, or train them.  The classic example is
     Obi-Wan Kenobi.
     Also, Dungeonmaster from Dungeons & Dragons, Stargazer from
     Silverhawks, the King from Voltron, Vishnu from Shurato, Saori from
     St. Seiya. [JJ]

  Joke Cola:
  Another true classic, which is now to be found most commonly in
manga: using big-brand names in the story, but with a slight twist on
the spelling.  Croke Cola, Nissam, etc.  This is done for the humor
value, as a slam against a particular product, and often to just lend a
certain air of authenticity to the story without actually having to pay
for the right to use someone else's trademarked logo.

  Self-Reference:
  [Insert self-referential joke here.]  In the west, you'll see this
mainly on the covers of humor magazines.  With manga, a given series may
occasionally feature a set-up where the name of the manga collection
(ie. -- Young Jump) will appear somewhere in the background, or on the
cover of the manga that one of the characters is reading.  Anime can be
a little more tricky: the studio's name will pop up on building signs,
helmet logos, or other places where text is used.  A prime example of
this is in Bubble Gum Crisis, where AIC can be found on Priss' helmet,
and on the road.

  Punny Names:
  Using puns for character names is a time-honored tradition.  Ignoring
Knight Lamune with its string of soft drink references, and Rumiko
Takahashi's prediliction for item collections (Shampoo, Mousse, Cologne,
Herb, Lime, etc.) you can sometimes find characters in anime and manga
whose names are jokes based on personality types, or something similar.
The Rabbit Pounding Mochi On The Moon gives us Usagi, Sailor Moon's
alter ego.  Of course, there's Usagi, the rabbit hero in a certain comic
published in English in the west.  A closely related example is "Priss
and the Replicants" (Bubble Gum Crisis, and Blade Runner.)

                   -------------------------------------

  If there are any other cheats or cliches, I haven't noticed them yet.
I'll add them to the list if someone else mentions them to me.


                                         -- Curtis H. Hoffmann
                                            Dec. 4, 1992
========================================================================

---------------------------THE LOST INTERVIEWS------------------------

One thing I want to do with Anime Stuff is to bring the insights of expert fans and
industry professionals to our readers through interviews. I think the ones that we've
featured so far have worked out very well and have been very insightful. Below are a
couple of interviews that were never completed and have been sitting in my files for
some time. It seemed like a waste not to share them since they contain a lot of
interesting stories and information that I thought everyone might enjoy even if the
interviews themselves are incomplete.

The first interview is a discussion with longtime Anime Stuff staff member Masaki Takai
on his role in anime fandom here in the U.S.  If many of his on-line friends are
wondering what happened to him, well he's presently involved in study to become a
doctor, so he's far too busy now even to enjoy his many hobbies. That includes anime!
Consequently, because of the lack of time, this interview has been left incomplete. But
it does offer some valuable insights into his influential college anime club, and some
of the work he did for AnimeEigo anime translations. I hope one day we can pick up
where we left off.

The second interview features an interview with Jeffrey Sass of Troma, the folks
responsible for marketing the excellent dubbed English translation of Hayao Miyazaki's
film TONARI NO TOTORO. This interview was made around the time the film was being
introduced to the U.S. market and the Troma staff were eagerly awaiting some of the
first critical reviews for the film here in the US. Jefferey also got pretty busy, and
the conclusion of this interview never came about. Despite that, it certainly does
provide some neat information on Troma's acquisition of the film. I also understand the
film will be released to the home video market this spring.

Both interviews were conducted over several days via CompuServe E-mail.

- Tom

                                 / / /
Anime Stuff Interview
with Masaki Takai

Begun on 11/27/1992

TM: In a sense, this interview is a follow-up to the interview with
AnimEigo co-founder Roe Addams that we featured in Anime Stuff 17. He
mentioned you and your anime club as providing him with his major
introduction to anime. How does it feel to create a monster? (^_^)

MT: I don't know how accurate it would be to say that we really
"introduced" Roe to anime.  Roe had seen a few things before ... But it's
probably true that Roe didn't know of the existence of a large group of
anime fans out there who shared in the hobby.  Back then, we were really
primitive, working from a single VHS VCR, one LD player, and a small 13
inch TV.  We'd crowd into my apartment, about 10-15 of us at the time if I
recall correctly, and watch stuff.  From such humble beginnings started
CJAS and Roe's early visits to us became the impetus that turned into
AnimEigo.  :)

TM: Well, at least you had a LaserDisc player. (^_^) Could you tell us a
little bit about yourself, and what led you to form your anime club at
Cornell? What do you do when you're not watching anime? Reading manga?(^_-)

MT: A little bit about myself?  I was born in Japan and raised in Hawaii.
I decided to go to Cornell to get as far away from home as possible and
still be in the US.  (g)  At the time, I was a big fan of Urusei Y, MI
(manga versions), and the Macross Movie.  I had also picked up this strange
VHS tape the last time I had gone to Japan called Bubblegum Crisis.  I
spent a fair amount of time at the local comic store during my freshman
year and the owner introduced me to this guy (whose name I don't remember
right now to my regret) who was a really big fan of Zeta Gundam which I had
never seen before.  I went over to his house one night and spent the entire
night there watching episodes with him and doing on-the-spot translations.
(g)  He was thrilled to finally understand the dialogue and I was thrilled
by this exposure to a new (to me) TV series and the interest that this
American seemed to have in this Japanese program.  I began to slowly
assemble a collection of tapes and decided to advertise on bulletin
boards around campus that I had this stuff and would be showing it in my
apartment to interested people.  One of the first people that answered the
ad was Kay Lillibridge who later went on to become vice-president of CJAS.
She told me that she had been considering putting up ads of her own to show
stuff when she had seen mine.  (g)  Many people have been instrumental in
getting CJAS off the ground ... Tsao Sheng-Te, K and Chris Hindall, Bruce
Hahne, not to mention many others without whom the club would probably have
gone down in flames at one point or another.  To all those people who I
might have not had time to thank in person, here is my thanks for the job
that you did.  :)

Now that I've turned the question into a thank-you note (g), besides anime,
I have a bunch of other interests.  Currently, these include aquariums
(mostly saltwater these days), marine biology, reading manga and science
fiction and fantasy novels, snorkeling and SCUBA diving, mountain bikes,
Macintoshes (g), my Sega Megadrive, photography, singing karaoke etc. etc.
My most current interest, of course, is getting into medical school.  :)

TM: I see we share a lot of the same interests. I think the only thing I
haven't tried is karaoke and medical school. (^_^) I take it that you are
now no longer directly involved in CJAS? While you were there, how many
anime fans did you manage to attract, and did you ever move it out of your
apartment?

MT: I'm no longer directly involved with CJAS, correct ... I'm just Don
Masaki Takai, "godfather".  :)  By the time I left Cornell, we were
attracting at least 30 or so people to meetings.  In fact, we were running
out of room in our current location and we were trying to develop an
alternate meeting site.

After my apartment, we moved to the main campus library.  Rick Lightfoot,
the media room manager at Uris Library, helped us in scheduling one of
their AV rooms for our meetings.  Supposedly, membership has continued to
grow after I've left.  ;)

TM: I take it that during the meetings you got a lot of experience doing
translations? Were there many other folks in the club that could speak
Japanese?

MT: I got a lot of experience doing simultaneous translation while I was
president of CJAS.  Got pretty tiring after a few years.  (g)  There were a
fair number of people in the club that could speak Japanese to some extent
but who wouldn't be able to do a running translation.  There was a much
smaller group of people who were Japanese but wouldn't be able to do the
translation to English. Currently, CJAS is relying a lot on scripts with
script-readers as well as pure and simple watching it and guessing what's
going on.  :)

TM: How did you get from rambling live translations at CJAS to your current
position translating for AnimEigo? I don't know if I told you this before,
but I thought your translation work for AnimEigo's subtitled release of
Vampire Princess Miyu was brilliant. I enjoyed it very much, and it is
quite a learning tool for me learning the language.

MT: I can't take full credit for the Miyu translation as it appears on the
video since there was always somebody working with me on the translation
and then the trans. gets edited by the editor before it gets turned into
subtitles.  But thanks anyway.  (g)

After Roe had gotten hooked on anime, he and Robert became interested in
forming a company to subtitle stuff and to increase the fandom.  Through
their contacts, they managed to get an introduction to the New York office
of Fuji-Sankei.  To give them a demo of what AnimEigo was capable of, they
took the script for Miyu 1 that I had previously done and turned it into
subtitles. The subtitling job impressed Fuji-Sankei enough such that
AnimEigo obtained the license to Madox-01 ... which became our first title.
:)  My first paid work for AnimEigo was doing preliminary English editing
on the Madox-01 script and doing the translation for the live video segment
that followed Madox.

TM: Are you doing any work on the new Urusei Yatsura releases that AnimEigo
is bringing out? If that show is successful for AnimEigo, it could keep
your staff of translators busy for a long time considering how many
episodes that show ran. (^_^)

MT: Yes, I am doing work on the UY stuff.  I've translated a bunch of UY
episodes so far and I'm currently working on the UY '87 OAV.  We're being
kept pretty busy doing all the translation for UY ... there doesn't seem to
be an end to it.  :)

TM: I can imagine! Hundreds of episodes, and tons of movies and OAVs. How
are you planning to handle the many Japanese language and cultural puns in
the show? Viz comics tried to convey the humor by converting the Japanese
gags to American cultural "equivalents" rather than explaining what the
puns meant in Japanese. This turned out rather poorly, and was a stupid
move on their part for something that could have been used as an
opportunity for cultural education.

MT: The cultural humor and stuff question is beyond me.  My job is to
translate the material.  I translate the best I can and generally add a
note to the editor when I feel my translation may not have captured the
entire feeling of what was said.  How the editor works that into the
subtitles or addendum material is up to him/her.  Yes, I agree that
cultural jokes and gags should be explained for what they are as part of
cultural education ... but you also need to keep the material entertaining.
It's a delicate balance ... one job that I'm glad that I don't have.  (g)

TM: Recently, as AnimEigo has been re-releasing titles on Laserdisc, they
have mentioned that they are adding improved titles and translations.
What's involved in that?

MT: We are currently trying to remaster most of our titles to D-2 digital
tape. When we do this (generally as we release stuff for LD), we generally
redo the titles to make them uniform across the product line.  I'm not sure
about the translation though ... as far as I know, we're still using the
same translations, perhaps re-edited though.  As to what's involved in
doing this, ask the editors ... the translators aren't really involved.  :)

TM: When you're working on a translation of a film (TV episode, OAV,
Movie), how many times do you view it? And have you ever viewed a favorite
film so many times in translation, that you got sick of it? (^_^)

                                 / / /


TROMA & TOTORO INTERVIEW
with Jeffrey Sass & the Troma Team

Started on 4/27/1993

TM: To begin, I would like to apologize to the cool reception we gave you
and Troma on the Comic & Animation Forum here on CompuServe. When we
heard that Troma was going to release a dubbed version of Hayao
Miyazaki's Tonari no Totoro, we got kinda scared. We had seen so many
companies in the past promise us faithful English adaptations of classic
Japanese animation films, only to see them edited, and garnished with
terrible voice acting and translated dialog. I have seen an early print
of the Troma English Totoro, and I must say that you guys are really on
the level with this. It's an excellent dubbing. The translation of the
original dialog is good. It even manages to match lip movements pretty
well! The voice acting is on par with the original film, and there are no
cuts! Could you tell us a little about Troma and how and why this film
caught your attention?

JS: As you may know, Troma has been around for nearly 20 years as a
leading independant producer and distributor of wild and wacky films.  We
have a library of over 100 movies including such classics as THE TOXIC
AVENGER films, the CLASS OF NUKE'EM HIGH films, SURF NAZIS MUST DIE, etc.
In 1990 we began to get interested in animation and more family oriented
programming when our Toxic Avenger character was spun off into an
animated children's series, THE TOXIC CRUSADERS.  Since then, we have
produced our first PG-13 rated film, SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD (which may also
be turned into an animated series) and we have recently signed with FOX
CHILDREN'S NETWORK to develop a live-action kids show based on our CLASS
OF NUKE'EM HIGH films.  Our Licensing and Merchandising division has
signed over 70 companies worldwide to manufacture TOXIC CRUSADERS
products including a comic from MARVEL, trading cards from TOPPS and
video games for both NINTENDO and SEGA.

With this new interest in animation and family films, the Troma Team
became interested in releasing an animated feature film.  Troma President
Lloyd Kaufman was in Tokyo, where he saw one of Miyazaki's films (not
TOTORO) and he immediately becam a fan.  We had already been doing some
business with Tokuma (their video division has released a number of Troma
Movies in Japan) so Lloyd contacted them regarding the animated features.
We screened KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE and almost were to release it.
Eventually we were able to work out a deal with Tokuma for MY NEIGHBOR
TOTORO.  We are in touch with Tokuma's LA office on a daily basis and
they have been workling closely with us on every step of our release
plans.

TM: Ah, I see. So you had a prior relationship with Tokuma. Based on
their past treatment in the U.S. market, did Tokuma express much concern
over how you would treat the film here? It's obvious with them keeping in
touch with you so much that they want to keep a hand in what's happening
with the film. They were heartbroken after Miyazaki's masterpiece
NAUSICAA IN THE VALLEY OF THE WIND was cut up and changed by New World
Pictures. The most popular animated feature in Japanese history trashed
in the USA!

JS: As a small independent company, and filmmakers ourselves, Troma has always
respected the sanctity of the filmmaker.  Even when we have released more
"controversial" films such as BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, SURF NAZIS MUST DIE and
COMBAT SHOCK we were determined to be true to the vision (no matter how
warped) of the creators.

As far as tampering goes, we have been outraged over the years at how the
MPAA, with their double standard ratings system, has forced us to disembowel
our own films such as THE TOXIC AVENGER, CLASS OF NUKE'EM HIGH, TROMA'S WAR
and others.  Therefore, we would never consider tampering with someone else's
film we are distributing, especially when dealing with a master such as
Miyazaki.

Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz and the Troma Team have sincere respect for
ANYONE who completes a movie.  That, in and of itself is quite an
accomplishment, no matter what the subject matter.  As a distributor it is
part of our obligation to present the film with the creator's vision intact.
The best way to achieve this is to keep the filmmakers and producers
involved in what we do, which is why we are in such close touch with
Tokuma.

TM: One thing I was interested in knowing about this presentation of
TOTORO was about the soundtrack. Jo Hishaishi, one of Japan's most famous
film music composers, did the score for this film as he has done for all
of Miyazaki's movies since NAUSICAA. Will prints of TOTORO be presented
in Dolby Stereo? The original film had a wonderfully engineered
soundtrack, but I've noticed that most English language dubbers drop
stereo tracks in anime brought to the States. This dubbing was
particularly good. The best I've seen in fact! So, I was wondering about
this one often neglected technical aspect. Music and sound play huge part
in animation in Japan, as it is seen as a valuable product that can be
sold to the fans. (Like me!)

JS: Totoro (English Version) has a Mono soundtrack.  (I promise a more
interesting answer to the next question!)

TM: I thought so. I realize there are cost and production problems
involved with doing an English stereo dub. The reason that I asked was
from the fact that the early dub of the English Totoro that I saw still
had the Dolby Stereo logo on the print. I would like to encourage Tokuma
and Troma to do a Dolby Stereo English translations in the future. Many
of us anime fans are audio nuts too and are spoiled by the high audio
production values used in Japanese animation. I think it would also help
give Japanese animation a more legitimate and professional feel here in
the States. And heck, it might even open up Troma to some soundtrack
music sales. (^_^)

That brings me to my next question; if Totoro is a hit, will we see a
home video version of it, and perhaps some other related merchandizing?
By the way, congratulations on the excellent early reviews on Totoro this
month. You realize that this is the first time a major Japanese anime
film has received this much exposure in the mainstream press. Kids might
start begging parents for videos and stuffed Totoros!

                                 / / /
                                 E N D

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAILOR MOON CHRISTMAS EVENT

The following is a transcript of a report sent to me by well-known anime and manga fan
and translator Hitoshi Doi. It describes an adventure he had doing something that I've
always wanted to check out; going to an anime voice actor event in Japan. On this
particular day, Hitoshi and his son went to see a Sailor Moon Christmas event and a
showing of the new Sailor moon movie. A special thanks to Hitoshi for sharing his
description of the event with us. - Tom.


"Sailor Moon and X'mas" event report
   version 1.0 by Hitoshi Doi, 1994.01.05

The "Sailor Moon and X'mas" event was held at the Marunouchi Toei Movie
Theater in Ginza on Christmas day (1993.12.25).   The movie theater was
very nice (big, two floors, around 600 seats).

I went with my son, as I had won two tickets.  To get into this event,
you had to send in a round-trip postcard and hope that you got one sent
back with a notice saying that you can go.  There were around 4000
postcards sent, and a little over 700 people got to go.

I arrived at the movie theater at 6:00 PM.  There were already 500 people
standing in line with numbers that they had passed out earlier.  I had
gone to the movie theater at around 10:30 AM, and I talked to a guy who
said that they were not going to pass out numbers.  Since I didn't feel
like standing in line for 9 hours, I went anime shopping.  The guy lied!

So we had to stand in line on the stairs inside the building.  (Good
thing we didn't have to stand outside in the cold.)  I was early enough
so that I was on the first set of stairs and was close enough to see the
elevators on the first floor.  While waiting, I saw the voice actresses
and Takeuchi Naoko come out of the elevators a couple times.  The first
time, the voice actresses were in their normal clothes.  The second time,
they were in their flashy stage outfits.  But of course they walked very
quickly and they kept their backs turned to everyone.  The only faces
that I caught a glimpse of was Mitsuishi Kotono and Tomizawa Michie.
Michie smiled.  Takeuchi Naoko didn't seem like she was in a hurry, so
I saw her very clearly twice.  Also it seemed like the people around me
didn't know who she was, or wasn't that interested.

The event was supposed to start at 7:30, and the people were supposed
to be let in at 7:20.  But things didn't start on time.  We got let in
at around 8:00, and the show started at 8:30.  It probably took much
longer than expected to let all of the people in.  Everyone had to open
their bags for camera, recording equipment inspection.  They passed out
an envelope to everyone containing lyrics to the songs, a number, and
Sailor Moon tissues.

I was number 511 (and 512 for Tacchan).  We did manage to find seats in
the second floor.  As expected it was mostly older boys (otaku types).
But I did see some other kids and families.  They allowed kids, but
anyone in junior high or younger had to be accompanied by parents.  All
of the seats were taken up.  There were people standing in the ailes in
the second floor.  I think there were a lot more people standing in the
first floor.

At 20:30, "Moonlight Densetsu" started playing.  Then the two emcees
came out onto the stage.  They talked for 4 minutes.

Then they showed the movie "Make Up Sailor Senshi".  This movie was just
highlights from Sailor Moon where they introduced the Sailor Senshi and
Tuxedo Kamen.  (The animation taken from the Sailor Moon TV series.)
The ED to this was "I am Sailor Moon", but a different version from the
one on the CD "Mirai he Mukatte", as it was sung by Mitsuishi Kotono
with background vocals by the other senshi voice actresses.

At 20:50, they moved a Christmas tree onto the corner of the stage (this
tree didn't have any significance) and the two emcees came out again.
At 20:53, a Sailor Moon came out onto the stage.  It was a girl in a
Sailor Moon costume (Sailor Senshi clothes and a Sailor Moon head).
Then Sailor Mars came out.  Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars started arguing.
The voices were done by the real voice actresses.   Then Sailor Mercury
came out, and told them to stop it.  After a while the voices of Sailor
Jupiter and Sailor Venus could be heard.  But they (the Sailor Senshi in
costumes) did not come out.

Then Shinohara Emi and Fukami Rika came out onto the stage.  After a
little while, Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Moon went to get
Tomizawa Michie, Hisakawa Aya, and Mitsuishi Kotono.  Hisakawa Aya yelled
out and asked, "Tanoshii!!"  They all wore matching jackets, very short
shorts, and tall boots.  The color of the boots were their respective
Sailor Senshi colors.  [Very nice outfit! ^_^;]

They lined up on the stage (from left to right, point of view from the
audience, it was Fukami Rika, Shinohara Emi, Mitsuishi Kotono, Tomizawa
Michie, and Hisakawa Aya).  Tomizawa Michie took the "lead" and they
started talking.

They talked about the past Christmas that they remembered the most.

Fukami Rika: Her first trip overseas was during Christmas.
 She went to Sweden and visited Santa's home.
Shinohara Emi: Spent Christmas Eve with two other voice actresses at
 another anime event.  (A-ko event)
Mitsuishi Kotono: When she was in high school it snowed one Christmas
 and she had a "White Christmas".
Hisakawa Aya: At the Hisakawa home, Christmas meant Kentucky Fried
 Chicken and Lady Borden ice cream.  When she was in grade school
 she went to a Christmas party at a friend's house and ate a lot of
 desserts.  When she got home, she ate a lot of chicken and ice cream.
 The next day she threw up..
Tomizawa Michie: She had a "Christmas Live" event on 1993.12.23.

They sang Silent Night in Japanese.  They had those little sticks of
plastic that light up.  They were waving it back and forth slowly.
Near the end of the song, Hisakawa Aya stopped waving it.  Then when
she noticed everyone else still waving, she quickly started. [Funny ^_^;]

They talked about what they did this year.

Fukami Rika, Shinohara Emi, and Mitsuishi Kotono went to Takeuchi Naoko's
huge house for a pajama party.  (Furuya Tohru was also there too in his
pajamas, they said.)

Tomizawa Michie had a good bye party for one of her band members.
Since she couldn't go to Takeuchi Naoko's house, Naoko drew a picture
and faxed it to her.  The other girls also sent some messages/pictures.

When they asked Hisakawa Aya about her Christmas, she just started
singing and dancing..

They sang Jingle Bells in Japanese.

There was a little bit more of talking, and the three Sailor Senshi came
back on stage.  Mitsuishi Kotono, Hisakawa Aya, and Tomizawa Michie made
them do some silly poses along with their voices.  Then the voice
actresses left the stage.

In the audience there were people dressed up as Santa Claus, Tuxedo Kamen,
youma, and Sailor Jupiter.

The emcees and Sailor Senshi remained to pass out the presents.  They
called out the numbers for the presents.  I didn't win. (;_;)

The presents were: sweatshirt x2, signed poster x10, signed tapestry x5,
telephone card set x1, telephone card x2, bag x5, "Moon Revenge" CD
single x10, signature board x5.

At 21:35, the voice actresses came back onto the stage.  They had taken
off their jackets and their flashy clothes had the following colors.
Fukami Rika-yellow, Hisakawa Aya-blue, Tomizawa Michie-silver, Shinohara
Emi-black (or dark green), Mitsuishi Kotono-pink.  They performed their
new song "Moon Revenge".  It's a great song!  Great dance!

After the song, people started yelling out "encore", but the voice
actresses just gave a good bye message.

Fukami Rika:
Tomizawa Michie:
Mitsuishi Kotono:
Hisakawa Aya: Today's work was fun.  Thanks!
Shinohara Emi:

[I forgot what they said..]

The show ended at 21:43.   Then there was going to be a five minute break
before showing the Sailor Moon R movie.

Since most of the people there had seen the movie before, some people
left.  Tacchan and I went down to the first floor and sat by Peter
Evans (who was there as "press") to watch the movie.

This was the first time that I saw the movie.  It was a great movie.
Maybe my favorite movie of all time.

The movie ended around 22:45.

After the movie, the Toei people started to clean up the stage.  One of
them took off a Sailor Mercury UFO catcher doll from the Christmas tree
and gave it to Tacchan.

                                 / / /
                                 E N D

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMIC MARKET REPORT BY CHRIS SWETT

Here's an interesting message posted on CompuServe's Comic Book & Animation Forum from
our favorite manga publishing gaijin and Forum Assistant Sysop Chris Swett. It
describes a bit about his experiences at the latest Comic Market. It looks like he had
an interesting run-in with one of our readers there! Chris sent me a copy of the
printed and translated interview that the fan gave him. It turns out that this fan's
name is Eiji Ohmori and he did a fantastic job on putting the translation together. It
looked great! I have not been able to contact Eiji through his address on the Internet,
so I hope he reads this. Thank you very much, Eiji!!!  - Tom

From: Chris Swett, AsstOp, 72736,433
To: all
Topic: Comic Market
Msg #479985
Section: Japanimation [5]
Forum: Comics/Animation
Date: Fri, Dec 31, 1993, 7:00:06 AM

    Comic Market 45 is now history. I broke my Powerbook's LCD screen on
my way home from the U.S., so couldn't report from on site. My group,
AMERIKARA, was joined by ANIME AMERICA, STRUSA and RUNNING INK. I sold
three doujinshi, Rumic America, Twice August and Kimagure Orange College.
The first two are available in remainders for $10 and $5 each,
respectively. Email for address. ANIME AMERICA sold the ubiquitous
AnimeCon t-shirts and sold out around 2 pm yesterday. They also leant a
corner of their table to another fan from the U.S. who didn't get his
registration in on time. He sold a doujinshi called TEENAGERS. STRUSA was
manned by Daniel Kanamitsu, best known as Ken'ichi Sonoda's interpreter.
He sold Tenchi Muyou doujinshi. RUNNING INK was manned by Robert
Woodhead, who sold Bayscape videos (sold out at 1 pm).

    Gaijin section:

     AMERIKARA -
       Chris Swett 72736,433
       Rika Takebe 101076,622
       Naruto Nishizawa 101230,543

     ANIME AMERICA -
       Takaaki Shimada >NIFTY:GCA02604
       Kevin Karvonen
       Teri Karvonen

     STRUSA -
       Daniel Kanamitsu
       + 2 assistants

     RUNNING INK -
       Robert Woodhead >INTERNET:[email protected]
       assisted by Naruto Nishizawa

    I was about startled out of my socks when a fan came up to me with a
very nice laser-printed copy of a translation of Tom Mitchell's Anime
Stuff 19 interview with me. He was a little concerned that he'd been
unable to contact Tom before deciding to print them and give them away,
so I told him it was ok. I'm sending one to Tom. I was more than a little
shocked to find that *I* now am apparently the subject of a fan club in
Japan! I was even more shocked when a reporter from Asahi Shimbun arrived
to interview me! Apparently there will be something in the Culture
section of the newspaper in a week or so. He's going to send me a copy.

    Robert Woodhead, who is often the subject of guest invitations and
interviews, got some time on camera with AIDE magazine. He was a guest of
honor at Daicon 6, by the way. If he hadn't sold out early, chances are
he would also have been sought out by Asahi. I think Robert was happy
that his tapes went quickly because he likes to go to the computer
software area to meet fans of his WIZARDRY program.

    Comic Market was crowded this time, as the weather was exceptionally
good. Attendance was around 220,000, packing the facility. I'll write
more when I've rested a little.


/////////////////////////////////ANIMEHEM\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Report Concerning Morphogenic Properties of Aqueous
Solutions at Elevated/Reduced Temperatures on Test Subjects
A through E.

Authors:  Forrest Smathers, Ph.D, Juno Smith, M.DD, Reginald
Buck, M.DD, and Larry Johnson


Our first evidence that aqueous solutions (hereinafter
referred to by common name, such as "soup" or "tea")
could cause morphological transformations in living tissue
was brought to our attention from an unlikely source (Ref.
1).  Such was our interest in studying these subjects that
we wrote a research grant proposal the next day.  Our
adjunctive review committee was also fascinated by the
source material, and gave the proposal their unconditional
recommendation, as well as providing us with preliminary
funds for acquiring the test subjects.

The subjects themselves proved no great difficulty to
pinpoint, as our source (Ref. 1) listed the address at which
they would be found.  We immediately packed our portable
test equipment, chartered a JAL flight, and flew to Japan.

Preliminary studies of the source (Ref. 1) indicated the
test subjects were very excitable and prone to violence.  We
wanted to take no chances with these valuable experimental
subjects, so upon arrival, we purchased several large
reinforced containment canisters as well as a used circus
cage truck for transport of the subjects to our temporary
research facility in Osaka.

Our initial contact with test subject A (see chart) was
brief.  We saw the subject in the distance at the other end
of a street, but were unable to catch up with his rapid
motion, which was apparently the result of a large crowd of
angry people, and an elephant, in pursuit.  We made no
contact with any of the test subjects for three days, during
which time several reports were made of huge balloons and
strange lights in the sky.  We have been able to make no
connection between these reports and the absence of the
subjects from their domicile.


                      Chart 1

Subject Name               Alpha Form    Beta Form
------- ------------------ ------------- ------------
A       Saotome Ranma      Human Male    Human Female
B       Hibiki Ryouga      Human Male    Chinese Pig
C       Nyuchezuu Shampoo  Human Female  Domestic Cat
D       Saotome Genma      Human Male    Giant Panda
E       Nyuchezuu Mousse   Human Male    White Goose



Our next contact was with subject C, in Alpha form.  One of
us (Rogers) managed to make physical contact with the
subject, but could not retain his grip.  Subject C then
grasped Rogers by the arm and drew him around a corner,
where we could not see him.  Rogers later was found
wandering around Tokyo with shiny hair, idly mumbling about
goat cheese.  We would never manage to restore Rogers'
coherency, and eventually had to send him home to be cared
for in a mental institution.

We decided to change our methods.  Instead of hoping to
encounter the test subjects away from their domicile, we
would attempt to entrap them all at once, during the
evening.  Unfortunately, this shortcut theory proved to be
just an arrogant assumption, and only resulted in extended
stays in the excellent Tokyo hospital system.  Short of
funds, we wired back to our research office for additional
money, which was quickly provided.

With renewed determination, we decided to set a trap for the
subjects.  It would be agreed that one of us (Smathers)
would approach the subjects, trying to attract curiosity.
If the subject took the bait, Smathers would retreat around
a corner, where the rest of us would be waiting with heavy
nets and tranquilizer guns.

The first opportunity to test this plan occured that
afternoon.  Subject D, in Beta form, sipping sake in an open
air cafe, was approached by Smathers in a panda suit.
Though Subject D was intrigued by Smathers' appearance, he
did not follow.  We can only attribute this failure to the
large group of young women gathered around the subject,
currying his fur and demonstrating affection.

Smathers waited until evening for Subject D to leave the
cafe, and then succeeded in attracting him to our pre-
arranged trap site.  The subject was easily caught in the
nets, being taken completely off guard.  We immediately
sprayed hot water on the subject, who transformed into Alpha
form and started ripping the nets and yelling extremely rude
insults.  We inflicted many tranquilizer darts on the
subject, but his anger was apparently keeping the sedation
at bay.  We then resorted to striking him with long lengths
of heavy pipe.  This proved successful in subduing the
subject, at least for the few moments needed to remove him
to our cage truck.

At this point, Subject A in Beta form, who apparently had
been in hiding at the cafe and was following Subject D,
caught up with us.  We did not have our nets prepared, and
Subject A managed to free Subject D within a matter of
moments.  One of us (Smith), managed to fire several
tranquilizer darts at Subject A as the two of them were
running away.  Subject A plucked the darts out of midair and
threw them back at great speed, causing Smith to begin his
nightly repose several hours earlier than usual.

Tired and frustrated, we returned to Osaka to rethink our
approach.  If direct capture would not work, and deception
would not work, perhaps we should discuss our research needs
directly with the subjects.  To do this, we would need to
capture one of the subjects' acquaintances so that we might
persuade them to undergo testing.  With threats (never to be
realized, of course) against the acquaintance's health, we
felt sure we would be able to convince the subjects to be
cooperative.

We recruited the assistance of a Mr. Happosai, who gladly
agreed to assist us in the capture of the young woman Tendou
Akane.  He also generously offered to watch Miss Tendou for
us, so that we would not have to reduce our research staff
by having to guard her.  We explained to Mr. Happosai that
our threats were empty and our research was actually
harmless.  He merely grinned, laughed, nodded and said "of
course it is."

That evening, Mr. Happosai returned to our facility with
Miss Tendou.  Apparently, she had been sprayed with some
form of quick-setting body wax while freshly out of the
bath, and could not move.  We were embarrassed by Miss
Tendou's nakedness, and Mr. Happosai quickly removed her to
the rear store-room for safekeeping.

We then prepared our message to be sent to the test
subjects.  Deciding on the traditional form for notes of
this type, one of us (Buck) came up with this text:
"Wierdos:  We have Akane.  Submit to testing or else."  Of
course, we didn't specify any threats, fearing legal action.
However, we felt the implication would be sufficient.

We sent them this simple letter, delivered in the time-
honored method for such messages:  Heaved through a window
tied to a brick.  Smathers, the delivery man, said upon his
return to the research facility that we should expect
contact within moments -- he had been followed by all of the
test subjects, all in Beta form, and all furious.

Smathers was correct, as within seconds the north side of
our facility began to shake, and a large section of the
reinforced concrete wall shattered and fell to the floor.
The test subjects leaped through the opening into the room
with amazing speed.  Subject A, seeing our coffee machine,
grabbed several cups of hot coffee and splashed himself and
each of the other subjects, returning all to Alpha form.
The subjects then demanded to see Miss Tendou, and
threatened our lives if we did not produce her right away.

We explained the role of Mr. Happosai in the capture of Miss
Tendou, at which point Subjects A, B and D became extremely
angry and began to tear apart the room, destroying hundreds
of thousands of dollars worth of equipment in moments.
Subject C seemed somewhat pleased at the news, and began to
approach Subject A with what could only be called "love" in
her eyes, until Subject E fell to the floor in front of her,
tripping her as he grasped for a lab coat and screamed at
it "Shampoo!  My Bride!"

Subject B then picked one of us up (Smith) and threatened to
tie him in a Windsor knot unless the location of Miss Tendou
was revealed.  One of us (Johnson) then explained the
situation.  Miss Tendou would not be released until we could
perform various experiments on the group, including tissue
samples, high-speed photography of the transformation
process, MRI and CT scans of the complete body structure of
both Alpha and Beta forms, and complete publication rights
for the Journal of the AMA.  This last demand seemed to
enrage them the most, as Subject A immediately began
reducing additional racks of precision equipment to tiny
shards, Subject C began to convert the warehouse into a
gazebo by kicking holes in the walls, Subject D found a pail
of cool water, changed into his Beta form, and began to
Dutch rub one of us (Smathers) with all his considerable
might, and Subject E began throwing knives at all of us, but
missing.

We probably would have had to reveal Miss Tendou's location
at that point, but it was done for us.  Miss Tendou ran
through the room at great speed, completely naked, with Mr.
Happosai in quick pursuit, screaming "Wait a minute!  Just
one feel!"  All of the test subjects froze momentarily, then
Subjects A and B followed in the path of the escaped Miss
Tendou and Mr. Happosai at incredible velocity.  Curiously,
however, the two subjects appeared to be yelling and
striking each other during their flight.

The remaining three subjects, Subject C unconcerned about
Miss Tendou, Subject E completely absorbed in Subject C, and
Subject D still in Beta form, remained.  Subject D picked up
a massive piece of concrete and threatened us with it, and
motioned that we should all climb in our own cage truck,
which he locked.  The four of us (Smith, Johnson, Smathers,
Buck) waited there for many hours.  Subject D seemed fairly
relaxed.  Although he would occasionally step outside to
look for the return of the others, he mostly watched Subject
E attempting to make physical contact with Subject C, and
Subject C kicking him in the face whenever he got within
three feet of her.

Subjects A and B eventually returned.  Behind them was Mr.
Happosai, bound from head to toe in thick steel cable and
being led on a short tether by Miss Tendou (now fully
dressed), who every few moments would smack him brutally.
The subjects and Miss Tendou repaired to an ajoining
conference room, and a lengthy consultation began.  We heard
nothing of the discussion save an occasional bellowed
"idiot!" which was always followed by what could only be a
slap.  Subject A, somewhat worse for wear, then climbed into
the drivers seat of the cage truck and drove us out.  The
other subjects followed in our Jeep.

We drove for hours, reaching a small port on the western tip
of the island.  There, a medium sized boat was procured
(means unknown) and our cage was placed on board.  Subjects
A, B and D joined the crew and bid farewell to the others.
We sailed for approximately two days, apparently in a
westerly direction, though we cannot say for sure.

Upon reaching port, we heard what we can only assume were
voices speaking Chinese.  Then a large canvas cover was
placed on our cage, and we were forced to endure a two week
long cart ride through horribly potholed streets, steep
mountain passes, and miserable swamps.  Food was passed to
us through a small slit cut in the canvas, and every now and
again we could glimpse one of the subjects walking along
side.  Any attempt at conversation, however, was rebuked
with a sharp stick.

Late in the afternoon of the fifteenth day, the cart
stopped, and the canvas was removed.  All of us were
required to exit the cage, and we saw before us a vast muddy
marsh.  Scattered here and there in the marsh were springs
of hot water, from which steam arose.  Subject B then
grasped each of us in turn, and threw each of us bodily into
different of the springs.

This was the end of our encounters with the test subjects,
as subjects A, B and D immediately retreated along the road
at high speed.  We were forced to find our way back to our
research center with no means of communication, and no
available cash.  This took us many months.

Postscript - by Sean Puckett

Upon the return of the research team, the members were
quickly seized and taken away.  All of them will undergo
continuous research into the nature of their afflictions for
at least a decade, probably longer.

The preceding article was dictated in Morse coded chirps by
the project leader, now a grasshopper.

Corrections and supplementary information were provided by
his assistants, whose forms are now those of a vole, a
sparrow, and a giant Chinese toad.


References

1.  _Ranma 1/2_, Takahashi Rumiko


//////////////////////////////MAIL ORDER INFO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The following is a list of businesses where the ANIME STUFF staff members
shop for our anime stuff. They are highly recommended sources for anime
and provide excellent service. All of them provide mail order so you
can write to them for catalogs.

SIGHT & SOUND          NIKAKU ANIMART          LASER PERCEPTIONS
1275 MAIN STREET       615 NORTH 6th. St.      1739 NORIEGA STREET
WALTHAM, MA 02154      SAN JOSE, CA 95112      SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122

PHONE: 1-617-894-8633  PHONE: 1-408-971-2822   PHONE: 1-415-753-2016

MIKADO LASER (J.C. TRADING, INC.)
JAPANESE CULTURAL & TRADE CENTER
1737 POST STREET
SAN FRANSISCO, CA 94115

PHONE: 1-415-922-9450


SIGHT & SOUND, LASER PERCEPTIONS, and MIKADO LASER specialize in domestic
and imported laser video discs. Nikaku sells magazines, books, compact discs,
laserdiscs and other anime goods. Tell 'em ANIME STUFF sent ya!

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI BBS SYSTEM INFO IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

> VALLEY OF THE WIND BBS, the official ANIMAG BBS
 Phone 1-415-341-5986 (CALIFORNIA, 300-9600 BAUD)

/////////////////////////////////END NOTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"That's just like Speed Racer"

- Comment made by every American seeing anime for the first time. It's
 almost as if it's genetically encoded. (^_^)

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Date of original publication: 3/28/1994

ANIME STUFF Copyright (C) 1994 Tom Mitchell, MIDORI COMMUNICATIONS, &
Studio Midori. All rights reserved.

This publication originally appears on CompuServe Information Service's
Comic Book & Animation Forum.

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INTERNET Address :[email protected]

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appear are sent to:

MIDORI COMMUNICATIONS
c/o Tom Mitchell
474 Chowning Circle
Dayton, Ohio 45429
U.S.A.

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