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krpalmerThere's a column at the Anime News Network site called "Buried Treasure," which points out obscure anime titles unjustly forgotten in the opinion of the columnist, some lucky enough to have been licensed in North America, some not. As someone who does find himself watching a fair number of older titles, the idea interests me; as someone who does mix in newer titles as well and can get annoyed when a fan of old anime seems to come across as obsessed with complaining how the new stuff just isn't as good, the fact that the column never comes across as arrogant that way keeps me reading it.
Normally, I haven't even heard of the titles the column promotes, but the one that turned up today caught my attention right from the first moment. It was on Gundam 0080, a six-episode "OVA" series from the late 1980s, and one I managed to see first when my university's anime club showed it after it was first officially licensed. (Actually, they showed the opening mecha battle a while before that as one of their brief, unexplained treats during intermission... while I didn't recognise where it was from, it still caught my attention then.) I suppose I'm not so dogmatic as the columnist, who led off by implying that Gundam 0080 is the one series in that very large franchise for people (like him) not that interested in teenaged giant robot pilots and ever-escalating stakes, and yet the series, with its good production values, lack of intimidating fifty-episode length, and solid take on the horrors of war, is one of my favourite Gundam series as well. (Other people have been impressed by it as well.)
The message-board discussion of the column also caught my attention, although I suppose it made me a little uneasy as well... when the columnist led off by saying that he's not particularly impressed by the work of Yoshiyuki Tomino, the director of the first several Gundam series (he didn't direct Gundam 0080, which also led off a number of "side story" productions meant to be squeezed into the early years of the original Gundam timeline), a bunch of other people commented how Tomino strikes them as an "idea person" who's not good in their opinion at developing them. For all that a person or two directed criticism at Zeta Gundam, which I've already mentioned a few times that I suppose I think I was just given too much of a "hard sell" towards to begin with, I might have started worrying that somebody would start tossing in familiar yet unfavourable comments about George Lucas as well. Either that, or I was just worried people would turn to complaints about the modern "alternative universe" Gundam series, some of which seem to be easy targets. A peculiar mix of staying away from some things on the advice of others and yet feeling sorry for those easy targets is what trips me up there.
Normally, I haven't even heard of the titles the column promotes, but the one that turned up today caught my attention right from the first moment. It was on Gundam 0080, a six-episode "OVA" series from the late 1980s, and one I managed to see first when my university's anime club showed it after it was first officially licensed. (Actually, they showed the opening mecha battle a while before that as one of their brief, unexplained treats during intermission... while I didn't recognise where it was from, it still caught my attention then.) I suppose I'm not so dogmatic as the columnist, who led off by implying that Gundam 0080 is the one series in that very large franchise for people (like him) not that interested in teenaged giant robot pilots and ever-escalating stakes, and yet the series, with its good production values, lack of intimidating fifty-episode length, and solid take on the horrors of war, is one of my favourite Gundam series as well. (Other people have been impressed by it as well.)
The message-board discussion of the column also caught my attention, although I suppose it made me a little uneasy as well... when the columnist led off by saying that he's not particularly impressed by the work of Yoshiyuki Tomino, the director of the first several Gundam series (he didn't direct Gundam 0080, which also led off a number of "side story" productions meant to be squeezed into the early years of the original Gundam timeline), a bunch of other people commented how Tomino strikes them as an "idea person" who's not good in their opinion at developing them. For all that a person or two directed criticism at Zeta Gundam, which I've already mentioned a few times that I suppose I think I was just given too much of a "hard sell" towards to begin with, I might have started worrying that somebody would start tossing in familiar yet unfavourable comments about George Lucas as well. Either that, or I was just worried people would turn to complaints about the modern "alternative universe" Gundam series, some of which seem to be easy targets. A peculiar mix of staying away from some things on the advice of others and yet feeling sorry for those easy targets is what trips me up there.