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DIE CHAMPIONS
I
know very little about this; it's another football anime, set in Japan,
about three footballers, Toshi, Kazuhiro, and Kenji, and their childhood
friend Kazumi.
The three, successful footballers in junior high school, get into the senior
high school team. Kazumi, now grown into an attractive young woman, remains
their friend, fan and cheerleader.
There's a great deal of footie, which may get tedious if you are not
a footie fan. However as Kazumi innocently leaps about, viewers are treated
to the same glimpses of her charms that get the lads in such a fluster
of hopeless passion. Initially at least, Kazumi seems oblivious of the
effect she is having on her maturing friends... This is one of those series
in which it is very easy to imagine the characters as real people. Certainly
Kasumi, when she appears, evokes a real girl of flesh and blood more vividly
than any other character in anime.Kazumi
in newspaper
Later on in the series, Kazumi goes her own way to begin a career as
a singer. The final episodes were distinguished by the quality of animation,
which is modern and very filmic in character, and the relatively mature
tone of the drama. Well worth checking out an episode just to see what
it looks like.
Whether you continue watching will depend on whether you like acres
of football anime.
DIE SCHATZINSEL (Treasure Island)
Yes it is indeed another adaptation of the famous RL Stevenson novel,
with fine painted artwork. Though more suitable for kids, it's quite well
done and seems to stick fairly faithfully to the original book; as much
as you could expect anyway. The characterisation is good, with the good
guys sometimes appearing a bit wet, and Silver not being wholly villainous.
In fact he makes a fascinating anti-hero. Infinitely better than American
cartoons.
 DIE
TOLLEN FUSSBALSTARS (= Captain Tsubasa)
This is the legendary sports anime series, the one that was often the subject of naughty yaoi dojinshi written by Japanese girl fans. Also very popular in Hong Kong. The episode I saw was from near the beginning of the run, and all the characters look too young for that sort of thing. It's quite well animated, but may be of more interest if you like football or have the time to get into the story. English name: Captain Tsubasa Japanese name: Captain Tsubasa Japanese name: $B%-%c%W%F%sMc Dates: October 13, 1983-March 27, 1986 Number of episodes: 128 Production Company: Toei Animation Creator: Youichi Takahashi Series Director: Hiroyoshi Mitsunobu Music: Hiromoto Tobisawa Voice Actors (regular characters): Genre(s): sports, soccer |
FRAU PFEFFERTOPF
Sorry if I've mangled the spelling. The german TV anime page claims
this is Japanese, and having seen it, this seems quite likely. Euro-Anime
with rustic setting. Frau Pfeffertopf is a housewife whose husband is a
housepainter. She gets magically shrunk to thumb-size in each episode,
and has adventures with sundry animals. It's for children.
HALLO KURT (=Ohayo Spank!)
This
has a most infectious theme tune, and it's about a silly looking anthromorphic
dog which wears a bow tie and goes about falling in love with cats, or
turning into Superhero-dog and leaping off tall buildings. Kurt's young
owner, Anna, is keen on handsome rich boy, Andreas, who has a sailing boat.
The schoolkids in the series wear Japanese school uniforms,
and there are a few kanji and other clues to show that this is Japanese
animation. I laughed. It could grow on you.
Taro Rehrl writes:
HALLO KURT: Yes, this *is* Ohayou! Spank. ^_^
On some rare episodes, you can discover the letters 'SPANK' on a cup or
whatever for a short time. Most writing has been replaced by the German
corresponding text, however.
 |
You've probably heard the song "I Dream of Jeannie with the Light
Brown Hair". Well, this series is inspired by it, and features the song
in the opening credits. It's set in 19th century southern America, in a
small town, and has a number of young characters including the eponymous
Jeannie, who have a set of adventures straight out of the standard script
box. If the credits, which have a bizarre flying sequence, don't clue you
that this is fantasy, the inter-racial harmony depicted in the series certainly
ought to!
The animation is by Nippon Animation and is up to their usual standards. English name: Girl in the Wind: Blonde Jeanie or Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair Japanese name: Kinpatsu no Jeanie Japanese name: Dates: October 15, 1992-September 30, 1993 Number of episodes: 52 Production Company: Nippon Animation |
KICKERS
 |
Goalkeeper | Player & fan. Soccer anime, author Noriaki Nagai. One hardly needed the credits to identify this as Japanese animation; it is strongly Japanese in style and has an energy that radiates off the screen. It's about a junior school football team and their supporters. Easily confused with "Captain Tsubasa". Mainly for children. |
KIMBA
An
Americanised version of Tezuka's Jungle Taetei. The Yanks credit
themselves in great detail but don't get around to mentioning who did the
animation! It looks very American too. It has aged rather badly and will
be mainly of interest to completists and anime journalists. Shown on Polsat
with Polish overdub.
