I think it’s pretty clear that Royal Space Force is a fluke as far as Gainax is concerned, a studio better characterized by fanboyish works like their original Daicon shorts, Gunbuster, Re: Cutie Honey, Gurren-Lagann and so on.
I watched Royal Space Force after a decade and I was very surprised by its adult nature… I picked up on a mountain of new things I missed as a teen. Your enjoyment of the film seems to hinge on your fascination culture, technology and history as it criticizes, satirizes, and often meditates on the trajectory of human civilization. Its thematic sophistication and lack of “comic book” appeal (cute designs, fanservice etc.) makes it very uncharacteristic of Gainax, save for its geeky attention to meticulous detail.
While being a great “prestige” piece, Royal Space Force didn’t make much money IIRC. I guess they decided that anime is, basically, a poor medium to make (or rather find an audience for) an exclusively adult-oriented work, and have since stuck to teen-oriented things like Gunbuster and Evangelion. Their inability to get the Royal Space Force sequel/successor “Aoki Uru” off the ground says it all, I think.
As far as things like Hanamaru Youchien are concerned, Gainax very obviously produces two tiers of work– disposable TV fodder (He Is My Master, Melody of Oblivion, Murder Princess etc.etc.) and their high end projects like Gurren-Lagann, Diebuster, Re: Cutie Honey and FLCL. It’s not really fair to compare their top-tier work to their uninteresting TV fodder. I think a more apt comparison would be Daicon IV to any of their top-tier stuff, as an illustration of how much Gainax has stayed the same in their mindset
SupaPhly
Now, slowly remove your nostalgia goggles, put them on the ground, and step away from them.
GATS
I remember being bored and underwhelmed by Honneamise when I was younger. I think Manga tried to cash in on the “Ron Howard/Tom Hanks” Apollo 13 by the way they marketed it, and that probably added to my disappointment, because I was expecting something more adventurous in the vein than what I got; and the characters looked and acted even more bored than in an Oshii film, if that’s possible. [To be honest, it felt like But I haven’t seen it since then, and if the Bandai Visual U.S.A price-tag wasn’t such a bitch, I might have given it a second chance. To me, the only entertaining Gainax stuff is Daicon IV and Gunbuster, and I don’t care about anything else. [But then I have yet to peruse Gurren Lagann… ]
Evangelion is probably that company’s biggest double-edged sword. Successful, but overrated as fuck enough to be placed on a pedestal which Gainax can’t possibly be expected to live up to. Anyway, even if the thing was popular in Japan, I don’t get why they thought it would justify what it cost to produce, even by 80s anime boom standards. Hell, Akira actually made money, and still cost too much. So I think you should be glad that Gainax is one of the few companies willing to try different genres right now.
lol, I came off sounding like Royal Space Force is the only good thing Gainax has ever made… I only meant to point out that it was (demographically) a fluke and not the norm for them back in those days, like the “Gainax 1987” image would otherwise suggest. When I think of Gainax, I think of the fanboyish comics/anime culture that drives all of their work from Daicon to Gurren-Lagann.
When I rewatched Honneamise last month (after nearly a decade), I remembered the movie being rather dull as a teen. “At least the animation & design will be nice”, I thought. I watched it with a friend who had the same expectations.
Both of us were totally floored… the movie was nothing like we remembered. Everything happening in Royal Space Force– the plight of the characters and the chaotic portrait of the world they inhabit, was suddenly vivid and engaging. It was rich, overflowing with ideas. I’m convinced that it’s one of the most “adult” animated features ever created due to the sensibilities it caters to.
In some sense it’s still a fannish work… but not of anime & comics. I feel like it’s a movie for “nerds” of history, politics, technology and current events… basically for people who have a “wide” view of the world. That necessarily excludes most teens, who usually live in worlds that don’t extend far past their high schools, and won’t pick up on some of the more subtle storytelling & satire.
Gurren-Lagann is very typical of their work. It’s their stab at making the ultimate super robots epic– classic “genre” anime with modern production. Like other works from that director (Hiroyuki Imaishi), it’s relentlessly energetic but sometimes exhaustingly so.
The image above got me thinking if anime was more sophisticated “back then” when we had the beginnings of prestige pieces like Royal Space Force, early Ghibli, Akira, experimental omnibuses like Robot Carnival and Labyrinth Tales (Neo Tokyo) and so on. It’s really easy to look at today’s landscape and see a mountain of cheap “moe” fodder, as if everything’s been held in creative stasis since Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo.
At the same time, you have (premiering right now) bizarre, non-genre shows like Durarara along with Masaaki Yuasa’s 3rd TV series, both of which are being “simulcast” to the United States. Creative movies from directors like Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Hosoda still come out every now and then as well…
I don’t know. At best you can argue that anime is diminishing artistically if you did some tally maybe, but it’s nowhere near dead. I’m glad studios like MadHouse have found ways to regularly produce offbeat/non-genre works profitably. It means everything is not destined to become Naruto and Hanamaru Youchien.
Yeah so…
Why no put their last masterpiece TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN which we had not long ago?
Ah, we’ve come a long way, haven’t we?
Say what you will, but Gurren Lagann is nothing to be scoffed at.
I think it’s pretty clear that Royal Space Force is a fluke as far as Gainax is concerned, a studio better characterized by fanboyish works like their original Daicon shorts, Gunbuster, Re: Cutie Honey, Gurren-Lagann and so on.
I watched Royal Space Force after a decade and I was very surprised by its adult nature… I picked up on a mountain of new things I missed as a teen. Your enjoyment of the film seems to hinge on your fascination culture, technology and history as it criticizes, satirizes, and often meditates on the trajectory of human civilization. Its thematic sophistication and lack of “comic book” appeal (cute designs, fanservice etc.) makes it very uncharacteristic of Gainax, save for its geeky attention to meticulous detail.
While being a great “prestige” piece, Royal Space Force didn’t make much money IIRC. I guess they decided that anime is, basically, a poor medium to make (or rather find an audience for) an exclusively adult-oriented work, and have since stuck to teen-oriented things like Gunbuster and Evangelion. Their inability to get the Royal Space Force sequel/successor “Aoki Uru” off the ground says it all, I think.
As far as things like Hanamaru Youchien are concerned, Gainax very obviously produces two tiers of work– disposable TV fodder (He Is My Master, Melody of Oblivion, Murder Princess etc.etc.) and their high end projects like Gurren-Lagann, Diebuster, Re: Cutie Honey and FLCL. It’s not really fair to compare their top-tier work to their uninteresting TV fodder. I think a more apt comparison would be Daicon IV to any of their top-tier stuff, as an illustration of how much Gainax has stayed the same in their mindset
Now, slowly remove your nostalgia goggles, put them on the ground, and step away from them.
I remember being bored and underwhelmed by Honneamise when I was younger. I think Manga tried to cash in on the “Ron Howard/Tom Hanks” Apollo 13 by the way they marketed it, and that probably added to my disappointment, because I was expecting something more adventurous in the vein than what I got; and the characters looked and acted even more bored than in an Oshii film, if that’s possible. [To be honest, it felt like But I haven’t seen it since then, and if the Bandai Visual U.S.A price-tag wasn’t such a bitch, I might have given it a second chance. To me, the only entertaining Gainax stuff is Daicon IV and Gunbuster, and I don’t care about anything else. [But then I have yet to peruse Gurren Lagann… ]
Evangelion is probably that company’s biggest double-edged sword. Successful, but overrated as fuck enough to be placed on a pedestal which Gainax can’t possibly be expected to live up to. Anyway, even if the thing was popular in Japan, I don’t get why they thought it would justify what it cost to produce, even by 80s anime boom standards. Hell, Akira actually made money, and still cost too much. So I think you should be glad that Gainax is one of the few companies willing to try different genres right now.
lol, I came off sounding like Royal Space Force is the only good thing Gainax has ever made… I only meant to point out that it was (demographically) a fluke and not the norm for them back in those days, like the “Gainax 1987” image would otherwise suggest. When I think of Gainax, I think of the fanboyish comics/anime culture that drives all of their work from Daicon to Gurren-Lagann.
When I rewatched Honneamise last month (after nearly a decade), I remembered the movie being rather dull as a teen. “At least the animation & design will be nice”, I thought. I watched it with a friend who had the same expectations.
Both of us were totally floored… the movie was nothing like we remembered. Everything happening in Royal Space Force– the plight of the characters and the chaotic portrait of the world they inhabit, was suddenly vivid and engaging. It was rich, overflowing with ideas. I’m convinced that it’s one of the most “adult” animated features ever created due to the sensibilities it caters to.
In some sense it’s still a fannish work… but not of anime & comics. I feel like it’s a movie for “nerds” of history, politics, technology and current events… basically for people who have a “wide” view of the world. That necessarily excludes most teens, who usually live in worlds that don’t extend far past their high schools, and won’t pick up on some of the more subtle storytelling & satire.
Gurren-Lagann is very typical of their work. It’s their stab at making the ultimate super robots epic– classic “genre” anime with modern production. Like other works from that director (Hiroyuki Imaishi), it’s relentlessly energetic but sometimes exhaustingly so.
The image above got me thinking if anime was more sophisticated “back then” when we had the beginnings of prestige pieces like Royal Space Force, early Ghibli, Akira, experimental omnibuses like Robot Carnival and Labyrinth Tales (Neo Tokyo) and so on. It’s really easy to look at today’s landscape and see a mountain of cheap “moe” fodder, as if everything’s been held in creative stasis since Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo.
At the same time, you have (premiering right now) bizarre, non-genre shows like Durarara along with Masaaki Yuasa’s 3rd TV series, both of which are being “simulcast” to the United States. Creative movies from directors like Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Hosoda still come out every now and then as well…
I don’t know. At best you can argue that anime is diminishing artistically if you did some tally maybe, but it’s nowhere near dead. I’m glad studios like MadHouse have found ways to regularly produce offbeat/non-genre works profitably. It means everything is not destined to become Naruto and Hanamaru Youchien.