By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
In honour of Otaku no Culture’s 1001th post instead of 1000, I fondly recall an animated feature film, 千夜一夜物語 — Senya Ichya Monogatori (A Thousand and One Nights) (1969), from Japan which never got a fair treatment outside of its own country. The reason is most likely because it was very risqué for its time; it was x-rated. I recall securing a VHS copy decades ago because any title based on literature appealed to me. Where it went now, well, I have to dig through my boxes of stored tapes to see if I still have it. Sadly, not every old anime I want to get replaced got a DVD release when I wanted to. The original Japanese language instead of the trippy English dub is available through YESASIA.
Part of why I was intrigued with this series is because this anime was an idea Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy) thought of. He believed not every product should be youth friendly and a study on Cartoon Research wrote:
…Tezuka, a fan of animation in all forms, was concerned by animation’s reputation as being for children only. He wanted to show that animation could be for all age groups and all interests. In the late 1960s he determined to produce theatrical animation features that would obviously be for adults rather than for children. These would be erotic but in good taste; the animated equivalent of America’s Playboy magazine. All of Mushi Pro’s resources would be behind them – with mixed results.
Eiichi Yamamoto served as director. In what the two crafted was based on the most popular of the tales presented in the original Arabic tale, One Thousand and One Nights — of which have been many adaptations. Aladdin and Sinbad are the heroes in this film. The exotic quality of the production was what drew me in and one day, I will put the DVD on my shelf again, next to Tezuka’s The Phoenix.
Continue reading “1001 Knights, or should that be Otaku no Culture Celebrating 1001 Posts?”
AnimeJapan 2016 (formerly known as the Tokyo International Anime Fair) is happening at Tokyo Big Sight in the Ariake District. And you will probably hear a few good things come out of the con this year. The event runs March 25-27 (the 25th is for registered members of industry and media only). So far day one has provided some interesting information according to Macross Delta fans. Delta Mechanical Designer Shōji Kawamori has confirmed that the Delta character Mirage is the daughter of Miranda Jenius, Max and Milia Fallyna Jenius’ 6th daughter.
Every year in Denden Town in Osaka there is held one of the biggest anime-themed events. The streets to Denden are closed to traffic every March 20th from 11am to 5pm to make way for a colourful festival of cosplayers in elaborate costumes, robot performances, live music and more. This year the cosplay looked so good. I have to thank the participants of the Nipponbashi for always striving to make the Festa better. As one former spectator attested “I remember when it was just a bunch of guys dressed as Sentai heroes.”
I’m going to get this off my chest right now, I’m not fond of McDonald’s, at least not the North American version. It’s not McDonald’s food, it’s their marketing and how they’ve changed from a family restaurant to a cafe atmosphere, If I want to go to a café I would go to one that isn’t operated by a fast food company. That being said, I hear 
Anime Evolution has announced Tracey Moore as their first guest for their 2016 convention. Moore has spent the last 30 years doing casting, voice directing and voice work for companies such as 
In Tokyo on Saturday night (January 30th), a party was held to celebrate the birthday of Mylene Flare Jenius, the bassist and backing singer for the band Fire Bomber from Macross 7. Attending this event was none other than Mica Okudoi and Tsutomu Takayama (Hibiki Kanzaki of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again). The lucky person who took these photos (Gwyn Campbell) had a front row ticket, and I agree with one of the Macross Fans- US members when he said Mylene’s outfit is not designed to be worn by a full-grown woman. But seriously, I’m sure it wouldn’t bother the male otakus that much.