F IS FOR FAKE

Okay, I guess "fake" is too strong a word. In fact I don't want to even call these "bootlegs" because honestly, they don't represent knockoffs of already established product. But there's a degree of copywrong in the provenance of these pieces that speaks volumes about the desire for Japanese anime characters, as well as the casual disregard for intellectual property that has been the hallmark of Japanese animation's impact outside Japan.



If it's the 1980s, kids are crazy for robots, even in the form of cheap, tiny coloring books meant to be handed out as door prizes or favors at birthday parties, perhaps at Showbiz Pizza. And just think, that cheap coloring book you threw away because you were 8 and had no idea of the dramatic struggle of White Base to survive the Zeon onslaught was actually pirating artwork from a famous Japanese anime series! Let's look inside.



In spite of the Gundam cover, the characters inside are from Star Musketeer Bismark. Because... they couldn't find art to trace of Char or Amuro? Somebody really liked Marianne Louvre? Who knows? All I know is now I need something to put my crayons in.



Luckily this soft vinyl-covered pencil case will do the trick! And hey, it's not going to bother with your typical RX-78 Gundam, but instead chose to decorate itself with a weird approximation of what appears to be a RMS-179/RGM-79R GM II, the Earth Federation's mass production mobile suit from Zeta Gundam. I guess my pencils feel kind of safe, sort of.



The Gundam theme continues on the back with a fairly accurate GunCannon and hey, from a completely different series produced by a completely different studio, it's a Cyclone from Tatsunoko's Genesis Climber Mospeada! Because when you're using unauthorized artwork sometimes you just have to go a little crazy.

So let's take a break from all this pen and paper stuff and play some cheap plastic hand-held pinball. Surely this inexpensive dollar store party favor type game won't feature appopriated character art!



Oh wait. That's a soccer-playing Sailor Mercury going for the gold, isn't it?



Yup, it sure is, her Mercury Healing Tiara contrasting nicely with her striped soccer jersey. I suppose there was a time in the 1990s when it was thought you could sell anything with Sailor Moon characters. On the other hand, I did actually buy this thing, so I guess their plan succeeded.

Speaking of satisfying toy play value, it's hard to beat cheap Taiwanese knockoff robots for some good robot toy "fun".



Combining the classical looks of Mazinger Z with the trendy lion motif of Voltron, the "Lionbot" stands ready to defend himself against all the copyright lawyers in the galaxy!



This box art was apparently copied right off the side of THE GREATEST AIRBRUSHED CUSTOM VAN EVER. The other robot isn't a Lionbot, but Tiger Mask captured in a rare moment cosplaying as Great Mazinger.

So just let your feelings about intellectual property and quality childrens toys retreat into the background. Unless you want Lionbot to open you up a clumsily-painted, badly-cast, frosty cold can of BEAT-DOWN!

Sailing With Sindbad

First broadcast in 1975, the Nippon Animation Company's SINDBAD THE SAILOR ("Adventures Of Sindbad") follows the adventures of the eponymous character Sindbad - here presented as slightly younger than in other versions - and his pals Aladdin the wizard, Ali "40 Thieves" Baba, and Yasmila the mynah bird as they voyage through the mysterious, magic-filled world of Arabian fairy tales. Broadcast in Japan, Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, France, China, and of course the Arabian Peninsula, SINDBAD became a worldwide hit beloved by children everywhere, except the United States.


A shame, too, because SINDBAD is a perky, rollicking kid's show, full of action without being too violent and filled with exotic faraway places. We could have used a little SINDBAD in the dark days between "Speed Racer" and "Battle Of The Planets."



Instead of exciting adventure with Sindbad we had to endure "Scooby-Doo" reruns, the effects of whatever Sid & Marty Krofft were on that week, and drek like "Funky Phantom". Did "Funky Phantom" ever go to the jungle to meet a jungle boy and Tusk the Cocoa Krispies mascot? Well, Sindbad did!



Tusk is looking a little p.o.'ed there. Those better not be Cocoa Pebbles in your bowl kids!

With a memorable theme song sung by Mitsuko Horie, colorful and chunky 70s style anime character designs, and animation work by veterans like Noboru Ishiguro, SINDBAD is a show that carved out its own little Arabic niche of anime history. And if you doubt its influence, witness photographic evidence of a "Sindbad" themed restaurant in, of all places, Canada's federal capital Ottawa!



Cruising through Ottawa recently, I caught that sign out of the corner of my eye. I passed two intersections before I was able to convince myself I just saw a restaurant with "Sindbad" signage. And then I made an illegal U-turn. Always have your camera ready, kids!



How many more Japanese cartoon characters are being used in an unauthorized fashion as restaurant mascots? Keep watching the roadsides!

talkin' about fans

That's right, this LET'S ANIME column will be all about fans! You know, the kind you hold in your hand and move back and forth that kinda keep you cool? Oh, you thought we were going to talk about the OTHER kind of fan, the kind that moves from the couch to the computer and isn't EVER cool. Well, too bad.

Nope, today I'm clearly in the category of "what the hell", the kind of thing you notice out of the corner of your eye when you're digging through some Crazy Grandma antique mall out in the butt-end of nowhere, when you CLEARLY are not expecting to find evidence of the Mighty Power Of Japanimation. And you blink a few times and you ask yourself if you just really did see that, and then you ask the clerk for the key to showcase #G-7, and then you buy the thing and take it home. That's exactly what I did when I found these things.



Crazy googly-eyed Japanese fans! And not the kind that camp out waiting to ambush their favorite idol singers, either! Nope, these are little paper souvenir fans with cartoon characters printed on 'em.



The first one is an androgynous festival child wearing his or her matsuri happi coat. In the background, a crowd of revellers hoist what may or may not be the Ark Of The Covenant.



This was a promotional piece advertising the '57 Tokyo International Trade Fair, at which I bet you coulda picked up North American Tetsuwan Atomu merchandising rights for twenty bucks and a carton of Luckies. Quick, where's my time machine?

Next up is our favorite comic-strip husband, Dagwood Bumstead!



A slightly puffy, rosy-cheeked Dagwood poses with a minimalist Daisy. Star of "Blondie", a comic strip that enjoyed tremendous if inexplicable popularity in Japan, here Dagwood gets the kind of fat, slick brush line he'd never get in American comic pages, except for that week Walt Kelly and Chic Young traded strips. But what of the Japanese comic tradition? Will the Japanese powerhouse of manga-style comic art be represented in googly-eyed fan form? But of course.



Machiko Hasegawa's Sazae-San, the modern Japanese housewife who first appeared in 1946 and whose animated television series has been continually broadcast since 1969 (!!), here recieves the ultimate accolade Japan can offer by being depicted upon a cheap, possibly unlicensed paper fan. What the hell a paper fan featuring Sazae-San was doing locked in a showcase in an antique mall in Ohio is a mystery best left to professional archeologists. I am only thankful to whatever cosmic forces placed it in my hands, in all its googly-eyed glory.


OH NO MOMMY'S DRUNK AGAIN

More "what the hell" stuff to come here at Let's Anime! Stay tuned!