Weekly Bulletin for Saturday 24^th May, 2014

Screening

Below is the program for May 24^th, 2014.

This is not a regular JAFWA program. Instead this is a special program designed to commemorate the 30 ^th Anniversary of the watershed anime movie Macross – Do You Remember Love?. Notes will be included on the night to aid the mood, as well as having a few good retro TV episodes.

All items in the original Japanese language with English subtitles.

Doors Open Screening:~4:55 PM

Program Finishes:~10:45 PM

Dates of Interest

• June 21-22 – SupaNova convention (no JAFWA)
• July 19^th – JAFWA AGM from 3PM, with JAFWA annual elections during the Dinner Break 7PM – vote for anime overlord.

Synopsis

Mobile Police Patlabor

Retro anime – Patlabor: Portmanteau of the words Patrol and Labour. Since the late 1990’s Labors (8-10m civilian mecha used for construction purposes) have been in existence, and like all inventions criminals immediately started to use Labors for nefarious purposes. To counter this trend, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police created the Special Vehicles (SV) Units branch to deal with the literal large-scale crimes of Tokyo. Mobile Police Patlabor follows the day-to-day stories of SV2, the red-headed step child of the branch, of which very few stories are complimentary.

Tonight’s episode shows how the members of SV2 deal with animal control, as they Head to the Mountain of Mystery!

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083

A side-series to the classic Kido Senshi Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam) (1978), Kido Senshi Gundam Stardust Memories (0083 Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Stardust Memories) (1991) provides a bridge between Mobile Suit Gundam and Kido Senshi Zeta Gundam (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) (1986). Set during October-November of Universal Century 0083 (2163 AD) nearly 4 years have passed since the ceasefire of the One Year War between the Federation Forces on Earth and the Zeon separatists in the space colonies which saw more than 12 billion humans killed. In UC 0083 evidence has been found by the Zeon remnants that the Federation is in breach of the Antarctic Treaty (an agreement made within the first week of the One Year War that saw 3 billion people killed in six days by the use of Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Weapons). This evidence lies at the Torrington training base in what remains of New South Wales, and so the plot begins to steal this evidence supporting their just cause…

Black Heaven

Middle-aged Oji Tanaka has a wife and young son and a job as a salaryman in modern day Japan, his life is dull and monotonous, and his glory days are in the past. 15 years ago Oji was known as Gabriel, lead guitarist for the Heavy Metal band Kacho Oji (Black Heaven – the title of the anime, which can also be translated as “Section-Chief Oji”). Oji’s life takes a sudden turn when an enigmatic new employee Layla Yuki returns to him his most prized possession, and asks him to relive his youthful days. It is no coincidence that Layla has an interest in Oji-San – his changing fortunes are not what they appear, and what he needs is a Stairway to Heaven.

Macross: Do You Remember Love?

The 1984 movie Cho Jikou Yosai Macross: Ai Owobete Imasu Ka? (Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do you Remember Love?) is a Space–Opera/Drama focussing on relationships between humans and between humans and non-humans. In 1999, an extra-terrestrial vessel – Specifically, a Gunship of the Supervision Army, crashed into the Pacific Island of South Ataria. Global conflict erupted over the incident lasting 5 years and determining the fate of the vessel: a new Unified Earth government would be formed to rebuild the vessel via retrofit with Earth technology, while preparing to encounter the previous owners. In 2009, the advance scouting fleet of the 2073rd Zentraedi fleet under Gorg Bodolza enters the border of our Solar System looking for a Gunship of their ancient enemy – the Supervision Army – not expecting its current fate. Automated defences activate the vessel – the SDF-1 (dubbed ‘Macross’ by its human restorers) – and it fires on the scout fleet, starting the first Interstellar War – Space War One. A brief skirmish between the Zentraedi (‘Male’ in the Zentran language) and the defence force on South Ataria leads to the Macross making an emergency Space Fold to escape the fighting and sparing the civilians on the island. However an incompatibility between the human and Supervision Army technology leads to the fortress accidentally taking the Macross Fortress, 70,000 civilians, and the majority of the island and surrounding sea of South Ataria to the outskirts of Pluto while leaving the Space Fold systems and the primary weapon permanently damaged. The defence forces quickly recover any survivors and resources, and then begin the journey back to Earth.

Preview Item – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is the newest anime adaptation of the long-running manga of the same name (1984 and ongoing, onto its 7th story arc). The overarching story centres on the adventures of the Joestar family, which begins with the first arc – Phantom Blood – set in the 1880’s with the arc’s main hero Jonathon Joestar and his adoptive brother Dio Brando’s attempts to usurp Jonathon via an ancient mask, an old Aztec artefact that houses a Vampire from the stars once worshiped as a God by the Aztecs. The mask takes possession of Dio and symbiotically grants him fantastic supernatural powers, including immortality. Jonathon and Dio disappear before the close of the century. The second arc (newly animated and the feature of tonight’s episode) is Battle Tendency, which follows Jonathon’s grandson Joseph Joestar and his adventures in 1938 trying to stop the predecessors of the Space Vampires, the ‘Men in the Pillars’, with help from cybernetically enhanced Nazi’s. It is worth noting that Hirohiko Araki’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga is one of, if not the most popular manga series amongst his mangaka peers, and most manga circles (such as the all-female manga circle CLAMP) consider it the most important and significant series since its release with its unique visual styles and pop/rock culture references.

Fist of the North Star

Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) (1984), in the 1990’s civilisation was almost annihilated as a result of a worldwide Nuclear War. Only 30% of mankind survived, and now the strong rule over the weak. Uncontaminated water and food are scarce while lawlessness runs rampant. Fist of the North Star follows the tale of Kenshiro – rightful inheritor to the 1800 year old Invincible Martial Art Hokuto Shinken (Northern Star Style) – wandering the lands in search of his beloved Yuria and the whereabouts of his missing brothers Toki the Benevolent and Raoh the King of Fists, while feeling the pain and suffering of his fellow humans and doing what he can to assist in these lawless times. Fist of the North Star is the refined product of a simple concept from mangaka Buronson: a combination of Mad Max/The Road Warrior in setting, with an aged Bruce Lee as the Hero and classical Chinese tales of the Just Hero of the People providing the story. The anime series began in 1984 and ran until 1988, with regular OAV’s and a feature film (1986) being released every few years due to the popularity of the characters presented (the hero Kenshiro is considered the manliest hero in anime). Fist of the North Star remains one of the most popular anime of all time (particularly with celebrities), and is the genre-founder of the Shonen-Fighting series (Dragon Ball/Z/GT, Naruto, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures et al).