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crack_van2004-09-07 12:02 am
alara-r.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-09-07 12:02 am
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Science Ninja Team Gatchaman!
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alara_r and I'm dealing the Gatchaman crack this month.
Edited Sept 17 to add the images directly to the page! Also wrote more about the second banana characters.
Most of you probably have never heard of Kagaku Ninja Tai (Science Ninja Team) Gatchaman. However, if I refer to it as "G-Force", it might possibly spark some childhood memories. Remember, the two hot guys in bird suits? And the token girl, that we never wanted to play because she never did anything cool? And the villain in the purple and the lipstick?
As an anime, Gatchaman has always enjoyed a weird status, not really part of the mainstream of anime interests. Partly this is because its visual style is more similar to American comic books than most anime. Eyes are big, but not too big; facial features are distinctly drawn; guys have long hair but are very much guys, not particularly bishonen; and mecha have a simple, cleanly drawn style which allows you to look at them and figure out what the hell they are, unlike modern anime where you need to have a master's in mechanical drawing or something to understand how the giant robots work. And partly, this is because the series was butchered beyond all imagining of butchery, not once, not twice, but *three times*.
The first version of Gatchaman which hit the States was called "Battle of the Planets", but many people remember it as "G-Force" because that was the name of the good guys. This was heavily cut to remove the violence, the continuity, radically alter the personality of hothead second-in-commandhottie Joe into sarcastic, anti-authoritarian still hot Jason, and make it look as if the action was taking place on multiple planets. Oh, and they added a stupid robot.
The second version was called-- wait for it-- "G-Force". Although significantly less of the plot was cut from this version of the series, the characters were saddled with terrible voice actors and even worse names (such as "Ace Goodheart" and "Dirk Daring".)
The third version-- "Eagle Riders"-- took the second and third series and translated them. Neither saddled with truly awful names ("Hunter Harris" isn't quite as good as "Mark", but infinitely better than "Ace Goodheart") nor truly terrible translation, Eagle Riders was well on its way to becoming my favorite of the three. Then they took the redeemed child-villain of the second series, Gel Sadra (who they'd called Mallanox) and betrayed the entire point of her redemption arc by having her turn into the villain of the third series, Egobossler. Who they called "Happy Boy." At this point I feel all sanity fled the building.
This overview will talk about the plots of both "Gatchaman" and "Battle of the Planets", and I'll review fanfic set in both versions. I can't, however, talk about "G-Force" or "Eagle Riders" without losing my lunch, so I'm afraid I'll take a pass on that.
This overview mostly addresses the first series, because that's where most of the fanfic is. The overview link at the bottom will give you more detail, including on the second and third series, but it is also spoiler-ful. I've tried to keep this overview largely spoiler-free.
The International Science Organization has been working on developing new energy sources, particularly geothermal, as part of their "Mantle Project". But a secret terrorist organization, Galactor, seeks to both destroy the Mantle Project and to take over the world. They generally do this either through secret infiltration, or attacking with giant mecha in the shape of unpopular animals such as cuttlefish. Fortunately, Dr. Kozaburo Nambu, head of the Japan division of ISO, knew of the existence of Galactor before anyone else, and secretly adopted and trained five young people, outfitting them with super-scientific costumes (called Bird Styles, due to looking rather like birds) and having them trained as ninja (although no self-respecting ninja would wear white...), and he unleashes them on Galactor the very first time the super-terrorists attack. Predictably, they kick ass.
The team consists of:
Ken Washio, aka Eagle Ken (Owashi no Ken), aka Gatchaman (the word is used interchangeably to refer to the entire team, or Ken), aka G-1. Team leader, totally dedicated to his work except when he goes all daddy's boy or gets discouraged, often very good with tactics, frequently inspiring, also occasionally a sulky, depressive asshole. Never had a girlfriend, which translates in the minds of some fans to "anal jerk I want to make a villain in my story" and in the minds of others to "totally slashable!" However, he's most commonly paired with Jun, a semi-canonical relationship. A very pretty guy, but looks much more, uh, well, *masculine* than your bishie types. Expert pilot.
Joe (Georgie) Asakura, aka Condor Joe (Kondoru no Joe), aka G-2, aka "onoreeee!" (Japanese word meaning, roughly, "you fucker!") See a much more entertaining character analysis than I have room or time for at Wendy Dinsmore's site (which is where I have ripped off most of these graphics.) Joe is your tragic loner type-- he's not very good at playing well in the team, though fans exaggerate this tendency (as they also exaggerate his womanizing-- actually only appears in a small number of episodes-- and his psycho violent side-- ditto. The overall fan favorite. Expert driver and sharpshooter. Joe is driven by revenge-- Galactor killed his parents-- but his entire worldview is shaken when he realizes his parents *were* Galactors.
Jun, aka Swan Jun (Shiratori no Jun), aka G-3. Explosives expert, older sister-figure to Jinpei, and, uh, girl. Alternately ignored and Mary-Sueized by the fandom, Jun was originally intended to be Ken's second but then Joe ran away with the show. She runs a bar, plays guitar, has just as many old friends as the others, and yet somehow she spends much of her time standing around screaming "KEN!!!" "JOE!!!!" rather than doing stuff. However, she probably got more to do than the typical Japanese heroine of the time period. The scene in the first episode where she smiles a small satisfied smile as her bombs go off and people blow up is one of my personal iconic images of her.
Jinpei, aka Swallow Jinpei (Tsubakuro no Jinpei), aka G-4. The kid, although rather more interesting than most kid characters in sentai teams, due to actually having character development over time. His voice actor was a real little boy, whose voice changed over the course of the series, lending weight to the notion of him growing up. Too bad the artists couldn't follow suit. Is a loudmouth and occasional braggart ("Thus the great Swallow Jinpei saves the day again!"), but also insecure and well aware of his vulnerability as the youngest on the team. Looks up to Jun as a big sister and calls Joe and Ken "big brother", but actually spends most of his time hanging out with Ryu. Loves animals and has a weird rapport with them.
Ryu Nakanishi, aka Owl Ryu (Mimizuku no Ryu), aka G-5. Generally comedy relief-- he's big, he's fat, he eats a lot, and he has a thick country accent. He's also a fantastic pilot and fights like a sumo wrestler. Underrated in fanfic. The only member of the team with living family (well, that he knows about...), he has a father and little brother in a fishing village in the sticks, who don't know he's in the Science Ninja Team. Very tenderhearted-- has been known to hold up a mission so he can rescue an injured animal. Hangs out mostly with Jinpei. Feels insecure because he's not as fast as the others, and because Ken keeps leaving him behind in the ship on the grounds that a. they need a pilot and b. he's not an orphan.
Supporting Cast:
Dr. Kozaburo Nambu: The scientist and administrator who adopted and trained the team. Extremely secretive fellow. Has no life (Japanese sources feel compelled to point out that he's 48 and never married, apparently a big deal in Japan.) Gets a lot more play in fanfic than he did in the show, honestly.
Kentaro Washio, aka Captain of the Red Impulse Squad, aka Red Impulse: A super-spy and crack pilot. Also, Ken's father.
Villains:
Berg Katse (also spelled Katze), aka The Woman Captain: Originally conceived as twins, Katse was merged together into a single being, referred to as a mutant (though technically, he's not), with the ability to change sex at will -- a serial hermaphrodite. As a child, Katse had no control of this ability and would change sex each year. The resulting need to conceal his/her freakishness and lack of making human connections left Katse a complete sociopath. Supposedly Katse is a genius, though we rarely see any evidence of it. He shows it more in his female form, who's also far more calm. Katse is an escape artist and an expert on disguise.
Sosai X (this literally translates as President X, but it's probably more accurate in connotation to call him Overlord-- many fans use Generalissimo, but it seems rather specifically ethnic to me): Appears on viewscreens as a blue flame, but is in fact an energy being or mechanical life form, not sure which. He is an alien from the planet Selector (often mistranslated as Selectro due to a typo in one of the resources all the fans use), and is apparently here on a mission of conquest. He founded Galactor and created Katse to be its leader.
The first series, which covered 105 episodes, is where most of the fanfic is based, due at least in part to Berg Katse being a cooler villain than the villains of the second and third series, Gel Sadra (a force-grown four-year-old) and Count Egobossler (a ruthless leader of a small European country, also blue). However, Joe is a cyborg in the second series, which has also inspired a good bit of Cyborg Angst in the fic.
The Battle of the Planets Quick Overview:
In BOTP, the dying world of Spectra is trying to take the resources they need from the peaceful worlds of the Intergalactic Federation, all of which look sort of like amoebae from space. They desperately need to conquer new lands and steal resources like clean water and sugar. This makes them somewhat more sympathetic than Galactor, the terrorists who seek conquest for its own sake, and so fanfic in BOTP reflects a bit more ambiguity about Spectra.
The team are called G-Force in this iteration. They spend most of their time hanging out in their secret base, Center Neptune, with rather less of a life outside than in Gatchaman.
Mark (Ken): Became rather more moralistic and Boy Scoutish, but also, was established as having a definite romantic relationship with Princess.
Jason (Joe): Radically changed; most of Joe's most interesting plot arc involved too much continuity, so the series cut it, leaving Jason a rebel without a cause. Sarcastic and opposed to authority, any authority, and fond of blowing things up, without the personal need for revenge that drives Joe.
Princess (Jun): Rather tougher than Jun in general, due to having been rewritten by 1978 American sensibilities instead of 1972 Japanese ones. On the other hand, also less responsible-- instead of running her own bar, she has been known to get into trouble paying the check and have to wash dishes. Romantically involved with Mark.
Keyop (Jinpei): His *personality* isn't so changed, but you can't tell, because they gave him a drastic speech impediment that makes him INCREDIBLY ANNOYING. And makes it very hard for him to convey anything intelligible.
Tiny (Ryu): No longer the only member of the team not an orphan-- his father was changed to his uncle.
Chief Anderson (Dr. Nambu): The head of Galaxy Security. Most fan writers recognize that he's still a scientist, because he does scientist things in the series, though they changed his title and job duties. Has somewhat more of a sense of humor than Nambu.
Zoltar (Berg Katse): A shapechanger, not a disguise artist. Katse's female form became his sister, Mala. Zoltar is actually much less ruthless than Katse, often giving his victims time to evacuate.
The Luminous One, aka The Great Spirit (Sosai X): The god of the planet Spectra, who appears to be very interested in Spectra completing its wars of conquest.
7-Zark-7: Highly annoying robot coordinator who was created for BOTP specifically, and the animation shows it.
For more information I highly recommend the following sites:
My Gatchaman overview, far more detailed than this.
Gatchaman Synopses, written by me and Pat Munson-Siter. Some are old and may contain inaccuracies; this series was around from the days when no one knew Japanese and all we had to go on was asking 40-something Japanese wives of military men to translate for us about a TV show for ten year olds.
Gatchaman: Home of the White Shadow, maintained and FREQUENTLY UPDATED!!! by Wendy Dinsmore, who's a great writer, a fantastic artist, and speaks Japanese fluently due to having lived there several years as a video game playtester and manual writer. I hate her. :-) The character pages referenced in this entry come from her site.
Gatchfanfic.com: THE place to go for Gatchaman fanfic on the Web.
Battle of the Planets Universe: Julieann Adolf's site dedicated to Battle of the Planets and all the other spinoffs. Julieann is also the site maintainer and archivist for Gatchfanfic.com. This is also where I got most of the pics I didn't get from Wendy's site.
Carolyn Kaufman's Gatchaman page, which has both a fairly barebones, minor-graphics version, and a graphics-heavy version for when you've got the bandwidth cranked.
alara_r and I'm dealing the Gatchaman crack this month. Edited Sept 17 to add the images directly to the page! Also wrote more about the second banana characters.
Most of you probably have never heard of Kagaku Ninja Tai (Science Ninja Team) Gatchaman. However, if I refer to it as "G-Force", it might possibly spark some childhood memories. Remember, the two hot guys in bird suits? And the token girl, that we never wanted to play because she never did anything cool? And the villain in the purple and the lipstick?
As an anime, Gatchaman has always enjoyed a weird status, not really part of the mainstream of anime interests. Partly this is because its visual style is more similar to American comic books than most anime. Eyes are big, but not too big; facial features are distinctly drawn; guys have long hair but are very much guys, not particularly bishonen; and mecha have a simple, cleanly drawn style which allows you to look at them and figure out what the hell they are, unlike modern anime where you need to have a master's in mechanical drawing or something to understand how the giant robots work. And partly, this is because the series was butchered beyond all imagining of butchery, not once, not twice, but *three times*.
The first version of Gatchaman which hit the States was called "Battle of the Planets", but many people remember it as "G-Force" because that was the name of the good guys. This was heavily cut to remove the violence, the continuity, radically alter the personality of hothead second-in-command
The second version was called-- wait for it-- "G-Force". Although significantly less of the plot was cut from this version of the series, the characters were saddled with terrible voice actors and even worse names (such as "Ace Goodheart" and "Dirk Daring".)
The third version-- "Eagle Riders"-- took the second and third series and translated them. Neither saddled with truly awful names ("Hunter Harris" isn't quite as good as "Mark", but infinitely better than "Ace Goodheart") nor truly terrible translation, Eagle Riders was well on its way to becoming my favorite of the three. Then they took the redeemed child-villain of the second series, Gel Sadra (who they'd called Mallanox) and betrayed the entire point of her redemption arc by having her turn into the villain of the third series, Egobossler. Who they called "Happy Boy." At this point I feel all sanity fled the building.
This overview will talk about the plots of both "Gatchaman" and "Battle of the Planets", and I'll review fanfic set in both versions. I can't, however, talk about "G-Force" or "Eagle Riders" without losing my lunch, so I'm afraid I'll take a pass on that.
This overview mostly addresses the first series, because that's where most of the fanfic is. The overview link at the bottom will give you more detail, including on the second and third series, but it is also spoiler-ful. I've tried to keep this overview largely spoiler-free.
The International Science Organization has been working on developing new energy sources, particularly geothermal, as part of their "Mantle Project". But a secret terrorist organization, Galactor, seeks to both destroy the Mantle Project and to take over the world. They generally do this either through secret infiltration, or attacking with giant mecha in the shape of unpopular animals such as cuttlefish. Fortunately, Dr. Kozaburo Nambu, head of the Japan division of ISO, knew of the existence of Galactor before anyone else, and secretly adopted and trained five young people, outfitting them with super-scientific costumes (called Bird Styles, due to looking rather like birds) and having them trained as ninja (although no self-respecting ninja would wear white...), and he unleashes them on Galactor the very first time the super-terrorists attack. Predictably, they kick ass.
The team consists of:
Ken Washio, aka Eagle Ken (Owashi no Ken), aka Gatchaman (the word is used interchangeably to refer to the entire team, or Ken), aka G-1. Team leader, totally dedicated to his work except when he goes all daddy's boy or gets discouraged, often very good with tactics, frequently inspiring, also occasionally a sulky, depressive asshole. Never had a girlfriend, which translates in the minds of some fans to "anal jerk I want to make a villain in my story" and in the minds of others to "totally slashable!" However, he's most commonly paired with Jun, a semi-canonical relationship. A very pretty guy, but looks much more, uh, well, *masculine* than your bishie types. Expert pilot.
Joe (Georgie) Asakura, aka Condor Joe (Kondoru no Joe), aka G-2, aka "onoreeee!" (Japanese word meaning, roughly, "you fucker!") See a much more entertaining character analysis than I have room or time for at Wendy Dinsmore's site (which is where I have ripped off most of these graphics.) Joe is your tragic loner type-- he's not very good at playing well in the team, though fans exaggerate this tendency (as they also exaggerate his womanizing-- actually only appears in a small number of episodes-- and his psycho violent side-- ditto. The overall fan favorite. Expert driver and sharpshooter. Joe is driven by revenge-- Galactor killed his parents-- but his entire worldview is shaken when he realizes his parents *were* Galactors.
Jun, aka Swan Jun (Shiratori no Jun), aka G-3. Explosives expert, older sister-figure to Jinpei, and, uh, girl. Alternately ignored and Mary-Sueized by the fandom, Jun was originally intended to be Ken's second but then Joe ran away with the show. She runs a bar, plays guitar, has just as many old friends as the others, and yet somehow she spends much of her time standing around screaming "KEN!!!" "JOE!!!!" rather than doing stuff. However, she probably got more to do than the typical Japanese heroine of the time period. The scene in the first episode where she smiles a small satisfied smile as her bombs go off and people blow up is one of my personal iconic images of her.
Jinpei, aka Swallow Jinpei (Tsubakuro no Jinpei), aka G-4. The kid, although rather more interesting than most kid characters in sentai teams, due to actually having character development over time. His voice actor was a real little boy, whose voice changed over the course of the series, lending weight to the notion of him growing up. Too bad the artists couldn't follow suit. Is a loudmouth and occasional braggart ("Thus the great Swallow Jinpei saves the day again!"), but also insecure and well aware of his vulnerability as the youngest on the team. Looks up to Jun as a big sister and calls Joe and Ken "big brother", but actually spends most of his time hanging out with Ryu. Loves animals and has a weird rapport with them.
Ryu Nakanishi, aka Owl Ryu (Mimizuku no Ryu), aka G-5. Generally comedy relief-- he's big, he's fat, he eats a lot, and he has a thick country accent. He's also a fantastic pilot and fights like a sumo wrestler. Underrated in fanfic. The only member of the team with living family (well, that he knows about...), he has a father and little brother in a fishing village in the sticks, who don't know he's in the Science Ninja Team. Very tenderhearted-- has been known to hold up a mission so he can rescue an injured animal. Hangs out mostly with Jinpei. Feels insecure because he's not as fast as the others, and because Ken keeps leaving him behind in the ship on the grounds that a. they need a pilot and b. he's not an orphan.
Supporting Cast:
Dr. Kozaburo Nambu: The scientist and administrator who adopted and trained the team. Extremely secretive fellow. Has no life (Japanese sources feel compelled to point out that he's 48 and never married, apparently a big deal in Japan.) Gets a lot more play in fanfic than he did in the show, honestly.
Kentaro Washio, aka Captain of the Red Impulse Squad, aka Red Impulse: A super-spy and crack pilot. Also, Ken's father.
Villains:
Berg Katse (also spelled Katze), aka The Woman Captain: Originally conceived as twins, Katse was merged together into a single being, referred to as a mutant (though technically, he's not), with the ability to change sex at will -- a serial hermaphrodite. As a child, Katse had no control of this ability and would change sex each year. The resulting need to conceal his/her freakishness and lack of making human connections left Katse a complete sociopath. Supposedly Katse is a genius, though we rarely see any evidence of it. He shows it more in his female form, who's also far more calm. Katse is an escape artist and an expert on disguise.
Sosai X (this literally translates as President X, but it's probably more accurate in connotation to call him Overlord-- many fans use Generalissimo, but it seems rather specifically ethnic to me): Appears on viewscreens as a blue flame, but is in fact an energy being or mechanical life form, not sure which. He is an alien from the planet Selector (often mistranslated as Selectro due to a typo in one of the resources all the fans use), and is apparently here on a mission of conquest. He founded Galactor and created Katse to be its leader.
The first series, which covered 105 episodes, is where most of the fanfic is based, due at least in part to Berg Katse being a cooler villain than the villains of the second and third series, Gel Sadra (a force-grown four-year-old) and Count Egobossler (a ruthless leader of a small European country, also blue). However, Joe is a cyborg in the second series, which has also inspired a good bit of Cyborg Angst in the fic.
The Battle of the Planets Quick Overview:
In BOTP, the dying world of Spectra is trying to take the resources they need from the peaceful worlds of the Intergalactic Federation, all of which look sort of like amoebae from space. They desperately need to conquer new lands and steal resources like clean water and sugar. This makes them somewhat more sympathetic than Galactor, the terrorists who seek conquest for its own sake, and so fanfic in BOTP reflects a bit more ambiguity about Spectra.
The team are called G-Force in this iteration. They spend most of their time hanging out in their secret base, Center Neptune, with rather less of a life outside than in Gatchaman.
Mark (Ken): Became rather more moralistic and Boy Scoutish, but also, was established as having a definite romantic relationship with Princess.
Jason (Joe): Radically changed; most of Joe's most interesting plot arc involved too much continuity, so the series cut it, leaving Jason a rebel without a cause. Sarcastic and opposed to authority, any authority, and fond of blowing things up, without the personal need for revenge that drives Joe.
Princess (Jun): Rather tougher than Jun in general, due to having been rewritten by 1978 American sensibilities instead of 1972 Japanese ones. On the other hand, also less responsible-- instead of running her own bar, she has been known to get into trouble paying the check and have to wash dishes. Romantically involved with Mark.
Keyop (Jinpei): His *personality* isn't so changed, but you can't tell, because they gave him a drastic speech impediment that makes him INCREDIBLY ANNOYING. And makes it very hard for him to convey anything intelligible.
Tiny (Ryu): No longer the only member of the team not an orphan-- his father was changed to his uncle.
Chief Anderson (Dr. Nambu): The head of Galaxy Security. Most fan writers recognize that he's still a scientist, because he does scientist things in the series, though they changed his title and job duties. Has somewhat more of a sense of humor than Nambu.
Zoltar (Berg Katse): A shapechanger, not a disguise artist. Katse's female form became his sister, Mala. Zoltar is actually much less ruthless than Katse, often giving his victims time to evacuate.
The Luminous One, aka The Great Spirit (Sosai X): The god of the planet Spectra, who appears to be very interested in Spectra completing its wars of conquest.
7-Zark-7: Highly annoying robot coordinator who was created for BOTP specifically, and the animation shows it.
For more information I highly recommend the following sites:
My Gatchaman overview, far more detailed than this.
Gatchaman Synopses, written by me and Pat Munson-Siter. Some are old and may contain inaccuracies; this series was around from the days when no one knew Japanese and all we had to go on was asking 40-something Japanese wives of military men to translate for us about a TV show for ten year olds.
Gatchaman: Home of the White Shadow, maintained and FREQUENTLY UPDATED!!! by Wendy Dinsmore, who's a great writer, a fantastic artist, and speaks Japanese fluently due to having lived there several years as a video game playtester and manual writer. I hate her. :-) The character pages referenced in this entry come from her site.
Gatchfanfic.com: THE place to go for Gatchaman fanfic on the Web.
Battle of the Planets Universe: Julieann Adolf's site dedicated to Battle of the Planets and all the other spinoffs. Julieann is also the site maintainer and archivist for Gatchfanfic.com. This is also where I got most of the pics I didn't get from Wendy's site.
Carolyn Kaufman's Gatchaman page, which has both a fairly barebones, minor-graphics version, and a graphics-heavy version for when you've got the bandwidth cranked.
no subject
This takes me back, way back.
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Would you like to edit your post with the pics embedded? I can host the pics you've linked to on my webspace and provide you with the HTML code, so all you'd have to do was copy it from my email and paste it into the post. I'd prefer pics in the overview, but it's up to you.
Thanks so much for this!
Actually...
Re: Actually...
*gets all fluttery again*