Review: Phoenix – The Complete Collection (Dub)

Medium: TV Anime (13 episodes)
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Historical
Director: Takahashi Ryosuke
Studio: Tezuka Productions
Release Dates: Mar. 21, 2004 – May 4, 2004 (Japan), Nov. 25, 2008 (Media Blasters – N.America)
Rated: Not Rated

After the fun we had with Tezuka Month, I found myself tempted by a complete 13-episode box set of Phoenix: Perfect Collection sitting by itself at a convention. What I discovered was a Tezuka-style story in a digitally-glossed over aesthetic that seems a bit out of place, but stands true to the original work. Even with some slower, epic moments, Phoenix is a wonderfully crafted story with as many highs and lows as the original manga volumes. The opening animation, with its classical orchestra and ominous female solo over the opening credits, already dictates a story of philosophical ambition as the Phoenix flies out of an infant galaxy, across a space Buddha, and into the corona of a sun that becomes a metaphor for ... wait for it Lion King fans ... the circle of life.

Phoenix follows the main stories of the manga collection by Osamu Tezuka in arcs that run from one to five episodes in length. Beginning with the largest story, Dawn, the series leaps in time back and forth by thousands of years, going from ancient times to the end of mankind and planet Earth itself. Other than the recurring role of Saruta, Tezuka’s stock tragedy character with the melon-sized blistered nose, Phoenix does not center on any one character, rather it follows how they are all affected by the title character, the elusive and sparkly Pidgeot, also known as the Phoenix. The longer stories are my favorites since they have the chance to grow and change, evolving from supernatural to political drama to war movie with the grace of a swan flapping its wings.

The story of Inugami, a member of a royal family whose face is replaced with a wolf’s, was one of the most compelling pieces as the lines between man and monster are blurred while Tezuka kicks organized religion right in the gonads. The shorter stories act as allegories about the injustice of killing one to save many: in both cases, the Phoenix grants her gift of immortality as a cruel, Twilight Zone-esque punishment.

The show has a big animation budget, with lighting and shading effects almost taking center stage during some action scenes, although the movement and kinetic energy are captured and translated superbly from Tezuka’s original layout. What throws me off is how out-of-place a Tezuka design looks in full color. For some reason, I can’t get over a Tezuka character design placed in front of a realistic setting; the facial proportions are too larger-than-life to ignore.

I was very surprised to find Media Blasters in charge of the dub, and even more blown away by how well it was executed. Recorded at NYAV Post in New York City, a handful of A-list dubbers were called in for lighter roles, with studio director Mike Sinterniklaas pulling his weight throughout the series. The highlight goes to the diversity of Danny Burstein, who alters Saruta’s aggression and passion throughout the story as both the times and the character age. This is a very competent and well-translated dub which made me ignore the original Japanese track entirely. I even turned off the subtitles when I realized how much more coherent the English speech track was by comparison.

What I am most thankful with for this re-imagining is its honesty to the source material, in that every story hammers home the defining instincts of mankind: survival, war, transformation leading to rebirth, and robots.

[Recommended]

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This review is based on a retail copy of the Media Blasters DVD box set, purchased by the reviewer.

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Review: Weekly Astro Boy Magazine (iPhone App)

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch
Publishers: D-Arc, Inc. Tezuka Productions
Release Date: Oct. 2009 (US), Mar. 2010 (UK/AU/etc.)

During Tezuka Month you may have seen my breathless news post about how the Astro Boy iPhone app had been expanded to new countries, including my own native land of Great Britain. As previously mentioned, I had been aching to get my hands on the app since learning of its existence and cursing the arbitrary barriers preventing me from doing so.

So now that I actually have Weekly Astro Boy Magazine firmly installed on my iPhone, was the wait worth it?

To recap, the app allows you to read translated chapters of famous Tezuka manga such as Black Jack, Astro Boy and Dororo, on your iPhone or iPod Touch through a devoted e-reader application. The chapters are arranged into volumes which are released weekly for $1 (or your local equivalent) each, with the selection of manga on offer differing each week. You can pick and choose which volumes you download, so there is no obligation to keep forking out money.

First things first, this application is only available for the iPhone and iPod touch — no other handset types are covered so it you just bought a shiny Android (or any other mobile OS) device you are out of luck. Sorry!

In the app store you will find two versions of the program — a free version with a single issue of the magazine and a paid, $1 version with the first two issues. This is a rather confusing decision given the two could have easily been rolled into one free app that charged you for the second issue. Of course, this could be due to some bizarre rule on Apple's part regarding in-app purchases. Once downloaded, you can buy additional issues of the magazine from within the program, which would be a wonderful way to take the hassle out of getting more content if it was not for two major problems.

First, the purchasing and downloading system is very slow, and it often takes multiple attempts to confirm your purchase of a new volume. The app then takes an irritatingly long time to download your purchased content and has a tendency to fail to complete a download. These frequent failures are infuriating; it is a blessing that the application can resume partial downloads otherwise I would have quickly given up on using it. Due to these frustrations I tend to only download new issues of the magazine when I am work, where I can abuse the powerful wireless connection to get issues in a quarter of the time with fewer errors. A minor note to add here is that, without fail, each time I have downloaded a new issue I have received “Download failed” error at 99% complete only to have it show up, completed, in the program.

The second major problem with the program, and one that is entirely out of the hands of the publishers, is that while the app is downloading you are unable to do anything else on your device. Remember, no multi-tasking on iPhone OS! (At the time of writing, using OS 3.2) This includes viewing already downloaded issues. Add this to the frequent failures experienced while downloading and the entire process begins to become more and more unappealing.

With all that technical rigmarole out of the way, how does it perform when you view the manga you have downloaded? Very well, actually. I must admit I was rather dubious about viewing manga on the iPhone screen as I presumed it would involve an awful lot of moving the page to view the art in detail. I was pleasantly surprised to find that you can read a full page in the portrait orientation quite easily, although the finer details are lost on the more lavish titles included in the magazine. Zooming in/out and moving around the page are smooth and responsive and feel no more obstructive than using a physical book. There is a small delay when displaying a new page as the program loads the image, although this only manifests should you have your device playing music at the time and does not impact the viewing experience. It is also easy to confuse the application at times — should you accidentally turn the page, any attempt to stop it will confuse the program and you have to wait for the transition to complete before making any additional movements on the touchscreen. This may be an issue of an idiotic user however, as I am rather clumsy and tend to use the app while on a bumpy commute.

So far it feels like I am griping, but all of my complaints are incidental points - slip-ups on the path to greatness. The simple fact that this app exists and that it works as intended is a small marvel. For the equivalent of $1 you get a sizeable chunk of manga from a range of Tezuka's works, some of which may be difficult to get a hold of where you live. I personally have never seen a physical copy of Adolf, and the opportunity to read it in any form is wonderful even with the niggling issues attached. Plus — and this is a definite positive for me — it will not clutter your already overloaded bookshelf.

[Passable]

NOTE: At the time of writing, the iPad is not available in the UK, and so I have been unable to review this app on this new platform. The iTunes store lists that Weekly Astro Boy Magazine is compatible with the iPad, however. If you are lucky enough to have an iPad, please try the free version of this app and let us know how it is in the comments below!

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This review is based on the March 2010 version of the iPhone application, purchased by the reviewer.

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Review: Black Jack – The Movie (Dub)

Medium: Anime Film
Genres: Drama, Medical, Suspense
Director: Osamu Dezaki
Studio: Tezuka Productions
Release Dates: 1996 (Japan), Apr. 24, 2001 (Palm Pictures–N.America)
Rated: R

Black Jack centers around a uniquely skilled surgeon who’ll attempt to and eventually (successfully) resolve any proposed medical emergency ... for the right price. This particular movie focuses on a publicly unexpected explosion of talent by formerly milk-toast members of society involved in the fields of athleticism, art, and science, and Black Jack’s subsequent involvement as detective and savior in their rehabilitation in the midst of a medical and commercial conspiracy. Black Jack is hired to basically fix an unforeseen defect in the genetic engineering of “superhumans” and, in time, comes to realize that his employers are *gasp* the deviants behind the medical mystery.

Although released in 1993, Black Jack (written and directed by Osamu Dezaki, Osamu Tezuka’s protégé) is beautiful in the way vinyl is authentic and 35 mm film should never be abandoned for digital. It’s a bit of a throwback in style and noir-ish in execution but remains very effective for the story told. Appropriately dominated by dark colors and lack of light, each frame, even those frozen in Dezaki’s characteristic “postcard memories,” infers a sense of haplessness, an underground mindset, and the uncertainty named boogeyman hiding beneath every young child’s bed.

The movie works within a theme of capability vs. morality, which is formally and effectively portrayed by the main character’s non-existent Hippocratic oath, and examines three prevalent opinions: that of the optimist, the independent, and the corrupt.

The optimist is wisely not the main character. Fantastically, it is the villain. She who hopes above all to push through a drug capable of advancing mankind but is so focused on the end that she does not concern herself with the means being undertaken in the process of getting there. In a likewise bit of genius, the corrupt is not the villain mentioned formerly, but the test subjects: ordinary people who volunteered to be artificially altered to obtain a greatness undeserved and who pay the ultimate price for their greed, either at their own hands or those of the addictive drug’s eventually mortal side-effects of fortune and fame.

Black Jack falls nicely in-between, serving as a polished stainless steel scalpel reflecting both sides as he cuts away the infection. In such a position, Black Jack is free to perform the surgeries necessary to save lives while standing the moral ground of not being involved in an experiment. He’s got abundant natural talent but never lets it exceed his own purpose in life, which he regards with the determination of an uncompromised licensed physician. He exists as a neutral tool himself, tasked with the duty of doing whatever legally possible to save the life in his hands.

Just because all three types of characters are complex doesn’t mean there isn’t fun to be had. There’s the hyper-energetic comedic relief of Pinoko, Black Jack’s sidekick, and allusions via her puzzles to Osamu Tezuka characters. There is also some decently dry humor sparsely threaded into some of the less tense moments of the movie.

All things considered, Black Jack is a wonderful anime deserving of your indulgence. The art may look retro and the character designs may look a bit antique, but this is a labor of love by student for teacher that manages to retain many facets of his talented sweat. As long as you’re into well-rounded characters, distinctive visual storytelling, and an engaging (albeit predictable) plot, this movie is recommended to all adults.

[Recommended]

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This review is based on a Netflix video stream paid for by the reviewer.

Check out more articles about Osamu Tezuka in our March 2010 Tezuka Theme Month!

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