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Does anybody remember this anime show from the 60's?
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I Do.
It was part of what inspired me to become an animator. Eventually I got to work in japan for an Animation company(Phoenix Entertainment) among others(freelance)for two and a half years. Even had Hayao Miyazaki interview me,It scared the bejesus out of me,I almost lost my breakfast,I think he might have been nervous because of the translating, luckily my friend Hiroko Takemoto's neighbor was a professional interperter and she came along. I wasn't suppose to to actually see him, just one of the producers from studio Jibuli,but boy did he chain smoke.
The best time of my life! And guess what happens when I come home back to NYC? One of my alleged friends says straight to my face "Don't think that by going to japan that you are gonna get a better position here." What a Jerk!
Several months later I find myself fired from a job,black listed,and unemployed for almost 2 and a half years now. Thanks America!
So Anyway from "Feeling on Top of the World" to "Hey brother can you spare a dime for a cup of coffee" in a few shorts months.
Now I'm looking for work but its so hard it doesn't matter where it is, but i'd like to get away from the horrible freaks from NYC. I tell you living in Japan was a dream,everyone was nice and helped you,in fact they would go way out of their way to help you! God I miss it so!
Anyone have the address for a Japanese Mail Order bride? 
PS Sorry NGF I went from Marine Boy to my self loathing pathetic selfabsorbed problems.
Yours
Richard E. Kranz
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I Do.
It was part of what inspired me to become an animator. Eventually I got to work in japan for an Animation company(Phoenix Entertainment) among others(freelance)for two and a half years. Even had Hayao Miyazaki interview me,It scared the bejesus out of me,I almost lost my breakfast,I think he might have been nervous because of the translating, luckily my friend Hiroko Takemoto's neighbor was a professional interperter and she came along. I wasn't suppose to to actually see him, just one of the producers from studio Jibuli,but boy did he chain smoke.
The best time of my life! And guess what happens when I come home back to NYC? One of my alleged friends says straight to my face "Don't think that by going to japan that you are gonna get a better position here." What a Jerk!
Several months later I find myself fired from a job,black listed,and unemployed for almost 2 and a half years now. Thanks America!
So Anyway from "Feeling on Top of the World" to "Hey brother can you spare a dime for a cup of coffee" in a few shorts months.
Now I'm looking for work but its so hard it doesn't matter where it is, but i'd like to get away from the horrible freaks from NYC. I tell you living in Japan was a dream,everyone was nice and helped you,in fact they would go way out of their way to help you! God I miss it so!
Anyone have the address for a Japanese Mail Order bride?
PS Sorry NGF I went from Marine Boy to my self loathing pathetic selfabsorbed problems.
Yours
Richard E. Kranz
Bet going to Japan and meeting Hiyao Miyazaki
was a dream come true for you. For me, the best animation has come out of Japan. Keep the faith.
According to one site, the show was distributed in the U.S. by Seven Arts, which was later bought out by Warner Brothers. They still have their original masters. With all the anime being released onto DVD, I wish they would put this show out.
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yeah i remember it. used to get home from school for it.
didnt he have jet feet under water and it made a noise like a torpedo does in the movies?!!
about the same tine i was watching atom ant, squiddly diddly, winsome witch and hillbilly bears.
"Pa!! that dang woodpecker's back agin!!"
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Classic song. You know interesting enough there are two versions of the main theme. At around the 54 second mark you hear some strange "gurgling" sounds. I've heard another version without that strange "I'm drowning" sound effect.
imagine the fun that the choir had gargling that theme with water in their throats.!!
In fact the electric guitar work sounds like something Allessandroni would do for a comedy italian western!
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Posted: |
Aug 18, 2017 - 1:32 PM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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Marine Boy-
I finally watched all three seasons. Here's an overall review of the series, the DVD release, and general history behind the series.
Marine Boy is the story of a 13 year old who as the theme song says “Is a very special boy”. He’s equipped with a vast array of special gadgets. He wears a special red wetsuit which is equipped with power jet boots, (with rechargeable batteries) pop out flippers, and a radio wist watch for communicating with Ocean Patrol. The suite itself seems to give Marine Boy super human strength, and is also bullet proof. Marine Boy has a custom weapon, an electronic boomerang which electrocutes anything it comes in contact with be it divers, sea creatures or enemy submarines. The boomerang appears indestructible itself and one hit with the boomerang can take down an entire submarine. The most ingenious invention for Marine Boy was his supply of oxygum. It’s literally gum that he chews which enables him to breathe underwater without the aid of a mask or oxygen tanks.
Marine Boy works for his father who’s the head of Ocean Patrol, (basically an underwater defense force) For what ever reason only Marine Boy uses all this special technology, though Ocean Patrol is a large organization which clearly enlists hundreds if not thousands of marines and has a huge armada of underwater patrol boats. (The P-1’s)
Marine Boy was never seen in the series without his wetsuit on. He even sleeps with it in bed! Though in later seasons he was seen only in swimming trunks and head gear. Like magic the rest of his wet suite would transform onto his body when he needed to go on missions.
Marine boy had a few friends, a white dolphin (Splasher) , a mermaid, topless mind you (Neptina), a young native boy, (Clicli) and he was friends with two Ocean Patrol regulars. (Bolton and Piper) The series never had an origins story, and there were never any character development in the run of three seasons. I think this is one of the main reasons the series was so forgotten, and hasn’t benefited from the nostalgia craze we live in. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe this series would resurface remastered on DVD!
While the stories were extremely basic, (think in terms of Scooby Doo adventures) the series was surprisingly violent, though mostly implied. But in one episode a villain was burned to death on camera and you can hear him scream. Marine boy takes down submarines likely full of crew members. (surely they died in the explosion or drowned) It’s never indicated if the victims of his boomerang attacks are merely stunned or killed. There are epic underwater battles between the Ocean Patrol fleet and enemy submarines which resulted in hundreds being killed in a single battle. Yet none of this carnage was ever explained away as being “robot” controlled vessels, as was the case in most 70’s animated series.
While the series generally failed to develop much in the way of plot or characterization the series had a very cool ending. The production company must of known when the series would end. In the final shot in the final episode Marine Boy zooms past the “camera” and kinda winks at the viewer then veers off into the ocean depths. Clearly this was meant as a neat little send off for Marine Boy, and a goodbye for the viewers.
The entire series was released on Warners DVD (on demand). I read many years ago Marine Boy was “remastered” and re-broadcast on Australian TV. What was involved in the remaster I don’t know, but i can say the video quality on the DVD’s are exceptional. There’s minimal film grain, colors are bright, solid and vivid. I don’t know if DNR was applied but theres no lose of line detail either. What wasn’t fixed or removed were film artifacts like dirt, scratches, white speckles of dust, which probably existed on the original prints. But the imperfections are rare and generally non intrusive.
A little back history from memory (sources from Wikipedia). Marine Boy was originally a black and white anime series in Japan. I believe 13 episodes were produced. The series failed to gain an audience in Japan and was canceled. The creator not wanting to give up on his creation decided to shop around and see if he could sell his show elsewhere outside of Japan. He found a company in the US (Seven Arts) who agreed to finance the series on the stipulation new episodes were produced in color and air first on American television.
Since the series never found an audience in Japan it seems fairly forgotten and very little in the way of merchandise was ever produced. The most notable merchandise was a model kit of the “P-1” submarine patrol boat. (Which was highly inaccurate because it was meant to be something to build and play) I’ve seen Marine Boy slippers of all things, and over the last decade US promotional stills unearthed from who knows where have sold on Ebay. Until Warners official release of the entire series on DVD, very old grainy transfers were sold as boots online.
While the series tantalized me as a kid, seeing the animation as an adult was an eye opener. The animation drawings are quite horrendous. It looks like 13 year olds drew the animation. Theres no understanding of basic anatomy, the faces are pretty unappealing and their movements kinda flop on the screen independent on the surface their supposed to be on. Background paintings are extremely basic. Nothing more than a few brush strokes which were supposed to represent a location or environment. I also found the animation rather limited especially in the first season.
There were some highlights in the animation. Since the series mostly look place underwater there were plenty of animated air bubbles, the P-1 submarines were very well animated, and over time the animation became more fluid. Effects animation like explosions were stylized but well done. While the series clearly had a limited television animation budget, Marine Boys action scenes were custom animated for each episode. It would’ve been really easy for them to show the same shot of Marine Boy tossing his boomerang, but the choreography for every action sequence was unique for each episode. Over seasons 2 and 3 the animation became more dramatic and action packed. The soundtrack had a few orchestral themes which were quite nice, but most of the score used intrusive “60’s jazz music which worked against the imagery on film in the worst possible way. The series also had two interchangeable opening credits and end credits themes.
Finally I’ll end on trivia. Like many iconic boy characters (Rudolph, Bart Simpson) Marine Boy was voiced by a female actress! Marine Boy also made a recent appearance on television in a commercial for the Apple watch.
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MB was remastered and shown in Australia a few years ago. I wonder what masters they are using for this release?
