|
|
|
Japanese Anime Classic Collection AKA Nihon Anime Classic Collection (short)
R0 - Japan - Digital Meme Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (5th July 2015). |
|
The Film
 When one thinks of Japanese animation, the first that comes to mind may be Studio Ghibli films, “Ghost in the Shell”, “Dragon Ball”, or some older people may say “Speed Racer”or “Astro Boy”. But long before those works were made, Japanese animation was around since the 1910s. This DVD collection by Digital Meme collects a wealth of short films from the early 1920’s to the post WWII era. The earliest Japanese animated films were made in 1917, with only one film from that year, the 2-minute animated short “Namakura Gatana” being the only surviving film (only rediscovered in 2008). The Japanese animation “industry” was barely an industry in the early days, as US companies such as Disney had bigger budgets and a bigger marketplace than the Japanese films. The Japanese independent companies had to compete with Disney shorts, which by the early 1930’s had synchronized sound and color. Japanese animation studios had a very small budget, a very small crew, and a very short time span for completing work, so comparing the quality of the films are like David and Goliath: one may be bigger and stronger, but the little one may surprise you. Walt Disney had a huge influence on Japanese animation. Their shorts were extremely popular in Japan in the 1930’s and some of the Japanese companies often tried to mimic the style closely. A good example is the 1936 animated film “Shinsetsu kachikachi yama” directed by none other than future feature film director Kon Ichikawa, shows the Disney influence very clearly with anthropomorphic animals with music and detailed movement. Others were reminiscent of early Japanese comic books and “kamishibai” art (which will be explained about in detail later). Japanese films entered the sound era very late, with even prominent film directors in silent films like Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, and Yasujiro Ozu making their first sound films in 1934, 1935, and 1936 respectively. The reason for this was because of the theatrical“Benshi” culture. What is “Benshi”? During the silent film era in the west it was common for theaters to have music accompaniment via organ or piano. In Japan it was common to have narrators next to the movie screen to do the voices, narrate the story, and read the intertitles out loud. These people were called “Benshi”. Music accompaniment was also used, making a unique way of viewing movies unusual to the west. People would not only flock to the theater to see their favorite movie stars on screen, but to hear their favorite benshi do the storytelling. Sadly, as talkies started to become a mainstay and silent films were becoming “old-fashioned”, benshi narrators were losing their jobs. Film director Akira Kurosawa’s older brother was a benshi narrator and introduced the young Akira to the world of film. Sadly, after he lost his job as a benshi and could no longer find a job with his skills, he committed suicide a few years later. Benshi culture has not entirely been lost though. The independent company Matsuda Film Productions established by benshi narrator Shunsui Matsuda in 1952 aimed to preserve silent movies from pre-WWII and gathered former benshi to do narrations at revival screenings. The company continues to this day with a collection of over 1000 films, which is the largest private collection of Japanese silents in the world. Matsuda was born in 1925 and was a “child” benshi, starting at a very early age, and continued to showcase the art of benshi, including recording new soundtracks to the silent films, preserving the benshi style for future generations. Even performing at the Frankfurt Film Museum in Germany and other various festivals in Europe in the 1980’s, he was showcasing the artform to a worldwide audience. Matsuda died in 1987 from cancer, but the company still continues to showcase benshi narration through silent film festivals and DVD releases, such as this one. This 4-DVD set includes animated shorts preserved by Matsuda Film Productions. The word “Benshi” is a forgotten word to the average Japanese person now, but the artform still remains embedded in the culture. The TV series “Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi” which translates as “Cartoon Japanese Folk Stories” ran from 1975-1995 was a 30 minute animated series. Two 15-minute short stories were shown on each episode, and unusually, multiple animation studios worked on the short films, so character designs and animation styles differed with each story. As for the dialogue, all the episodes were voiced by only 2 voice actors: Etsuko Ichihara and Fujio Tokita. Each episode had one or the other narrating, while the 2 played all the various voices. It was no different than the style of silent animation films screened 50 years prior. The series was one of the highest rated animated shows in Japanese TV history, watched by children and by adults. Not only Japanese animation, but even Disney shorts, Looney Tunes, Walter Lantz shorts were at times shown on Japanese television in the 1980’s with a Japanese narrator redoing the voices of the characters and narrating the setting. This was possibly because the TV station and program couldn’t get the rights to use the original Japanese dubbed audio tracks, or the shorts didn’t have a Japanese dub made, but regardless, it shows that the benshi style of narration continued long after the supposed “death” of silent film. Films taking place during the silent era always include homage scenes to benshi, such as the 1994 Japanese-American film "Picture Bride" which in a minor role features actor Toshiro Mifune in one of his final film roles, as a benshi traveling in Hawaii in 1918. Canadian avant-garde director Guy Maddin also used benshi narration for his 2006 experimental film "Brand Upon the Brain", having one actor perform the live narration at screenings with a musical accompaniment, and with different actors at different screenings, so each would be a unique experience. This 4-DVD set by Digital Meme is a collection of 55 animated shorts that were released between 1928 and 1950. Some of them are primitive short subjects with limited animation. Some of them are quite ambitious with great animation. Some films in this set are silent with newly recorded music accompaniment. Some are with recorded benshi soundtracks. And some have the original music soundtracks. Here is a list of the short films with some comments about the work and the quality: DISC ONE Mighty Taro's Reckless Training AKA Tairiki Taro no Mucha Shugyo (1928) (1:26) The earliest short in this set, Mighty Taro and his bear fight some “Oni” (demons). The picture is very contrasty, and the original Japanese intertitles are hard to read. Momotaro the Undefeated AKA Nihon-ichi Momotaro (1928) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (11:04) The Tale of “Momotaro” has been part of Japanese storytelling for countless years, although historians haven’t been able to establish when the story was originally written. Passed down from generation to generation with changes made in various regions and various storytellers over the years, this short shows the most well-known 1894 compiled version of the story, which put together all the known variants of the story and compiled it into one. In this tale, an elderly couple finds a large peach floating down the river, in which a little boy is inside. The couple name him “Momotaro”, literally “Peach-Taro”, and raise him as their own child. Later it is shown that the grown-up Momotaro with his mighty strength travels to Onigashima (Demon’s Island) to defeat the Demon King. Along the way, he befriends and recruits a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant to help him. The animation uses shadows very well and also has very good character animation. The short is accompanied by benshi narration by Midori Sawato. As the tale is so widely known in Japan, intertitles are very sparse. Luckily the narration provides a very good, fun, and also informative narration for international viewers who may be unfamiliar. For the picture quality, there are tram lines, some flickering, and whites are blown out, though the infrequent intertitles are easy to read. Midori Sawato has been a benshi narrator since 1973 and has narrated over 500 silent films at various festivals and screenings. Her benshi narration is on a handful of short films in this DVD set. The Tiny One Makes It Big AKA Issun-boshi no Shusse (1929) (1:10) The tale of “Issun-boshi”, the tiny hero, like “Momotaro”, is one of the most well-known Japanese adventure tales. But don’t expect something epic in this incredibly condensed version of the story, running just over a minute long. The picture has stability issues and blown out white levels making it very hard to see much of what is going on. The Black Cat AKA Kuro Nyago (1929) (3:02) This musical short with a synchronized soundtrack is done in a paper-cut-out style animation rather than hand drawn animation. The blacks, greys and whites look rather good on this short, but the usual dust and specs are abound. The Stolen Lump AKA Kobu-tori (1929) (10:29) Another classic folk tale from an undated and unknown origin, “Kobu-Tori-Jiisan” is a moral tale on greed and jealousy featuring the yokai “tengu”. The story features two old men: Tarobei is a hardworking man who has a lump on his left cheek. Jirobei is a slightly lazy man who has a lump on his right cheek. One night after working in the woods, Tarobei hears music being performed by a group of tengu, in which he dances and pleases the leader of the tengu. As the tengu would like to have Tarobei return for the Moon Festival to dance and give him a reward, they decide to take something from him as collateral in order for him to return. The tengu leader thinks his lump is valuable, so they remove it and keep it. Tarobei tells his tale of the removal of his lump to Jirobei, who thinks of a scheme to fool the tengu and steal the reward, but ends up paying sins for his greediness. Like “Momotaro” this is a folk tale that had many variations over many generations in different places. There is a variation of the story in which there is only one old man. There is another in which the hardworking vs lazy personalities are not mentioned. In another which may be the most common is which the tengu don’t remove the lump but a group of oni remove the lump. The print is tinted with a light yellow color and the print quality is very good. The black outlines of the characters and backgrounds are thick and clear, and there aren’t any very distracting damage marks to the print. Taro’s Toy Train AKA Taro-san no Kisha (1929) (15:49) Here is an unusual one in this set as it includes live-action footage. The short starts with live action footage of children playing outside. The kids are playing train conductor, with the young boy Taro at the front as the conductor and his friends lined up behind him. After playing, Taro’s father brings back a souvenir, a toy train set which they immediately build together, although it has to be dismantled at night and put back in the box. Taro goes to bed and dreams of his train set building itself (with stop motion animation). It then switches to traditional animation of Taro as a conductor of a train with many animals as passengers, with slapstick silent film humor all around. The film starts off like a silent Yasujiro Ozu or Mikio Naruse film, reminiscent of such films as “I Was Born, But…” and “Flunky, Work Hard”, and at first I wasn’t sure if this was some sort of mistake as it took about 5 minutes or so until the animation segments appeared. Films mixing live action and animation was not unusual. Walt Disney’s “Alice Comedies” of the 1910’s and 1920’s put a live action character within a cartoon setting. The 1914 short “Gertie the Dinosaur” had live action human interaction with an animated dinosaur which was one of the most pioneering shorts in the world of animation. Sadly, “Taro’s Toy Train” doesn’t go to that level, as there aren’t any techniques used to meld the art forms, even though the short uses live action, stop motion animation, and hand drawn animation. They are separately done, and although it would have been more interesting to see for example the live-action Taro interacting with the animals on the train, it doesn’t happen here. The reality switch to dream sequence was also done in the 1924 Buster Keaton film “Sherlock, Jr.” (which had no animation by the way), so again it is not a new technique there either. But does it make it bad that it is not original and not groundbreaking? Not at all. “Taro” is still a fun little children’s film with some wacky humor throughout the animated portions including some alcohol scenes that would have never made it into a Hollywood film (as it was still during the time of Prohibition). The print is with good contrast, and no big problematic issues except the usual dust and specs, and the intertitles are quite clear. The Bat AKA Komori (1930) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:31) In a war between birds and beasts, swordplay battles take the lives of many samurai animals. During the war, there is a bat who doesn’t fight on either side, but instead fools the beasts by pretending to be a mouse by hiding its wings, and fools the birds by pretending to be a bird with its wings. The story is not a moral tale, but one that explains the reason why bats only come out at night. The animation is very action oriented in the battle scenes, although not bloody or violent, and the musical and dance scenes near the end as well. There are the usual scratches and debris inherent to the print used here. The Monkey Sword Masamune AKA Saru Masamune (1930) (9:47) A moral tale of karma, a man stops a hunter about to kill a monkey, in which the monkey rewards the man by giving him food, liquor, and also a sword. Later, the hunter chases a wild boar, but the boar fights back. Luckily the man with the new sword comes to the rescue. The print has very good contrast and stable picture. Harvest Festival AKA Mura Matsuri (1930) (2:33) Another short that uses paper cut out animation, with dancing characters and karaoke style sing-a-long animated wording. The original soundtrack with music and lyrics is used, so the sound quality is pretty scratchy. The picture quality is quite dark, making it a bit hard to see. Taro Urashima AKA Urashima Taro (1931) (1:12) Like “Momotaro”, “Taro Urashima” is another traditional undated tale that everyone in Japan grows up with. Although with a runtime of just over a minute, get ready for an extremely fast retelling of the story. The blown out contrast with pale whites make things hard to see, and there are also flickering, dust and debris. Our Baseball Match AKA Oira no Yakyu (1931) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:36) Very loosely based on the characters of the tale “Kachikachi Yama”, it’s a baseball game with the Rabbits vs the Tanuki teams. There are many elements of “Plausible Impossible” humor (a phrase coined by Walt Disney, meaning something impossible in reality but still can be convincingly portrayed), elements found in early animation like characters doing physically impossible stunts which are only possibly in animation. The animation style uses very simple solid line drawings with no shading. The storytelling style is very close to American animated works of the period, possibly influenced by the early Hollywood works. The picture is tinted, and the print is very clear. Dust and debris are visible with some flickering. The National Anthem Kimigayo AKA Kokka Kimigayo (1931) (3:14) Paper cut out animation at the start shows the creation of Japan by the Gods, and has the lyrics of the national anthem animated. Although the song is subtitled out for viewers to sing-a-long, the soundtrack has no words sung, so it is up to the viewer to fill in the blanks to the melody. DISC TWO Animal Sumo AKA Dobutsu Sumo Taikai (1931) (0:47) A very short film with animals doing sumo, although what they are doing seems more like Pro-Wrestling rather than sumo. No directors or animators are credited on this short. The picture quality is shaky and jittery here. Momotaro's Sky Adventure AKA Sora no Momotaro (1931) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:30) The legendary Momotaro is asked by a penguin for help in this short. This is obviously not the original Momotaro story but using the characters in a modern setting. Momotaro needs gasoline to travel the 10,000 km by plane with his animal friends to defeat an eagle that preys on the South Pole animals. It’s an interesting short to modernize the character for audiences. The print is quite stable with some minor flickering, dust and debris issues but the black and white tones look good. The Unlucky Butterfly AKA Cho no Sainan (1931) (8:30) A butterfly takes off her wings to hang them to dry, but a mouse steals them and refuses to return them unless the butterfly gives him a reward. The animation style is reminiscent of early Disney Silly Symphonies and Harmond-Ising era Warner Brothers <>Looney Tunes shorts with the use of repeated backgrounds in running scenes and the character movements for example. This is the first short in the set that has the original synchronized soundtrack with dialogue. There were the two musical shorts on disc one, but they were song lyrics and not story dialogue. There are some stability issues toward the end of the short and there is some damage throughout. The ending is very abrupt, but there is a “The End” title card so I’m not sure whether some frames are missing or if this is just the way it originally ended. Home Alone Mice AKA Nezumi no Rusuban (1931) (1:13) Here is a very short musical, with the original recorded soundtrack. The story is of mice that are not afraid of cats. Not much else with the one minute short. The picture and sound are pretty average on this one. Spring Song AKA Haru no Uta (1931 or 1932) (3:05) This is a musical short, but the soundtrack is not the original. The words to the song are written out, although they are not actually heard on the soundtrack. Whether this was a sing-a-long short film or a short with a synchronized singing soundtrack is not known. The film is tinted pink (for the cherry blossom motif), and looks fine, but with the usual scratches and dust on the print. Momotaro's Underwater Adventure AKA Umi no Momotaro (1932) (1:56) Another short with the character Momotaro and his trusted animals, this time they go underwater in a submarine and fight a shark. This short is one of the worst in picture quality. Lines, scratches, debris, blown out whites, faded out lines, and difficult to read title cards. The title cards were freeze frames, so one must assume the original title cards looked pretty much unreadable unless they freeze framed one and cleaned it up to a watchable state. The Plane Cabby's Lucky Day AKA Oatari Sora no Entaku (1932) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:16) Taking place in a distant future, in the year 1980 (!), animals live on the ground while humans live high up in the sky in tall skyscrapers and using flying machines to get around. The story’s main character is a cab driver and his little adventure. At one point his plane crashes down to the ground in which some animals give him diamonds as a reward for rescuing a bird from some bad men. This short seems to predict the world of “The Jetsons”, although it is never known why the humans moved high above the ground. There are loads of “plausible impossible” gags, with the airplane crashing into a cloud, a magic bullet that crisscrosses the landscape etc. A minor spoiler though, interesting is the deaths of the antagonists. It is done in a comical way with 2 Christian crosses appearing in the rubble signifying their deaths. Is it because people were familiar with Christian symbols at that time? Or was it a way of hiding from little children watching that it signified their deaths? The picture is pretty good on this short with the usual damage marks with nothing hugely distracting. Olympic Games on Dankichi Island AKA Dankichi-jima no Olympic Taikai (1932) (2:08) It’s an Olympic showdown between various animals and stereotypically drawn savage island natives. Interesting that they end on “Tug of War”, which actually used to be an Olympic sport. The print used is very scratchy. Sports Day at Animal Village AKA Dobutsu-mura no Sports Day (1932) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (8:38) Another animal Olympics short, with this short featuring judo, diving, boxing, and more with various hijinks. The backgrounds are well drawn with shading brushstrokes especially in the high angle shot in the diving scene, but hard to see clearly due to brightness fluctuation in the backgrounds. Sanko and the Octopus: A Fight Over a Fortune AKA Sanko to Tako: Hyakuman-ryo Chinsodo (1933) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (15:51) After a festival the night prior, a hungover Sanko won’t wake up to go to the market so his hardworking wife goes instead. Sanko’s friend who has an injured leg tells a story of a sunken ship he heard from a dying man in the next village. Since he cannot search for the ship in his present condition, he asks Sanko to search for the treasure, and to share half of the earnings in exchange for telling him the details. The short is an adventure story with lots of crazy underwater and tropical island scenes with the savage islanders. The print has good greyscale and is quite watchable even with the usual dirt and specs. The Larks' Moving Day AKA Hibari no Yadogae (1933) (4:52) A family of anthropomorphic larks are preparing for a move to a new house. Quite good picture quality here. Belly Drum Dance at Shojoji Temple AKA Shojoji no Tanuki-bayashi (unknown) (1:14) This is a musical short with “Tanuki” (raccoon dogs) dancing to the song. The original musical soundtrack is used here. Very unstable flickering picture quality, with very contrasty overblown white levels. Private 2nd Class Norakuro AKA Norakuro Nitohei: Kyoren no Maki/Enshu no Maki (1933) with benshi narration by Shukichi Makino (9:29) A short film with anthropomorphic dogs as military cadets, starring the main character “Norakuro”, featured in a few shorts in this set. Norakuro is a private in training, and is not exactly the model soldier who likes to go off on his own than listen to his superiors, although he does show goodness in helping others at times. The soundtrack is a vintage benshi narration track, so it is not as clear as some of the other benshi tracks. This short seems to be sourced from a video master rather than from the original film. The greyscale is very soft, with solid blacks never looking black but dark blue grey. DISC THREE Corporal Norakuro AKA Norakuro Gocho (1934) with benshi narration by Shuichi Makino (10:34) Some monkeys steal some secret documents from the dog military base, and the dog Corporal Norakuro tries to do good by chasing after them. Some great action animation is utilized in the car chase scene. This Norakura short unlike the previous one, is a film source, so there are thick black and grey shades especially at the start, but becomes harder to see near the end of the short. Dekobo the Big Head's Road Trip AKA Dekobo no Jidosha Ryoko (unknown) (1:21) The adventure of Dekobo and his car which gets a flat tire. The animation style looks like early Fleischer Studios character animation, although since the date is unknown on this short, it can’t be said whether they were influenced by the Fleischers. The print has a lot of blown out white levels so it is difficult to make out much of the details. Sankichi the Monkey: The Storm Troopers AKA Osaru no Sankichi: Totsugekitai (1934) (2:41) A military themed short film, between anthropomorphic monkeys. The animation style is close to Fleischer or Disney with the character designs. Although very short, the short is in 2 parts, but you may blink and miss when it switches to the second part. The print is very weak and some of the intertitles are freeze frames. Hyoei and Heibei's Tengu Hunt AKA Tengu Taiji (1934) (8:18) A samurai short film with many heads getting chopped off and bodies being sliced in half. But don’t expect anything bloody, as it is all done extremely comically. It’s very obvious that Betty Boop is the big influence, which the character Hyoei looks like a male samurai Betty weirdly. The original music soundtrack is used here.. The print looks pretty good, but they soundtrack is more on the scratchy side. Tiny Chibisuke's Big Adventure AKA Issun-boshi: Chibisuke Monogatari (1935) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:14) Chibisuke is a boy the size of a thumb who sets off the the capital city traveling in a soup bowl. When a demon kidnaps the princess, it’s up to tiny Chibisuke to rescue her and bring her back to the Lord. Character faces are reminiscent to early Looney Tunes characters. Good video quality and good black levels on this short, one of the better in the set. Why is the Sea Water Salty? AKA Umi no Mizu wa Naze Karai (1935) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:02) An interesting story about 2 brothers, one poor and one rich. After the poor brother saves an old man, he gets a reward from some dwarves that make him richer and more established socially than his “rich” brother. The story becomes a moral tale of greediness, but also shows how the ocean became so salty because of these two brothers. There are detailed backgrounds used, but the soft picture quality makes it hard to appreciate. The quality is like the “Norakuro” short on the previous disc, a video source, so the blacks are dull grey-blue colors. Ta-chan's Underwater Adventure AKA Ta-chan no Kaitei Ryoko (1935) (1:16) A very short submarine short which goes at rapid fire speed. The print has flickering, registration errors, and faded blacks making things hard to see. Ninja Fireball in Edo AKA Ninjutsu Hinotama Kozo: Edo no Maki (1935) (1:10) Ninjas, lions, trains, and lots of action! A frenetically paced ninja short film. The start and end credits are freeze frames. The picture is blurry and difficult to make out the details. Danemon's Monster Hunt at Shojoji AKA Shojoji no Tanuki-bayashi Ban Danemon (1935) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (3:33) In this incomplete version of the short, Danemon enters a haunted house, and hears a woman’s cry for help. He finds the woman tied up, while a group of tanuki play music and have a party. The Tanuki transforms into the fictional one-armed swordsman Sazen Tange to challenge, Danemon. This shorter version of the film was first discovered with some scenes missing from the original short, and is presented here with benshi narration recorded before the discovery of the full length short years later. Which brings us to the presentation of… Danemon's Monster Hunt at Shojoji AKA Shojoji no Tanuki-bayashi Ban Danemon (1935) (8:45) This is the full length version of the short, with Danemon going to the haunted house as mentioned before. Some scenes that were rediscovered are: The opening in which Danemon discovers about the haunted house and the reward, a scene in which Danaemon has his head shaved (which answers a continuity question from the incomplete version), and the ending is extended to name a few. The incomplete version has the benshi recording, while this version has the original dialogue soundtrack presented. The picture quality is also different between the 2 versions, with the complete version looking better than the incomplete one. There are still damage marks throughout though. Hatanosuke and the Haunted House AKA Hinomaru Hatanosuke: Bakemono-Yashiki no Maki (unknown) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (1:19) Another haunted house story, with various yokai, tanuki, and Sanze Tange again. It’s unknown if this is a remake of the Danemon short, or vice versa since the date is unknown. The print is very contrasty and very scratchy. Hatanosuke Takes Down the Inazuma Gang AKA Hinomaru Hatanosuke: Inazuma-gumi Tobatsu no Maki (unknown) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (1:36) As the title explains, the samurai Hatanosuke infiltrates the Inazuma gang and is rewarded for defeating them. Like the previous short, the print is very contrasty and very scratchy. Over a Drink AKA Izakaya no Ichiya (1936) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:31) Taking place in “modern” time, a jobless man looking for a job enters a pub and becomes wasted. In a dream sequence, he finds himself at the bottom of the sea with 2 samurai searching for treasure. But he has to wake up some time…. The print has some flickering, but the picture is pretty stable most of the time with good black levels. The Monkey Fleet AKA Osaru no Kantai (1936) (1:16) Another war propaganda short, with monkeys at war with octopuses both on land and under the sea. There are scenes of swordplay and with submarine battles. The short is very flicker and scratchy. The Sun and the Frogs AKA Ohisama to Kaeru (1936) (1:06) Here is another animal short, and in this one features frogs and catfish praying to the sun. There is very harsh picture quality at the start, but becomes better toward the middle. But the film ends very quickly. The Sparrows' Lodge AKA Suzume no Oyado (1936) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:14) An old man comes to visits “The Sparrows’ Lodge” high up in the mountains. The old man is given a dance performance by the sparrow girls and is also rewarded. He is given the option for a heavy trunk with a present, or a light trunk with a present. He takes the light trunk home, feeling he didn’t need something so heavy to carry back home, but when his old greedy wife is angry that he takes the “lesser” present. The wife then goes by herself to the Sparrows’ Lodge to find herself in a moral tale of the danger of greed… There are some very good uses of multiplane movement in walking scenes, and the backgrounds look great. The print has the usual flickering, jumping picture, but with clear easy-to-read intertitles. DISC FOUR Taro's Monster Hunt AKA Furudera no Obake-sodo (1936) (5:14) Taro the little samurai enters a haunted house to find various yokai. The scary short becomes a musical, with dancing candles and yokai turning into instruments. There are some similarities to the Mickey Mouse short “The Haunted House” from 1929. The original soundtrack is scratchy and voices sound like an old beat up phonograph, which makes it hard to make out the dialogue. The picture is filled with tram lines and the right side of the frame (with the optical soundtrack) looks quite faded, so I assume that’s what affected the audio track. Taro's Early Training Days AKA Hinomaru Taro: Musha Shugyo no Maki (1936) with benshi narration by Shunsui Matsuda (5:30) Taro is back again in this short. The wanted man Daihachi Okuma comes to town terrorizing people and kidnaps a girl. It’s up to Taro the little samurai to rescue her and capture the wanted man! Great background art is used, but it is hard to see the fine details with the very flickery picture, although the intertitles are pretty clear. The vintage Benshi narration and music sounds great. Mabo's Big Race AKA Mabo no Daikyoso (1936) (1:39) An Olympic themed short, with the young runner Mabo competing in a race, and also in a high jump, with some silly “plausible impossible” antics. The character animation style is very simple with solid lines and without deep shading. The picture quality is watchable but slightly under the average compared to the rest of the shorts. Mabo as Tokichiro Kinoshita AKA Mabo no Kinoshita Tokichiro (1938) (6:54) The young samurai Mabo meets a fortune teller who tells him that he will become a Lord. A war breaks out in which Mabo says to the Lord that he will help build a new castle in 3 days. The battle scenes are very comical and silly, so no worries about bloody violent battles. While watching the short I wasn’t sure whether this short film’s “Mabo” and the previous film’s “Mabo” was the same or a different character, especially since the credits are lost and because the animation style also looks very different. But a minor spoiler, there is an interesting twist at the end in which it shows a film director and crew giving Mabo directions, so it is the same boy, but in “character”. There are some great animation techniques in movements of characters, especially the shot of the horses moving in perspective. The original soundtrack is quite scratchy with some buzzing in the dialogue. The picture is scratchy, flickery, and filled with tram lines, but the darker scenes look very good. Swim, Monkey, Swim! AKA Oyoge ya Oyoge (1939) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:05) With a swimming competition coming up, a monkey goes to a lake to practice. Unfortunately, he can’t swim! What starts as a silly story becomes a moral tale about cheating and guilt playing into the story. The animation style is very simple line animation, with backgrounds having very little detail. The picture quality looks pretty good with the usual damage marks around. Baby Kangaroo's Birthday Surprise AKA Kangaroo no Tanjobi (1940) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:43) It’s Kan-chan the kangaroo’s birthday and so the mother kangaroo bakes a large birthday cake for Kan-chan in the kitchen. The smell of the delicious food attracts a wolf which comes to terrorize the family. Talk about Disney influence! The 1936 Disney Silly Symphonies short “The Three Little Pigs” is a very big influence, as well as the animation style with the backgrounds and the character design. Even the wolf looks like a cross between Goofy and Peg-Leg Pete. A highly enjoyable short, but interesting to compare the difference between this black and white short, compared to where Disney was at the time, which produced “Fantasia” and "Pinocchio" the same year. The shadows and greys look great with well detailed backgrounds inside the house and outside. Although the print is dusty and scratchy, it is very watchable and not overly distracting. Sankichi the Monkey: The Air Combat AKA Osaru no Sankichi: Bokusen (1942) (3:17) A war propaganda short featuring monkeys that build flying machines to protect the skies from the oncoming enemy. This short is in 2 parts like the previous “Sankichi” short. The faded print uses intertitles that are freeze frames. The second part looks considerably better, but both parts have very scratchy very damaged marks everywhere. The Bear Dodger AKA Kuma ni Kuwarenu Otoko (1948) (9:33) This musical / action short features two wandering travelers Hyoei and Kuro. Hyoei is traveling and singing, wihile Kuro complains that his big head is too heavy for walking far, and that he is too hungry to continue traveling. Kuro accidentally throws a rock at a baby boar which makes the father boar angry, leading to some funny antics. The animation style seems no different than many of the 1930’s shorts. It seems during wartime Japan, there was no big stride in improvement in quality of animation, but that should be no surprise. Although this was made in 1948 in occupied Japan, you could easily mistake it for a 1930’s short. The original musical soundtrack is used here, which has some sound issues with the voices, but the music sounds quite good which is important for the musical segments. Tram lines and scratches are prevalent throughout. Gulliver's Great Activities AKA Gulliver Funtoki (1950) (9:09) “Gulliver’s Travels” is retold in this short, with very similar in animation style to the Fleischer 1939 full length version of “Gulliver’s Travels”. Made during the US occupation of Japan, it shows the moral tale of “having the big foreigner help out the local people”, which is exactly what Japan was going through at that time. The print looks very good with very stable picture quality with great grey tones, and the soundtrack also sounds quite clear. One of the best in quality in this set, which is no surprise since it is the newest short in the seet. The Animal Village in Trouble AKA Dobutsu-mura no Daisodo (unknown) (8:43) In a village with various animals, a large storm approaches in which the animals fight to save their homes. The picture quality is soft, and is a bit out of focus especially at the start, but there is no issue with stability. The recorded soundtrack has vintage benshi narration with music, in which the music sounds mostly good, but the benshi narration has some sound issues at times with random pops and cracks, and that the narration ends abruptly. Dankichi on a Tropical Island AKA Boken Dankichi: Hyoryu no Maki (unknown) (1:37) A boy and his mouse land on an island, chased by savage islanders and a lion. Using freeze frame intertitles, the print is very weak, hard to see much of any detail. 2nd Lieutenant Norakuro Sunday Magic AKA Norakuro Shoi: Nichiyobi no Kaijiken (unknown) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (1:46) Norakuro goes off to meet Professor Dekoboko who invents “the magic ball” which can transform into anything. The print actually looks pretty good, even though the intertitles are freeze frame stills. The Underwater Tyrant AKA Kaitei no Bokun (unknown) (1:14) A bear and a tanuki fight a giant fish in this very short film. The print quality is very weak, and it’s hard to see any backgrounds since the whites are blown out. Are they fighting on land or in the ocean? Hard to tell most of the time. The Duckling Saves the Day AKA Ahiru no Otegara (unknown) (1:20) A little duckling becomes a hero to a hen whose chicks are washed away in a river. The animation style looks very similar to the black and white 1931 Disney Silly Symphonies short “The Ugly Duckling”, with similar animation style and technique. Backgrounds and animation is quite good, with very impressive scenes of the harsh weather. The print is very scratchy and damaged. Note these are a region free NTSC DVDs and can be played on any DVD player worldwide.
Video
All the films in this set are in the original black and white, in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio in NTSC. As the video quality goes, it depends on the short film. Stated prior, all the shorts have some sort of damage such as dirt, scratches, tram lines, flickering, registration errors, and fading. Some of the shorts have incredibly bad damage and is hard to see detail. Digital Meme has restored many of these works to a watchable state with their remastering process. Considering that many silent movies and pre-war Japanese movies were lost or destroyed, it’s almost a miracle we can see these films at all. The films were found in less than pristine conditions, and it’s unlikely we would be able to see these films in a better condition. Some of the films are missing frames, missing title cards, and possibly missing full scenes. But miracles can happen. Disc three’s “Danemon's Monster Hunt at Shojoji” short was only known to exist in a cut form until the full version was rediscovered. Even recently the Laurel and Hardy short “The Battle of the Century” which was missing the second reel was rediscovered in full, and the Harry Houdini film “The Grim Game” from 1919 which only existed in a 5 minute fragment, was also rediscovered in full. One thing to be said about the picture is that the 1.33:1 frame is windowboxed on a TV screen. About 20% of the bottom of the frame is a black bar, reserved for the subtitles. As Digital Meme opted to have the subtitles not be intrusive to the animation, the subtitles appear below the frame. This means there are large areas of black on the TV screen, and the picture is much smaller than the usual 1.33:1 film displayed. Some may find it distracting, but once you get used to it, it isn’t so troublesome.
Audio
There is only one audio track on all the shorts: Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono Some of the tracks are music only, while others have Japanese benshi narration. Like the picture quality, the audio quality varies by short. Shorts with newly recorded soundtracks sound great, as well as the newly recorded benshi narration by Midori Sawato. Some of the shorts with original soundtracks have fuzziness, cracks, pops, hisses, and buzzing sound, and sometimes impossible to hear dialogue. Thankfully there are subtitles to help, and Digital Meme has provided optional Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean subtitles for all the shorts and extras. As mentioned in the video section, the subtitles appear below the frame.
Extras
The 4 discs have the short films in chronological order (although some films are undated), and each disc has one “Kamishibai” bonus feature. Disc one also includes an additional bonus feature which is only on the Japanese menus. Kamishibai Performances by Hikaru Otsuki Before the days of television, radio, or movies, in Japan there was “Kamishibai”, literally “Paper Drama”. It’s very simple. Drawings of consecutive pictures of a single story (sometimes episodic) are placed within a wooden frame in which a storyteller would read the story out loud doing the voices of each character and doing the narration. The story and dialogue are written out on the back of the paper, so the Kamishibai reader would be behind the picture frame, like a speaker would be behind a movie screen. Kamishibai readers would be at streetcorners, parks, visiting schools and other places around town. After reading a few stories it leaves the kids wanting more, but the reader tells the kids (like on television) that the stories are finished for the day, and he will be back next time! Although these days it is hard to find Kamishibai readers randomly around town, the artform still survives in schools, and children all grow up with Kamishibai at a young age, even children try to make their own Kamishibai drawings, on paper and not on a Powerpoint Slideshow, which is basically a digital Kamishibai. Digital Meme has recreated the Kamishibai artform digitally, with Hikaru Otsuki, a Kamishibai reader narrating and doing voices of 4 short Kamishibai performances, one on each disc. DISC ONE Shorts (with Play All function) (79:56) - Mighty Taro's Reckless Training AKA Tairiki Taro no Mucha Shugyo (1928) (1:26) - Momotaro the Undefeated AKA Nihon-ichi Momotaro (1928) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (11:04) - The Tiny One Makes It Big AKA Issun-boshi no Shusse (1929) (1:10) - The Black Cat AKA Kuro Nyago (1929) (3:02) - The Stolen Lump AKA Kobu-tori (1929) (10:29) - Taro’s Toy Train AKA Taro-san no Kisha (1929) (15:49) - The Bat AKA Komori (1930) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:31) - The Monkey Sword Masamune AKA Saru Masamune (1930) (9:47) - Harvest Festival AKA Mura Matsuri (1930) (2:33) - Taro Urashima AKA Urashima Taro (1931) (1:12) - Our Baseball Match AKA Oira no Yakyu (1931) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:36) - The National Anthem Kimigayo AKA Kokka Kimigayo (1931) (3:14) EXTRAS: Kamishibai: “The Golden Bat: Black Tiger’s Story: Episode 8 AKA Ogon Bat: Black Tiger no Maki” performed by Hikaru Otsuki (4:33) “Ogon Bat” was an ongoing kamishibai series that was quite popular from the 1930’s. This episode of the science fiction adventure story takes place just before an epic battle, which sadly the children have to wait next week to find out what happens next! In the subtitles, the word “Lightning” is mistakenly spelled “Lightening”. The following extra is only available through the Japanese menu only: "Our Baseball Match AKA Oira no Yakyu" (1931) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:40) with six different Japanese subtitles - Japanese HoH subtitles (full) - Japanese HoH subtitles with furigana (full) - Japanese HoH subtitles with large font (full) - Japanese HoH subtitles (shortened) - Japanese HoH subtitles with furigana (shortened) - Japanese HoH subtitles with large font (shortened) The “Our Baseball Match” is repeated here, but with a choice of 6 different Japanese subtitle options. These are created for the hearing impaired. Strangely, I couldn’t find any difference between the “Full” subtitles and the “Shortened” subtitles. Although while reading the “Full” subtitles, I noticed that some words or phrases are not captioned fully. Interesting to see the different options available, but they will not be much use to non-Japanese speakers. DISC TWO Shorts (with Play All function) (78:34) - Animal Sumo AKA Dobutsu Sumo Taikai (1931) (0:47) - Momotaro's Sky Adventure AKA Sora no Momotaro (1931) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:30) - The Unlucky Butterfly AKA Cho no Sainan (1931) (8:30) - Home Alone Mice AKA Nezumi no Rusuban (1931) (1:13) - Spring Song AKA Haru no Uta (1931 or 1932) (3:05) - Momotaro's Underwater Adventure AKA Umi no Momotaro (1932) (1:56) - The Plane Cabby's Lucky Day AKA Oatari Sora no Entaku (1932) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:16) - Olympic Games on Dankichi Island AKA Dankichi-jima no Olympic Taikai (1932) (2:08) - Sports Day at Animal Village AKA Dobutsu-mura no Sports Day (1932) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (8:38) - Sanko and the Octopus: A Fight Over a Fortune AKA Sanko to Tako: Hyakuman-ryo Chinsodo with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (1933) (15:51) - The Larks' Moving Day AKA Hibari no Yadogae (1933) (4:52) - Belly Drum Dance at Shojoji Temple AKA Shojoji no Tanuki-bayashi (unknown) (1:14) - Private 2nd Class Norakuro AKA Norakuro Nitohei: Kyoren no Maki/Enshu no Maki (1933) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:29) EXTRA: Kamishibai: “Hoop Fairy: Episode 9 AKA Hoop Yosei” performed by Hikaru Otsuki (4:56) This kamishibai story is about a small fairy that befriends a young boy, but the fairy kidnapped by an evil man in a trenchcoat. Again, if you want to see the continuation of the story, be at the same street corner next week! DISC THREE Shorts (with Play All function) (83:04) - Corporal Norakuro AKA Norakuro Gocho (1934) with benshi narration by Shuichi Makino (10:34) - Dekobo the Big Head's Road Trip AKA Dekobo no Jidosha Ryoko (unknown) (1:21) - Sankichi the Monkey: The Storm Troopers AKA Osaru no Sankichi: Totsugekitai (1934) (2:41) - Hyoei and Heibei's Tengu Hunt AKA Tengu Taiji (1934) (8:18) - Tiny Chibisuke's Big Adventure AKA Issun-boshi: Chibisuke Monogatari (1935) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:14) - Why is the Sea Water Salty? AKA Umi no Mizu wa Naze Karai (1935) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:02) - Ta-chan's Underwater Adventure AKA Ta-chan no Kaitei Ryoko (1935) (1:16) - Ninja Fireball in Edo AKA Ninjutsu Hinotama Kozo: Edo no Maki (1935) (1:10) - Danemon's Monster Hunt at Shojoji AKA Shojoji no Tanuki-bayashi Ban Danemon (1935) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (3:33) - Danemon's Monster Hunt at Shojoji AKA Shojoji no Tanuki-bayashi Ban Danemon (1935) (8:45) - Hatanosuke and the Haunted House AKA Hinomaru Hatanosuke: Bakemono-Yashiki no Maki (unknown) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (1:19) - Hatanosuke Takes Down the Inazuma Gang AKA Hinomaru Hatanosuke: Inazuma-gumi Tobatsu no Maki (unknown) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (1:36) - Over a Drink AKA Izakaya no Ichiya (1936) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:31) - The Monkey Fleet AKA Osaru no Kantai (1936) (1:16) - The Sun and the Frogs AKA Ohisama to Kaeru (1936) (1:06) - The Sparrows' Lodge AKA Suzume no Oyado (1936) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:14) EXTRA: Kamishibai “Hiro-chan” performed by Hikaru Otsuki (3:56) The 407th episode of “Hiro-chan” stars the young boy Hiro-chan and his Chinese friend Ramen-chan, who gets a pair of new “geta” (wooden sandals) to show off. But because of this, Ramen forgets to make his family’s noodle shop delivery… DISC FOUR Shorts (with Play All function) (75:49) - Taro's Monster Hunt AKA Furudera no Obake-sodo (1936) (5:14) - Taro's Early Training Days AKA Hinomaru Taro: Musha Shugyo no Maki (1936) with benshi narration by Shunsui Matsuda (5:30) - Mabo's Big Race AKA Mabo no Daikyoso (1936) (1:39) - Mabo as Tokichiro Kinoshita AKA Mabo no Kinoshita Tokichiro (1938) (6:54) - Swim, Monkey, Swim! AKA Oyoge ya Oyoge (1939) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (10:05) - Baby Kangaroo's Birthday Surprise AKA Kangaroo no Tanjobi (1940) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (9:43) - Sankichi the Monkey: The Air Combat AKA Osaru no Sankichi: Bokusen (1942) (3:17) - The Bear Dodger AKA Kuma ni Kuwarenu Otoko (1948) (9:33) - Gulliver's Great Activities AKA Gulliver Funtoki (1950) (9:09) - The Animal Village in Trouble AKA Dobutsu-mura no Daisodo (unknown) (8:43) - Dankichi on a Tropical Island AKA Boken Dankichi: Hyoryu no Maki (unknown) (1:37) - 2nd Lieutenant Norakuro Sunday Magic AKA Norakuro Shoi: Nichiyobi no Kaijiken (unknown) with benshi narration by Midori Sawato (1:46) - The Underwater Tyrant AKA Kaitei no Bokun (unknown) (1:14) - The Duckling Saves the Day AKA Ahiru no Otegara (unknown) (1:20) EXTRA: Kamishibai “Lion Boy: The Attack of the Aliens AKA Lion-ji: Uchujin Shurai no Maki” performed by Hikaru Otsuki (6:09) In episode 16 of the science fiction-jungle adventure series, the aliens have a missile, but the quick thinking friends of Lion Boy (a character similar to Tarzan), a cheetah and a lion steal the missile from them. There are some subtitling errors with the quotation marks in the short, but nothing wrong with the subtitling content. So what is missing from this disc in terms of extras? Interviews or commentaries would have been nice to hear, but none are available. It would have also been nice to see some before/after restoration footage as well.
Packaging
The 4 discs are in 4 separate keep cases in a sturdy box. The box has the shorts and descriptions printed in Japanese and in English. Inside each keep case is a 2-page leaflet with information on each film and extras, in both Japanese and in English.
Overall
Anyone interested in Japanese anime history needs this set on the shelf. Admittedly some of the shorts are not very good, while some are great. Digital Meme has put in a lot of effort in the restoration of these shorts to be seen by the home viewer and their work should be commended. The set can be purchased on Amazon Japan or through Digital Meme’s website directly. Digital Meme has not had any DVD releases recently, as the company has stated that the difficult DVD market has prevented them from releasing more sets in the home video marketplace. But they have also stated that they have new plans for 2016 for release, which is very exciting news for silent Japanese film fans. The news can’t come any sooner!
|
|||||
|