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[InsaneDavid]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

Yes, I'm still keeping it rolling here.  This week's old school OP is Martian Successor Nadesico, a series I'm not very familiar with but the opening is super nostalgic.  Why?  Because it seemed to play as a preview before so many anime releases of the era that I bought or rented!  ...I can't be the only one. 

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Martian Successor Nadesico (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XphjF-fHZkM

[InsaneDavid]

Good late evening old schoolers!

Going with a fan favorite for today, the rare case of both the dub and sub being equally as enjoyable as one another.  Kyatto Ninden Teyandee will be more familiar to those in the West as the series that was reworked into Samurai Pizza Cats.  While both shows are full of off the wall humor and antics, the Japanese original is a bit more structured than the flat out comical localized release - just a bit.  Either way the series is great fun and just as enjoyable now as it was when it first aired.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-jelS4x-hI

[InsaneDavid]

Good morning old schoolers!

Closing out June today, I hope everyone is doing okay - not going too crazy with the adverse weather we've been having in many parts of the country lately.  Also hope everyone is safe and taking whatever required precautions are necessary for whatever you need to do day-to-day.

This week's OP is a great one from an outstanding series, it's also an OP that looks way more modern in my opinion than its 1989 vintage.  Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl! is an adaptation of the long-running manga series that began in 1986, about young Yawara Inokuma and her reluctant rise in the world of competitive judo.  The anime ran for a total of 124 episodes and the first 40 episodes were actually released subtitled in English by AnimEigo in 2008, although no other releases followed and it has long since went out of print.  The entire series has been fan translated and is out there but it would be awesome if a company such as Discotek could rescue this one and give it the English subtitled release it deserves.  A judo anime may not sound all that interesting at first but definitely check this one out if able!

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl! (1989)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjXJrkxQeAE

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

As tomorrow is Independence Day, I figured I'd share an obscure one that's tangentially related.  Eagle Sam is one of two anime series that were based on Olympic mascots, in this case for the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles.  The anime series began the year before and, if you can believe it, ran for 51 episodes.  Yes, this wasn't some little promotional OVA, it was a full on series that ran for a year on Japanese television.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Eagle Sam (1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSZuuIP3Sdk

[Angelx624]

We will see what next year brings, but for now I'm planning either Sheeta or Satsuki at this point.

Gotta represent Ghibli I miss that person who had the giant robot cosplay from Castle in the Sky!

[InsaneDavid]

We will see what next year brings, but for now I'm planning either Sheeta or Satsuki at this point.

Gotta represent Ghibli I miss that person who had the giant robot cosplay from Castle in the Sky!

Agreed, who knows how things will be next spring but until it gets closer I'm going to remain optimistic.  I miss the guy with the giant robot too!

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Tonight's old school OP is from my favorite Sailor Moon ... anything.  In my opinion nothing in the vast series ever topped the Sailor Moon S anime.  In fact undoing the Sailor Moon S anime ending at the beginning of Sailor Stars is one reason (among many) I really don't care for the final series.  Interestingly, Sailor Moon S had a sequel of sorts - a Super Famicom RPG that takes place shortly after the conclusion of S and incorporates characters and plot from both the anime and manga that came before.  It was recently given a revised fan translation and is well worth checking out if you haven't yet.  For FanimeCon 2018 and 2019 we cosplayed as origin story episode Haruka (professional driving suit) and Michiru (white and teal school uniform) - unique outfits only seen in the flashback portion of episode 106.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S (1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUnr-qmqKAA

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Hope you are all well this Friday.  Here's one that is going through a bit of a revival currently as a lot of people seem to be discovering it (or re-discovering it without the terrible "Cardcaptors" rework) via current streaming distribution.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Cardcaptor Sakura (1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-fLrxTsYIc

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Going with a personal favorite for today, a series that was completely fansubbed in English a few years ago.  Star Musketeer Bismark is probably better known (if at all) outside of Japan as the series that was reworked into Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.  Handled by World Events Productions, the reworked English adaptation was an attempt to duplicate the success their Voltron project, specifically Lion Force Voltron (itself a rework and expansion of Hundred Beast King Golion).  While it never reached the popularity of Voltron, and had massive rewrites over the Japanese original, I always really loved the series.  Saber Rider aired in the afternoons in the bay area on local channel 26, where I watched it as a kid - and for many years it seemed like no one else had ever heard of the show but me.  The Japanese original is even better, and interesting as it's a battle team series with a giant robot that isn't assembled from different parts.  What other space western features a giant robot modeled after a caped desperado?

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Star Musketeer Bismark (1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA8OYMwqkM8

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

How about a series today that everyone seems to love but me?  I've never been able to place my finger on it but I just can't get into Irresponsible Captain Tylor.  It also seems to be a show that runs pretty much every year in the Nostalgia Room at Fanime - and always happens to be running during a time in the middle of the day I want to sit down and watch some anime... so I always end up sitting though an episode or two... and still don't like it.  That all said, I still do really like the opening and ending themes and the OP is cut pretty uniquely.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (1993)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8W7eF49xv4

[InsaneDavid]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

After taking some time off from cosplay related things (other than posts here), I've finally begun getting back into them.  I've also been watching the series featured as today's old school anime OP, Future Police Urashiman - which is streaming on HiDive.  The series is a lot of fun, about a thief who is transported from 1983 to 2050 while evading the police.  The time slip causes him to lose his memory, and with few other options he joins a specialized mech police force to protect his new home of Neo Tokyo.  Super catchy theme song as well.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Future Police Urashiman (1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvf_Y_HTdls

[InsaneDavid]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

Crazy heat wave beginning in Fanime's backyard today and for the next few days.  For this week's OP how about a sadly very much forgotten OVA series?  801 T.T.S. Airbats is one of those quintessential 90's anime series, to me anyway, that you would always see at Suncoast or if your local video store had a good anime rental section.  This one is right up there with Devil Hunter Yohko in bringing back wonderful memories and instantly transporting me to the time in which I first saw it.  Only seven episodes long, it uses every moment to hit all the hallmarks and tropes of anime during the 90's boom.  An episode that revolves around an all-you-can-eat ramen contest at a newly opened shop is one of my favorite episodes of any anime series.  Additionally the final episode of Airbats is so sugary sweet and mature that you'd swear it was concluding a full 50 episode show.

Incredibly this series has been out of print for FIFTEEN YEARS!!  What gives?  Time for a re-release!  It's probably not even an expensive one to acquire the rights for!

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  801 T.T.S. Airbats / Aozora Shojotai (1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5stkSssFXnI

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

As fire crews battle massive wildfires across the state of California, I hope you are all safe and well.  For this week's old school OP I decided to go with something swanky and cool - and you can't get much more of those things than with Space Cobra.  An English subtitled release went out of print not to long ago but Discotek rescued it almost immediately and a Blu-ray release is on the way shortly.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Space Cobra (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt6XXfcdVY0

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Still moving along here, these weekly posts are really helping me not drift away from cosplay and give a routine cap to each workweek.  True to my word, I'm going to keep going with these every week.  This week's OP is a series with an interesting English release history and a pretty rocking opening theme.  Mospeada was reworked in the USA to be the third "generation" of Robotech, heavily reworking the series as was done previously with Southern Cross.  Taken on its own, I like Mospeada fine, however the subtitled DVD release is a total mess.  Rather than romanize the Japanese names, ADV and Harmony Gold modified them into odd half-localized versions.  About half of the main cast had their names mangled in the subtitles, due to bringing along baggage from the Robotech fan community of the time.  I believe all releases that followed used these subtitles - which is kind of a shame.  I waited so long to have this series in its native Japanese, dropped the $120 for the box set when it was announced, only to get subtitles on par with a bootleg release.  Mospeada deserved better.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Genesis Climber MOSPEADA (1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_xhAxuUvGE

[InsaneDavid]

Good late evening old schoolers!

With Labor Day just around the corner, the unofficial end of summer is upon us.  Kind of hard to believe, as this lost year of sorts continues to roll on.  Rather than an OP for tonight I'm going with an ED, from my favorite shojo series - looking forward to the possibility of a normal spring and summer next year.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Marmalade Boy (1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YzKdSGVuGA (ENDING 1)

[InsaneDavid]

Good late evening old schoolers!

Horribly smoky skies overhead here lately but very thankfully no threat of fire.  Going with another ED rather than an OP tonight, from Star Musketeer Bismark - a series I love.  I posted the OP a few weeks ago but the ending is equally as awesome.  Honestly, the ending feels like the prototype for a Sailor Moon ending credits sequence - total shojo vibes.  Remember, the entire series has been fansubbed by GANGO Fansubs and can be found at the usual places.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Star Musketeer Bismark (1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVKNA13C3yI (ENDING)

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Some clear skies here today finally, a welcome change - even if just for a bit.  Today's OP is more of a fun, end of Summer vibes type thing, from a series that while isn't great - is pretty entertaining for its devotion to fan service.  This is actually the second opening theme and I believe the fourth opening as they changed up a bit of the animation each time.  Either way, I like this opening song way more than the original OP.

I also want to once again emphasize that we intend to host this gathering whenever FanimeCon gatherings resume, even if that means FanimeCon retruns with modifications on Memorial Day Weekend in 2021, or at another time.  The future continues to be very uncertain but one thing that is certain is that the conventions are going to be out there again sometime eventually.  I will continue to post weekly OP's and updates every Friday until the gathering, whether it occurs on the optimistic date of Memorial Weekend 2021 or the longshot of sometime in 2022.  That's all simply unknown at this point but until it all comes back, I'm going to continue with these posts.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Aika / Agent Aika (1997)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1ay7HKlQd8

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Closing out September with this week's post, which is kind of hard to believe, but every day brings advances that will lead to us all getting together once more again at FanimeCon and other conventions.  Today's OP is a true classic, Gatchaman!  I really need to sit down and re-watch the series but it's a MASSIVE time sink to complete the continuing story of the first three series.  I do love this OP, especially the little nod to Mach GoGoGo (Speed Racer) that Tatsunoko apparently slipped in.

Celebrating An Era - 1970's!  Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxKcF4VE9s

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Sharing one of my favorite ending sequences today, the second from Dancouga.  The imagery, the instrumentation, and the lyrics aren't what one may expect from a series about a giant combiner robot.  Then again, Dancouga kind of does its own thing right from the start.  Even more interesting is that the ending sequence is all about the bad guy, Shapiro Keats, who betrays the Earth at the very beginning of the series.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Super Beast Machine God Dancouga (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4z6oVUtlJs (ENDING 2)

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Going with an OP I really like, of a series I love, featuring characters we frequently cosplay as.  City Hunter 2 is arguably the best series of all the City Hunter adaptations, it was also the longest running (63 episodes).  It takes the very well established characters and concepts of the first series and continues to expand upon them - both dramatically and comedically.  It's also still very welcoming to new viewers, where City Hunter 3 and City Hunter '91 were more focused on additional adventures for long-time fans, which makes sense since they were adapted from later manga chapters.  Episodes 49 and 50 are the peak of the entire franchise for me, with a very serious and adult story that not only delivers action and thrills for new fans but is also a massive payoff to those coming in over 100 episodes deep in the adventures of Ryo and Kaori.  Come on, we wouldn't be Mokkori Cosplay if we didn't love City Hunter.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  City Hunter 2 (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLWjBJMEMaU (OP2)