Why yes, a plot important item in this 1983 anime is just a newspaper article from the East German Socialist Unity Party newspaper "Neues Deutschland" on the 37th Conference of the COMECON, why do you ask?

...which funnily also implies that someone in the production team was fluent in German and read communist newspapers. Or that the production was at least partially outsourced to the GDR? Though that's less likely, considering the country was way less partial to collaboration with western capital than say Poland or Yugoslavia.

Also, the usage of natural light on the animation cell for lighting effects. Something that is both common in that era, and something I find appealing.

As for the show - it's fun. Basically a more down to earth Lupin III. It's also way less horny and problematic than City Hunter (the author's next manga, and a guilty pleasure of mine - the main character's behavior after the first 8 episodes or so to the very end of the anime there is very problematic, but the rest is mostly quite good imo.), which was a pleasant surprise considering it has female protagonists in a shounen manga from the early 80s.

  • BeamBrain [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Is there such a thing as boomer anime, I thought boomer knowledge of anime extended to "Those weird Japanese cartoons all the young'ns are into"

    • Gosplan14_the_Third [none/use name]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Absolutely there is

      Its a western, and especially America-centric view on the topic you used, but even then there's works that are likely to have been watched by older people that are Japanese animations.

      Speed Racer (1967), Voltron (1981 and 1982, since it's a clone of Beast King GoLion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV) for example

      In other western countries, such as Italy or to a lesser degree France, Japanese Animation was very popular, with basically every of the bigger series being available and things like the various super Robo shows of the 70s, Lupin III or Dragon Ball being household names on those countries even if people weren't aware of them being Anime. Here's the Italian opening of Urusei Yatsura for example, in it's wonderful VHS aesthetics

      And besides, I've used the term more broadly, simply referring to old Anime made before an arbitrary point of time of let's say 1995.