(Japan, 2000, imdb: Tekkôki Mikazuki)If you like the look of the new Japanese short NEGADON, seek out the very similarly themed live-action mini-series GIANT ROBO MIKAZUKI. This came out in 2000 and I heard it was Japan's most expensive TV series!
Based on an old anime GIANT ROBO, this sublime six hour mixture of suit action and CGI, pits a mysterious giant robot against floating bell-shaped monsters, demons and watermelon lizards!. All mixed in with a powersuited action team (with pull-string activation), a cyber-defence HQ, crappy government giant robots (designed like 1950's clockwork robots) and more... all marvellous tongue-in-cheek fun. Mightily powerful fight scenes, fun characters, and a highly successful depiction of what havoc a giant robot might actually wreak by simply taking a walk!
Why this isn't out in the west is beyond me. Dare I say, it's more fun than many recent Godzilla films. There, I said it, I'm not proud of myself, but it's true.
There was a 2 DVD Hong Kong boxset of MIKAZUKI (front cover pictured) with really, really bad english subtitles and botched letterboxing on the awesome, awesome first episode. But it's a lot of telly, a lot of fun, and the Hong Kong set is really cheap. The huge Japanese DVD boxset looks 100 times better, but there aren't any subtitles...
Even the soundtrack's good!
This is the first I've heard of this show, and I'm desperate to see it! The Giant Robo anime is one of my favorites, and I've recently become embroiled in Japanese tokusatsu movies and tv series, mainly from the '60s and '70s...
ReplyDeleteMy usual sites (DDDhouse, HKflix, Yesasia) are of no help in locating this series--and the little "A" in the lower left of the cover looks suspiciously similar to the logo of a company that put out lots of bootleg anime early in this decade. Are you certain there has been an official Japanese &/or Hong Kong release of this title? And if you have any information that might point me toward my own copy, I'd very much appreciate it!
Thanks for the review and for maintaining your site,
-Jesse S.
Without the single page article in G-Fan (Godzilla fans) magazine I would never have found this either.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right - that the HK set was a bootleg (the awful subtitles, varying aspect ratios) - but their packaging is so good!
But there definitely was an official Japanese DVD release -quite a large boxset, with an episode per DVD, plus a small hardback book of design illustrations. But agian, no English subtitles.
There were also a variety of action figures and candy toys as well, plus the brilliant soundtrack (with a bonus PS2 game CD).
Let me know if you find any books/guides though.
Hello Mark, very kind of you to reply to my comment. Still no luck on finding an English-subbed set, but I found a couple of expensive books on ebay (U.S.); auction titles are:
ReplyDelete"MIKAZUKI VISUAL BOOK #1-#2 KEITA AMEMIYA" and
"TEKKOUKI MIKAZUKI VISUAL GUIDE BOOK" (cheaper but just book #1 it looks like)
Thanks again for bringing this show to my attention!
-Jesse S.
Thanks for the book tip-off!
ReplyDelete