GearsBlog

John Funk has written an interesting piece at The Escapist on mecha in contemporary Japanese culture. It’s worth a read but, as mine did, your mileage may vary. Among other things, the article claims that the Japanese love Gundam more than any other mecha series. I think it’s the author’s own love of Gundam and the fact that Gundam has a larger commercial entity behind it than any other mecha series that is leading this observation. Still, the article has some interesting facts and is well worth your time to read.

Netflix has been good to me this week and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) showed up in the mail. This is a great movie and gets a hearty “thumbs up” from me. Great special effects, lots of action and Godzilla is well represented. Read more…

Well, Gundam fans, it’s out. The latest edition of the Mobile Suit Encyclopedia. This time it’s called Mobile Suite Illustrated 2009. This is at least the 6th edition. The earliest edition I have is the Mobile Suit Encyclopedia which appears to have been published in 1989 and claimed to have 370 mobile suits. After that came the Mobile Suit Encyclopedia Ver. 3.0 (1992) which claimed 559 mobile suits. 1998, 2003 and 2006 saw new editions. Read more…

I just received my copy of a new Dougram art book called Fang of the Sun Dougram the Comprehensive. In recent years publishers in Japan have been putting out large, comprehensive art books for many 80’s anime series. I’m glad Dougram finally got its turn. In the past I’ve gone looking for Dougram art books but met with little success. Read more…

Mark Simmons interviews Yoshiyuki Tomino at Anime News Network.

In my quest to watch every Godzilla movie I have just finished Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002). It was very good. The movie focused on the action, avoided excess preaching and provided an ending that wrapped things up nicely without upsetting long-time Godzilla fans.  I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a monster movie. Read more…