They're so articulate

At the recently concluded Summer 2011 Wonder Festival (or WonFes 2011S), CM's Corp* displayed 1/6-scale Classic DP figures, specifically the "TV version" (no release date or price was given).  What is unusual about these is that they have articulated joints, making them "poseable"!  The set will also apparently include a somewhat diminished Nammo (making this, I believe, unique) and a greatly reduced Mughi as companion figures.  The only other articulated figures ever made available (at least commercially) were the 6" pair, based on the comics version, designed by Eightball Studios back in 2003.  [Thanks to JDennis007 for giving me the heads-up on this.]

*these are so new, they're not even on the group's site page yet; you'll find them on their blog

If we then cast our minds back to the previous WonFes (Winter 2011), we find a different 1/6-scale Classic pair, these executed by "Chinnen-san" (and sorry, but I've only been able to locate the one tiny pic thus far).  They appear to be based on a promotional illustration that was made for the 1994 laserdisc box of the 26 "TV episodes" and the 10 OVA episodes (a poster image is shown here); the illustration was also printed on a banner (shown below), presumably available in one of the giveaway lotteries often held by the anime magazines.

...and I suppose we may forgive the anatomy here,

which makes the Angels around a dozen heads high.

At that same WonFes, FrameOut Models displayed a 1/220-scale model of the TV version of the Lovely Angel, 16 cm. (over 6") in length and having a 30 cm. (nearly one foot) wingspan.  (I will have to dig up the images I found of the roughly one-meter wingspan model of this ship that was presented at conventions several years back...)

A bit o' personal history

I won't say just how old I am, but one of the first animated series that captured my youthful attention was Rocky & Bullwinkle, the redoubtable moose-and-squirrel team of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota (little could I have suspected then that I'd ever end up living anywhere near there...).  In one of its story serials, the object of quest and contention is the Kerwood* Derby, which makes its wearer the smartest person in the world!

*or maybe it's "Kirward" (a play on the name of a then somewhat famous announcer, Durward Kirby) -- it gets pronounced either way...

What it was doing on Earth is part of a long, tangled story (as are all R&B tales), since it was originally fashioned by the court wizard, Kirward (or is it Kerwood?), to the former King of the Moon People, in order to boost the intelligence of his dim-bulb heir, Prince Nosmo (or is it Nozmo?).  During the time of the story, King Nosmo the One Hat, reigns over Luna, as the residents increasingly find themselves affected by events among those annoying creatures on that blue planet over there...  (Their frequent emissaries to Earth, who often meet up with R&B, are the pair Gidney and Cloyd.)

It might be mentioned that the "King Nosmo" gag (swap the words) goes back at least to the 1940s.  At the time (circa 1961), I thought they were saying "Nozmo" and adopted it as a psuedonym, which I continue to use at times to this day...  I was delighted to discover recently that the full origin episode of the Kerwood (or however it's spelled) Derby is available on Youtube.

King Nosmo of Luna,

sporting his (absolutely essential) crown, the Kirwood Derby

I am not the only person who liked this name -- you will find a band of some note called Nozmo King** who play, in their words, "jazzed-up, funkified groove rock".

** or maybe it's "Nosmo King":  you'll find them on searches under both spellings

More on the Origin Story

Recently, I turned up a comment at David Kelleher's excellent site on A. Bertram Chandler which helped me in possibly clarifying some details about how all this got started.

A(rthur) Bertram Chandler (1912-84) was a science-fiction author of some renown, who was born in England and emigrated to Australia in 1956.  His main line of work was in service as a merchant marine officer, during which time he crewed or commanded a number of ships of various sizes.

He wrote quite a number of short stories and novels, mostly during the '60s and '70s.  He is best known for his "Rim World" series and his numerous stories centered on his recurring protagonist, John Grimes, beginning with his career as a starship officer in the Galactic Federation Survey Service.  Chandler's writing was quite popular (in translation) in Japan.

At the Tokon VI convention at Nikkei Hall in the Otemachi district in Tokyo, during 14 - 15 August 1976, Chandler won the Seiun Award for Best Foreign Language Short Story for his "Wet Paint".  The convention chairman that year was one Takachiho Haruka, a co-founder of Studio Nue (in 1973) and soon to make a reputation for himself with his Crusher Joe light novels.

The next Japanese national science fiction convention, during 27 - 28 August 1977, was HinCon I in Yokohama, at which Chandler was the Guest of Honor.  Takachiho, not needing to act as chairman that year, would certainly have had some time to take the honored guest around to see the sights in the area.  So it seems most probably that this was the time during which he was brought to Studio Nue and thence to the women's pro-wrestling match, at which Chandler made the "Dirty Pair" remark that set into motion Takachiho's train of thought.

The timing fits with other events of the period.  The famous Beauty Pair, that the Nue contingent came to watch do battle, was at the height of their popularity.  Satou Naoko and Ueda Maki had begun as a team, won, lost, and regained their WWWA title during 1976 and had recently released the first of their musical recordings, "Frolicking Youth" (yes, they were singing wrestlers).  The team disbanded in February of 1979.

Another of the inspirations for the Lovely Angels was the idol duo, Pink Lady (Nemoto Mitsuyo ["Mie"] and Masuda Keiko ["Kei"]), who also began their performances in 1976 and were still rising toward their peak in 1978.  (I have included a photo of them in their costumes for the song "UFO".)

So it may be safe to say that we can pin down the "birth" of the Lovely Angels to a date around the end of August of 1977.  Their "Great Adventure" first appeared in print, in SF Magajin, eighteen months later.

Chandler continued to write and publish on into the last year of his life in 1984.  He was Professional Guest of Honor (writer) at the 40th World Science Fiction Convention, ChiCon IV, held in Chicago during 2 - 6 September of 1982.

cover of the program book,

by Professional Guest of Honor (artist),

(Frank) Kelly Freas,

with Commodore Chandler perched on the Galactic Rim

Lookit us -- we're icons!

Well, yes, the Lovely Angels has popped up in cameos in anime series all over the place, either as themselves, or with slight disguises (to say nothing of the numerous redhead-bluehead female character duos over the years).  So why not one more?  Here's a Japanese blog page noting some interesting costume selections available in Virtua Fighter 5 (go there for more pix!).

Cosplay Legends

"MasterLupin03" recently unearthed some of his videocassettes* and uploaded to Youtube a couple of sketches from the early days of anime conventions, featuring the fabulous Forrester Sisters**, Lauren (as Kei) and Leslie (as Yuri), and, on the same bill, Lisa "Honey-chan" Nelson (Kei) and Beth S. (Yuri), at the 1991 AnimeCon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-stqKZog6M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotUfZomEGM&feature=related

They also appeared in a segment of a 1993 Japanese TV show, apparently called Naruhodo The World.

*OK, I know some readers are gonna say, "Videocassettes?!  Oh yeah...  I heard o' those...  How old are you again?"

**not the contemporary performers: they're 'one-R' Foresters...

These are from the days when American anime fandom was becoming large enough to need to break away from their niche in science-fiction conventions and have their own gatherings (many of which are now easily as big as the biggest SF cons).  Translated video was still pretty hard to come by then, but DP could cross the metaphorical bridge across the Pacific, since the series wasn't heavy on dialog, had lots of action, and few storylines where details of plot hinged on subtleties of language.

That ease of transoceanic transition made it one of the series that American fans, starting in 1986, could pick up on easily.†  Many of those fans went on to found companies that brought over and translated more anime -- a process that soon underwent runaway growth.  It also led to DP continuing to be a perennial in anime catalogs for 25 years†† (thus far, as witness the blog entry below for 2 July...).

†Soon afterwards in Europe, DP was dubbed for French television (as Dan et Danny) in 1989 and into Italian (as Kate e Julie) in '92.

††if you start counting from listing of fans "duping" VHS tapes...  (yeah okay, I am old -- you gotta problem wi'that?)


Here's some pix -- the Forresters above, Beth and Honey-chan below them:

Manga Concludes

The Tamaki Hisao manga adaptation of Daatipea no Daibouken has concluded its run in Comic RYU with the July 2011 issue.  The second story, Inakamono Satsujin Jiken, had begun last 
November; the series started in the May 2010 issue.


There is a second compilation volume for the series which will be out on 13 July (I will post a scan of the wrap-around cover when I have the book in hand.) I believe there will be a 
third volume as well, in order to cover all the installments (each was typically 32 pages).


Update (15 July): The second story is covered completely in the second (fairly long, 
compared to most compilations) volume, which found its way to me very rapidly.


Update ( 2 August): It may be helpful to some folks viewing this entry, to judge from 
comments on other blogs, to give the ISBNs for the two volumes --


Volume 1: ISBN978-4-19-950206-4

Volume 2: ISBN978-4-19-950254-5

RightStuf announces some new acquisitions

Sorry to have been away for so long...

RightStuf announced at AnimeExpo 2011 yesterday that it has acquired:

the Classic OVA series;
Project E.D.E.N.  (which they plan to release with both the 1994 Streamline and 2003 ADV dub tracks!);  and
the Flash OVA series.

Specific dates have not been given, but the intention appears to be that all of these will be released in 2012...  (The full video of promotional announcements for all of the titles acquired is here .)

And the OTHER box will be out...

RightStuf has just recently announced the release date for the second disc box for the TV series:  1 February 2011!  This will include episodes 14 to 24 plus the two episodes originally published separately on cassette and laserdisc on 1 January 1987 as From Lovely Angels with Love.  


(It might be pointed out that they will not appear in those uniforms, however, as those were the later designs used in the OVA series and Flight 005 Conspiracy.  The Angels will be in action wearing these slightly more conservative outfits...)

Radio Lovely Angels

On my old blog (from 2006 - 07, R.I.P.), I reported on the FM Osaka radio series, Lovely Angel: Yuri & Kei, which was run in 26 weekly episodes during the last quarter of 2006, both in broadcast and Internet streaming modes.  The premise (as far as I've been able to make out from Japanese blogs), is that Kei and Yuri are singers from Japan who come individually to the U.S., meet each other, and decide to form a duo, Lovely Angel.  They travel across America on the transcontinental highway, Route 66*, and somehow end up assisting in some sort of investigation being undertaken by the FBI.  Each episode takes place in a city or town named in the lyrics of the much-covered song from 1946, "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66".

*presumably not much later than June 1985, when the highway was officially decommissioned (it was opened in 1926 -- the interstate highway before the Interstate Highway System was legislated in 1956); by the 1990s, many stretches on this nearly 2500-mile road were no longer being maintained

illustration by Gunboy 

♪ "It winds from Chicago to L.A. ..."  

Not long after I had to suspend my site activities, FM Osaka ran a second series in 12 weekly installments of two linked six-week stories, written by Takachiho Haruka (the Lovely Angel series was not).  The series was called Daatipea91: Kunoichi**, which placed Yuri and Kei as eighteen-year-old ninjas-in-training in the Japan of 1791, where they become entangled in a political intrigue of the period, as well as a major culinary event in Nagoya, which included a visit from the French epicure and gourmet Brillat-Savarin***.

This series first ran in broadcast and streaming during the last quarter of 2007, and was repeated during the spring of 2009.

**a sort of double play-on-words:  91 MHz is the station frequency for FM Osaka, and the words ku and ichi are the numbers 'nine' and 'one' (the word kunoichi [a female ninja] is itself a kind of pun, in that three kanji and kana characters pronounced ku, no, and ichi comprise the three strokes for writing the character for 'woman')

***while he had departed France around this time of the post-Revolutionary turmoil, visiting Holland and the fledgling United States, it doesn't appear that he actually made it to Japan...  [Nagoya, incidentally, is Takachiho's hometown.]

illustration by Rulia046
(who also did the art for the DPF print novels)

Both series were voice-acted by Horie Yui† (Yuri) and Minagawa Junko (Kei), both of whom have extensive credentials in anime and elsewhere.  Takachiho had a hand in selecting them in auditions for their roles.

†Horie-san wanted to become a voice actor in part from being a fan of the 1985 DP television series.

Takachiho Haruka with Horie and Minagawa in 2006

Great Adventures, Volume 1

While the Daatipea no Daibouken manga series, written by Takachiho Haruka and drawn by Tamaki Hisao, continues to run in Comic Ryu (December 2010 issue out on the 19th), the first compilation volume was released on 13 October and is widely available online.  Shown above is Tamaki-sensei's cover.

Interview with the Author

As part of its run-up to the 2 November release of the 1985 TV series on DVD, Rightstuf.com is running an interview with Takachiho Haruka (conducted with the assistance of Hagino Akana at Sunrise International).  It is to be run in four parts, with Part I having been posted on 6 October, Part II to be added on the 20th, and the balance in November.  (Part I also appears in Rightstuf's Fall catalog, which I just received today.)  Just click on the yellow tab on the Rightstuf page I've linked.

[Photo, from 2006, taken from Takachiho's page at the Science Fiction Writers of Japan site]

I Hear The Angels Speaking

All right, maybe you'd rather have somebody else read the story to you.  Mike Dent, of OtakuUSA magazine, is happy to oblige. He's put together a roughly 20-minute pilot segment for an audiobook version of Daatipea no Daibouken.

At Anime3000, you can hear an interview with him on their Bonus Round podcast program, as well as the dramatization of a portion of the very first print story, with voice actors performing as Kei (our narrator), Yuri, and a couple of the other characters.  Visit, listen, comment:  if the project is favorably received, there may be more of it!

Historical note --  The stories in the first book, from 1980, had been adapted for audio before, in Japanese in 1990 and 1991, released on cassettes by Asahi Sonorama.  These were performed as full audio productions with voice actors and sound effects -- like a "drama CD" before there were CDs!  Taking up once again their roles in the 1980s anime productions, Yuri was performed by Shimazu Saeko and Kei by Tonguu Kyoko.

Great Manga Adventure of the Dirty Pair

Comic Ryu has been running a manga adaptation of the first DP print story, Daatipea no Daibouken, starting in their May 2010 issue (which was released 19 March).  The story is being handled by Takachiho Haruka himself, and the art by Tamaki Hisao (probably best known in the U.S. for his manga version of Star Wars: A New Hope, the English translation of which was published by Dark Horse*)

*He has been quite active since that time, but not much of his work has been seen in North America

Here's their first appearance in the opening installment, arriving to break up a little party being held by the interstellar crime syndicate, Lucifer.  The sort of stage-set introduction refers back to the Lovely Angels' origins in both the famous wrestling (and singing!) team, the Beauty Pair, as well as female singing duos such as Pink Lady, all from the 1970s. (And I see that they've brought their instruments...)


As one of my correspondents, Tomzer1, points out, their character design draws on something from all of the preceding versions of the Angels, along with Tamaki's own contributions.

The original first story has already concluded, but the series is still underway (with the November issue of Comic Ryu having come out Saturday, 9/18).  From what I can find on Japanese blogs about it, there has been a segue into some other situation.  I'll be able to say more about that when I get my copies of the most recent issues.  (I will also select some pages from the series for posting, once I have the new scanner later this month.)




Historical note -- This is not the first time there has been a DP manga.  However, there had never been anything done as a sanctioned series during the run of the 1980s anime ("Classic") version, with the peculiar exception of an adaptation of the fourth TV episode which ran in a 1985 issue of a Thai fan magazine (which I will also scan eventually).  There were also two series of DP Flash manga (by two different artists) which ran in Dengeki Comic Gao! during 1995-96.

Lovely Angels in Cimmeria

While I wait another couple weeks to get a new scanner, we'll look at what's been doing with DP since I was last able to work on the site in spring 2007.  Takachiho-sensei published the first two-volume Dirty Pair novel (there had been one Crusher Joe two-parter back in 1989-90), with acknowledged influence by American author Robert E. Howard.  

The premise is that there are some sort of shady goings-on in a planetary theme-park, involving the interstellar crime syndicate, Lucifer.  The park hosts what is essentially a massive multiplayer role-playing game, based in swords-and-sorcery.  So Kei takes up a sword, Yuri becomes a magic-user, and they must infiltrate the "game" to get to the bottom of whatever it is that is underway and take whatever measures are needed to stop it.

The first part, Daatipea no Daiseifuku <The Dirty Pair's Great Conquest>, appeared in trade paperback on 30 April 2006 (at left below) [which I'd already noted in my old, now deceased blog] and was reissued in regular format on 23 April 2008 (at right below).

  

The story concludes in Daatipea no Daiteikoku <The Dirty Pair's Great Empire>, released in trade paperback on 24 October 2007 (left below), then reissued in standard size on 19 March of this year (right below).

   

The covers, color frontispieces, and black-and-white interior illustrations are, as always, provided by Yasuhiko Yoshikazu.  (I  will post more of his work from these books on my site once I can scan them.)

That's it! I'm moving the blog!

I have some good news at last -- I have finally been able to get the new computer I've had to put off for three to four years!  (It's horribly expensive to be ill in this country, but it isn't exactly cheap to find out you aren't, to stay that way, or to stay insured…)  So I am now using a machine with literally a dozen times the processor speed of the one I'm leaving behind, with as much RAM as the old one had hard-drive capacity, and some very nice new software.  (Of course, I'll be a while learning how to use it…)  But it looks like I'll be able to return to work on updating and revamping my site.

As if to help burn the bridge behind me, the update I was given to make to my (former) site blog promptly severed the connection to its database.  I was tired of dealing with its cumbersome editor anyway (especially when I wanted to insert a pic), so it was plainly time to start a new blog (and the last entry in the old one was made in 2007, so it's just as well).

I will have a new, compatible scanner later this month and should be able to begin making updates without having to use (stealthily) my computer at work.  So here's hoping for better days ahead!