OWARI, Elsewhere: The Blogs

I've been fiddling with the blog sidebar again, and I think I have it the way I want it (for now). As I audited my links, it occurred to me that I have a number of sites in the old repertoire that I don't link anymore. Many of them are defunct but still online. In this series, I'll give you links to other places you could once find me on the internet.

Part I: The Blogs

Still Active

* Continued Next Week! (2012-    )

Retired

* Captain Satellite's Fun Fun Central (2003-2010)
* Earth B (2006)
* Not Christopher Elam's OWARI (2012)¹
* Pictures of Naomi Morinaga (2012-2014)²

Deleted

* OWARI Tumblr Annex (christopherelam.tumblr.com) was my original personal Tumblr founded in January 2012, but it fell early victim to my issues with that site. It was finally deleted later that year. I re-registered the url as a placeholder but deleted it for good a couple of months ago.

* At various points, I have had blogs on the following services before deleting them: Journalfen, Myspace, GreatestJournal (site closed), Yahoo 360 (site closed), and possibly others. Additionally, I had an RP account on GreatestJournal, an alternate parody account on LiveJournal and a couple of "secret" blogs on LJ. All of that is scattered to the four winds now. Except for El Beardo.

* There was at one time a "returnofjetman" community on LiveJournal, too. I am fuzzy on both when it was founded (2004?) and when it was deleted (no idea anymore).

Other

* Begun in 2009 and then largely forgotten, there is a syndicated LiveJournal feed for this blog. It is still dutifully picking up posts even though I don't think anyone follows it except my old account.




Endnotes

¹(Placeholder blog to prevent spammers from claiming the celamowari.blogspot.com url again.)

²An earlier version of this blog existed at the same url from 2011-2012 but was deleted.

Naomi Morinaga Makes A Comeback!

I'd like to think this will put an end once and for all to all the searches about her being dead.

It was birthday boy Igadevil (hope it was a great one!) who broke the news to me on Twitter: Naomi Morinaga is making a comeback in Toei's new V-Cinema Space Sheriff projects! Yes, "Annie" will be returning and also returning will be Den Iga, the original Sharivan. This means we're getting both Naomi Morinaga and Hiroshi Watari, her co-star on the series SPIELBAN.

This is very exciting news for me, and probably for a lot of people who wind up on this blog. If you'd like to keep updated, Toei has uchukeiji.com for that purpose. There are also links to Twitter and Facebook pages for the project. You bet I'm following both of them!

Happy Birthday, Naomi Morinaga!

Brief post today, but I want to acknowledge the birthday of the one and only Naomi Morinaga! Yes, the Japanese actress who causes more people to end up at OWARI than any other subject celebrates a birthday on March 12. According to the Japanese Wikipedia*, she was born in 1964. Yep, that makes her 50 today! Wow, that is...a sobering thought.

I hope Naomi is having a happy birthday wherever she is in her post-fame life. I don't know of an official or even unofficial site for her, other than my own Pictures of Naomi Morinaga. I hope that will suffice.



*I qualify this because the English Wikipedia gives 1965. I am going to trust the Japanese source here.

Good Blogkeeping

Let's go through this via bullet points, shall we?

• Continued Next Week! recently passed a milestone - 100 followers! Especially surprising is that this was at least partially due to a photo of Jane Adams I posted over a year ago. Still, I am happy people seem to enjoy this little side project of mine. Not bad when you consider I almost closed it twice.
  
  
• Rene Bond Tribute on Facebook has almost made it to 100 Likes! I find this particularly gratifying, since I was questioning even continuing it a month ago. There have been some potentially exciting developments happen since then. My hope is that they will eventually lead to my goal - a better picture of who Rene Bond was as a human being.
  
  
• On the other side of the coin, Pictures of Naomi Morinaga has been throttling down a little bit. I never get much feedback on this, but surely someone is visiting it. I've just gone through a couple of image folders there, and don't have as much ambition for it right now. Whether that will return is something I don't wanna guess. However, it WILL be sticking around.
  
  
• I am slowly working my way through the archives here, tagging entries better and fixing some formatting issues that have cropped up on some old posts. I'm only at the end of 2010 right now, so this is not a project that is going to be finished anytime soon. A similar project is occurring on my Tumblr, though that might -- MIGHT -- get done sooner.
  
  
• I have one more blog post sitting in the queue that needs to be finished and posted. Other than that, I am planning on taking the rest of this month off here. I need to recharge the old batteries, and I have at least one (*GASP*) deadline that I need to meet. Barring unforeseen circumstances, of course (and they always seem to come up), it's time for a mini-vacation from blogging.
  

New Robot Keiji!

In a link courtesy of August Ragone, we learn that a NEW manga of Shotaro Ishinomori's ROBOT KEIJI is coming in 2014. It's an amazing promotional video, and while I don't know if I will be following the comic, I salute whoever put together this video!

$20 Pin-Ups: Sydney

$20 Pin-Ups: Sydney by =KabukiKatze on deviantART

I told you I'd tell you when this piece went live on deviantArt, and today is the day! Be sure to click on the embedded image above to travel to the magical land of dA and leave feedback for Kabuki on this!

Thanks again, KK, for such an exemplary job! And I am pleased to report that Sydney LOVES it!

My Dreams Will Dance!

Let's talk about this picture, shall we?

As you might recall, I befriended a young lady named Sydney Corcoran earlier this year. Sydney was severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombing, and of course, that's how I ended up "finding" her online. But that horrific experience does not and should not define who she is as a person. There is more to her and her life than just what happened to her - even if that is hard for people to remember sometimes.

Sydney has really struck me as a strong and resilient young woman. But that doesn't mean it's easy. She is, after all, 18 years old, and that can be trying even without the extra burdens placed on her. The last couple of weeks have been particularly challenging in a way that they never should have been in the first place. But that's another story.

Concurrent with recent events, my good friend Kayleigh Lebak (aka Kabuki Katze) was running a special on pin-up ladies on her deviantArt page. (This special still has a couple of days if you'd like in on it!) Kayleigh had previously crafted this Beauty and the Beast card for me as a gift to Sydney. One night, the wheels started turning in my head, and I went to Kayleigh with my idea.

The idea was simple: a pin-up of Sydney, glamorous and powerful and free. She is not untouched by all that has happened to her, but she is unbowed by it. The reference was photo of the lady herself taken this summer. So yes, this is absolutely Sydney Triumphant.

The text for this piece is derived from the English translation of Rica Matsumoto's "Alive A life" (actual title), the theme song to the Japanese superhero series KAMEN RIDER RYUKI. These words in particular really strike a chord for me with regards to Sydney, especially since she is a dancer. They fit the pose perfectly, and have the odd sort of poetry you can only get via non-native English.

The point of this picture is to highlight Sydney's inner and outer beauty. Sydney is a gorgeous woman (even if she doesn't always think so), and her scars don't change that. If anything, they call attention to the person inside who has survived so much already in her short life. She is extraordinary, and I am proud to call her my friend.

Sydney is an individual, and it's important to not forget that simple fact. Her healing process is an ongoing one, and isn't just all of a sudden magically finished. Some days are a struggle. But with her indomitable will (or is that stubbornness?), I have no doubt she will emerge victorious. And her dreams will dance.

This one's for you, Syd.

(Special thanks to Kayleigh for her amazing talent in creating this picture and for giving me permission to post it early. Watch this blog for news of it going live on her dA account!)

"GUOOO!"

Sometimes, you just have to post a pic of Mazinger Z.

Scanned from Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik L. Schodt.

"Giant Robot, Use Your Galaxy Gear!"

OK, here are both commercials as featured on the Samsung Mobile USA Youtube channel. The "A Long Time Coming" one is particularly entertaining, since it opens with footage from JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT! There's also footage from such shows as GET SMART!, THUNDERBIRDS, and (as promised) MARINE BOY.

Samsung Galaxy Gear Commercial

I saw this commercial during the NFL games this afternoon. Wow, it really got my attention! I mean, I wasn't expecting to see both Power Rangers and Johnny Sokko! But even if those shows aren't your cup of tea, there are others that may just push your nostalgia buttons.

There is another, longer commercial with more clips and more shows (including Marine Boy!). This is all I found online right now, and I can't guarantee this particular upload will last. I'll probably be revisiting this subject in the near future.

So very cool.

Kamen Rider Is Real!

I saw this story earlier tonight, and found it so utterly charming that I thought people would enjoy it. Heartwarming and cool all at the same time.

If the MSN link expires, you can see the pictures (and read the English text) at Vintage Henshin, originally posted by Purplevalkyrie.

Jetman Micro Heroes

Aaaaaand we're back (finally) with that promised "Return of Jetman" update.

We all love micro heroes, amirite? Today we've got some courtesy of Stephen Shuey. Be sure to click on that pic to see the full-size version!

Two Tumblrs, No Waiting

I don't think I ever uploaded this promotional graphic here after I made it in October, so here it is as I promote these two side projects of mine. Details? Oh sure!


Pictures of Naomi Morinaga is an image blog dedicated to the Japanese actress and stuntwoman best known for appearing as “Annie" in the SF superhero TV series Space Sheriff Shaider. However, Morinaga’s career was far more than just Annie, and this blog attempts to cover the full range of her résumé. It even ventures into her forays in nude modeling, and thus is NSFW (though tastefully so).

This blog is one that I would recommend to people interested in Japanese superheroes of any type, super heroines of any nationality, and/or fans of beautiful women.


Continued Next Week! is an image blog run by yours truly dedicated to movie serials. There is a slightly greater emphasis placed on science-fiction and superheroes, as that is the primary direction of my interests. However, I have tried to spotlight all kinds of serials - including silents and non-U.S. chapter plays. I also focus on those performers who appeared in the cliffhangers of yore.

I would recommend this blog to anyone interested in the above subjects or to anyone who would like to see posts on vintage film. Heck, just the aesthetics of these photos might be worth a glance!

Xenorama #15

Oh hello, what's this? Why yes indeed, David McRobie's XENORAMA #15 is ready for ordering! And just peep out that list of contents! I'm sure you are already sufficiently intrigued to order it, but yeah...I'm in there, too! What am I covering? Oh, comic books, sentai, music...the usual!

Ordering can be done from David's blog page, but if clicking too many links is hard work, I've also included one here. Who loves ya, baby? OWARI does, that's who.

(If you're wondering why I tagged the always-wonderful Kabuki in this entry, this entry should supply the answer.)

Hakaider: "If You Are Justice, Then I Am Evil!"

I was chatting last night with Sean Moore, and before our talk was truncated due to bad weather and spotty Internet on my side of things, we discussed MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAKAIDER. Sean hadn't realized that HAKAIDER was not only a theatrical release, but also the anchor of the third (and final) "Toei Super Hero Fair" kiddie matinee show in 1995. Of course, one reason for that is that the "Director's Cut" has largely superseded the original edit, which was under an hour like both KAMEN RIDER ZO and KAMEN RIDER J (the centerpiece films of the earlier Super Hero Fairs). There's also the little fact that HAKAIDER is wildly inappropriate as a film aimed at children.

Seriously, what was everyone thinking here? Well, I know what I was thinking, as I was all of 22 years old when HAKAIDER came out - "Cool! This looks awesome!" And yes, HAKAIDER is pretty cool and awesome. But c'mon, it's also downbeat as heck, especially for a crowd of kiddos that had just sat through preliminaries of OHRANGER and B-FIGHTER as a warm-up. HAKAIDER is dark in tone and it's just a dark LOOKING film. I think Keita Amemiya is supremely talented, but I also think HAKAIDER was a case of miscalculating an audience. I would be totally unsurprised if it killed off the Toei Super Hero Fair entirely.

(As a side note, I remember Roy Ware mentioning to me once back when this was all contemporary that there were rumors of an updated HENSHIN NINJA ARASHI for the 1996 Toei Super Hero Fair that never happened. Was this ever anything more than just a rumor? Did it get to any kind of design stage? I'd personally love to see Amemiya's sketches for a mid-90s Arashi.)

Artistically, HAKAIDER has endured and even thrived in a manner its more kid-friendly predecessors ZO and J have not. Which isn't to say that any of the trio fails, but HAKAIDER got much more of a release outside of Japan. Amemiya was a hot property, and HAKAIDER fits in well with the rest of his filmography and doesn't involve the all-important "Kamen Rider" name. HAKAIDER got more than one release as a standalone entity, while ZO got incorporated into Saban's MASKED RIDER. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which of the two will be better remembered in the States as a result.

(Yes, I know there was also a ZO game. I believe it was mentioned in the very first letter I ever received from Lewis Smith!)

One of my personal favorite aspects of HAKAIDER is the tagline. This may seem weird, especially since I didn't even know as much Japanese in 1995 as I do today (and I'm no master linguist now). Yet, it was not only stirring, but the translation was so perfect that both Lewis and I decided we should rip it...er, "homage" it in Return of Jetman. I am working from the Japanese Wikipedia here, so excuse me if I get this slightly wrong. But the tagline was:

「貴様が正義なら、俺は・・・悪だ!!!」

Literally, this is "Kisama ga Seigi nara, ore wa...Aku da!!!" The translation I have seen (and love) is the one in the title of this entry: "If you are Justice, then I am...Evil!!!" Really, that sums up the movie's viewpoint very nicely.

I stumbled across something interesting last night while reading about HAKAIDER, and it's the main reason I was motivated to write about it. Now, it's well-known among tokusatsu fans that there are often layers of meaning that casual viewers might never catch. Like, for example, the fact that Space Sheriff Gavan is named for French actor Jean Gabin. Well, you can thank Google Translate for pointing out an obscure example of this to me in HAKAIDER.

If you've watched HAKAIDER, rife with its symbolism, you could probably guess that the character of "Michael" is named for the archangel Michael. That doesn't change even if you prefer the HAKAIDER character's name to be "Mikhail". The katakana is ミカエル, so whatever makes you happy. The part I hadn't realized was that his boss in the movie is named for a real person.

The Wikipedia entry for MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAKAIDER gives this character's name as Gurjev. I will assume this comes from a translated version of the film. But I noticed something in reading the translated Japanese page - it spelled his name グルジェフ as "Gurdjieff." This seemed oddly specific to just be a flaw, and it rang a bell for me anyway. As it should have - it's based on the name of George Gurdjieff. I don't know if Amemiya or screenwriter Toshiki Inoue is responsible for this, but it's a nice touch.

Oh, and for the record, I just noticed someone mentioned this on the MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAKAIDER Wikipedia talk page back in November. Unsurprisingly, nothing has been done with this information.

Super Hero Time!

Spider-Man and Battle Fever J are joined by Doraemon, Kamen Rider Stronger, Ultraman Jonias (“The Ultraman”) and Kamen Rider V3 for Superhero Time at Korakuen Amusement Park, circa 1979.

(via Mondegreenery)

That's the way the post I submitted to the Marvel Age of Comics Tumblr was supposed to look. I didn't realize that HTML was not enabled on the submission screen. When Tom Brevoort published my submission, I am pretty sure I looked like this.

I am grateful to Tom for publishing my submission, and hopefully this entry will make up to Caleb Goellner (the person from whom I got the pic) for botching his link. Meanwhile, why don't you peep out this post of Popy action figures from Will McKenzie? I am pretty sure those are also from 1979, due to the presence of Battle Fever J, Ultraman Joe, and (most tellingly) Eagle Ken. Why do I mention Ken? Because he's branded as being from GATCHAMAN II!

Too bad we couldn't get a Miss America to fill out the Battle Fever J team. Or more Ultras, Riders, and Gatchaman, for that matter.

It's Magic!

I'm sorry to all of you trying out there, but the greatest superhero song possible already exists.

My Favorite Moment From KIKAIDA

Please be advised that this entry contains SPOILERS for the final story arc of the series JINZO NINGEN KIKAIDA. If you haven't seen it and have plans to watch it, tread carefully if you want to be surprised!

The screenshot from KIKAIDA episode 40 that leads off this post up top is rather inauspicious-looking. Yet, it is from what I call my favorite moment of the whole series. Why? Well, we'll get into that.

By the time Episode 40 rolls around, KIKAIDA (the show) is well into its justly-famous climactic storyline with Hakaida. And let's just say things look pretty bad for our hero Jiro by this point. It's all too involved for me to go into detail, but he not only has to contend with Hakaida and the rest of the forces of DARK, but also the police as well. They think he murdered his creator Dr. Komyoji, and they aren't the only ones. Masaru, Komyoji's young son, is convinced by the overwhelming evidence that Jiro has malfunctioned and gone rogue.

It's a frame-up, of course. But Saburo (Hakaida's alter ego) takes full advantage of Masaru's disillusionment with his hero. He enlists Masaru in his effort to destroy Jiro/Kikaida in Episode 39 by giving the kid the "Death Whistle." The Death Whistle has two functions - 1) it can immobilize any machine (including Kikaida) and 2) it's a whistle (dur) that will summon Saburo. With Masaru believing in Jiro's guilt and wielding such a device, the future looks pretty bleak for our hero.

But then, Masaru unwittingly loses the whistle. Jiro ends up with it and he GIVES IT BACK TO MASARU. It subsequently changes hands during the course of the action, but by the time this screenshot occurs, Jiro is returning it to Masaru.

As Jiro backs away, the words he spoke the first time he handed it to Masaru are heard again.

"Masaru...I don't want to go on living without your trust."

Masaru looks at Jiro and he considers using the Death Whistle. Finally, he realizes the truth - that Jiro is innocent - and throws down the device. He runs to Jiro and embraces him with tears in his eyes.

It's not as if things get easier for Kikaida immediately after this episode, but this one moment always gets to me. For while I love the action, the color, the imagination, and the outrageousness of Japanese superheroes, the part that makes them truly special is their heart. Not every series manages it, but many of them rise above their humble kid's show origins and become both surprisingly sophisticated and touchingly human.

Jiro isn't human - he's an android, and we are never allowed to forget that for very long. But in many ways, that very lack of humanity makes him an even more poignant figure. And his simple assertion to Masaru is a profound sentiment indeed. Would you find that in a Western kid's superhero show? Maybe today, but certainly not in the early 1970s.

KIKAIDA is one of the best superhero shows ever made. I hope, in some small way, I've given you just one example why. You can learn more about it (and even buy it!) from the fine folks at Generation Kikaida.

Change! Tokusatsu Gals!

Today marks the finale of our friend Kabuki Katze's "Tokusatsu Gals" wallpaper series. However, she is going out with a bang! Yes, it's the one character in the series that I kinda lobbied for as an interesting milestone in the annals of tokusatsu. I don't know if I talked her into it or not, but Kabu chose to wrap things up with a wallpaper pack of Bijinda from KIKAIDA 01. Yes, that android anti-heroine is the last installment in this great series!

Kabu also has news on what her next wallpaper series will be. Now, I don't think I'm going to promote all of them each and every week, but know that KK's work comes with the highest possible endorsement from your pal at OWARI HQ. You would do well to bookmark her site and check it often. It's merely magnificent!

But Who *Is* Gekko Kamen?

I recently rediscovered my link to this character chart for GEKKO KAMEN ("Moonlight Mask"), one of the earliest truly successful Japanese TV superheroes. He was so successful, in fact, that he spawned a series of movies from Toei that were released simultaneous with the show. Gekko Kamen is not quite as famous today as Ultraman or Kamen Rider, but he was one of the pioneers that paved the way for them.