I was having a conversation about anime with my brother Alan the other day and he mentioned a series called Bleach, to which I replied, “What’s that?”

“You’ve never heard of Bleach?!” came the incredulous reply.

“Dude, you’ve never heard of Mazinger Z or Candy Candy or Yamato, right?” I asked.

So, yeah, I’ve tried to keep up with stuff, but usually it’s because they break into the cultural mainstram (like Pokemon or Sailor Moon). However, when you get right down to it, the anime I remember and adore belongs to the 70s and 80s. Almost all anime shows back then were dubbed into English, but the opening and closing credits were typically left in their native Japanese. So here’s a little trip down memory lane, and if I can find the opening and closing credits I’ll include those, too, so you can really experience the nostalgia.

First off, the boy-centric anime of robots, space sagas, and heroes with big pointy helmets and gleaming white spandex suits.

Let’s consider the space sagas, and first and foremost, the best space saga of them all:

Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers
Opening Credits Video (Star Blazers)
Hurry, Star Force! The Earth has only 200 days left!
This epic story came to the Philippines as an American dub called Star Blazers. Very little was changed, except references to the Yamato as a World War II battleship were removed and the ship was renamed Argo, after Jason and the Argonauts (a flashback of American fighters sinking the Yamato was also edited out, but my Japanese DVD copy gave me a view of it years later — for those who want to see, this is the Japanese opening, something I never saw as a kid). This show can, without a doubt, be considered one of the most influential shows in Japanese anime. Never mind that, though. This was the show I’d run home to watch. Will the Star Force make it? Will Wildstar and Nova get together? Will they fire the Wave Motion Gun in this episode? Do the Black Tigers get to launch? Why does Sandor have bombs for arms and legs!?

Galaxy Express 999
Movie – Engish Dub, Opening Credits Video
This one I remember was a movie. I don’t think I ever saw the TV show (Sun, however, does remember the TV show). This and Captain Harlock, both were in theaters or on video — but I definitely remember Galaxy Express, and the story of a boy who wants a robot body.

All three of these shows, by the way, are by the same guy, Leiji Matsumoto.

Now about those robots….

Voltes V
Opening Credits Video, Let’s Volt In! Video, Closing Credits Video
If there is one giant robot cherished above all others, the Filipinos would all say that would be Voltes V. You can read all about it on that Wikipedia link where Marcos bans giant robot cartoons on TV and video games and arcades, citing the negative effects of violence (ah, the Grand Theft Auto of my Filipino generation — it is to laugh). Politics aside, this was THE show to watch, and kids everywhere would sing the theme song as best they could, considering no one knew what the theme song lyrics meant, and we were making them up anyway as best as we phonetically knew how (the last lyric, “mo mou chikai” was a favorite among me and my cousins as we would sing it as “mongo shit tae”; kids love toilet humor). Voltes V was cool, he was amazing, he was awesome. He had a dizzying arsenal of cannons, bazookas, lasers, and missiles; he even sported a pair of spiky tops and a couple of whips (ultraelectromagnetic tops, mind you). But nothing could compare to that one weapon every kid would wait for Voltes to pull off his chest in the inevitable final battle against another robot monster: the laser sword (I told you, we watched it in English — apparently it’s called the tenkuken or lightning sword in Japanese, which makes more sense, I grant you, than calling it a “laser” sword when it damn well looked like a metal one with lightning energizing it). Most kids in America would recall a similar type of robot: Voltron. Instead of five ships it’s five lions, but other than that? Pretty much the same formula. But man, Voltes would kick Voltron’s ass!

Mazinger Z
Opening Credits Video
The indestructible robot that rises out of a pool. The high-flying Koji Kabuto in his hovercraft Pilder mating to the head of that robot, the eyes glowing as the machine comes to life. Mazinger Z, with rocket punches and breast fire, is a basic giant robot and while he’s not as popular as Voltes V in the Philippines he damn well is one of the most popular in the world (America knows him as Tranzor Z). And no kid can ever forgot the Aphrodite A robot with the boob missiles. Come on! BOOB MISSILES.

UFO Grendizer
Opening Credits Video
I’ll admit, I barely remember this except that the robot flew as part of a giant saucer and his primary weapon was a staff with half-moon sickles on either end (that’s just badass).

There are others, like Getter Robo, Danguard Ace and Daimos, but really, those are the top three I recall as a child: Voltes V, Mazinger Z, and UFO Grendizer.

And here we have white spandex suits sans robots:

Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman
Battle of the Planets Opening Credits Video, Gatchaman Opening Credits Video
I cannot remember if I watched this as Gatchaman or as Battle of the Planets (American dub) — I’m leaning towards Battle of the Planets, but really, all I remember is five dudes dressed as birds who had this really cool ship that could flame on, only it got hot inside as well so it couldn’t stay aflame for long (they held onto a button?). You know, that could just have been one episode, but it’s the one that stuck.

That’s enough of the boy-centric stuff. What about the other cartoons, the ones even the girls were watching? Perhaps these shows don’t merchandise as well as shows with robots and ships, but that doesn’t mean they were no less influential.

Candy Candy
Opening Credits Video, Closing Credits Video
Even my sister remembers Candy Candy. An orphan girl in the midwest adopted into high society, facing off against evil step-sister and step-brother but adored by her step-cousins (all of whom fall in love with her). Yeah, sounds real girly, don’t it? I learned later that this show is one of the most successful animes ever produced, popular the world over. It’s a real shame production and merchandising rights are under litigation even today — it’d be nice to have a set of DVDs with English subtitles.

Nobody’s Child (Ie Naki Ko)
Opening Credits Video, Closing Credits Video
This show was depressing. A boy is sold by his “step-parents” to an old man with a performing monkey, he tries to find a place in life until he discovers his mother might still be living and ventures out to find her. It’s a pretty depressing story in a lot of way (it’s and adaptation of a French novel Sans Famille), showing a lot of poverty, hardship and a general feeling of helplessness. It does end happily, but there are some pretty sad moments, the saddest for me being the bit with the monkey. Here’s the spoiler. Stop reading now. I’m warning you. The monkey gets sick and dies. See? That was fucking depressing.

A Dog of Flanders
Opening Credits Video
And I thought Nobody’s Child was depressing. This one is REALLY nuts. Based on a Belgian story and taking place there, it’s about a boy who rescues a dog from being beaten to death. The boy lives with his grandfather, and they are very poor, selling milk to get by (the dog helps cart the milk). So here again, hardship and poverty, and in a way it does have a happy ending. Here’s another spoiler. Stop reading now. I’m warning you, you’re gonna regret it. That happy ending involves the boy and his dog journeying to the church in Antwerp to see a famous painting (the boy loves to draw), and they end up freezing to death in front of that painting. Happiness through hypothermia. I am not shitting you. This affected so many people the ending of the series is on YouTube.
I actually don’t remember this one much (did I block it out or did I miss it completely), but I seem to recall my cousin Jamie talking about it later on in our lives.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps
Opening Credits Video
Okay, time for a little happiness. Everyone knows Heidi. Heidi is sent to her grandfather and she’s all energy and joy. She has fun with her friend, Peter, the shepherd, and the sick girl Clara, who can’t run around as well as Heidi, who seriously, must be running on a couple dozen Red Bulls. Heidi was just plain fun.

Those last three are obviously adaptations of European stories, and they all were from the same studio, which also did a bunch of other adaptations that I don’t recall (Sun, living in Korea, was exposed to many of them, and she cites the one about Tom Sawyer as being a favorite of even her dad).

So yeah, robots and white spandex suits juxtaposed with images of poverty, hardship and 19th century American/European romances. Kind of an odd mix, eh? Those are the shows of my childhood. After that, I did watch other anime, and some I enjoy a lot. When I moved to the States, Robotech was all the rage (I remember watching a video of Macross, which was the first season of Robotech). Other cartoons were more American, those being The Transformers, GI Joe and The Gobots. In college a guy named Eddie introduced me to Maison Ikkoku, which remains one of my favorite shows (moreso than Ranma 1/2). After meeting Sun, she introduced me to others, notably Slam Dunk and Fruits Basket. But yeah, aside from Maison Ikkoku the rest of these shows are fun but they won’t hit me and make me smile wistfully (Heidi and Peter dancing) or grin maniacally (Voltes V cutting down, twisting the blade using the hilt, and cutting back up) or hum loudly (We’re off to outer space / we’re leaving Mother Earth / to save the human race / our Star Blazers!). For that, it’s these shows and their like. They haven’t aged well to some degree (watching Voltes V now can be painful, especially with the crap Filipino English dubbing), but it doesn’t phase me; they are just as fresh and entertaining as they were back then: a childhood-memory-filter in full effect.