Robotto kânibaru

Originally saw this back in the early nineties as a part of Sci-Fi's Saturday Anime. To this day, through all of the anime films/series I've seen, this still reigns as the greatest. No anime fan will be disappointed with this film, even those who aren't fans of the genre should enjoy this flick. It is sad that this film didn't get very much exposure in the States, as it easily could have been subject to awards. A great example of a film students interperetive dream; Trying to develop a correlation between all of the shorts (outside of their all contain robots), pulling some greater meaning from the movie. Yea, it's one of those types of movie, that appears to be on a higher philosophical level than just your average entertainment.

ROBOT CARNIVAL is a breath of fresh air from the bloated, overdone, exploitative sagas Anime is known for and presents us instead with a series of short films which have nothing to do with each other except that they all star robots. I especially like the intro with the mechanized carnival running over the village...heh heh heh. Very nice, well-animated and leaves a lasting impression on the veiwer. A must-have for anyone who likes Japanese animation or the very curious.

This is a great Japanese animated collection of seven creative and imaginative stories done by many directors including Katsuhiro Otomo ( of "Akira" fame) which tells a creator trying to create a Frankenstein-like creation, a romantic tale in a disneyland-esque place, a robotic kid walking through clouds, a romance between a toymaker and his toy, a planet western with robots, a hilarious duo between bad guy and Japan in the 19th century and a nightmarish city runned by robotic creatures.

These stories are quite interesting and very well made works of arts, the music score is outstanding which is one of the best in anime music scores. This is definitely Japanimation's answer to "Fantasia", if only this would be released on DVD then that would be great! if you love anime, i strongly recommend this movie.

Also recommended: Akira, Ghost in The Shell, Metropolis ( Anime), Memories, Heavy Metal, Fantasia, Fantasia 2000, Roujin-Z, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Transformers: The Movie, Ninja Scroll, The Professional: Golgo 13, Vampire Hunter D, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Sin: The Movie, Spriggan The Movie, Slayers The Motion Picture, Creepshow, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Ghost in The Shell 2: Innocence, Kiki's Delivery Service, Fist of the North Star.

9/10.

Like all anthology films, some of the segments are better than others, but there are enough good ones to make this film worthwhile for animation fans.

The framing sequence which opens and closes the film is nicely animated, certainly one of the most original ways I've seen for a film to present it's title. The great Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) contributed to this sequence, you can really see his touch. Two of the segments, "Starlight Angel" and "Deprive" are pretty typical sci-fi action anime, albeit nicely animated. A lot of anime fans complain about the "Cloud" segment, I find it kind of interesting, like a piece of animated art. My favorite segment in the film is probably a tie between "A Tale of Two Robots, Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion", which made me think a little of Wild Wild West (a lot better, of course), and "Nitemare".

I think having all but two of the film's 8 segments (I'm counting the opening and closing as one segment) dialog-free was an interesting choice, it allows the viewer to concentrate on the images, and precludes needless exposition. I really liked Aeon Flux a lot better before it became a regular series and added dialog. Of course, it also makes an English-dubbed version of the film more tolerable.

Some of the music for this film is by the great composer Joe Hisashi, the regular composer for both Hayao Miyazaki and Takeshi Kitano. I think the opening and closing themes are by Hisashi, as well as the music for the "Presence" segment.

This is one of the first anime films I saw when I knew or cared it was anime, I think it's a really good introduction to the genre. Also a worthwhile film for anyone interested in animation in general.

eight stories from japanese anime directors. they all show off their talent through mini movies. when i first saw this, i thought it was something i would like to do when i get older. now, i'm 18, and creating my own anime comics and mini movies. my personal favorites are "Starlight Angel" "Deprive" "Presence" and "A Tale of Two Robots" see this if you want to get into anime directors heads