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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going for almost 20 years, with the shared universe starting in 2008 with Iron Man. This ushered in an era of superhero programming and adaptations across several mediums beyond comic books. Of course, there are many superhero anime with some of these even predating the current superhero craze.

From colorful shōnen works to grittier explorations of heroism, anime is host to several overlooked classics. This doesn't just mean major brands such as My Hero Academia, but also some of the first major examples of superhero fiction in Japan. Chief among these is a certain pretty guardian who best showcases the superhero aspects in her own anime/manga sub-genre.

Tiger and Bunny Featured a Corporate Superhero Duo Streaming on Crunchyroll

Released in 2011, Tiger & Bunny came out just as the Marvel Cinematic Universe was about to finish Phase 1. The anime series is arguably a more lighthearted take...

The mecha anime genre has been prolific within the medium for decades, with many people associating the very concept of giant robots with anime. One of the biggest mecha franchises of them all is easily Mobile Suit Gundam, which has been similarly synonymous with mecha for over 40 years. It paved the way for many other brands and created the "Real Robot" subgenre, but there are also many other major mecha anime throughout the years.

Be they Real Robot or Super Robot anime, there are several franchises besides Gundam that have made a mark on the anime medium. These include some of the first mecha of them all, as well as properties that came about in the past few decades. These revolutionized the genre and pushed it forward in tangible, substantial ways.

Tetsujin 28 Was the Mecha Anime That Started it All Not Currently Streaming Image via Eiken

Based on a manga from the 1950s,...

As more and more time passes, retro anime continues to fall out of the public eye. Anime that were once the pinnacle of their time fall into obscurity. However, this doesn't need to be the end of such anime. All it would take to return them to popularity is a proper remake, perhaps even one by Studio Ghibli.

Although the studio typically creates their own works, they're no stranger to creating films for other franchises. One of their earliest works is Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, bringing the gentleman thief Lupin more attention as he steals the audience's hearts. Studio Ghibli could revitalize other retro anime with a movie, if that was something they chose to do.

Speed Racer's Main Character Would Make a Great Studio Ghibli Hero Streaming on Amazon Prime

Speed Racer was a racing anime that first aired in 1967 and 1968. The series follows protagonist Go Mifune,...

Hideaki Anno is one of the most iconic creators in anime, best known for creating the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series. Before this, however, he was himself a major fan of science fiction and mecha works, as shown by his adoration for one character in a legendary show.

Via Oricon, a recent anniversary celebration for the beloved Space Battleship Yamato saw Hideaki Anno discuss the show with both fans and some of the talent behind the series. One of them was a voice actor who portrayed a character that he was quite taken with. While the role might not have been quite as romantic for the voice talent in question, it launched the fandom of an illustrious anime creator in his formative years.

Related Evangelion Is 'Lovin' It' With Latest McDonald's Anime Reveal Starring Fan-Favorite Misato

The latest Evangelion anime and McDonald's collaboration release has been revealed, giving mecha...

Power Trip

By Jason Young

160 pages/25/Oldtimes Blue Ribbon Digest

Growing up in the 1970s, comic book readers didn’t have a lot in the way of extensions of their favorite characters. There was the occasional novel and ABC’s Super Friends, but really, little else. As a result, getting new stories or new versions of stories on an album featuring your favorite heroes seemed like manna from Heaven.

Power Records or Peter Pan Records filled that gap, beginning in the early 1970s and petering out in the early 1980s. They may be best remembered for the wonderful art produced for the album covers by Continuity Studios, the outfit run by Neal Adams and (briefly) Dick Giordano. They featured familiar vocal talent and the stories weren’t half bad. They were successful enough that their thirty or so releases were repackaged time and again, eventually eschewing vinyl for cassette tapes to retain the audience.

Aging like a fine wine (aka the opposite of too many whiskey sours), Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood continues to blossom like one of the director’s finest works over a year after release. Now, as the filmmaker looks towards wrapping up his career behind the camera with perhaps one final film, he has suggested he would get more into writing, and he’s now confirmed that desire by signing a two-film book deal.

Tarantino has inked the deal with HarperCollins and first up will be an expansion of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood with a new novel. Said to offer “a fresh, playful and shocking departure from the film,” according to the publisher, it will arrive as a mass market paperback, akin to the director’s pulp paperback favorites, alongside e-book and digital audio editions, this coming summer. A deluxe hardcover edition...

Quentin Tarantino has signed a two book deal with Harper, the HarperCollins imprint. First up is Tarantino’s first work of fiction, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, a novel to be published next summer that breathes new life into the characters and the premise of a film that got 10 Oscar nominations and won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Brad Pitt. Tarantino has long been infatuated with the movie novelizations he read voraciously growing up, paperbacks that accompanied a film’s release. He has set in that tradition a book that teases out the characters played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Pitt. Appropriately, the throwback novel will start as a Harper Perennial mass market paperback, alongside e-book and digital audio editions. A deluxe hardcover edition will follow in the fall.

Tarantino’s second work with Harper will be a work of nonfiction, Cinema Speculation. Tarantino has often cited film critic...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Mill Creek Entertainment:

Exclusive Release For Ultraman Day Featuring Cover Art By Alex Ross!

Minneapolis, Mn Mill Creek Entertainment is pleased to announce, “The Birth of Ultraman Collection”, a Blu-ray set containing some of the best episodes of the original Ultraman series with both the original Japanese language and the classic English dub audio tracks plus The Birth Of Ultraman – Ultraman Pre-Premiere Special, the very first appearance of the hero that would become famous across the world as Ultraman.

This exclusive Blu-ray release also features art created by Alex Ross which is also featured on The Rise Of Ultraman cover for Marvel Comics and Tsuburaya Production’s recent collaboration with the debut issue releasing September 2020.

This exciting, special-edition comes off the back of Mill Creek Entertainment’s license of the entire available Ultraman back-catalog via international distribution company Indigo Entertainment,...

The first wave of anime to arrive in America was usually found in syndication, filler in the mornings and afternoons for the off-network stations in the New York area. It all started with Astro Boy but was quickly followed by Eighth Man and Gigantor, Kimba the White Lion to the Amazing Three. And then there was Marine Boy, the first of the color animated series to be broadcast in America. In his native Japan, the name translated to Undersea Boy Marine and was therefore Americanized.

Produced by Minoru Adachi and Japan Tele-Cartoons, there were 78 episodes in total and the first season or 26 episodes, have now been collected by Warner Archive, which is fitting since Warner was the company to distribute the series back in the 1960s.

Sometime in the future, there lived a boy, maybe 15, remarkable enough to serve as a full-fledged agent of the Ocean Patrol. Their mission was...

Alongside the heralded Speed Racer and Kimba: The White Lion, Marine Boy was one of the original handful of imported television series that captured youngsters’ imaginations and put Japanese anime in the stateside consciousness.

Now fans of the 1960s series, and an entire new generation of anime appreciators, can experience the undersea hero’s aquatic adventures as Warner Archive Collection distributes Marine Boy: The Complete First Season. Produced in Japan but intended for first-run syndication in the United States during 1966-67, Marine Boy was one of the first color cartoons to come from Japan. A teenager with some amazing inventions at his disposal, Marine Boy battles evil on and under the seas on behalf of the Ocean Patrol, aided by his father, Dr. Mariner, and the brilliant Professor Fumble. Joining Marine Boy in his missions are his white dolphin, Splasher, young mermaid friend Neptina, and fellow Ocean Patrol agents Bullton and Piper.

Westwood - The master of sensual European cinema golden years have a tint of blue. UCLA just hosted retrospective of Radley Metzger’s films. His most important films are being released on Blu-ray. He’s about to take the director’s chair as he approaches 83.

His masterwork Camille 2000 was just released Blu-ray with an extended version from Cult Epics. The 1969 update of Dumas’ The Lady of the Camellias takes place in an esoteric Italy. The restored high definition transfer gives a detailed look at that magical time. The Party Favors had a chance to chat with Radley Metzger about the release.

Trailer provided by Video Detective

Radley is a true independent filmmaker. He owns the rights to his films instead of selling them off to distributor. He’s not at the mercy of an indifferent studio executive to keep his cinematic legacy available. The first question had to be...

Cynopsis reports that Peter Fernandez, best known as the American voice of the title character in the Speed Racer television series from the 1960s, died last Thursday from lung cancer. He was 83.

Peter also was the voice for Speed's brother Racer X and other characters for the Japanese anime series that was dubbed in English. He voiced other characters for Lupin III, Astro Boy, Gigantor and Marine Boy. Additionally, Peter made a cameo appearance in the Warner Bros.' 2008 live-action Speed Racer film.

Born in New York City, Fernandez started as a child model for the John Robert Power Agency. He then appeared on both radio and Broadway until he was drafted into the Army at age 18, late in World War II. His radio appearances included roles on "Superman", "Mr. District Attorney", "Let's Pretend", "Gangbusters", "My Best Girls", and "Suspense", as well as on many soap operas. After his discharge...

Child Broadway star and celebrated American voiceover actor Peter Fernandez has lost his battle with lung cancer. He was 83.

Fernandez died at his home in Pomona, New York on Thursday.

He appeared in Broadway play Whiteoaks when he was 11 and went on to act on children’s radio shows.

However, he was perhaps best-known for providing the voice of the title character in hit U.S. 1960's animated TV series Speed Racer, an adaptation of Japanese anime series Mach Go Go Go.

He also provided the voice of the title character's brother Racer X, wrote the American lyrics for the show’s theme song and directed the dubbing cast.

His voice can be heard in other titles including Astro Boy, Gigantor, Marine Boy, Star Blazers: The Bolar Wars and Superbook.

In 2008, he made a cameo appearance as an announcer in the live-action Speed Racer film.

Fernandez is survived by his wife, Noel Smith, three children, nine grandchildren, a sister and a brother.

Peter Fernandez, who provided the voice for the title character in the cult 1960s Japanimation TV series Speed Racer, has died at age 83. Fernandez also wrote the famous title song for the series. He was associated with other well-known Japanese animation series and even made a cameo in the 2008 big screen live action version of Speed Racer. For more click here...

Speed Racer has been silenced. Peter Fernandez, who voiced the iconic character in the American import of the 1960s Japanese cartoon and who also wrote the lyrics to the indelible theme song, has died. He succumbed to lung cancer at 83, according to the Anime News Network. Aside from Speed, Fernandez also voiced Racer X and miscellaneous minor characters on the high-octane toon. He also lent his pipes to key parts in the English-language versions of Astro Boy, Ultraman, Gigantor and Star Blazers. The Wachowski brothers even gave him a cameo in their 2008 live-action remake. Rest in peace.

Peter Fernandez, who voiced the title character in the 1960s animated "Speed Racer" TV series, died Thursday of lung cancer. He was 83.

Fernandez also provided the voices for Speed's brother Racer X and several other characters in the English-dubbed adaptation of Tatsunoko's "Mach Go Go Go" series, according to the Anime News Network. He directed the voice cast and wrote the lyrics to the signature theme song ("Go Speed Racer, Go!") as well.

Fernandez later played Lupin III, Daisuke Jigen and President Jimmy Carter in the Jal dubbing of the "Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo" (1978). His voice also can be heard in such dubbed anime titles as "Astro Boy," "Gigantor" and "Marine Boy," and he made a cameo appearance in the 2008 live-action "Speed Racer" film from Warner Bros.

Fernandez appeared in the 1949 film "Cry Across the RIver" and in the early TV series "Captain Video and His Video Rangers.