Screenings
Originally, I was to tune in to the Magical Shoujo Anime screenign marathon on the Saturday of the event to see some kawaii magical girl adventure anime, but I found myself coming late as I was tired out from the excitement on the Friday evening of the same con, though my time at the con on the Friday was between 5:00 PM and 9:00 PM.
As for "Gundam", I got the chance to watch an episode of the miniseries "Mobile Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G", which is a sports fiction anime about people competing in a virtual gaming sport with the use of Gundam mecha plastic models to activate the game play. This was actually the most fun I had in watching a sports fiction anime since perhaps when I used to watch the "Beyblade" series before "Beyblade Metal Fusion" and I found this to be somehing that both adults and children can enjoy together. Heck, it even had some references and homages to earlier "Gundam" anime with the antagonist of "Gunpla Builders" having a visual likeness reminiscent of "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" character Quattro Bajeena. In thinking of the concept of the anime and how big the Gunpla hobby is in North America, I told myself in my mind, "Now there's a good and easy anime Hollywood should try to remake/re-imagine, whether live-action or animated" (no offesne, anime purists).
After watching "Mobile Suit Gunpla Builders Beginnign G", I watched "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Heir To The Stars", which was part 1 of "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation", which was created to tell an alternate version of the Gryps War, the war featured in "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" (1985). Though I am all for old school anime, I felt that Sunrise (creator and co-owner "Gundam") made a poor judgement in making the film a remake/compilation hybrid film instead of a pure remake as the 2D picture quality of footage from the "Zeta Gundam" series used in the movie do not seem to match with that of the film's original footage. Thus, I felt that the company waited too long to do this remake/compiltaion hybrid version of the sophisticated animated Sci-Fi classic. At least, the music in the movie was no problem, and it makes me happy to know from the Gundam discussion panel on the Sunday part of Otakuthon 2011 (which I mentioned earlier) that "Mobile Suit Gundam Double-Zeta" (1986), the sequel to "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" (1986) still remains part of the canon Universal Century continuity of "Gundam", despite false rumors that "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation" was a means to decanonize the both T.V. series.
On the Sunday of the Otakuthon 2011, I got to check out "Steel Jeeg" (or in Japanese language title terms, "Kotetsu Jiigu" or "Kotetsu Jeeg"), a 1975 anime T.V. series co-created by Go Nagai of "Mazinger Z" and "Devilman" fame. It tells the story of a racing sports star who, after the assination of his archeologist father by demons of an ancient Japanese kingdom known as the Yamatai kingdom, must put aside his sports career when receiving from his father, power gloves that not only makes him a cyborg, but also allows him to combine with mechabical parts to form the giant robot Steel Jeeg, the key to defending Japan from the enemies. It was actually a fun show to watch, despite that the con only showed the first two episodes of it, and as uasual, I enjoyed the bgm tracks utilized in the 1970s giant robot anime.
Although I had seen "Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection" last year at FanTasia 2010, it was nice of the Otakuthon 2011 to include the film in its screenings list, especially when it would count as a second chance for Montreal-based individuals who missed their chances to see it at FanTasia. Thus, this year is the 2nd time the SBY film gets screened in Montreal. Moreover, this year would appear to be the first time for Otakuthon to screen anything "Space Battleship Yamato".
