Posted by SignOfZeta on August 02, 2024 at 10:36:42 EST in reply to This sounds pretty on-brand for them, heh. Hmmm... if you emailed me on Yahoo, that's one I stopped using. I just logged in to see if I could read what you sent, and it seems that they delete inactive email inboxes after a year of inactivity. Wtf! I used that email address a LOT back in the day, and everything's just gone now? Fuck that really sucks. Well you can use my Gmail account now... bean the gene at gmail. Speaking of Hameln, I binge watched it right before COVID hit, and then found a great article that captured a lot of my thoughts about the show... so much so that I emailed the author to compliment what he wrote. (inside) from Bean.
Yeah, he’s a fan and makes a lot of good points. I think even he overdoes the “there’s so little animation” angle though. That honestly never bothered me. They did it a LOT in those old Tatsunoku shows and they looked great. They just did it more in Hamlin. I wonder if any Japanese fan complains about lack of anime in anime when they still have FM radio dramas based on manga. If the animation isn’t impressive enough your system clearly isn’t loud enough because you shouldn’t be even noticing it!
He makes a pretty good case for the TV show. “People” do seem to prefer the (then nauseatingly popular) slapstick fantasy vibe but man at this point would people even remember with Fortune Quest and Slayers and everything else? I think this “failure” is probably more fondly remembered by its few fans than a manga-authentic version would have been 30 years later. The way it was made it stands out.
Btw, my question was “Does the last LD actually exist?” At the time I knew the catalog number but couldn’t find an actual picture of it. I thought it would be so fitting if the final LD got cancelled but I recently did find proof that it was made…if only I could find the actual thing. I have the Movie and all other volumes. It’s a very weird release in that it has five (5) episodes on it which means it was an expensive two disc release…late in the life of a flop show. It getting cancelled would have done wonders for my persecuted fan complex but I guess I just need to go shopping.
n/t
Follow Ups:
I remember looking often at the Hameln LDs back in the day, and thinking that there was something odd about how they were sold, but I was pretty sure all of the 25 episodes were on there. During my 2020 rewatch, I remember trying to find the official, legit DVD set of it online, but I was so confused and unsure that what I was going to buy was a knock-off, so I just gave up.
The only kind-of related thing I heard back in the day, was that one of the middle episodes during its original run was pre-empted by a big news event, and then never re-aired. They just kept playing the following Hameln episodes without going back to re-show the missed episode. I think this was relayed to me by Leon back in the day when he couldn't find the bootleg tape of that episode in Chinatown... but who knows. If it's actually true, it's certainly a hilarious addition to how disrespected the show was.
Also, talking about this makes me want to re-watch Giant Robo now. (n/t) (Bean) (20:43:52 08/07/24 EST)