#Studio Gonzo

[piratehunted]

[muttfangs]

Blue Submarine No.06 is an OVA that is a very, very loose anime adaptation from Satoru Ozawa's three volume manga series of a similar name (Ao no Roku-Go, "Blue Number Six").

I don't feel like typing out the entire plot for contextual reasons, so here's a wikipedia plot section copy paste for y'all:

"The story is set in the distant future, when the Earth's oceans have risen and flooded most of the sea-lying land on Earth. The rogue scientist Zorndyke caused the flooding, which killed countless individuals, and most of humanity's remaining cities have been attacked or destroyed by Zorndyke's army of half-animal "hybrids". The remaining humans begin to wage war against Zorndyke's seagoing creations for survival. Humanity's best hope for a resolution to the conflict lies with its submarine forces, among which is the focus of the story, Blue Submarine #6. It is revealed that Zorndyke is attempting to decisively end the conflict in the favor of his hybrid children by artificially inducing a polar switch using geothermal energy at the South Pole."

Sounds fuckin awesome right? I mean. It kinda was. It could have been. This is more or less my rant about how the writing and thematics literally contradict themselves multiple times, and truly wishing the writers and animators were given more time and a longer OVA run for the series. Honestly, Blue Sub No. 06 could have been a really rad and poignant OVA given the time it sorely needed.

Anyways. Let's dive right into it…

Hayami is considered the main protagonist in this series. Hayami is an ex-navy submarine operator in the Blue Fleet. He is considered highly skilled and gifted but ultimately dangerous. Hayami became a bad boy, a dissenter, an addict, a nihilist, and overall volatile due to his trauma from losing a close friend and co-pilot in the war. When we meet Hayami, he still clearly portrays PTSD from his lost co-pilot and senior navy submarine operator. Hayami very clearly blames himself for his co-pilot's disappearance and implied death, after they failed a rogue mission to scout out Zorndyke's operational facility at the South Pole. Despite being considered a criminal by the Blue Fleet, he is requested as a last resort to help fight back Zorndyke's army.

The surrounding details for the rogue mission are honestly baffling and asinine, as a result of the rushed writing. Essentially, Hayami and his senior co-pilot went to just. Check out, I guess, what Zorndyke's location at the south pole looked like. During the flashback scene where Hayami and his co-pilot are under the arctic ice moving through a narrow channel, Hayami's co-pilot said he had some sort of 'signal' that was being broadcast from their vessel stating they weren't there to attack or cause a threat. For reasons unknown, they were attacked by Zorndyke's creations regardless and Hayami was the only survivor. After this incident, it's revealed that the lost co-pilot was captured by Zorndyke, experimented on to turn him into a hybrid, and thennn... somehow recaptured by the Blue Fleet. Sure. I will say though, the scene where Hayami can see what Zorndyke's experimentation has done to his co-pilot was pretty phenominal. The co-pilot's ribs violently separating, resembling gill-like striation, while exhaling bubbles in the tube of saline water containing him was... visceral. The visual was fuckin awesome. And that's pretty much how I feel about this OVA. A lot of very intense and genuinely rad moments that weren't given enough time or care to fully develop. It's a shame!

Every woman who has relevant screen time to the main plot in the series has zero personality or serves a purpose to fawn over the male lead, Hayami. It's fucking weird. Mutio doesn't speak the language of humans and is one of Zorndyke's fish-people hybrid creations. She's written as very weirdly subservient, sexy, and affectionate towards Hayami after he saves her when she shlorps out of one of Zorndyke's war machina that Hayami blasted open. I also don't really understand why Hayami has killed hundreds of Zorndyke's creatures and war machines without any questions, but for this particular one? Uhhh he suddenly became compassionate, and released this one back into the sea, I guess. Even though he goes back to killing Zorndyke's navy pretty much immediately after this. Kino is… Written as 'irrational very sexy stubborn young woman' but then! Eventually becomes an emotional crying mess and in love with Hayami for, again, whatever fucking unknown reason despite not knowing him really at all. Pretty much no personality beyond 'I want to avenge my family and city that is maybe mentioned twice' and 'I'm suddenly in love with the handsome brooding sub pilot main character that is a rebel without a cause'. Bizarre. Onto other characters!

The little girl in the Blue Fleet (I believe her name was Huang?) with psychic and interpretive abilities was SUCH a cool concept. To have her in the submarine as a 'translator' because she can understand Zorndyke's creations when they click, sing, or use vocal sonar echolocation underwater is fuckin awesome. I feel like if they actually fleshed the series out more, they could've made a really sick and fascinating character arc with Huang. She might be my favorite character concept, overall.

Verg. I'm not going to lie, as a kid (and as an adult) I was feverishly obsessed with the aesthetic character design of Verg. His outward appearace is phenominal. Verg is a blue-grey skinned shark hybrid with piercing yellow eyes, his body flecked with scars. His imposing stature, adorned with iron spikes, rings on his clawed fingers, and a mane of red hair-- he exudes this portrayal of ruthlessness. Verg is the navy admiral of Zorndyke's army, and is portrayed as cruel, angry, and interestingly enough, childish. He yearns for Zorndyke's approval, as a kid would yearn for their parent to be proud of their accomplishments. This would be a very, very fascinating character motivation… if it made any fucking sense. Zorndyke tells Kino and Hayami they can reason with 'his children' if they just speak to one another. But then in that case, why wouldn't Zorndyke simply command to make his creations cease attacking humanity directly? Why wage war in the first place, if your ultimate goal and message is war is bad?

Zorndyke could have been seriously fascinating as an antihero sort of character and it's a shame he was, like most of the characters, written incredibly contradictory and two-dimensionally. In the OVA, he's written as a mysterious, jaded, tired old man who has revolted and turned his status as a prodigal scientist towards 'madness'. He is percieved as an unsettlingly calm harbinger of humanity's end. And initially, this is very interesting before his motives are revealed. His character is later deconstructed as total nonsense after Hayami and Kino speak to him, personally, "Why are you doing this?" To put his percieved motivations as condensed as I can… Zorndyke was ultimately attempting to teach humanity a lesson about not killing one another through endless, senseless war, conquest, and violence. His visions consist of humanity putting down arms and getting along with his creations in harmony. To get this straight here-- Zorndyke created sentient beings capable of empathy and reason (which he refers to as his 'children', no less) that he personally sent to attack humanity… inside specifically deisgned war machines that he also created. Right after he already killed the majority of humanity by melting the polar ice caps, and humanity was ALREADY putting down their wars against one another and banding together to salvage what they can from the mass destruction and flooding that he just caused. ………….. hello????��…………………………..

And I mean, listen. This isn't to say the entire OVA isn't worth watching. It still has some incredibly interesting, strong visuals and some genuinely cool concepts that could be dope as hell if properly fleshed out and given more time to play out over a longer series duration. Considering the OVA was only four episodes like. I get it. That is not much time to write a comprehensive, in-depth world to the scale that I imagine the team was attempting to create initially.

Anyways… I've run out of motivation to keep ranting about this OVA adaptation. Overall, all the completely strange and contradictory writing aside, it is at least a fun and engaging watch with some good concepts (especially with the early 2000's CG… it's a treat). I know I don't make a very convincing argument for it. But. Y'know.

[mgtitlecards]

"Witchblade" - April 6, 2006

[kaleidostaranime]

Kaleido star new official merch standees and towels by Gonzo

Kaleido star new official merch till August 14th!!!!

here: https://gonzo-store.jp/shops/kaleido-star/products?shop_widget_id=3519

[muppetsdaily]

MUPPET*VISION 3D Walt Disney World Dir. by Jim Henson

[anamon-book]

冬のシンガポール／東京キッドブラザーズ Cover Design＝FLAMINA TERRENO GONZO、TIGER BED SHIN For FLAMINGO STUDIO 作・演出＝東由多加／出演＝柴田恭兵、三浦浩一、坪田直子 ほか

[captainyiffers]

[sulphurofftheclock]

Yall i want a baby gonzo so bad, that's MY SON THATS MY BABY BABY GONZO IS SO CUTE SISONDONOSNOAHOSBSI

[haveamagicalday]

[normalmuppetsfan]

one of my favorite little touches from muppet vision 3*D are cast member kermie and piggy and their friends!

i used to be a wdw cast member so the disney parks have an extra special place in my heart, as do the muppets. needless to say, the few touches that the muppets still have on the parks do not go unnoticed by me :,-)

i especially love that their nametags say leland, ms and bogen county, ia 😭😭 those are such adorable touches!! idk why gonzo or animal don't have name tags but it's nice whenever i see them drop by :-)

the picture on top with all 4 characters was taken just 2 days after the announcement of monsters inc land which made me extra emotional. i hope with all my heart that muppet vision is going to be preserved for years to come- and although it's wishful thinking, i'd love to see the surrounding area get some love. (for those unaware, the stores in muppets courtyard have sat closed and unused for almost 5 years.) muppet vision is such an important part of both muppets and studios' history, and it also serves as an honor to jim henson's legacy. i really do love it with all my heart.

[piratehunted]

[takoyakidonuts]

New Vocal Synth Label GEMVOX Bursts onto the Scene with SynthesizerV Topaz!

In some very surprising news today reported by SynthV News on Twitter, a new Vocal Synth Label known as GEMVOX has become the talk of the town with its upcoming trilingual vocal, SynthesizerV Topaz. 💎 GEMVOX Debuts with Topaz for Synthesizer VUnveil the dark and mysterious AI singer, Topaz, and the creative vision behind GEMVOX.🔗 Find out more in our article featuring an exclusive interview with…

[bobauthorman]

Great Gonzo Plots

No one talks about how both Gonzo-centric Muppet movies have Gonzo's character arc revolve around loneliness and companionship. In Muppets From Space, Gonzo begins to feel isolated because of him constantly referred to as a "Whatever". And in Muppets Haunted Mansion, Gonzo realizes that the reason he's always doing dangerous stunts is because he thinks without them, no one will pay him any attention. Both times Gonzo eventually learns that he's just fine with the Muppets, regardless.

[youreaclownnow]

I have been watching chrono crusade recently

[disneyprint]

1990 magazine ad

The Muppets at Walt Disney World

[smashpages]

Alien: Paradiso #1 (Marvel, December 2024) variant cover by J. Gonzo