| For the kids of today who think that these Japanese | | | | Speed Racer was about a boy and his race car, the |
| imports are a new thing, you may be surprised to find | | | | Mach 5, which could do things that even today's cars |
| out that Japanese import cartoons have been going | | | | can't do. Speed had his sidekicks, Spridle, Chimp Chimp, |
| on for some time. We're going to touch on just a small | | | | and Trixie to help him out of tough jams. |
| portion of those cartoons going back to the early | | | | The 8th Man cartoon was about a man who was |
| 1960s. | | | | almost killed but brought back to life in the form of a |
| Cartoons in America, for the most part, were | | | | robot, which is tobor spelled backwards. Yes, tobor |
| dominated by the likes of Warner Brothers and Walt | | | | was the alias of this robot who could take on the |
| Disney with such titles as Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse | | | | appearance of any person alive. A very handy trick |
| and a host of other characters. But around the early to | | | | when having to sneak into the criminal's facility. |
| mid 60s a new kind of cartoon was coming onto the | | | | Gigantor was basically the story of a boy and his |
| scene. These cartoons were very different from the | | | | gigantic robot. Gigantor could usually be seen battling |
| ones we were used to seeing. They were darker, | | | | other gigantic robots in each episode. No matter how |
| more serious and very well done. They also had a | | | | grim things looked, you could always count on Gigantor |
| very distinctive look to them, mostly in the characters | | | | to come out the victor. |
| themselves. If you take a look at American made | | | | Because the cartoons were made in Japanese, they |
| cartoons, especially around the area of the eyes, you | | | | had to be dubbed in English for American audiences. |
| will notice that they look almost like a real person's | | | | Because of this, many times the animation and the |
| eyes would look, within reason of course. After all, | | | | voices didn't exactly fit right, pretty much the same as |
| they're still cartoons. But these Japanese imports had | | | | with Japanese made movies that are dubbed in |
| a very different look, especially around the eyes, which | | | | English, the most famous of these being the Godzilla |
| could only be described as looking like "robot eyes". | | | | series. |
| They definitely were not human. For that matter, the | | | | Japanese animation took off like wildfire in the states. |
| Japanese invasion that began in the 60s was far from | | | | Americans couldn't get enough of these cartoons and |
| human. | | | | over the years more and more were made. |
| A slew of these cartoons all hit the American | | | | Today we are in the midst of another Japanese |
| airwaves pretty much at one time. The most popular | | | | invasion from cartoons like Pokemon, Yugioh and Card |
| of these were "Astro Boy", which was the first of the | | | | Captors. |
| 60s invasion cartoons in 1963, "Speed Racer", "8th | | | | As long as American audiences are fascinated by |
| Man", and "Gigantor". All of these cartoons contained | | | | these very different kinds of cartoons the supply of |
| either a fantasy or science fiction theme. | | | | them will most likely never run out. |