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Seimei no Kagaku: Micro Patrol or Il était une fois la vie (once upon a time... life) Is a French Japanese Animation financed by several EU countries (Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Holland) and Canada.

It belongs to the label "Il était une fois" ("once upon a time") created by Albert Barillé. Under his works, all the series are dedicated to entertain and educate the children in a very well balanced way, with good story line and funny or interesting characters. It was made a at a time producers wished the children to have a good time but also to make them think and learn in the ... framework of an anime with good artistic value. Very nice combination...this was a success : Millions of children have seen it in the 1980s and 1990s.

This one which is the third installment is about the human biology. Main human body functions are addressed all in good mix of science, suspense, comical situations, and original design.

All biological entities are anthropomorphized and all the characters of the previous series (about history and space) reprised their role but as neurons, lymphocytes, virus and so on...! Even the wise Maestro is here (guess where?)! The heroes are often the protectors of the body, they even kept their science fiction clothes from the previous series.

Story of each episode is really enjoyable and can raise interest among children and adult viewers alike with a good amount of suspense.

Regarding the biological aspect, as a medical doctor myself, I confirm that they explain in a very clear and entertaining way all the essential mechanisms from immunity, to organs functions, brain role, reproduction and even genetics. Everything is scientifically sounds and relevant.

Drawing involved artists from Japan and France. Animation done by the Eiken studios (Testujin 28) is definitely dated but still satisfactory and fluid enough for viewing in the 21th century. Character are simply designed but are easily recognizable and relatable. In 2016, all the series benefit from a complete remastered version (color palette improvement, drawing error correction, sounds remaster) to fit the 1080p enhanced edition.

Music is classical and its very agreeable and rich melodies fits perfectly the action and are very well composed by Michel Legrand, a famous multi Oscars winner composer. YES, you read well, Albert Barillé chose an MULTI-OSCAR winning composer for the music. It shows the extent to which he thought children should be exposed to quality content just like adults.

French Dubbing have involved Dramatic Art Theater actors and is very enjoyable. Roger Carel is perfect as the voice of the wise Maestro. Dutch dubbing is very good, the Italian version is excellent, German version is really professional and Spanish dubbing is a success. I do not know about the other languages, maybe some of you can tell us...

EDIT : RobdeFR told me that the Portuguese version was popular, efficient and "Iconic". Thanks Rob for the info!

Overall, this anime is a perfect way for children and adults alike to learn about the human body all the while being captivated by the story taking place inside our very organism. The travel to the microscopic world begins!

Appearance and technicality is not everything in an anime : These 3 short movies produced by the Studio Ponoc seems more a beautiful technical demonstration of the studio pure animation capabilities than real narrative works, in-depth reflections or compelling/original stories.

The first one is a mildly fantastic family friendly scenario with superficial events, classic stereotypes and extremely predictable outcomes.
The second one is an ordinary slice of life story about allergy.
The last one which seems at first the most original of the three was obviously inspired by John Carpenter's version of the Invisible Man and ends up in an ordinary fashion instead of bending to ... the mystical symbolism or spiritual side (which would have been more interesting to my opinion).

Therefore, everything looks like very superficial and do not offer much aside from the beauty of the drawing, lighting and animation.
When compared to other Japanese short movies such as "Memories" and "Neo Tokyo - Manie Manie", or simply recent anime series such as "Mob Psycho 100" or "Mushishi" which features unusual scenario, strange and disturbing symbolism, ambivalent emotion, and unpredictable events (and beautiful animation as well) you can realize the huge difference in terms of narrative and reflective qualities.

Therefore, unless you are interested solely in animation technical details, I do not recommend watching these very ordinary and somewhat trivial short movies.

M3 Sono Kuroki Hagane is a surprisingly very good psychological oriented mecha anime set in a dark atmosphere.

- NO SPOILER -

The anime focuses on a team of young pilots using giant machines to discover and explore a mysterious dark and disrupted zone appearing on earth.

While brutal action packed fights were expected, surprisingly this anime delves very deeply in the emotion and psychology of the characters. Another surprise is that this aspect is treated with real intelligence and maturity. The psychological issues are addressed gradually with subtlety, finesse and poetry.

I would like to stress this, not only as an anime fan but also ... as a recognized psychiatrist. Indeed, too much often, many anime involving teenagers/young adults have characters who are emotionally very immature or borderline: they express emotion with excessive shyness (like a 3 years old child), seduction with brutal shift of demeanour, love with extreme awkwardness, sexual attraction by needless hysterical behaviour and empathy with a useless or strange distance. For instance, Stein Gates or even the famous Evangelion are suffering from this bizarre syndrome. Maybe it is because many anime are made for otakus by otakus? Maybe it is some kind of failed humorous attempts? Maybe it is a social phenomenon in Japan? You name it.
On the contrary this is where M3 Sono Kuroki Hagane is shining here. Relationship and bound, conscious and subconscious issues, friendship and love are expressed in a very thoughtful and sensitive manner. It is the strong point of this anime as well as its dark tone, sinister and yet beautiful ambiance.

Lastly, where some anime try to cloud their lackluster, inconsistent or nonexistent story or characters behind a mask of so called abstractionism or art (like FLCL), this anime is not pretentious at all, it is very accessible and clear but it will let you interpret some parts or symbols as well.

Therefore in M3, there is enticing character development through the episodes as we understand the ties between them. It is easy to feel empathy with the characters precisely because their thoughts, reactions, struggles seems very real and profound. As a consequence the story and plot unfold in a slow paced fashion. There is some action involving mecha but is clearly not the main point of this show.

General design mix 2D drawing featuring acceptable animation with 3D mechas and creatures. The sinister creatures as well as the deranged world are an interesting and attracting creation.

Japanese dubbing is agreeable, with all the voices fitting very well the personality of each character.

Overall, this anime is a pleasant surprise. A very sensitive, mature and intelligent mecha adventure with a dark tone featuring excellent story or character development and yet very accessible. I strongly recommend it whether you like the mecha genre or not.

There are already many reviews about this anime I will just add a short one.

Watching FLCL or Furi curi is exactly like going to a modern art museum and seeing a bunch of art experts or so called intellectuals watching a canvas and stating :
" it blows my mind!" "It is a masterpiece!" "It is so original and clever !" "I can see sexual innuendo"….

… and then from time to time a child will come to the museum, watch the very same canvas and say quite innocently : "Mum, why is there a white, empty, blank painting with a signature here?..."

And everybody says ... : "SSSHHH!"

Tom Sawyer is very likely one of the pearl of the Nippon Animation Studio. This studio is mainly known for the “World Masterpiece Theater”: under this label, there are many animes which are all based on a classic western novel.
In this case, the anime takes its source from the classic 19th century novel of the American writer Mark Twain/Sam Clemens. in the same vein than others 80s animes, it was widely broadcast on many European TV channels (Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain…) with a significant success: millions of kids have watched it at that time…I was one of them ^_^

The scene takes place in ... a town close to the Mississippi river in the 19th century USA, and we followed the fantastic adventure of the young Tom Sawyer and his friends.

The art and animation are very satisfactory for an anime of this generation. Like other Nippon animation anime, the general work is less “Manga style” than usual (no blue hair or galaxy like eyes), very likely to stick more with its literary source.

The target audience is obviously the children. All the ingredients that will make a child dream of marvelous adventures are gathered here.

The strength of this anime is the very naturalistic aspect of all the environments and the plausibility of the personality of each character (children or adults) making this anime quite realistic from a western standpoint and it will surely awake the little child who sleep in everyone of us.

The music by its funny aspects and the use of traditional instruments match perfectly the action and the astuteness of our young hero.

Like many others eighties anime, The French Dubbing is once more very professional and has involved a wise choice of voice actors (especially Francette Vernillat whose voice fit perfectly Tom Sawyer). Unfortunately I never get the chance to hear the dubbing in other languages. Maybe some of you can tell us…

Overall, this anime will entice positively a young audience by the inner nature of Tom Sawyer and his adventures but will raise interest among older viewers by its naturalistic aspects as well…Let’s play the pirate on the Mississippi!

Grendizer AKA Goldorak or Goldrake is a very special case as it is the very first Japanese animation series to be very successful in many countries (Quebec, Italy, France, central Europe ...) at the end of the 1970s.

It was because of this anime significant media and commercial success that:
-Audience from these countries became aware of what exactly is Japanese animation
-Some parents and some politicians had a negative prejudice over Japanese Animation (people can die? vilains can be good looking? characters can be ambiguous? that was too new to them in animation...)
- Nearly all the public and private TV channels enjoyed the ... opportunity and had broadcast almost everyday Japanese animation from the end of the 1970s and for more than a decade : until the middle of the 1990s (until the scandal of "hokuto no ken" Affair). So every children from these countries could see many Japanese animation daily far before the age of DVD or internet. This phenomenon also explains why many Japanese anime of this period were dubbed in Italian or French and sometimes Spanish or Russian but not in English.

Therefore, you understand easily that Grendizer/Goldorak had directly and indirectly a phenomenal cultural impact in those countries. Millions of kids were truly loving it. At that time, songs of Grendizer/Goldorak and themes specific for each country get on the charts and even get several Golden records!!

Nowadays, it still enjoys a cult status in many places.

Be as it may, what about the anime itself?

Created by Go Nagai (Mazinger, Cutey Honey), the anime is a classic super robot anime focusing on the adventure of a team of young heroes struggling against invaders coming from outer space. Sounds like a simple and dull plot full of manichaeism but it gives the opportunity to develop cunning ploys, funny robots design and original ideas for each episode...and...real tragedy : often the antagonists have understandable and relatable reasons to fight. When they meet their end, you really feel sad for them. That is exactly what dictatorship and wars lead : good people are simply fighting each other.

Ok Let’s face it, the art is rather outdated by today’s standards. It is fine with me but I do understand it could be an issue for a younger audience. But hey! This was the charm of the Seventies/Eighties! and still thanks to the work of Shingo Araki (Saint Seiya, Lady Oscar) who was the animation director and was involved in the character design, this anime have pretty good art, far better than some seventies or early eighties anime (like Harlock 78 or Ideon).

Because many songs was created for different countries’ audiences, depending on which language you speak, the songs could be very enjoyable: good pop/rock heroic style.

Good character development through the episode as we understand the ties between the heroes. It is easy to feel empathy with the characters even the evil ones as they may be victim of their political system : instrument of a dictatorship, martyr of their people, brainwashed children, idealists blinded by propaganda, traitors and even lovers…It truly shows you and make you wonder how a sick political system can turn nice people into soldiers fighting for a needless war.

French Dubbing involved a great deal of effort and voice talents (especially Michel Gatineau and Daniel Gall), and is very enjoyable. I also heard that the Italian one is very good. Maybe some Russians can tell us about the Russian Dubbing? I have no clue about the English one if any. Maybe some of you can tell us about it...

Overall, this anime is part of a cultural phenomenon in many countries and if you can overcome the aged art, then you will discover a great heroic adventure full of tragedy, optimism and charismatic characters and which have made a whole generation of children dream about future, space and hope for mankind…

It is rather surprising that there was no review yet about what is considered a monument of Japanese animation in the eighties : millions of kids in Europe and South America have watched Captain Future (AKA Capitaine Flam) with passion. The theme (specific for each country) was even on the charts and I do remember hearing it in disco as well!

But let's get back to the review. The Story is based on a SF space opera work written by Edmond Hamilton in the 40s and 50s and published in SF pulp magazine. It depicts, in a distant future, the adventure ... of a young scientist and adventurer Captain Future and his companions whom always assist the earth government regarding impossible missions or strange phenomenons occurring on other planets.

Based on written work and the optimistic elan of the 40s, the story is the strong asset of this anime. Each story is independent and span over 3 or 4 episodes thus giving time for development and suspense. The main character will be confronted with great and original foes and will have to solve enigmas based sometimes on scientific, pseudoscientific theories or concept : dimension travel, space travel, the infinitesimal world, immortality... Love is not forgotten as our hero will have to rescue the charming Johanne.

By today's standard, art and animation are the downsides of this anime produced at the end of the seventies. Dull animation, sometimes flashy or awkward color palette. For me it is not a problem but I understand it could be difficult for younger generation. But don't let this drawback prevent you from watching this compelling anime although!

If you like Jazz music with soul/funk rhythm no doubt that will appreciate the score from Yūji Ōno (Lupin III, Edgar Detective Cambrioleur). Jazz is rather rare nowadays in anime.

Most characters are well conceived and they have their own originality and specific powers (I was amazed by the Professor living brain!). It is easy to identify with them and feel some empathy towards their ordeals.

The French dubbing had involved professional Theater actors voices (especially Philippe Ougouz) and are consequently very enjoyable. The German Dubbing seems well made as well. I do not know about the Italian and Spanish dubbing maybe some of you can tell us. Curiously (If I am correct) only 8 episodes were dubbed in English...

Overall, if you are able to overcome the aged art, you will discover a jewel of space opera SF and compelling epic adventures.

Ulysse 31 illustrates perfectly the idea that combining different cultures expertise may lead to a wonderful result as this anime is a Japanese French production involving artists from both countries. It was made at a time Producers not only want to entertain children but also educate them (in this case about Greek Mythology) in the framework of an anime with a good artistic value. Other examples of such policies are Les mysterieuses cites d’or (The mysterious cities of Gold) and il etait une fois l’homme (once upon a time..man).

Ulysse 31, as you have understood,is a futuristic transposition of the Odyssey ... epic poem and the scene takes place just after the war of Trojan. We follow the adventures and ordeals of Ulysses, young Telemachus and the mysterious Themis throughout their galactic voyage.

The story is based (faithfully or loosely depending on the episode) on the Odyssey and each episode unravels a new mystery that Ulysses have to discover, a new charismatic character that Ulysses have to confront with or a new barrier that the Gods have set for Ulysses. Will he finally reach the Kingdom of Hades and return to the warm heart of his Beloved Penelope?

The story is simply excellent and raises several concepts and ideas such as love, tyranny, religion, fate,drugs, the redundancy of human life... an excellent mean to stimulate a child curiosity and mind as this anime was aim for children. Moreover and this is quite bold, there is not always a happy ending for each episodes : some are tragic, a reminder that life can be harsh sometime... Thanks to the work of Jean Chalopin and Nina Wolmark (Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea : les mondes engloutis).

Art and animation are surprinsigly good for an anime of that period even by Today's Standards. This is mainly due to the famous duo of Shingo Araki / Michi Himeno's Work (Goldorak/Grendizer, cat's eyes, Lady Oscar, Saint Seiya...) and the technical mecha design of Manchu (AKA Philippe Bouchet).

Music score is nice to listen to and match the anime ambiance by its synthpop features.

Most Characters are well conceived and they have their own development. It is easy to identify with them and feel some empathy towards their ordeals.

The French dubbing had involved professional Dramatic Art Theater actors voices (especially Jean Topar) and are consequently very enjoyable. The English Dubbing seems well made as well.

Overall no matter how old you are, this is truly a must see masterpiece and a good introduction to Greek Mythology in general.

Hi no Tori or Phoenix or Firebird is one of those end seventies/eighties movies which worth a look. it is a work of Tezuka (Atom/Astro, Blackjack, Leo Lion King...) whom is often regarded as the father of Manga!! I was therefore rather curious to watch this anime.

The story depicts a dystopia : A young pilot living in a society with genetic engineered individuals born for a precise purpose and belonging to specific classes has to find a mysterious being called 2772... What could that be?

Obviously the story and the art itself have many influences from movies or novels : ... 2001, Alien, a brave new world... which is a positive aspect.

Art and animation are truly wonderful even by today's standards, and the animation can easily match Disney's movies. I was amazed by some scenes and the fluidity of the animation. Back at that time, every frames had to be drawn and colored by hand on celluloids. Besides, some of you will recognize Tezuka classic characters (Black jack, the big nose researcher, the Walrus like old man...)

The score is definitely a great feature of this movie. Wondrous classic music played by a symphonic orchestra conveys strong feelings and ideas even without word. Some parts of the movie are even speechless to let you appreciate this musical work.

This anime addresses many issues and concepts even if I feel it was made for a young audience : Love, struggle for power, ecology, the superficiality of the bourgeoisie, prejudice and ignorance of politics...

There are only 2 downsides : the humourous counterpart characters (2 funny creatures) which are quite often irritating and the rather Oedipal idea underlying the relation of the characters.

Overall this Movie really deserves your interest, no matter your age or generation as it raises many questions and let you pondering it while listening to a magnificent melody.

PS : for French speakers, the anime is dubbed very well in French. Excellent voice acting.