I watched Kyoufu Kaiki! Frankenstein (also known as Monster of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Legend of Terror). An Anime movie from 1981 based on Frankenstein. I watched the Dub that was made in 1984, so one of the older Dubs out there. Most of the voice cast seems to not be VAs I’m used to, but Emily sounds like Nunnally from Code Geass.
The movie was enjoyable, but flawed. For the first half it seemed like they were dropping the usually sympathetic depiction of the Monster. When it does come into play, it makes the first half feel poorly executed.
It’s clearly a mainly Universal films inspired project. Somehow they got away with even using the look for the Monster (who gets named Franken here) that Universal owns the Copyright to. Though evidence the writers had read the book exists maybe in that this is a rare film where like the novel Victor Frankenstein rejects his creation immediately.
There is a take on the Blind man who’s nice to the Monster, taken from The Novel but mostly made famous by Bride of Frankenstein.
The movie gives Victor and Elizabeth a daughter, named Emily. While that is new, Emily seems inspired by the girl who gets thrown into the pond in the 1931 James Whale film, they don’t recreate that scene, but numerous hints tell me that is the case. Of course you could also compare her to the little girl from Ghost of Frankenstein. She also shows that Moe in Anime is nothing new.
Inspector Belbo seems very Columbo inspired, how popular was that show in Japan?