Shadows and Tall Trees

By: Nadia Oxford
Date: Sunday, October 01, 2006

Certain pictures and ideals surface when the 1980's are brought into a conversation. People born and reared in the era talk about Star Wars, the funny clothes, the over-synthesised music, the grey-plastic reign of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and, of course, the cartoons.

Children from the 80's loved their cartoons. They still do. DVD producers are getting fat off cartoon box sets dripping with nostalgia. Mentioning the name of any retro offering will launch an enthusiast into a monologue like touching a match to a cat's tail: Ninja Turtles, Captain N, Wuzzles, He-Man, She-Ra, Transformers ... bring a tranquiliser, or you'll never escape.

Or you can ask your friend, "What animes do you remember from the 1980's?"

You might get a blank stare, and that's your chance to run. Or else you might compound the banter tenfold. Good try, anyway.

Anime was pretty plentiful in the 80's, although a lot of kids had no idea they were watching something from across the sea. It's not surprising. Small kids don't want to associate their cartoon heroes with the same mundane "real world" that harbours schoolwork and parents' rules, so they don't care much about who voiced Goku (Ian Corlett) or drew his left arm. Even detail-oriented youngsters had little way of knowing about anime ... animation credits were often cut, or altered to credit English staff members only.

Last week, I mentioned a couple of animes from 1980: The adventures of a young space-faring loner, The Little Prince and the story of a boy and his dog, Belle and Sebastian. Anime imported today is often based on manga (as is typical in Japan), or a product like a game or a toy. But a lot of anime brought over to America in the 80's was, interestingly, based on literature, The Little Prince and Belle and Sebastian being no exception.


There was more, and one such anime was based on arguably the finest book ever published: Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz didn't stray too far from its source material. A vicious tornado whips young Dorothy and her little terrier, Toto, into the mystical land of Oz. Along the way she meets a brainless Scarecrow, a heartless Tinman and a lily-livered Lion. Adventures ensue on a road of the yellow-brick variety, and along the way there are witches, wizards, and a big green city.

Anime and fantastic worlds like Oz were made for each other. Japan is a country steeped in legends of killer beasts and trickster spirits, and Oz's multitude of monsters came to life in the anime rendition of the tale. On the road to the Emerald City--and out of it--Dorothy and her companions have to deal with giant killer trees, vicious tiger-bears, and the Witch's ever-famous troupe of flying monkeys.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz also provided a great opportunity for children to advance to a cartoon with a continuous storyline, away from the episode-oriented cartoons they were used to on Saturday morning television. Even very young kids are familiar with the general story of Oz, and following Dorothy's ongoing adventure was not hard for someone who knew even the bare basics of Baum's legend.

Unfortunately, the anime was not legendary for its quality voice work. The series was dubbed by Cinar, a French-Canadian cartoon studio responsible for travesties such as Caillou, a series for toddlers starring a very annoying little boy. If you have the cash to blow off, there is a box set available for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Well worth the money if you were at all fond of the series as a child.

Or, if you're a young, strapping male, maybe watching a little girl skip down a golden lane was a bit much for your budding manhood to endure. Since animals with a vendetta is always an acceptable theme for a cartoon, you might have opted for another old anime offering: The Fables of the Green Forest.

It's not clear when Thornton W Burgess wrote his books about animal friends living life in a lush forest; enthusiasts date his stories as far back as the 1800's. In 1979, the forest adventures were transitioned to animation and debuted in Japan as Rocky Chuck the Mountain Rat (Yama Nezumi Rokky Chyakku). The series was released and re-released under a couple of names in North America, including Peter Cottontail and Friends (an odd choice, since Peter, a rabbit, was not much of a lead role in the anime, unlike Chuck and Polly, two woodchucks) and, most famously, "The Fables of the Green Forest."

Green Forest's content was three parts Disney and one part Watership Down. The nice herbivore animals--squirrels, rabbits and woodchucks--made friends, talked to each other civilly, and did happy animal things in the happy forest. Nothing else would really be expected from an American children's cartoon, but The Green Forest was, in fact, a children's anime, and there are small but significant differences between the two.

Japanese anime, even the stuff for kids, is well-known for being a little less hesitant to show the realities of life (even if said "reality" is played out by talking animals wearing clothes--including a Granny Fox in a shawl). The herbivore animals in The Green Forest are stalked by carnivores, and a tricky fox in particular. The ever-hungry fox is not deterred easily by trickery or morals. If Peter Cottontail is incapacitated by a thorn in his foot, tough nuts for him; predator-prey relationships are not known for good sportsmanship. But the fox is not without his own worries. Man stalks the forest too, an unseen threat that is only known by his calling card ... brutal leg traps and snares.

The rabbits and squirrels are never actually caught and eaten by carnivores, nor do we ever see any animals bleed their life away in man-traps. That's what made The Fables of the Green Forest a great anime to grow up with; it did a good job of blending children's entertainment and a sort-of nature documentary. Today's offerings are often made toothless by the "editing" process or chopped to bits to cater to a generation supposedly stricken with Attention-Deficit Disorder. An animated adventure with a natural balance, so to speak, is far preferable.