Master Keaton
While a lot of older anime series from companies that no longer exist manage to get picked up from time to time, there’s still a treasure trove of anime series out there that haven’t been picked up and are lost in the sea of titles out there in distress. Some are available through other means, others are simply nearly impossible to find through legal means, sometimes even in Japan due to issues there. From time to time, we’ll take a look at this and see who remembers them, if nostalgia is still ruling the day and if it can find a market out there.
One that surfaced recently is that of Master Keaton, a twenty-four episode TV series that was followed up with a fifteen episode OVA series. The show is based off of the manga of the same name by Hokusei Katsushika and Naoki Urasawa and was broadcast in 1998 with the OVAs following afterwards. It was picked up and released in bilingual DVD format originally by Pioneer before the Geneon Entertainment acquisition and they released the thirty-nine episodes across eight DVD releases, bringing it to conclusion. Sadly, the 18 volume manga series originally published in Big Comic Original between 1988 and 1994 has never been licensed.
Because of the generally low sales, even with Urasawa’s name attached to it during the growing popularity of both Monster and 20th Century Boys, the series never got a complete collection and singles are still available out there. The show did get a Blu-ray release in Japan in 2011, but it was only the original Japanese language release – and it was a 1080i release to boot, which figures in because of the time period it was made and source issues. Unfortunately, even the Japanese release looks pretty horrible because the show is animated with a particular style and it looks like the source is just prone to awful edge enhancement. While the DVD releases looked like VHS transfers, again, partially due to the style that made it look even older, those that picked up the $400 Blu-ray box set essentially got more of the same.
What It’s About:
The amazing Taichi Keaton works on cases around the globe that always lead to adventure! He combines his arsenal of multidisciplinary expertise in investigation, archeology, and survival with his experience as a professor, a Falklands Conflict veteran and a SAS agent to unravel the often dangerous challenges in each riveting episode.
Though there are obviously video quality issues, it’s a thirty-nine episode series with lots of self contained episodes that puts interesting characters in interesting worldwide situations that has them dealing with everything in a generally realistic way. While Keaton does have a few more skills than one might believe, and some of the situations strain credibility once in awhile, it is largely the kind of show that is interesting and engaging, at least for the intended audience of men in the twenties and thirties who aren’t interested in an endless array of singing schoolgirls. With it keeping to the style from its origins in the late 80′s, it definitely has its own look and Madhouse did a solid job in trying to achieve it, though as mentioned, there are plenty of issues that point to either just bad materials or lots of budget cutting to get it done. The show itself just has a lot of charm to it for those wanting to get away from “more of the same” – and it offers a dub that while difficult in a lot of places, is interesting since it works with a small cast that has to continually reinvent European accents for different characters and try and keep it plausible.
Can It Be Saved:
When it comes to this, it’s a difficult situation that may have eased over the years. There was a lot of controversy during the final year or so of the manga back in 2004 where the author had died and Urasawa claimed he had been doing most of the writing for awhile anyway, and that caused some strong reactions among a few of those high up in Shogakukun at the time. That lead to the end of the manga and nothing to be said about the series until the 2011 Blu-ray release, which many will just say is shovelware, and rightly so. But the manga restarted back in 202 with Urasawa returning to do the artwork with Takashi Nagasaki handling the writing chores back in Big Comic Original. Known as Master Keaton Remaster, it advances the storyline by twenty years and once again follows Keaton as he goes on his various investigations across Europe, albeit not quite as limber as he used to be. Because this is out there again, I would not be surprised at a new anime adaptation a few years down the line if the manga does well know. And that could cause a renewed interest in the original.
Would You Save It:
And therein lies the question. I myself would save it as I’m a fan of it and if it’s available, it should be a relatively low cost endeavour that comes with a bilingual presentation already. And if the video quality can be better than what the Geneon DVDs were, that would help gain back a few people. But it’s a title unlikely to get a Blu-ray release for a whole host of reasons, including the source materials itself.
So, would you save it?
If you were a fan, chime in below with your favorite memories of Master Keaton!
