Robot Carnival: Difference between revisions

 

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===”Presence”===

===”Presence”===

{{nihongo|”Presence”|プレゼンス|Purezensu}}, one of only two segments featuring intelligible dialogue, tells the story of a man who has an obsession with a [[gynoid]] he has been secretly constructing in an attempt to compensate for the lack of any close relationship with his wife and family. The setting seems to be British and of the early twentieth century, but also suggests another planet or a future which has attempted to re-establish a former social structure. When the gynoid takes on a personality of her own, far beyond what the man had programmed, he smashes her in a fit of panic, and leaves his secret laboratory for what he believes is the last time. Many years later, the man has a vision of his gynoid appearing before him, but then blowing up before he can take her hand. He returns to his shed to find the gynoid still sitting smashed in a corner, just as she had been left years earlier. Many more years elapse, and the gynoid appears again before the man. This time, he takes her hand and walks into the distance with her, before vanishing in front of his shocked wife.

{{nihongo|”Presence”|プレゼンス|Purezensu}}, one of only two segments featuring intelligible dialogue, tells the story of a man who has an obsession with a [[]] he has been secretly constructing in an attempt to compensate for the lack of any close relationship with his wife and family. The setting seems to be British and of the early twentieth century, but also suggests another planet or a future which has attempted to re-establish a former social structure. When the takes on a personality of her own, far beyond what the man had programmed, he smashes her in a fit of panic, and leaves his secret laboratory for what he believes is the last time. Many years later, the man has a vision of his appearing before him, but then blowing up before he can take her hand. He returns to his shed to find the still sitting smashed in a corner, just as she had been left years earlier. Many more years elapse, and the appears again before the man. This time, he takes her hand and walks into the distance with her, before vanishing in front of his shocked wife.

Little of the dialogue is actually spoken on-screen; all but a few lines are given in voice-over, or with the speaker’s mouth obscured.

Little of the dialogue is actually spoken on-screen; all but a few lines are given in voice-over, or with the speaker’s mouth obscured.

1987 anime anthology film

Robot Carnival (ロボットカーニバル, Robotto Kānibaru) is a Japanese anthology original video animation (OVA) and anime film released in 1987.

The film consists of nine shorts by different well-known directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience.^[1] Each has a distinctive animation style and story, ranging from comedic to dramatic storylines. The music was composed by Joe Hisaishi and Isaku Fujita and arranged by Joe Hisaishi, Isaku Fujita, and Masahisa Takeichi.

Segments[edit]

“Opening” / “Ending”[edit]

The “Opening” (オープニング, Ōpuningu) takes place in a desert. A boy finds a small “coming soon” poster advertising the Robot Carnival, and becomes frightened and agitated. He warns the people in his village, most likely to escape, when a huge machine with many robots performing in niches on its exterior grinds its way right over the village. Once a magnificent traveling showcase, it is now heavily rusted, damaged by decades of weathering in the desert, while its many machines wreak havoc as the village is destroyed beneath its might.

In the “Ending” (エンディング, Endingu) segment (the ninth segment of the OVA), the Robot Carnival is stopped by a dune in the desert. Unable to climb it, the Carnival stalls at its base. As the sun sets over the traveling relic, flashback stills recall the grandeur of the Carnival at the peak of its existence – an unparalleled engine of mirth that brought timeless joy to the various cities it visited. At sunrise, the gigantic machine charges forward with a burst of power, and surmounts the dune. The final push proves to be too much for the aged contraption, and it finally goes to pieces in the desert. The bulk of the OVA’s credits are then shown concluding with an epilogue.

In the epilogue at the end of the credits, set several years later, a man discovers an orb among the remains and brings it back to his family. It is a music box, featuring one of the carnival’s robot ballerinas. As it dances, the children applaud. The ballerina finishes its dance with a leap into the air; the explosion that follows destroys the shack where the family lived, leaving “END” in enormous letters lying in its place. The family’s pet llama, seemingly the only survivor, struggles to regain its…