Gatchaman

Gatchaman 
Designed by 芦村俊一 Shunichi ASHIMURA
Folded by Michael Sanders 
6.9" x 6.9" Japanese kami

It's popular to bag on BotP as an inferior product to the original Gatch, but...Been browsing through episodes last night and today on YouTube and I must say, even the watered-down, sanitized version is a superior product to so much of what we were used to seeing in the States, as a kid back in the 70s and 80s.

I grew up on mostly BotP; but my mom being Japanese and us spending summer vacations in Japan throughout the 70s and 80s, I was also familiar with the original version of Gatchaman and Fighter. BotP still captured quite a bit of the flavor and has its own charm. (I abhor the other English translation/incarnations of the original- makes me shudder). I love the voice actors. Jason remains my favorite, as I had a bit of the sulking loner in me, if not the hotheadedness of Jason; feeling a bit like the number two man, growing up. I loved his whole look and personality and the storylines that focused on him. Since I wasn't fully fluent in Japanese, and only saw just a handful of episodes during my summer months in Japan, BotP filtered the stories and characters to me much more than Gatchaman did. I definitely knew even as a kid that the version I was watching back in the States was Americanized with animation that was totally different, as well as character additions (7-Zark-7); that the Japanese original was more violent.

I love the original music; but I think the BotP music by Hoyt Curtin is also very good.

When I was in Japan one summer, I wanted the soundtrack really badly and had my mom help me shop for the LP. What we brought home disappointed me at the time because it sounded nothing like what I was expecting; but over time, I really loved it (this was the Symphonic Suite).

I love both Gatchman and BotP. Total childhood nostalgia for me. My friends were always a bit jealous of me because I would come back from Japan with all sorts of cool toys and products while all we could get here were Shogun Warriors, micronauts, BotP lunch pails, BotP boardgame, and not much else.

Condor Joe is my favorite (Jason).  I like Mark.  But it's Joe/Jason, the number two guy, who resonated with me.