Our Grand Tour reaches one of its strangest destinations this week as we complete our trilogy of Tezuka Osamu-themed episodes with a look at the Animerama Trilogy, a collection of three experimental animated films for adults created by Mushi Productions between 1969 and 1973. Coinciding with the Japanese New Wave movement and the rise of ‘Pink Films,’ these movies are stylistically anarchic, occasionally graphic, and range from irreverent and immature to startlingly sophisticated. Consisting of 1969’s A Thousand & One Nights, 1970’s Cleopatra, and 1973’s Belladonna of Sadness, all directed by Yamamoto Eiichi, these films were part of a global wave of efforts to make elaborate feature animation aimed squarely at adults, and while none were successful enough to pull Mushi Pro out of bankruptcy, they have endured as a fascinating experiment from a time when anime was still finding itself – and the last film, Belladonna of Sadness, is absolutely a masterpiece within its own right.

Enjoy, and come back next week as we put on our tin-foil hats, get paranoid, and watch the classic 2006 anime Welcome to the N.H.K.!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15

Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 0:31:21

A Thousand & One Nights Review: 0:31:21 – 1:26:29

Eyecatch Break 1: 1:26:29 – 1:27:14

Cleopatra Review: 1:27:14 – 2:09:43

Eyecatch Break 2: 2:09:43 – 2:09:59

Belladonna of Sadness Review: 2:09:59 – 3:25:21

End Theme: 3:25:21 – 3:26:22

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