Robot Carnival (1991)
Director: Atsuko Fukushima (segments “Coming Soon” and “See You Again”), Hiroyuki Kitakubo(segment “A Tale of Two Robots”), Hiroyuki Kitazume (segment “Starlight Angel”), Mao Lamdao (segment “Clouds”), Kouji Morimoto (segment “Franken’s Gear”), Takashi Nakamura (segment “Nightmare”), Hidetoshi Omori (segment “Deprive”), Yasuomi Umetsu (segment “Presence”), Katsuhiro Ôtomo (segments “Coming Soon” and “See You Again”)
Cast: Koji Moritsugu, Yayoi Maki, Keiko Hanagata
Plot: This is a Fantasia-like anthology of robots. The most noble are Presence, Deprive, and Nightmare. Nightmare is the story of an evil, cybernetic overlord that rises one night and unleashes its robotic servants. Deprive is a science fiction tale of a young girl who has been abducted by an invading army of robots, and only a mysterious cyborg can help her. Presence is about a young toy-maker who makes a beautiful, female cyborg. When she becomes “a bit too real”, he destroys her, only to be haunted by her spirit for the rest of his life.
An actually interesting anime omnibus for once, mostly because the segments, all dealing with robots and the notion of robotics, are so disparate in their inspirations and aesthetics. The segments are short, and there is a larger pool of talent on display here than in other omnibus films. Animation director Katsuhiro Otomo, of Akira fame, contributes a bombastic initial title sequence and an ending segment that serves as a bit of a wraparound.
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