Robot Carnival

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Robot Carnival
Robot Carnival poster.png
Directed by Atsuko Fukushima
Katsuhiro Otomo
Koji Morimoto
Hidetoshi Omori
Yasuomi Umetsu
Hiroyuki Kitazume
Mao Lamdo
Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Takashi Nakamura
Music by Isaku Fujita
Joe Hisaishi
Masahisa Takeichi
Release dates
  • July 21, 1987 (1987-07-21) (Japan)
Running time
90 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese

Robot Carnival (ロボット・カーニバル Robotto Kānibaru?) is a Japanese anime anthology film released in 1987. It consists of nine shorts by different directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience. This film has gained a small cult following.



Opening: Directed by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo.[1] The opening 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 a decayed, rusted, malfunctioning, engine of destruction.

Franken's Gears: Directed by Koji Morimoto.[1] A crazy scientist tries to give life to his robot with lightning, just like Frankenstein. When it comes to life, the robot copies everything the scientist does. Overjoyed, the scientist dances with glee, trips, and falls. Seeing this, the robot dances, trips, and falls on the scientist, killing him.

Deprive: Directed by Hidetoshi Omori.[1] In this segment an alien invasion of robot footsoldiers attacks a city and kidnap people, including a young girl. Her companion, an android, is damaged, but retains her locket. A human with superhuman abilities is then seen who goes through waves of robots before being stopped by two powerful robots. Captured by the alien leader he is tortured, but it is also revealed to be the android from earlier, now upgraded into a combat android with a human disguise. Defeating the two powerful robots and the alien leader, he rescues the girl. Running through the wasteland carrying her, the girl eventually wakes up and recognizes his new form because of the locket he still has.

Presence: Directed by Yasuomi Umetsu.[1] This segment (featuring dialogue) tells the story of a man who has an obsession with a robot girl 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 robot 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. Twenty years later, the man has a vision of his robot appearing before him, but then blowing up before he can take her hand. He returns to his shed to find the robot still sitting smashed in a corner, just as she had been left years earlier. Another twenty years elapse, and the robot 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. This is the first short that contains intelligible dialogue (characters in Opening speak in gibberish), but little of it is actually spoken on-screen - all but a few lines are given in voice-over, or with the speaker's mouth obscured.

Star Light Angel: Directed by Hiroyuki Kitazume.[1] A shōjo story, featuring teenage girls at a robot themed amusement park who are friends. One of the girls finds that her lover is now going out with her friend. Running away in tears she finds her way to a virtual reality ride. Though pleasant at first, her memory causes the ride to summon a giant laser breathing mecha. However, one of the park's robots finds himself in the role of knight in shining armor, allowing her to let go of her darker emotions, and to move forward in her life. While at first confusing, this is deceptive, as many of the elements are logical in hindsight. The visual style of this segment was heavily influenced by the music video for A-Ha's "Take on Me."[2]

Cloud: Directed by Mao Lamdo.[1] This short features a robot walking through time, and the evolution of man. The backdrop is animated with clouds that depicts various events of the universe, such as the modernization of man as well as the self-destruction of man. Most the events in the backdrops take place from Rome to present day society. Eventually the same angel who cries for his immortality makes him human towards the end.

A Tale of Two Robots—Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion: Directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo.[1] This is set in the nineteenth century and features two "giant robots" directed from within by a human crew. In the style of a movie serial of the sound era, a Westerner in his giant robot attempts to take over Japan, but is challenged by locals operating a "machine made for the parade"—a Japanese giant robot. The style of this segment is somewhat reminiscent of a Japanese World War II-era propaganda film. Despite the title of this segment, there is no known prequel or sequel. The voice acting of this piece are a mix of English and Japanese with the Westerner speaking English and the Japanese speaking their language.

Nightmare: Directed by Takashi Nakamura.[1] The city of Tokyo is overrun by its machines, as they all come alive for a night of revelry, with only a single, drunken human (Chicken Man) awake to witness it.

Ending: Directed by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo. The Robot Carnival is stopped by a dune in the desert. Unable to climb the sandy obstruction, 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, we see the platform chug forward with a sudden burst of power and crest over the dune in its way. 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 film's credits are then shown concluding with an epilogue.

Epilogue: Years later a man discovers an orb among the remains and brings it back to his family. It is a music box featuring a miniature robot ballerina. As it dances, the children applaud. The ballerina finishes its dance with a leap into the air and explodes, blowing up the shack where the family lived, leaving "END" in enormous letters lying in its place as the only survivor, the family's pet llama, struggles to regain his footing.

DVD release[edit]

The film has never received an official Region 1 DVD release. At one point, Super Techno Arts, an American division of A.P.P.P., announced plans to release a Region 1 Robot Carnival DVD, but it has yet to be released. On February 3, 2015, Discotek Media announced their license to Robot Carnival and will be released on DVD for the first time.[3]

A Limited Edition Region 2 DVD of Robot Carnival was released in Japan.

English dub[edit]

The script for the English-dubbed version of "A Tale of Two Robots" is slightly different from the original Japanese version and even adds a few lines that are not present in the original version. In addition, a passing reference to Japan's 1854 opening to foreign trade is removed and the foreign antagonist's English dialogue is re-recorded. Some have criticized Streamline's dubbing of the Japanese characters as being stereotypical and racist.

Some versions of the English-dub of the film released by Streamline Pictures shuffled the order of the segments and modified the "Ending" segment by removing the still images of the "Robot Carnival," placing the two animated segments next to each other, and placing all of the credits at the very end of the film. The still images of the "Robot Carnival" were most likely removed due to Streamline's practice of removing all onscreen kanji from their anime releases in order to "Americanize" them. Streamline's producer Carl Macek stated with certainty that the reason for the "shuffling of segments" was due to considerations regarding the theatrical exploitation of the film. The various segments were received separately and then subsequently assembled to fill out 2000 ft reels. In order to keep the actual distribution of the film manageable the films were arranged to minimize reel changes - otherwise it would have required additional reels and therefore additional reel changes to keep the product in its original order and would have added to the cost of the distribution. The decision was mutually agreed upon between Streamline and APPP Regarding the credit sequence and the use of still images - the original production company did not have the proper neutral closing credits available that are required for international distribution, therefore it was mutually decided to create this new closing.[4]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Salvaggio, Tony (January 5, 2004). "Anime at the Alamo". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2011-06-26. 
  2. ^ Robot Carnival Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. (CD liner notes). JVC Musical Industries, Inc. 1991.
  3. ^ "Robot Carnival". Facebook. 2015-02-03. 
  4. ^ "ANNCast - Macek Training". 

External links[edit]