The Robot Carnival feature film is one of those projects that, in some ways, definitely felt a bit dated when it arrived decades ago. But some of that was intentional in trying to create a world with robots at times that had fallen behind the latest and shiniest thing. The film has seen a number of releases over the years from a few different distributors and now the folks at RetroCrush have decided to stream the film for free on their YouTube channel. They’re also working through some of the individual segments from it as they do standalone pretty well and have kicked it off with Star Light Angel.
Check out our review of the film.
- Opening 0:44
- Star Light Angel 5:14
- Cloud 14:24
- Deprive 26:21
- Franken’s Gears 33:24
- Presence 43:06
- A Tale of Two Robots, Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion 1:02:36
- Chicken Man and Red Neck (Nightmare) 1:13:59
- Ending 1:24:11
Segment 1: Opening (オープニング)
A boy finds a small “coming soon” poster advertising the Robot Carnival, and becomes frightened and agitated.
Director / Scenario / Storyboards: Katsuhiro Otomo
Character Designer / Key Animation: Atsuko Fukushima
Backgrounds: Nizō Yamamoto
Sound Effects: Kazutoshi Satō
Segment 2: Star Light Angel
Two teenage girls gets into trouble at a robot-themed amusement park. One of the girls finds that her boyfriend is now going out with her friend. Running away in tears, she finds her way to a virtual reality ride.
Director / Scenario / Character Designer: Hiroyuki Kitazume
Backgrounds: Yui Shimazaki
Sound Effects: Kenji Mori
Segment 3: Cloud
A lonely robot walks through time, and the evolution of man.
Director / Scenario / Character Designer / Backgrounds / Key Animation: Manabu Ōhashi
Animation: Hatsune Ōhashi, Shiho Ōhashi
Sound Effects: Swara Pro
Music: Isaku Fujita
Segment 4: Deprive
An alien invasion of robot foot soldiers attacks a city and kidnaps a young girl. Her companion, an android, is damaged in the process. Later, a mysterious man with superhuman abilities is then seen fighting waves of alien robots.
Director / Scenario / Character Designer: Hidetoshi Ōmori
Backgrounds: Kenji Matsumoto
Sound Effects: Jun’ichi Sasaki
Segment 5: Franken’s Gears (フランケンの歯車)
A mad scientist tries to give life to his robot with lightning, just like Frankenstein.
Director / Scenario / Character Designer: Koji Morimoto
Backgrounds: Yūji Ikehata
Sound Effects: Kazutoshi Satō
Segment 6: Presence (プレゼンス)
A man develops 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.
Director / Scenario / Character Designer: Yasuomi Umetsu
Animation Production Assistance: Shinsuke Terasawa, Hideki Nimura
Backgrounds: Hikaru Yamakawa
Sound Effects: Kenji Mori
Segment 7: A Tale of Two Robots, Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion (明治からくり文明奇譚〜紅毛人襲来之巻〜)
Set in nineteenth century Japan, a Western invader in his giant robot attempts to take over Japan, but is challenged by locals operating a Japanese giant robot created for parade tricks.
Director / Scenario: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Character Designer: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Mechanical Designer: Mahiro Maeda
Animation Assistance: Kazuaki Mōri, Yuji Moriyama, Kumiko Kawana
Backgrounds: Hiroshi Sasaki
Sound Effects: Jun’ichi Sasaki
Segment 8: Chicken Man and Red Neck (ニワトリ男と赤い首)
The city of Tokyo is overrun by machines, turned into robots of all shapes and sizes by a robotic magician, the titular Red Neck. They all come alive for a night of revelry, with only a single, drunken human (Chicken Man) awake to witness it.
Director / Scenario / Character Designer: Takashi Nakamura
Backgrounds: Hiroshige Sawai
Sound Effects: Junichi Sasaki
Segment 9: Ending (エンディング)
The Robot Carnival is stopped by a dune in the desert. Unable to climb the sandy obstruction, the Carnival stalls at its base.
Director / Scenario / Storyboards: Katsuhiro Otomo
Character Designer / Key Animation: Atsuko Fukushima
Backgrounds: Nizō Yamamoto
Sound Effects: Kazutoshi Satō
Plot Concept: A visual treat for the eyes and the mind, Robot Carnival is a Japanese anthology collection of nine short films. From funny to dramatic, artistic to entertaining, each story reaches towards the furthest corners of time and space to bring you a tale of robots, and the people who make them.
