August 13, 2022 2 min to read

Robot Carnival

Nine Animators. One Vision.

Runtime: 1h 30m

1987

Information is taken from the wikipedia entry, and the IMDB Page where you may view the entire episode free.

Robot Carnival (ロボットカーニバル, Robotto Kānibaru) is a Japanese anthology original video animation (OVA) and anime film released in 1987 by A.P.P.P. In North America, it was released in 1991 in theaters by Streamline Pictures with the order of the segments slightly rearranged.

The film consists of nine shorts by different well-known directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience. Each has a distinctive animation style and story, ranging from comedic to dramatic storylines. The music was composed by Joe Hisaishi and Isaku Fujita and arranged by Joe Hisaishi, Isaku Fujita, and Masahisa Takeichi.

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Streamline Pictures English dub

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 versions of the English-dub of the release 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 OVA. 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. Carl Macek stated with certainty that the reason for the “shuffling of segments” was due to considerations regarding the theatrical exploitation of the OVA.

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 theatrical release in a manageable state, the segments 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 required for international distribution available; therefore, it was mutually decided to create this new closing