I've heard all about the trials and tribulations of producing an anime from my anime buddy over the years, and among some of them, "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia"（不思議の海のナディア...Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water) and the legendary "Evangelion" suffered quite a few setbacks (if I'm not mistaken, these two were under the aegis of Hideaki Anno who had his own demons to slay). Apparently, that was also the case with a 1980s mecha anime called "Chō Kōsoku Galvion"（超攻速ガルビオン...Super High Speed Galvion） that ended up not being too popular and even its one run got truncated by a number of episodes due to its sponsor going belly-up just a few months after its premiere in February1984.
That was kinda too bad since its opening theme, "Lonely Chaser", by Riyuko Tanaka（田中利由子）wasn't too bad at all. Written by Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and composed by Masayuki Yamamoto（山本正之）, the song has a catchy beat and is arranged in that 80s way reminding me of all of those scenes in Hollywood action movies back in the day when the main characters show up in a disco or aerobics studio in Los Angeles.
As for Tanaka, she started in showbiz when she was 16 as a magazine model after which she shifted into recording commercial jingles and anime theme songs. It wasn't too long after that she made another transition into jazz.
The above video here is Episode 22 which was the last aired episode of "Galvion" out of a scheduled 26 episodes (supposedly) according to the Wikipedia article on the show. The June 1984 No. 22 did finish but then a 35-second segment was tacked onto the end with a dramatic voiceover explaining what was to happen to everyone while stills of the characters popped up. FIN
That was a really cool song, and this anime looks like it could have been a bigger hit if it had not been for Transformers and GoBots still taking most kids’ attention away, and for both Kokusai Eigasha & Takatoku Toys, financial hardships.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was too bad about the fate of "Galvion" and all others involved.
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