The heights of the bubble economy within Japan during the mid to late 80’s led to the creation of some of the most inventive, unique and ambitious works to date, from the dazzling displays of animation found within theatrical films such as Akira and Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise to the more auteuristic and experimental works such as Angel’s Egg and Robot Carnival, the economic boom allowed for the creations of all types to find their way to the market with audiences champing at the bit to consume the latest and greatest. With the inception of OVA’s paving the way for the home video market and with the success of Nausicaä leading to the creation of the industry’s most successful studio, the incentive to create animation was at an all-time high and it is here amidst this prosperous time filled with creativity that we find Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai, the unlikely story of a families collapse into chaos and anarchy, a story adorned in lavish animation, a stylish Fischinger-esque opening by Koji Nanke, an impeccable soundtrack and a boatload of Coca-Cola product placement.
8/10
Director Mamoru Oshii is known for his unconventional storytelling and nonlinear narratives and Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai might just be the culmination of his experimental tendencies. For starters, each of the six 30 minute episodes are presented as if they are plays on a stage, with the characters breaking the fourth wall and communicating directly with the audience. They do say life is a play after all and so this literal take on the old adage is integrated well. The play aspects of the series goes further with claps, cheers and even comments originating from an invisible audience dispersed at random intervals and parts of the background also flip and turn like props in a play which makes for novel and comedic transitions from scene to scene and from character introductions to character departures. One character for example leaves the room by walking on the spot as a panel beneath her lowers into the ground as a dramatic display of music and lighting effects ensues. Like the story itself, a lot of what takes place within Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai borders on the nonsensical and are near impossible to explain in mere words. This is a show that needs to be seen, and not just because of the bizarre nature of which everything is depicted at but also due to how beautiful the animation itself is.
Although Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai is not home to the most detailed animation, it’s still a marvel and a joy to watch nonetheless. The Satoru Utsunomiya designed characters for one are striking and attractive to the eyes, puppet like in their depiction with small eyes nestled in these big, plain faces and ball joints at each point of articulation and jawlines that makes the face look as if it was carved out of wood, the characters are unique and eye-catching. The show is very character focused with huge bouts of time being devoted to torrents of dialogue being spoken directly towards the camera while little comedic events occur in the far background and so having distinct, interesting looking characters goes a long way here. The dynamic nature of the character movements allows for some kinetic scenes with tonnes of sweeping movements. Even the smallest of character movements and mannerisms have a unique cadence to them such as the way in which the main female character’s hands move side to side as she walks. The simplest of movements are accentuated and exaggerated in comedic ways that plays up the comedic nature of this OVA, not unlike a play or a pantomime. The characters defy both logic and physics as a man is dispensed from a Coca-Cola vending machine, the first of many placements of the world famous beverage. Characters prance and dance around like ballet dancers and others leap from rooftop to rooftop like a skilled ninja all in the name of comedy and accentuation, a means to be as bizarre and as crazy as possible. The comedy in Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai is slapstick and over the top, but that doesn’t mean that the series is devoid of nuance because what looks to be a show that just looks pretty actually has a lot of layers to it as well, many of which become apparent with subsequent viewings.
Indeed Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai can come across like a show that doesn’t explain much of anything but truth being told it actually foreshadows a lot of events in very direct manners. Each episode begins with a 3 minute prelude that focuses on a specific species of bird and their habits and other instincts and tendencies which at first may seem detached from the episode itself but actually foreshadows the events that follow. You see, each episode has a moral theme and so each prologue sets the theme for the episode. The first prelude revolves around the Cuckoo, a bird with peculiar reproductive habits. The bird hides in the distance, stalking other nests that belong to birds such as the bunting and the great reed warbler and when the parents of those nests leave, the female Cuckoo swoops in and deposits its own eggs and promptly leaves, but not before destroying the eggs left by the owner of the nest as a means to keep the number of eggs in the nest unchanged. With this, the mother returns to her nest and unassumingly brings up and raises the child of another bird. The story of a mother exploited by her own offspring, but a son is always a son. At first one may think of these as mere lessons of the wild but indeed the mussing of these little intros are reflected in the episodes themselves. All of that is to say that each episode of Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai has more to say then people may realize and a lot of this is more apparent on subsequent viewings, although many of these themes are more on the nose and obvious than others, it’s a testament to the storytelling and writing displayed here.
The soundtrack is Kenji Kawai at his finest, channeling his work from Patlabor, culminating into an energetic ensemble of piano, electric guitar, keyboards and violins that gets your blood flowing. It’s an electrifying soundtrack that matches the chaotic nature of the OVA and like the visuals it’s varied and diverse too with some dramatic yet hilarious displays of musical theater as characters break into song on a picturesque beach littered with Coca-Cola cans. Maybe it was the Patlabor vibes that the soundtrack gave me but it made me feel oddly nostalgic. Maybe it reminded me of a bygone era of animation. It’s a very charming OVA and the soundtrack goes a long way in accentuating the charisma and grandiose nature of this series. It’s very clear that everyone working on Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai is having fun, basking in every morsel of oddity being thrown at the audience. The show makes up its own rules as the run-time goes on and yet it justifies each and every rule in ways that manage to convince the audience otherwise. In the end, the beauty of animation is the ability that it affords its creators to conjure up something from nothingness, blank pieces of paper turn into worlds filled with imagination that dazzle and take their audiences to places that they’ve never dreamed of. Like a puppeteer they control and contort their worlds, defying logic in the name of entertainment.
Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai is a fun romp, a product of the bubble economy that exists because it can and it’s this mentality that gave birth to some of the greatest works that this medium has ever seen. A cast of imaginative, larger than life characters with a score and art style to match the chaotic nature of this ancestral time traveling escapade that entertains as much as it delights.
8/10
