PL was my introduction to Urushihara in the 90s and dang is his work stunning. He is up there for me together with Shirow (Ghost in the Shell) and Sonoda (Gunsmith Cats). Those three guys alone shaped my view on female leads and how to write and portray them without being Mary Sues.
They are all well written female leads, strong yet also vulnerable at times. Whether you are male or female you can relate to someone like that. I am def not a fan of Mary Sues, they are so braindead. I don't particularly remember my intro to Urushihara. I think it was just a matter of stumbling onto his art while looking into anime things. I do know at one point I bought an artbook with his work in it, though.
Still gets some traction here in Japan, at least in print. You can buy the omnibus type format for a few of the books still. The anime though remains obscure as hell. But if you were around in those days the tig'ol bitties genre was over populated so a lot of those fell through the cracks of time. And this artist in particular is so stupendously prolific I wonder if he even remembers he made this lol.
Woah I didn't think it had any traction anywhere. That's really cool. Yeah , I remember plenty of tig 'ol bitty anime from around that time, I didn't really go for them, but there is one I was thinking about covering, but I'll keep that a secret for now. I like surprises. You also bring up a good point, I wonder how much influence Plastic Little had over Urushihara and what he thinks of it.
@@TheRerunLounge Hard to say, he has always been drawing the cheesecake and even goes full on hardcore ecchi with a few of his works both in animation and print. It is more the case of the influence he has had on artists here. A lot of stuff is a direct derivative of his works. More interestingly, perhaps as a topic, would be the side genre to the tig'ol bitty genre. The girl action team genre. Which had plenty of fan service to be sure but offered some fun outings. Like Sol Bianca.
The great part about the OVA boom was that you got amazing looking little works like this that didn't feel like they were holding back on what they knew the audience wanted when it came to fanservice while still delivering on the action, but the downside is that so many of the good ones were one-shots or only got a few episodes. Also, as silly as something like the jiggle counter was, it was nice in that era to have localizers who seemed to appreciate the ecchi aspects of what they were bringing over as much as the audience did.
Yeah, many OVAs go all in and cater to specific audiences which is really great. Having a one-shot/few episodes vs an entire series, really helps make that possible. Also, yeah, in a way the jiggle counter does show the care and humor that localizers put in. It was strange and short-lived, but it also made for fun marketing.
When I was looking into him a bit, I noticed he did do a lot of work on vehicle design and similar things in other anime. Must be awesome to be able to not only design awesome characters, but also amazing vehicles and the like.
Growlanser does the skin tight armor too, but it's actually thought out and well written (there's worldbuilding reasons that it's so tight and fashionable).
I love Plastic Little and Urushihara's work in general. I have this on VHS and DVD, and I used to have a wall scroll of it. Fun fact: Plastic Little was dubbed around the time that Neon Genesis Evangelion was, and used some of the same actors, but in a twist the two lead actresses traded introvert/extrovert characters... Tita = Amanda Winn Lee = Rei Elysse = Tiffany Grant = Asuka Nichol = Spike Spencer = Shinji
Lol I noticed that witch Amanda Winn Lee. I didn't know about Tiffany Grant and Asuka, though. I probs should have known this, though, considering Asuka is my fav, but I didn't really get into VAs until recently.
I remember being a teenager, owning a VHS that had an ad for Plastic Little. Being a high schooler who was unsurpsingly, very interested in ecchi, I really wanted to see it but never got around to it. I basically forgot all about until I stumbled on your video, I appreciate you talking about it, less for reminding me of it, but moreso for the odd sense of nostalgia I got for something I didn't get a chance to fully experience for myself. I am in my mid 30's now, so ecchi isn't something I care at all about anymore, but it was still neat to see a bit more about this anime.
I first got the DVD when I was in high school, myself, and based on the cover I didn't know it was as ecchi as it was! I hade the cover with Tita fully clothed as opposed to the one where She, Elysse, and Mei are in bikinis. I'm also glad that the video gave you a nice dose of nostalgia lol. try to seek out the anime so you can experience it at least once. It's a fun little watch.
It really is. Hold on to that DVD! And, man, I miss that aesthetic every day, both 80s and 90s anime aesthetic are my fav. I never got into the early 2000s look (animecore as it's called today) or the moeblobs of the late 2000's. I'm happy with modern anime aesthetics, but they just don't hit the same. I intend to cover more 80s anime in the future, but I have been on a 90s kick recently lol.
Not only did Urishihara put a lot of detail into his artwork of breasts, but he went to the trouble of making them different shapes and sizes. Tita laments that she is smaller than the other girls in the cast (she's a teenager) but it isn't the usual trope of everybody having the same three faces and bodies where this girl is just a little smaller. Neither she nor Elise are fully developed but they are both quite different. And the same extends to faces and character designs. Every character is distinct and recognizable. Unfortunately, as good as Urishihara is at art, he is better when he is drawing someone else's story. While I believe Plastic Little was his concept, he at least got a good partner to write the story. Which is good because it is a little bare of plot.The characters are appealing though, and Tita is fun to root for.
And I'll spell out what we're all hanging around, if TH-cam will let me get away with using the word. Urishihara draws extremely detailed nipples. Not over the top or exaggerated, just natural. He draws breasts that look real.
Oh, yes he did put a lot of care into that aspect of his art, and it is something I appreciate as an artist, myself. Originally, I planned to cover his art a tad more in the video, but I felt it distracted too much from the main focus which was the OVA. Also, when I referenced how recognizable his art of non-clothed characters are, you knew exactly what I was talking about lol, well that and how he draws below the belt.
This certainly looked pretty, but felt a bit slight. Interesting that the OVA era tended to have more adult characters, even Tita here is supposed to be 18, if I recall correctly.
I suppose there were more adult protags since many OVAs were marketed towards an older crowd. Many shows today seem to have younger protags, probably because the interest in anime has broadened a bit and there is more money in a younger crowd. Of course, I am just making some observations here, I can't say for certain.
I love this one and Legend of Lemnear, wish they would get blu ray release. I really wish they got more(movies, TV series, etc.) Hell I wish Satoshi Urushihara did a lot more anime, manga, video game designs, etc.
Legend of Lemnear is what I'm going to watch next. I need another helping Urushihara anime designs in motion lol. Also, yes, I would like to see some blu-ray releases of more older anime like this.
Excellent video Remmy! I remember plastic little. It was a really good watch. Wasn't Tita jealous of Elise's... err... "assets" at one point? Also, Elise and her dad are reverse Shadow and Maria.
I haven't seen much of CM, myself, but it's on my watch list. Though, I have seen DS. I do think DS has some very pretty animation at times. I can see where your coming from, though, sometimes older anime like this can go under appreciated just because it gets buried/forgotten because a lot of people pay more attention to bigger and more popular anime from today.
I'd argue that the standards are different when comparing a TV show that airs weekly to an OVA (or to a movie). The amount of time a production is able to devote to each minute of animation has a huge impact on the animation quality. Also, the majority of people talking about 2020s shounen titles aren't familiar with 80s/90s OVAs.
Yeah , it is a nice watch and doesn't take too much time to invest in. I recently saw the VHS for sale unopened on ebay, and had to resist buying it lol. I'm not a VHS collector, but the novelty of having it was alluring.
PL was my introduction to Urushihara in the 90s and dang is his work stunning. He is up there for me together with Shirow (Ghost in the Shell) and Sonoda (Gunsmith Cats). Those three guys alone shaped my view on female leads and how to write and portray them without being Mary Sues.
Gunsmith cats is choice dude. I have all of the Manga
They are all well written female leads, strong yet also vulnerable at times. Whether you are male or female you can relate to someone like that. I am def not a fan of Mary Sues, they are so braindead.
I don't particularly remember my intro to Urushihara. I think it was just a matter of stumbling onto his art while looking into anime things. I do know at one point I bought an artbook with his work in it, though.
Still gets some traction here in Japan, at least in print. You can buy the omnibus type format for a few of the books still. The anime though remains obscure as hell. But if you were around in those days the tig'ol bitties genre was over populated so a lot of those fell through the cracks of time. And this artist in particular is so stupendously prolific I wonder if he even remembers he made this lol.
Woah I didn't think it had any traction anywhere. That's really cool. Yeah , I remember plenty of tig 'ol bitty anime from around that time, I didn't really go for them, but there is one I was thinking about covering, but I'll keep that a secret for now. I like surprises.
You also bring up a good point, I wonder how much influence Plastic Little had over Urushihara and what he thinks of it.
@@TheRerunLounge Hard to say, he has always been drawing the cheesecake and even goes full on hardcore ecchi with a few of his works both in animation and print. It is more the case of the influence he has had on artists here. A lot of stuff is a direct derivative of his works. More interestingly, perhaps as a topic, would be the side genre to the tig'ol bitty genre. The girl action team genre. Which had plenty of fan service to be sure but offered some fun outings. Like Sol Bianca.
The great part about the OVA boom was that you got amazing looking little works like this that didn't feel like they were holding back on what they knew the audience wanted when it came to fanservice while still delivering on the action, but the downside is that so many of the good ones were one-shots or only got a few episodes. Also, as silly as something like the jiggle counter was, it was nice in that era to have localizers who seemed to appreciate the ecchi aspects of what they were bringing over as much as the audience did.
Yeah, many OVAs go all in and cater to specific audiences which is really great. Having a one-shot/few episodes vs an entire series, really helps make that possible.
Also, yeah, in a way the jiggle counter does show the care and humor that localizers put in. It was strange and short-lived, but it also made for fun marketing.
I remember my late wife and I arguing with the Jiggle Counter as to what counted.
A Jiggle Counter? I wanna have a beer with that guy. Creative, Funny and Guaranteed to offend someone
It's def a unique gimmick. I wasn't too into it, but it is def silly for at least one viewing of the OVA.
This is 90's anime aesthetics peak.
I think the author also designed the mechas for the game Cybernator but the characters have his style.
When I was looking into him a bit, I noticed he did do a lot of work on vehicle design and similar things in other anime. Must be awesome to be able to not only design awesome characters, but also amazing vehicles and the like.
Urushihara did the designs for Growlanser, my favorite game series ever!
Growlanser does the skin tight armor too, but it's actually thought out and well written (there's worldbuilding reasons that it's so tight and fashionable).
Dang I should have mentioned Growlanser a bit in the vid! I did come across it a bit.
Urushibara also done Langrisser and still occasionally does official art. Also does more technically doujin art of it.
I love Plastic Little and Urushihara's work in general. I have this on VHS and DVD, and I used to have a wall scroll of it.
Fun fact: Plastic Little was dubbed around the time that Neon Genesis Evangelion was, and used some of the same actors, but in a twist the two lead actresses traded introvert/extrovert characters...
Tita = Amanda Winn Lee = Rei
Elysse = Tiffany Grant = Asuka
Nichol = Spike Spencer = Shinji
Lol I noticed that witch Amanda Winn Lee. I didn't know about Tiffany Grant and Asuka, though. I probs should have known this, though, considering Asuka is my fav, but I didn't really get into VAs until recently.
I love this movie. It caused my love of chipmunk faces
Yoooo!!! Same here! I didn't think people really noticed that lol!
I remember being a teenager, owning a VHS that had an ad for Plastic Little. Being a high schooler who was unsurpsingly, very interested in ecchi, I really wanted to see it but never got around to it. I basically forgot all about until I stumbled on your video, I appreciate you talking about it, less for reminding me of it, but moreso for the odd sense of nostalgia I got for something I didn't get a chance to fully experience for myself. I am in my mid 30's now, so ecchi isn't something I care at all about anymore, but it was still neat to see a bit more about this anime.
I first got the DVD when I was in high school, myself, and based on the cover I didn't know it was as ecchi as it was! I hade the cover with Tita fully clothed as opposed to the one where She, Elysse, and Mei are in bikinis.
I'm also glad that the video gave you a nice dose of nostalgia lol. try to seek out the anime so you can experience it at least once. It's a fun little watch.
I still have the DVD of this largely forgotten diamond in the rough. And there are times I SO miss the 90s aesthetic.
It really is. Hold on to that DVD!
And, man, I miss that aesthetic every day, both 80s and 90s anime aesthetic are my fav. I never got into the early 2000s look (animecore as it's called today) or the moeblobs of the late 2000's. I'm happy with modern anime aesthetics, but they just don't hit the same. I intend to cover more 80s anime in the future, but I have been on a 90s kick recently lol.
@@TheRerunLounge Remember too that the '00s saw the transition from hand-painted cels to digital paint.
You know what? I need the dvd version just for that jiggle counter. Good God that is hilarious.
Yesss! Get it.! It is quite novel and silly.
Not only did Urishihara put a lot of detail into his artwork of breasts, but he went to the trouble of making them different shapes and sizes. Tita laments that she is smaller than the other girls in the cast (she's a teenager) but it isn't the usual trope of everybody having the same three faces and bodies where this girl is just a little smaller. Neither she nor Elise are fully developed but they are both quite different. And the same extends to faces and character designs. Every character is distinct and recognizable.
Unfortunately, as good as Urishihara is at art, he is better when he is drawing someone else's story. While I believe Plastic Little was his concept, he at least got a good partner to write the story. Which is good because it is a little bare of plot.The characters are appealing though, and Tita is fun to root for.
And I'll spell out what we're all hanging around, if TH-cam will let me get away with using the word. Urishihara draws extremely detailed nipples. Not over the top or exaggerated, just natural. He draws breasts that look real.
Oh, yes he did put a lot of care into that aspect of his art, and it is something I appreciate as an artist, myself. Originally, I planned to cover his art a tad more in the video, but I felt it distracted too much from the main focus which was the OVA. Also, when I referenced how recognizable his art of non-clothed characters are, you knew exactly what I was talking about lol, well that and how he draws below the belt.
@@TheRerunLounge Yeah, it's the level of detail. I can really respect that. He's not ashamed to show the human body in all of its many variations.
Ahhhh Plastic Nipple as that was the way it was described to me before I first watched it.
This certainly looked pretty, but felt a bit slight. Interesting that the OVA era tended to have more adult characters, even Tita here is supposed to be 18, if I recall correctly.
I suppose there were more adult protags since many OVAs were marketed towards an older crowd. Many shows today seem to have younger protags, probably because the interest in anime has broadened a bit and there is more money in a younger crowd. Of course, I am just making some observations here, I can't say for certain.
I love this one and Legend of Lemnear, wish they would get blu ray release. I really wish they got more(movies, TV series, etc.) Hell I wish Satoshi Urushihara did a lot more anime, manga, video game designs, etc.
Legend of Lemnear is what I'm going to watch next. I need another helping Urushihara anime designs in motion lol. Also, yes, I would like to see some blu-ray releases of more older anime like this.
Love the pompadour my dude.
Thanks! I try to keep it well maintained.
Love it 👍🏻
Thanks so much. I appreciate the comment.
Excellent video Remmy! I remember plastic little. It was a really good watch. Wasn't Tita jealous of Elise's... err... "assets" at one point?
Also, Elise and her dad are reverse Shadow and Maria.
Lol They are a reverse Shadow/Maria.
I don't get how people can go around praising chainsaw man and demon slayers animation as something special when there's stuff like this around.
Because they're actually animated unlike this, which has detailed but more often than not static drawings.
Agreed dude 👌
@@SogonD.Zunatsu idk man
I haven't seen much of CM, myself, but it's on my watch list. Though, I have seen DS. I do think DS has some very pretty animation at times.
I can see where your coming from, though, sometimes older anime like this can go under appreciated just because it gets buried/forgotten because a lot of people pay more attention to bigger and more popular anime from today.
I'd argue that the standards are different when comparing a TV show that airs weekly to an OVA (or to a movie). The amount of time a production is able to devote to each minute of animation has a huge impact on the animation quality. Also, the majority of people talking about 2020s shounen titles aren't familiar with 80s/90s OVAs.
I have this on both VHS and DVD not sure either copy is still playable. This was a fun anime.
Yeah , it is a nice watch and doesn't take too much time to invest in. I recently saw the VHS for sale unopened on ebay, and had to resist buying it lol. I'm not a VHS collector, but the novelty of having it was alluring.
I had the VHS as a teenager, but unfortunately the tape became degraded at...uh, certain points.
Nice touch with the Super Metroid escape music
lol Thanks. That is my fav escape music.