By which I mean "an American property put in the body of an Asian one." This is the Japanese opening to the '90s X-Men cartoon -- awesomely dug up by those kooky kids at Japanator -- and it's just surreal. Things to note:
• Magento apparently in charge of the Brood
• Jean Grey, Storm and Jubillee's powers boiled down to doing Kamehamehas
• Cable and Gambit fighting random mecha
• An awesome shot of Rogue, Storm and Professor X looking like the world's biggest pimp
• Beast pulling a Hulk move
• Wolverine and Omega Red flying through the air
And the whole thing's set to a preposterously awesome J-rock song, which ends with the dude screaming "CRY FOR THE MOOOON!" Well, I'm crying, buddy, because I'll be shocked if the day isn't totally downhill from here.
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I am totally gonna yell " Cry for the mooon!!" every day as I get out of bed to go to work.
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Don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet...but Cyclops' eye blast is the same sound effect as the proton packs from the Real Ghostbusters' cartoon.
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That theme song remind anyone else of Dokken's "Paris is Burning"? Anyone? Just me then...
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Seizure-tastic!
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MUTANTU HIRO TEEMU DE ARU.
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Nothing is better than the 90's US opening theme song for X Men. That just made Saturday mornings awesome. This just looks like every other anime opening sequence ever made . . . although the winking Rogue made me giggle!
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Disgustingly bad. Jesus Christ this is terrible. I'll stick with the US opening, thank you. It's 6 thousand times better than this insipid garbage.
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Goddamn, that was cool! Cry for the moon, indeed!
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I was living in Japan when these were first aired in Japan... which also happened to be during the peak of my X-Men fanhood. My well-meaning mother actually mailed me a few X-Men comics from home. I remember flipping out at her for damaging them... but to prove how awesome my mother was... she had actually purchased an EXTRA copy to mail to me, while the 'good' copy was safe and sound at home for me to read when I got back. Not only do I have the manga version of the cartoon, but I also have a CD single of the show's theme music. It has three tacks: Rising (the song you hear in this YouTube video), and another song called Dreamin'... plus a karaoke version of Dreamin'. The band's name is/was Ambience.
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1:04 "Break Out!" Still laughing......
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I really like the song. I'm probably the only one.
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Y'know, Magneto does have a sort of magenta-esque color scheme to his costume. I wonder if Rob's typo accidentally revealed Stan Lee's true genius...? As for this opening: Meh. I saw it a couple years ago online, and it didn't wow me then, either. The second version is much better. But neither are as good as the original version-- that theme song is bad ass.
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MAGENTO? Does he have the power over all things slightly red?
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"Those last two lines (not counting the wolf-cry of 'Cry for the moon') are especially difficult. Any idea what 濡れた幻 (wet illusion) is supposed to really mean?" C'mon, dude, now you're just asking for some eyaculation puns.
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Here's my translation of the lyrics if anyone's interested: Shock! Cut with the knife hardened by lies Shock! Catch the dream as the city shines The conflict and hatred cut away at you They attack unseen in the night Break Out! Commotion in the limelight Real-time wet illusion Cry for the moon Those last two lines (not counting the wolf-cry of 'Cry for the moon') are especially difficult. Any idea what 濡れた幻 (wet illusion) is supposed to really mean?
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What did the X-Men do to the moon that I am being commanded to cry for it?
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What's apparent is that the asian animators used the same shitty character designs of the American "cartoon" and spun it into sweet visual gold! /cheated
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'The second I saw SHOCK in the subtitles my brain when right to the old Fist of the North Star opening.' Josh Barnett's PRIDE entrance in my case, but for the same reason.
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The second I saw SHOCK in the subtitles my brain when right to the old Fist of the North Star opening. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n371zCCYpts Anyone else?
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I am Magento, master or Magentism!
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The song is called "Rising" by the band Ambience.
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I actually own a CD with this song on it along with other Japanese X-Men inspired music. @Wesley Cable appeared in the show several times, especially during the first two seasons.
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@Geoff: When you find that statue as hot as I do, you know you're a comic book nerd. Otherwise you'll be slightly on the edge of knowing for sure.
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Shit, man, Japan did something right for once. That was actually really bad ass.
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Xavier as a pimp brought me right back to I'm The Juggernaut, Bitch! And that theme tune inspired some intense headbanging.
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Holy Goddam Shit On A Shingle! When the billions of dollars start rolling after my career as a super-villain billions takes off, I will have an <I>X-Men</I> anime series made. And all of my minions will receive free copies as a reward for excellence in villainy.
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This is the first Japanese opening theme song for the 90s X-Men cartoon. There's a second opening theme song that's pretty good too. My first exposure to this is the same as MattK's when I saw the show in syndication again where in the end credits they used this animation. @Bill The Wolverine vs Omega Red flying around battle reminds me of the Marvel vs Capcom type of games.
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I don't even remember Cable showing up in the '90s cartoon. Those poor Japanese kids must have been so disappointed. But that intro did an excellent job capturing the essence of the Jim Lee/Liefeld/Claremont/other "names" that were working on the X-comics at the time.
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Oh that was great. If it had made a fraction more sense, then the cartoon could, and SHOULD have been like that, and then it would have been awesome. And it was sincerely not.
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Sooooo...they made their own anime intro, set to sound effects from Gundam Wing? Why were Wolverine and Omega Red flying around in the night sky? This intro so confuses me.
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WHY is this so much more awesome than the european/american opening? <,< Well, aside for the Music obviously . .
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Batzarro - http://mwctoys.com/REVIEW_110609a.htm ; Marvel's toy licensers apparently thought the same thing and took it to its logical end-point. Ramone - do a search for Marvel Magnaverse, I'm sure Japanese-styled sentinels showed up in that at some point.
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This should have a disclaimer. "warning: actual animation no where near this good"
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Why did Cyclops' blast make a Proton Pack noise?
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• Cable and Gambit fighting random mecha Could these be Japanese versions of the Sentinels? THAT is something I'd like to see!
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I personally prefer the other Japanese opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8HkDMht3d4
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"Break Out"
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While I would comment on how very long ago I've seen this, I can't get enough Anime Rogue.
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None of that happened in the show and I wonder why the decided to randomly feature Cable in the opening when he's not in the show that much.
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Well, Toei animated "Pryde of the X-Men" and the later seasons of "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" that occasionally <i>featured</i> the X-Men. That's kinda <i>like</i> an anime X-Men series, right? (Well, someone could probably use them to mash up a fake "Fury Force" intro if you spliced in some choice GI Joe footage, anyway)
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I had seen this a LONG time ago, and I can't still find the album that has this song. Not anything by the same artist. It's just so badass.
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wow i agree with all the comments pretty much, but i was really hoping for psylocke. you know she now has her own mini series right now? i saw this a few months ago and i was hoping it was to a new show, i like the animation but it didn't flow that much, the music i just muted i can't believe senor cripps became a pimp
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SHOCK! This was awesome, you have to love the gratuitous english.
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This one's been floating around for a while, but it always causes me to chuckle - especially things like Omega Red (who didn't show up in the show until well into the run) and Cable being so prominently featured.
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@Baltimoron She started as an English woman, then had her mind swapped with a Japanese assassin called Kwannon by a dimension-hopping being called Spiral. Thus began the fetish for Asians with English accents, further perpetuated by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire & the Order of the Phoenix films. I'm actually surprised that Psylocke wasn't used more in the cartoon. She was prominent in the comics at the time, and other 90s highlights like Gambit and Jubilee were integrated into the mostly pre-90s plots. Instead, she was in a multi-part crossover where Apocalypse was kidnapping psychics across the world.
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i came on my good shoes after watching this :(
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@Arsenal Yes, this was just Japan's opening that they put on our cartoon. Matter of fact, I think this was Japan's first major exposure to X-Men, as they created a manga version that was just the cartoon mangafied (with some funny jokes here and there).
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Jubilee blast at 0:21 sounds exactly like Dragonball's blast! Loved it.
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Rouge, winking?
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I'm going to be the first to mention that Psylocke is English rather than American. Why am I doing this? To beat the nerds who would be obnoxious about it to the punch.
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Man, what a great way to start off the morning. That was so badass, but I was seriously hoping for some Psylocke. You got me all pumped up! The Beast punching the ground was a little bizarre. I think they played too much Genesis back in the day.
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I actually saw the animation of this put on the end credits of the X-Men cartoon when it switched to syndication. The American music was there, but the animation above, starting at the flying Sentinels, was what we saw. Being a neophyte anime fan at the time, I thought it was so excellent and wanted...nay, DEMANDED an official X-Men anime! Of course, years later...fuck, I STILL want it!
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This is possibly the greatest thing ever.
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Rob don't be so pessimistic, something good could happen. But is the rest of the show the same as the US version? because if somehow it was better then the US like that opening was better then the US opening I would have to give blood money to get a copy
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