Reporter Blues
On YellowPeril, I was being nostalgic about the anime series of my childhood (Muskehounds, Queen Millennia). There were some interesting collaborations between European TV producers and Japanese animation companies at that time. One example is the Italian series Reporter Blues from 1991, also shown in other European countries (such as Germany, on Pro7). It’s set in 1920’s Paris, where the adventurous reporter Toni solves crime mysteries. The complete episodes can be watched at Rai Click.
(TV-Wunschliste)
I was mildly interested in the series back in the early 90’s. The animation was a bit stiff, the characters were not particularly exciting, and the cute little sidekick was an annoying white kitten with a grating voice. Now that I’m nuts about anything set in the Jazz Age, Reporter Blues has a new-found charm in my eyes. Particularly the first episode, where the red-haired heroine Toni transforms from a country mouse (in spite of hailing from Marseille) to a modern girl in slacks (!), is fast-paced and has some interesting details (including the Japanese tradition of copy-pasting from foreign phrasebooks to fill out a newspaper frontpage). I guess, when I was a child/early teen, I didn’t even catch the period references, because Toni and her love interest/hapless sidekick Alain look like straight from 1989.
Some screenshots at Animez-Vous.
What’s even cooler, here’s a page from a comic-book version of Reporter Blues by Gabriele Pennacchioli, in ligne-claire style.
July 9th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I remember that we were both a bit annoyed that the characters didn’t look at all like they were actually living in the 1920’s.
There was this episode where she travelled back and forth on Zeppelins. I don’t know why it stuck to my mind …