I have previously noted our family’s fledgling interest in the Far East. We toned down our former aspirations, but still bought a Lego brick set of a “dojo temple”, and my eldest one also received a brick mech as a present. Especially the mech - of decidedly Japanese flavor - opened some possibilities. We traced its influences (not a feat, it was almost all there in the fandom page). I am not sure if this counts as a “parenting act” proper, but it was a fun and rewarding exercise nonetheless. It offered a slick way to discuss that what we see on the surface is but the tip of an iceberg of human ideas and efforts. And, as it is often the case with creative concepts, it involved the rework of an older concept, while paying tribute to one of the designer’s favorite robot anime shows.
This distinction between the “seen” and “unseen” has it’s purpose in hobby stuff like this, but also in the greater scheme of social life:
The French liberal of the mid-19th century, Frédéric Bastiat, distinguished what he called the seen from the unseen. The seen is the existing structure, estimated by Piketty to justify this or that scheme of regulation or expropriation. The unseen is the behavioral response of the people taxed, nudged, regulated, expropriated, subjected to the majority decisions of the commune. Bastiat declared that someone who does not carry the analysis beyond seen, given, initial, legal structures is “not an economist.”
The Lawyerly Schemes of Thomas Piketty (Deirdre McCloskey)
Quite a jump from toys to public policy there, but I would think that the underlying mindset is not that different (side note: In my experience, undergraduate economics present both the “seen” and “unseen” mechanics, but place far greater emphasis on the former). Another takeaway formed as some “bricks” suddenly fell into place: Kids, a transportation machine to more carefree times. Mechs, a timeless Japanese staple. And the real people involved in every creative process. I recalled something.
My feed usually draws from CBR, ScreenRant and Collider (among others) and they have it good in arranging content in neat and shiny lists. If you don’t mind the inescapable overlaps and the overall self-referencing quality, you get regular heads-ups and summaries for everything entertainment. Or almost everything. Occasionally, something slips out of this “list nexus” (which, ironically, often plays the “underrated” card in titles), and pinpointing it feels satisfying. That something fit the bill.
Y’ all know Pokémon (1997), the gigantic franchise with the red-capped obnoxious protagonist and the cute critters that can be vicious fighters. What you probably do not know is that its director had previously directed a now forgotten anime series (1983), that almost set the template for the successful franchise. The series had a weird distribution list (Japan, Hong Kong, Greece and Arab countries – huh?), which most likely explains why it has been blatantly overlooked. I present to you PLAWRES SHANSHIRO.
Plawres comes from plastic wrestling – as Pokémon stands for pocket monsters. Shanshiro, a red-capped and annoying boy featured as the titular protagonist. The story revolved around mech duels as a sport, and he had also a retinue to assist him. These mechs were small scaled dudes, ranging from human shaped warriors to more futuristic designs. I don’t remember any flowery regulations, like weight categories (the BBEG and his mech were indeed big), and the battle ended when one of the combatants was neutralized, via a playful way: dislocation, dismemberment, gutting (some robots had weapons incorporated, like blades or whips), the list goes on.
We watched it around late 90s (with mediocre Greek voice-over, but that was not a time to be picky, plus only few episodes out of a total of 37, that would replay again and again). It was a decent show. There was some character arc and the artwork was as 80s as it should be. The mech brawling concept allowed for gratifying, but not actually graphic, violence. And the fact that Shanshiro’s family run a judo dojo underlined the made in Japan feeling. I would smoothly check it again (even, God forbid, a reiteration/ reboot/ prequel) and I am sure my siblings (and son) would join the binge, too.
Some days later, we passed by a modeling shop at a random spot in Athens. It had at display the usual stuff, Star Wars guys, some movie villains, aaand, a plawres bot. Juohmaru, Shanshiro’s fighter. How strange.