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X-Cellent anime opening for classic cartoon
by Karen Leslie, 11/11/2009
X-Cellent anime opening for classic cartoon photo

Now you might be wondering what Jean Grey, and '90s Jean Grey at that, is doing on Japanator. X-Men isn't an anime, is it?

Well, no, but I'll bet I'm not the only one here who was all about the X-Men before discovering the wonders of anime. The original cartoon series was appointment television for me in elementary school, and while I'm not too keen on what Marvel's done with the franchise lately, I'm still an X-fan at heart. 

That's why it was so cool to find out that Japanese fans got an anime-style intro for the show, complete with speed lines and Jrock. Hit the jump to see this neat little footnote in anime history.

[Via Daily Bento]

Now, I still like the original better, but I'm fully aware that's just the nostalgia talking.

At first glance, I thought this was one of those OP sequences where they just spliced together footage from various episodes, but it really looks like this animation was made specifically for the Japanese market. In addition to displaying lots of mutant-on-mutant combat (as opposed to the relaxing, "let's dance in front of our names!" vibe of the original), the art here looks much more faithful to Jim Lee's style.

Little things I noticed:

1. Figures they would make a big deal out of the Brood.
2. Magneto+Brood? I'm trying to figure out how the logistics of that would work.
3. Why is there so much Cable in here?  That's just so arbitrary. 
4. Jubilee actually looks legal for some reason.
5. Storm actually looks black for some reason.
6. Needs more Gambit.
7. Rogue's little wink is so cute
8. Needs more Gambit
9. Why Omega Red? Because TENTACLES!
10. Needs more Gambit

I hope everyone else has enjoyed this kind-of-sort-of trip down memory lane as much as I have. Hey, did you know that the first (legal) DVDs of this show just started coming out this year? US shows don't end up in licensing limbo that often, but when they do, it's pretty epic. Like, two whole decades of epic.





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Legacy comments:

Sirs Gunstash

that song is awesome. who are they? or can anyone recommend a similar power-j-rock band?
 
lyfeforce

CRYYY FOR THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

I still don't get why cable got OP face time. I know that it gets Japan's jollies rolled from cyborgs that have guns heavy enough to give someone a heart attack if they carried them, but cable was in for maybe four or five episodes?
 
Tim Sheehy

@Sirs Guntash X-Japan's Vanishing Vision, pretty much anything by Galneryus comes to mind.
 
Arcade Ness

You missed the fact that Beast punched the ground and caused a earthquake. That intro was pretty badass though.
 
AQua ng

America: Dee-dee-dee-dee-DEE-dee-dee...

Japan: CRY FOR ZA MOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!
 
Ninja Dee

man that was just fabo.... yes im gonna stop saying "epic" and "awesome" so i made up my own word and it might make me sound abit gay...
 
Samurai Will

Check out the other openings, Apocalypse and Sentinels. I thinks we American's got screwed out of some better animation (shocking, isn't it?).
 
Karen Leslie

@lyfeforce: Yeah, if they were going to pick a random guest character, I would have preferred Bishop. Or Archangel. Or Psylocke. Or pretty much ANYONE other than Cable.

@Arcade Ness: You're right! I *heart* Beast. I was going to use a pic of Beast as the header image, but it's hard to find any screens from that show that aren't terrible quality -__-. I'm going to have to spring for the DVDs one of these days.

Soo happy I'm not the only one who's still into this show:).
 
Iwazaru

I LOVED the original X-men cartoon! X-men anime needs to happen NOW!
 
Gee-Man

That was...rather ridiculous. Makes me want to watch the old X-Men cartoon again.
 
Kid Nicky

I have the first 2 (of 4) volumes so far. Usually these old American cartoons are cool for nolstalgia reasons only,but I really like this show.

BTW Cable isn't a "regular" but he's in it a lot more than you remember him being in it.
 
Rewarp

I submit the motion that that was better than the original opening.

CRY FOR THE MOON!
 
MY STADY

Slow news day?

This has been in the Internet FOREVER. I downloaded this off Kazaa the first time.
 
MY STADY

You missed the pizza monsters too.
 
Karen Leslie

Meh, obviously we want most of the stuff on Jtor to be current, but I think it's cool to highlight different things-- even if it has been out for a while, that hardly means that everyone who might be interested has seen it. I just found out about it myself. If you try too hard to be current, you run into the problem that everything that's more than two days old on the internet is considered old news anyway -__-.

@Kid Nicky: It's entirely possible that I've blocked many of the Cable-centric episodes from my mind.
 
kadosho

I remember seeing this on Youtube quite some time ago.
But its still fun to see other Xmen fans here as well.

Would be fun to see this intro as an extra in the re-released season sets.
 
Kid Nicky

Those sets are 20 bucks for over a season of episodes. They're about as bare bones as it gets,no special features.
 
derio

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?
 
Karen Leslie

Thanks derio...no idea what that last part might mean:(. Interesting though.

I know the DVDs are really bare bones, I think it's worth it for me though since the *ahem* VERSION I have is pretty poor quality. It's not that most of the animation was anything to write home about anyway, but it would be nice to have a clear version.
 
MY STADY

I like how I was such an know-it-all and yet made a grammar mistake in the process.

"IN" the Internet? Really?

Grammar fail.
 
Telcalipoca

......first off WHY THE HELL IS CABLE SHOWN SO MUCH? i like the guy most in the x men series but he wasnt even important enough to be shown in the op for a fraction of a second.second fighting monsters wtf? wtf is up with the alien/demon/whatever they are what up with the x-men taking them on?thats not mutant related in anyway!!The robots ...i guess there were robots i.e. sentineles but they werent shown capturing mutants just giant mechas to be smashed.Ill stick with my american op the one where it shows the robots capturing people and the clash of the war that is to come.Nice of them to make an op with cool animation but its just seemed weird.If i were to see x men with that op i would expect alot more action in the show.
 


  

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