# Robot Carnival (1987)

> A nine-short anthology from 1987 in which different animators-turned-directors use robots as the common thread across comic and dramatic tales.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/73944

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 9
- Episode runtime: 10 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, science fiction, comedy
- Created by: Katsuhiro Otomo
- Cast: Kohji Moritsugu, Keiko Hanagata, Kumiko Takizawa, Katsue Miwa, Kei Tomiyama, Kaneto Shiozawa, Toku Nishio, Chisa Yokoyama
- TMDB rating: 7.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093871/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: whimsical, wry, wistful, playful, melancholic

## Synopsis

Robot Carnival (1987) is a Japanese animated science fiction anthology created by Katsuhiro Otomo and produced by APPP Company and Streamline Pictures. Its nine ten-minute shorts are each helmed by a different director, many of whom came up as animators with little prior directing experience, so every segment carries its own distinctive drawing style and rhythm. The one thread connecting them is the robot, which appears as a companion, a tinkering family helper, a small mecha, or an imposing machine caught in everyday human troubles. Stories shift from broad physical comedy to quieter dramatic moments, with a recurring cast including Kohji Moritsugu as the protagonist, Keiko Hanagata as a granny figure, Kumiko Takizawa as a daughter and her small mecha, and James R. Bowers voicing John Jack Vorkarson III in the English version. Each episode is a self-contained vignette, so viewers can dip in at any point. The result is an eighties anime sampler with a warm, wry and occasionally wistful register. Fans of Animatrix, Love, Death and Robots and Otomo's wider cyberpunk work will find resonance here.

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