Gyōten Ningen Batseelor

Gyōten Ningen Batseelor is one of my favorite animé series. I used to watch Captain Fatz, as it was known in the Philippines, in the local channel at around 8 in the morning on weekends—back in 2001. I watched the animé religiously, I never skipped an episode. Sadly, I wasn’t able to watch it until the end of the series.

One Saturday morning, I woke up and found another animé has taken over my favorite series’ timeslot. At that time, I wasn’t sure if the animated series was moved to another timeslot or if my local network stopped airing it—I also thought that the series was unfinished; perhaps it was cancelled in Japan due to poor ratings.

After it stopped airing, I have been looking for ways to finish the series, but to no avail. I don’t know why Captain Fatz is so hard to find. The internet has very little information on the series. Animé websites like the Anime News Network and the Anime Web Turnpike has little or no information of the series at all. You can’t even find it in the illegal streaming sites. The only substantial information you can get about Gyōten Ningen Batseelor is found in Wikipedia and in other fan sites that copied the article from the free encyclopedia.

There is even no information about the manga from which the animated series was based. 

What is this animé about? Gyōten Ningen Batseelor otherwise known as Captain Fatz and the Seamorphs, is a Japanese animé that originally aired in Japan from April 7, 2001 until March 30, 2002.  The series was created by Itaru Ueda based on the manga of the same title by Fumiaki Tatesako.

The series follows Jan Zaruko, a female warrior from the land of light, who is tasked by the Priestess of Light to collect the peace stones. There are eight stones representing each of the elements of Light, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Metal, Darkness, and Wood. The stones keep the balance of power in the world; each of the stone’s power can be harnessed by a chosen one to transform in to a powerful elemental warrior. Jan Zaruko is the elemental warrior of light.

During her travels, Jan bumps in to Gay and her sidekick Gorgo-girl. Gay curses Jan Zaruko, transforming her in to the anthromorphic monkey Jan Zaru. She meets the Captain Fatz—the gluttonous captain of the Seahorse, originally a handsome masculine pirate turned fat by Gay—and his crew. Together they sail around the world to thwart Gay’s evil plans.

I really don’t know how the series ended. I was only able to watch up until the part where Gay, sort of, reformed his ways and dragons—originally the peace stones—rose to bring chaos to the world. I just hope I to get to watch the rest of Gyōten Ningen Batseelor and finish the series very soon. 

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light

It is a time where magic is more powerful than science, and only those who control the magic, control destiny. They are The Visionaries!

© Hasbro 1987

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light was originally a range of action figures from Hasbro, released in 1987. To promote the toy line, an animated television series and a comic book series were made. The half hour cartoon series was created by Sunbow Productions—the same animation studio who made G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and The Transformers cartoon series. The comic book series was published by Star Comics.

The planet of Prysmos had enjoyed an advanced technological age for several thousends of years, until the realignment of the three suns marked the end of the age of science and technology and began the age of magic. The planet entered into its own Dark Ages, where all technology was now useless.

The catastrophe tore the planet into two warring factions—the good Spectral Knights and the evil Darkling Lords. Chaos ensued as both party seek military advantage. To keep the balance of power, the old wizard Merklynn came out of hiding and offered magic to those who could survive his tests.   

Those who survived the competition were each given a totem animal, which they can transform into. Merklynn assigned an animal based on the knight’s personality.  The staff-wielding knights; were also given, among others, the powers of Wisdom, Knowledge, Destruction, Invulnerability, and Fear. The knights without magical staffs, on the other hand, can activate vehicles with magic.

The toyline was not as successful as its counterparts, which led to the cancellation of the comics and the animated series.  The animated series lasted for only one season of 13 episodes while the comic book series was axed after its 6th issue. 

I never got to watch the first run of the series due to the fact that I was only 2 years old when it first aired. I was able to watch some of the episodes on VHS when I was already 5 years old. I wasn’t able to finish the whole season though; one would need to rent a cassette for each episode.

I never watched the series again until this month—thanks to YouTube. It just hit me one night—I missed the cartoons that I watched as a kid. After a week, I was able to finish the the first and only season of Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.

The Darkling Lords

The Spectral Knights

Sana Ngayong Pasko

I don’t know why the GMA network chose to include the events of Ondoy in their new soap opera’s storyline. I find this action of theirs very insensitive. The new show, titled Sana Ngayong Pasko (lit. Hopefully This Christmas), is the network's Christmas special offering—I doubt the show would bring Christmas joy.  The miniseries seems to be capitalizing on the recent disasters. Are they mocking the victims of Ondoy and Pepeng?

Just recently, many were killed and left homeless by the typhoons Ketsana and Parma. The last count I remembered there were; 648 killed, 85 missing and 7 million people affected.

I shout foul to the depiction of a typhoon and flood in the storyline. I can’t imagine what the writers were thinking when they were writing this story. I can’t imagine the more what the network executives were thinking when they approved this.  

When we write stories or create a show we always think about who will read or watch it—we think of our audience. GMA Network should have been prudent about how the people are to view their new show. People view things differently.  

In Japan, an episode of the Pokémon TV series was not aired for involving an earthquake. The episode, ‘Battle of the Quaking Island! Barboach VS Whiscash!!,’ was originally set to air in Japan on November 4, 2004, but was skipped due to the episode's similarities to the Chūetsu earthquake on October 23, 2004. To think it was a cartoon series. 

The Japanese people didn’t want to subject their audience to further suffering.  When something went bad we try our best to forget about it. And, it is really hard when it keeps playing back in our minds.  How much more when we see it on television?

I just wish GMA would have seen it as I saw it. We will never forget about these disasters—no one will. It will always be remembered, especially by those who are directly affected by the typhoons. These people are trying to rebuild their lives. The GMA network should have been more considerate.