If one gets into anime from the 1980s the usual practice (like so many other interests as well) is to start with biggest and brightest names, the so-called mainstream of what is well known and popular. You will no doubt find a world of awesome titles that you don’t find in today’s production lineup. But much like music, you may start off with who had the biggest hits, or sold the most concert tickets and eventually lead yourself into the aisles of the lesser known bands and singers… the indie scene, the ‘alternative’ if you may. Studios like AIC, Ashi, Ghibli, Madhouse, Nippon Animation, Studio Pierrot, Sunrise, Tatsunoko, TMS and Toei were some of the biggest, or more familiar names in anime in the 1980s, but there were smaller names as well like Unicorn and even the burgeoning Studio Gainax.
For me though there was a little studio by the name of Kaname Production that seemed to always show up at my doorstep with something interesting to watch. After watching titles like Birth, The Humanoid, Leda: Fantastic Adventure of Yohko and Windaria and relating them back to the Kaname name I became obsessed with tracking down as much of their small catalog. Kaname of course also provided a lot of support work for a multitude of titles throughout the 1980s, but I am going to concentrate on the work they produced, or played a major role in. If you want to see their complete (at least I think its complete?) portfolio check the Anime News Network page for them here. By the way all my research for titles focused on what ANN, Anime Planet and MyAnimeList had listed.
Kaname’s time would be short lived. Beginning in 1982, Kaname would be headed by former Ashi Production staff (now known as Production Reed) and would only last until 1988. A short run, but sometimes great things can’t last forever. One of the key staffers would be a young director Kunihiko Yayama. Recognize the name? Besides early work with GoShogun and Minky Momo, he would direct several Kaname classics: Plawres Sanshiro, Leda: Fantastic Adventure of Yohko and Windaria… and later he worked on something called Pokemon, which I believe was a little popular for a while (yes I am being sarcastic).
Now to those of you who ask why I have such an admiration for Kaname, I have several key factors reasons to present. I can begin with a goofy answer, I just don’t know. It’s like a gut feeling and something about their work is just downright appealing to me. Perhaps because it is a small name and I don’t have a lot of competition when I say I am a fan of Kaname… uh what’s that?… never heard of it… EXACTLY! I do appreciate the artwork and character designs and in many ways the look from Leda, The Humanoid, Windaria and the first episode of Bavi Stock are very consistent. The quirkiness of the stories are also appealing. Birth is odd, but genius (to me at least), The Humanoid has a certain charm to it (COFFEE!), Leda is adorable and Windaria is just a downright masterpiece of tragic drama. I guess once I learned of the all that was and is known as Kaname I just had to jump in and just keep enjoying the ride. … “What a long strange trip it’s been.”
Now let me present a roll call of Kaname’s more prominent productions. Again these are anime in which Kaname played a major role in the production of the total product and is not their total breadth of work. …
Dream Dimensional Hunter Fandora
Leda: Fantastic Adventure of Yohko
Plawres Sanshiro (still need to see this one)
Watt Poe (to Bokura no Ohanashi)
I consider this more than a salute to a little studio that had a small historical footnote in the totality of the Japanese animation context. In other words, this is my personal love letter to you Kaname. As a fan of this studio’s work I am thankful to everyone who put in their time, effort and skills towards every production that Kaname worked on. Some of these anime are forgettable titles (shovel ware?), many are oddities that only hard corps folks like me give their time towards and then there are a select few that are downright dark horse classics that belong on any top rating list. When it comes to anime from the 1980s, Kaname may not have been the most successful, or longest lasting studio, but it is definitely one that embodies the heart of that decade as well as being a great example of how beautiful cel drawn anime looks and moves on screen.
For more info… a whole lot more :)… visit Animétudes (I bow before thee for all the research you have done)
Long ago I wrote about Birth right at the beginning of this website’s inception (it was entry #4) and it’s high time I give another shout out to this jewel of an OVA. Some of you may not be a fan of this show and some of you I know are totally passionate about this one-off oddity like me. I am not going to go over the synopsis of this production again, that was the job for my first entry… or was it? Does the plot really matter when the proverbial ride of watching this production becomes the major enjoyment. We do have a story… an alien world, Aqualoid, inhabited by organic life, some are humanoid, and Inorganic invaders who are at a tug of war struggle in terms of survival. This isn’t a war per se, more like opposing forces in nature balancing themselves out via an animated free for all… or perhaps an overdone chase scene set to a battle of life versus death which renews itself without realizing it.
Birth exudes style no question, but it is the more profound looks at life, death and the natural cycles of balance that appeal more to my eye with each viewing. Has my listening to Alan Watts lectures, reading the Tao Te Ching and studying astrological and mythological practices found a way into my viewing of anime? Guilty as charged! The ghostlike Arlia drops the initial clues when speaking to our quartet of protagonists. She states that the invading Inorganics and the native organic life forms are both products of the universe. The inclusion of evil, or destructive… malefic influences are important to continue the cycle of life. We often like to say let’s get rid of war and disease, etc. and live in total harmony and peace, but those more challenging elements are a part of what harmony is all about. How would you know the sweet if you didn’t experience the bitter and the sour. Sometimes we have to let go of something even if it is painful.
And now for an even bigger topic… death. Much like 
Finally let’s look at cosmology. The universe from my understanding exists on many levels, perhaps dimensions, and each is interconnected with the others. Harmony on one level can create chaos on another and vice versa… thank you Alan Watts. Could these life forms on the planet Aqualoid actually exist as a lower level to say the ethereal character Arlia? We zoom out at the end to find this was all in Arlia’s eye, or perhaps her mind. Could the Aqualoid population be part of her internal organs and bloodstream? Or perhaps it was only just a dream? Either way life and conciousness are much more complex than than tangible surface we witness with our five senses. We may have an Aqualoid inside of all of us, or perhaps we are an Aqualoid for a higher level of being?
The Classic Anime Museum 
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