Foreword and warning:

They say that men never truly grow up, they only get bigger. We look at a piece of machinery, a beautiful articulated figure, a fucking android robot, we immediately wonder at how it works, if it has practical uses, if you can make a bigger, cooler one, if it can punch other robots in the face, and some other less "correct" thoughts I shall not utter here. Robot Carnival is a depiction of that passion that animates the average geek.

This project is helmed by a real all-star cast, although their real talent would, for a lot of them, only be truly displayed during the years after Robot Carnival was made. Let me remind you: this was released in 87, a lot of Japanese classics had yet to be made, including Akira, Hotaru no Haka, Gunbuster. And yet, Robot Carnival was made with a very rich background: with artists having taken part in Gundam Zeta, Honneamise no Tsubasa, Urusei Yatsura, Golgo 13, Crusher Joe, etc. but the OVA also uses a lot of Western inspirations, from the spelled out Frankenstein's Monster to the more obscure Fantasia series.

There's no denying that the animation quality is the main selling aspect of this work and the Opening itself, courtesy of legendary Katsuhiro Otomo, goes all-out, overwhelming your eyes with details and an animation as rich as possible. In fact, outside of episode 4 and episode 6 who feature a lot more still frames and aim for a more artsy approach, the animation is constantly top-notch, to the point of rivaling with the likes of Ghibli movies and early Gainax anime. There's also an undeniably pleasant grain to the entire work, enhancing the vintage aspect of this anime.

Each episode is framed differently, with a way of depicting the self-contained story that feels very personal, and while they do all respect the overarching theme of robots, some of them really put more or less emphasis on said theme, sometimes to the point of making this one irrelevant. As a result, if Deprive is action-oriented, without any subtlety and feels very inspired by Saint Seiya, Presence is a more intimate and somber story about emotional attachment to one's own creations. Beware that said directional variety also includes the sound aspect: in fact, you'll have to wait until episode 4 before you can hear any intelligible speech, which drives home the idea that Robot Carnival is very experimental in its approach. Mayhaps it was made in order to help the main artists with their résumés, and I have no doubt that appearing in the cast of this beautiful work would help tremendously to be recognized in the animation industry.

My personal favourite has to be episode 7, a masterpiece of comedy with some very obvious Gainax-y artstyle and tone, and near perfect animation, taking inspiration from 19th century Japan being forced to open its doors to Admiral Perry under duress, with the episode depicting the conflict between the West and Japan in a hilariously exaggerated fight between two giants robots : the Western side being the product of coldhearted industrialization and mad genius, while the Japanese robot is all about traditionalism, wood, fireworks and a bunch of innocent, mismatched goofballs piloting it.

If there's one thing to remember from Robot Carnival, it's that, as fun or scary or dumb robots can be, we are still, and will probably forever, be fascinated by them and the possibilities they offer. Be it androids, mecha or super robots, they have profoundly and irredeemably etched their mark in our cultures. After all, they make us feel like we are gods, that we are Creators and we usually make them in our own image. That's probably why, although mankind likes to believe they will be the death of our species, we will keep being obsessed by them.