Dec 202015
 

STAR WARS ORIGINAL SERIES JAPANESE POSTERS.ANTHROBOTIC.plate

Star Wars IV, V, and VI planted profound psychological seeds into many born in the mid-70s to early 80s. Props are due.

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[As is oft to happen around here, the following is pilfered directly from AkihabaraNews.com, and blatant plagiarization thereof is A.O.K. because the jackass steadily burning that site down is the same one responsible for Anthrobotic’s dysfunctional fountain of technosmartassery. So yeah…ka-pow…or something.

Now then, professional self-flagellation aside, there is a genuine reason to post this here: when in comes to real-world technological inspiration, sci-fi’s hard to beat. One of the more famous examples is American Martin Cooper – he watched Star Trek in the 1960s (the “-fi“), and, inspired by the communicators used by Captain Shatner et al, went on to lead the Motorola team that invented cell phones (the resultant “sci-“). One could cite a kajillion like examples, including our case in point.

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As science fiction, Star Wars is at times laughably fantastical, nevertheless, the consistent depiction of humans, cyborgs, and robots living and working together and doin’ evil and rebellin’ and shit propelled a generation of nerdy kids toward robotics. One of them, a grateful one, is pounding this keyboard right now

So, have a look at these posters, and imagine yourself 3, 6, 8 years old, encountering the films’ largely unprecedented imagery for the first time, and perhaps you can understand how – for certain minds – it played a considerable role in igniting a robodorky fire that still burns bright.]

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Star Wars is Big, Big, Very Big in Japan

Just like almost anywhere else on planet earth where there’s electricity and mass media of some kind, Star Wars is huge in Japan. The themes of the series are universally human, of course, and the same popular characters are pop-culturally popular over here (although the original trilogy and the bad guys in general are much more appreciated), and toys and branding and all the trappings proliferate.

Darth Vader, in particular, is super-beloved by the Japanese. The Dark Lord has been used to market everything from from Goodyear tires, yearly festivals with nothing at all to do with The Force or galactic empires, Square Enix and Bandai have produced collectible, samuraized Darth Vader figures, and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces even carved a giant Vader for the 2015 Sapporo Snow festival. The why of it all is probably because 1. Darth Vader’s costume was modeled after feudal-era Zunari Kabuto helmets and samurai armor in general, and 2. Darth Vader is badass.

Maybe the First Three will Always be Better?

There is of course no Darth Vader in the latest installment of the space opera, which, in case you haven’t noticed…no, wait – that’s dumb to even say – if you possess either eyes or ears or both and are on the internet right now, you have.

Sure, Japanese and sci-fi fantasy dorks the world over eagerly await the new film’s wide release, but the fact is that time and place and culture and history pretty much dictate that the original trilogy will never be matched. We won’t beat a dead tauntaun explaining why, but it’s basically because Star Wars was the first “blockbuster” movie(s), and the first film franchise to create a genuine, widespread cultural momentum. Below are the fantastic posters that helped make it so here in Japan.

Star Wars Original Trilogy Movie Posters from Japan

These aren’t all of the original J-posters, but we’ve collected two for each of the three original films. So go ahead, take a look, and take a step into late 70s/early 80s state of the art movie marketing. Oh, and because it’s pretty much impossible to properly credit these images to whomever scanned or photographed them, we’ll just say: ©® Lucasfilm, Ltd.™.

Episode IV: A New Hope

STAR WARS A NEW HOPE Japanese Poster.1

STAR WARS A NEW HOPE Japanese Poster.2

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

STAR WARS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Japanese Poster.1

STAR WARS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Japanese Poster.2

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

STAR WARS RETURN OF THE JEDI Japanese Poster.1

STAR WARS RETURN OF THE JEDI Japanese Poster.2

Lifted with permission from: AkihabaraNews.com

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