Hi all! On March 20th, the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2015 was held in Nihonbashi's Toho Cinemas. Two of the honorees given Lifetime Achivement Awards have ties to Gatchaman. The first is Isao Sasaki, best known to Gatchaman fans as the voice of Joe, the Condor. Mr. Sasaki was honored specifically for the numerous anime and tokusatsu theme songs he performed over the decades, which included the Gatchaman II opening and closing themes and the Gatchaman Fighter opening theme. Secondly was Kan Mizumoto, who worked as the Sound Director for all of the original Gatchaman TV series. As such, Mr. Mizumoto was in charge of recording all the voices for the three TV series, as well as acting as a director for the performances by each actor. Kyodo News posted a 94 second video on YouTube from the awards ceremony, which includes a short snippet from Mr. Sasaki's acceptance speech. It's entirely in Japanese, but if you'd like to watch it, it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtXgsYCENRY Congratulations to both men! Your honors are well deserved! James

Good to see them getting the recognition they deserve!

Indeed.

Originally posted by Springie Good to see them getting the recognition they deserve!

I'm glad that their efforts have not been forgotten.

Isao Sasaki. I love his voice. The first time I've heard 'The Blue Earth' from Galaxy Express 999, I had goose-bumps all over my arms. As with most of Gatchaman songs, I know this one by heart. Sasaki-sama deserves all the recognition and then some.