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Posted by Dragonsbain on 25-04-2011 at 09:05:
Joe's character profile
All rights and privileges go to ADV for this. I'm copying this word for word.
Joe Asakura: The Condor, G-2
Age: 18
Vehicle: Race car
Weapon: Feather darts
Hobby: Racing his car at the local track.
Of Sicilian heritage, tall, strong and very tough, Joe's the prototypical hot-blooded anime hero. He's the troubled loner of the group with enough smoldering anger to qualify as one of those non-polluting energy sources the ISO is so intent on developing. He's also an expert marksman which, when added to his hot-headedness, may explain his normal approach to dealing with the enemy.
Joe's first thought is typically, "I'm going to shoot a ( insert name of ammo here) at those bastards right now!"
Which is inevitably overruled until Ken decides it's time to " shoot a ( insert name of ammo here) at those bastards".
Sometimes, though, it's Joe who has the cool head and stops Ken or one of the others from doing something rash. Unfortunately, Joe's rational moments never seem to coincide with Ken's rational moments, which leads to a lot of conflict between the two primary team members. One sometimes wonders if Dr. Nambu took personality issues into account at all when assembling the Science Ninja Team. On the other hand, perhaps it's because of Joe's own instability that he's able to take the instability of others in stride and act appropriately.
When he is not busy shooting missiles at Galactor scum, Joe spends his time at the local race track, where he feels at home. He does not have much more luck with women than Ken does. He makes friends with several race-car driving girls , but there always seem to be Galactor-related complications.
Voice Actors
Brian Jepson
Isao Sasaki
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 25-04-2011 at 14:51:
And then they have him come from some place called BC Island, unleashing numerous fanfics to explain the discrepancy.
He also has that gun with attachments. Grappling type cable, drill bits, and fits explosives to one end of the cable.
But dead on about wanting to shoot missiles at everything.
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Posted by amethyst on 25-04-2011 at 17:05:
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Not sure if we really need fanfics to explain the discrepancy.
Sicily is autonomous. It is also a very large island surrounded by a bunch of small archipelagos. It is quite possible that BC Island is a small island under the rule of Sicily even though Galactor is pulling the strings on the island.
Of course it is also possible that between the time Tatsunuko (sp?) wrote the background that ADV used and the time they wrote episode 81 the switched from using real place names to made up place names, and never corrected the planning sheets.
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 25-04-2011 at 21:27:
Given all the other changes they made, it seems plausible that Sicily was intended, then changed, as you said.
Probably nobody connected with the project really remembers what happened. It's been too long.
I just went with BC Island: close enough to Italy for that to be the language, maybe nominally belonging to Italy, but actually owned and controlled by Galactor (hence the need to keep a low profile).
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Posted by gatchamarie on 26-04-2011 at 05:36:
Great profile, Dragonsbain!
As to the difference in characters ... yes, there was that situation called "balance effect", not only between G1 and G2 but it could also be appropriate to take into account the whole group! But, at the end, noone could understand each other better than the Eagle and the Condor did! They were like brothers ... they quarrelled many a time but they were very close (emotionally speaking!)!
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Posted by amethyst on 26-04-2011 at 16:16:
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Marie, I think you've hit on why there is Ken/Joe slash out there when there is really no hint of it in the shows, besides the fact that some people out there just prefer to write slash.
People see the emotional dynamics in their relationship and just don't understand it, particularly in US culture. Men aren't supposed to be that close unless they are brothers or are in a military unit (this could be why for so long we've had a phobia of gays in the military -- they might misread the signals).
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Posted by gatchamarie on 26-04-2011 at 16:58:
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You're right, Amethyst! And, I admit that I'm not that very fond of such an interpretation of their relationship since I really don't like to see them from that other point of view, and since their attitude is a reflection of my own as I'm a very emotional person who doesn't like to hide this side of my character from another person! For me, it's important for other people to know that someone cares, and when watching Gatchaman that's one aspect of the many that appealed to me from the very first instant! During the show we see a lot of respect and care between the two characters of the Eagle and the Condor, but nothing really indicates towards anything more intimate, not even their tendency of patting on each other's shoulders or their holding each other's gazes! That was their only type of body contact I can remember ... a brotherly, comforting type of contact which does miracles when someone needs soothing!
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Posted by clouddancer on 26-04-2011 at 17:07:
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That closeness is something I worry about trying to portray to others without making it feel like slash. It is a very fine line that I tread trying to show the close brotherly relationship that I see the two having (which is very different from what North American's see as a brotherly relationships.)
It is another reason I stopped writing for so long, because I did not know how to depict that emotional bond I see them having, and making everyone feel comfortable. The result of that was, writing about a time when Mark and Jason are not together or have not developed that connection.
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Posted by lborgia88 on 26-04-2011 at 21:42:
I've always found the Ken/Joe relationship really interesting. One could even make a case, perhaps, that it's the closest relationship on the show. I've never seen anything sexual in it though. I think the counter-balancing they do for each other is a big part of it.
I agree that soldiers, isolated (literally or mentally) together and relying on each other in stressful, dangerous, life-and-death situations can develop a closeness not seen in ordinary male-male friendships, or even sibling relationships.
They have lots of little moments that amuse me...
Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 26-04-2011 at 22:02:
'I think so, but what does macaroni and cheese have to do with anything?'
(Okay, lame attempt at a Pinky and the Brain moment.)
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Posted by amethyst on 26-04-2011 at 22:45:
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I think you are right. While I do read slash (for some reason Ken/Joe works for me; Mark/Jason doesn't), strictly canon I don't see it being sexual, either. Even though shippers want to put Ken and Jun together they keep their distance to some degree and even admit in the episode where Crescent Coral Base is destroyed that they don't know each other very well.
It is a sharp contrast to BotP where the relationships are written to be just the opposite. Princess is Mark's stablizer, while Jason is continually challenging him. Joe fills both roles for Ken, he stablizes when it is needed and challenges when it is needed, and backs away when nothing is needed.
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Posted by lborgia88 on 26-04-2011 at 23:21:
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Until relatively recently, there was no place for women in war or the military. I remember, as an undergrad, listening to a lecture about how the Nazi leadership promoted a culture in WWII Germany that exalted the relationship between valiant comrade-soldiers in war as the most noble, the most beautiful etc. etc. in a manner a bit akin to ancient Greece (google "Arno Breker sculpture") but at the same time, there was much worrying and hand-wringing as well that they might turn all their soldiers gay -they didn't want them that close, apparently!
Different now, of course. I was skyping with my brother recently (he's currently at a military base in Kandahar) and he was telling me that there are 20 women in his barracks. The communal bathrooms are co-ed (though not the showers!) and he was saying that he still hasn't gotten used to seeing in the mirror female feet with painted toenails below the bathroom stall doors while he's trying to shave his face in the morning.
He says that the co-ed situation hasn't led to any problems -though he also pointed out that the base is "dry" (no booze) and that that probably helps!
Posted by amethyst on 26-04-2011 at 23:40:
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Twenty years ago, my brother had a female drill sergeant for basic training. She was five feet tall, and he's over 6, and she scared him and the rest of his training platoon. But she was good, the platoon won honors at graduation.
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Posted by gatchamarie on 27-04-2011 at 07:34:
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Again, this doesn't worry me at all as, for me, it's something natural! I also think that Ken/Joe's brotherly relationship is one thing I find easy to write about and in which I didn't find anything strange from the very start of my watching the series! But, maybe it's also a cultural thing, as you're saying!
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Posted by clouddancer on 27-04-2011 at 12:41:
I think you are correct there Marie. From what I have read, and feel free to correct me if I got it wrong, but the mediterranean brotherly relationship appears to be much closer emotionally and physically. I have read about brothers hugging, holding each other, physically comforting each other. Where as here in North America the relationship is very much hands off, maybe a handshake upon greeting but that is it.
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Posted by gatchamarie on 27-04-2011 at 13:14:
Well ... there's a limit to the "physically comforting" but, yes ... not only between brothers or sisters (at least, when a good relationship exists, since you could also find those cases where brothers or sisters do not go along so well with each other!), but also between the best of friends! We tend to hug each other, especially when we meet after a long time, and kiss cheeks (always the upper ones, to be clear!!) when we have to leave! Speaking also for myself, I find it better to hug someone during a sad moment instead of showing my sorrow towards that someone with futile, unwanted to be listened to words! A squeeze of the arm or hand is a good way to show reassurance, and so on! But then, again, it depends on how much you're familiar with that other person, the level of shyness, and how much you're comfortable in his/her presence! I, for example, don't go friendly touching or kissing every person I meet or run into for the first time! But, you can also find people who kiss each other's cheeks by habit, or for no reason, even if they're not so much acquainted with each other ... the ones we call "snobs" or who love to give kisses of betrayal ... so beware!!!
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Posted by lborgia88 on 27-04-2011 at 15:36:
That sounds like a nicer way to live, gatchamarie, in a lot of ways.
They do the cheek-kissing in Quebec too, as a pretty standard form of greeting and parting. Coming from the much more aloof "no touching! no kissing!" culture of Nova Scotia (or perhaps English Canada in general) it was something a strange transition for me when I started university in Montreal, years ago! Got used to it though. There's a really funny book called "The Anglo Guide to Survival in Quebec" that has whole chapters on the "cultural' differences. By my last year though, I could be at some academic function, glass of wine in hand, kiss-kissing with the best of them, even the profs!
But then in grad school in Ohio, there were two other history grad students, both Greek -those guys would routinely get into arguments and be practically screaming at each other, arms waving, and then twenty minutes later one would just say to the other "Wanna go get lunch?" and off they'd go to the student union, best friends. Never did quite get used to that...
Posted by lborgia88 on 27-04-2011 at 16:13:
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Cool!
Writing in the very early '70s, I suppose the Gatch writers had lots of precedents for the male-male "comrades-in-war/brothers" kind of relationship for Ken and Joe. But there wouldn't have been so much to draw on for a similar relationship for Ken and Jun, as romance isn't supposed to be happening "within the ranks" as traditionally, women weren't there.
I could see how Ken might always feel cautious or inhibited around Jun for fear of showing too much and "crossing a line," -a line he doesn't have to worry about with Joe as they would never cross into romance! I've always sort of thought that's why Ken smacks Jun at the end of the jigokillers episode -because the feelings are there, but he feels he has to repress them. With Joe, he wouldn't necessarily have to, and as a result, they can have the sort of heart-to-heart bonding that you see in episode 78.
Posted by gatchamarie on 27-04-2011 at 17:12:
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Ah, yes ... the Greeks are renowned for their exuberance in showing their emotions! I remember being in Greece, when I was very young, and feeling almost guilty in the locals' place when we went at restaurants, them ending every dinner smashing plates in order to show their happiness of having had us there!!
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Posted by amethyst on 27-04-2011 at 17:42:
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I wonder if that is a European thing or just a guy thing in general?
Here when girls fight, or a girl fights with a guy, it can last for days or weeks.
But I've noticed, even here guys get over pretty quickly. In fact, in many situations a guys best friend can also be his fiercest rival: Think of guys who play competitive sports but end up on opposite teams. They'll beat the crap out of each other during the game, but share a drink after wards.
Another example is Gen. Hal Moore (who wrote the book for Mel Gibson's movie We Were Soldiers), he later became close friends with his Vietnamese counterpart; yet in the early 1960's they would have killed each other if it meant protecting their own men.
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