Based on a photo a saw on the Tokyo Street Style website.

Got a cold. Sore throat. Bad hair day. No work done yesterday.

Used my spare time to watch the Galaxy Express 999 (1979) movie. This is a good example of why it´s important to watch the so called classics. At Japan, I watched The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), Some Like it Hot (1959), Spartacus (1960), and The Apartment (1960). A small and incomplete list but probably huge to many people of the echo boomer or the X and Y generations. They call themselves cinephiles and go to the movie theaters every week to watch industrialized movies that have no idea of the concept of originality. Most are almost the exact copy of the copy of the copy of the copy.

I need a metaphor. I´ll use the Star Wars DVDs that my brother bought as an example. By the way, Star Wars and The Animatrix have the best DVD extras I´ve seen until now. The yellow introduction rolling towards the infinite. I thought it was George Lucas´ idea but the extras show it is actually based on the Buck Rogers (1939) TV series. I read that originality is to know how to hide your sources. It didn´t diminish George Lucas on my perspective, it just made me think how ignorant I am on the science fiction genre. It kinda made me admire him a bit more for having the guts to show his references.

While watching Galaxy Express 999, I could notice that lots of animes use it as a reference. Direct parodies on Daicon 3 & 4 (1981-83), Excel Saga (1999), Furi Kuri (2000), and Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai (2002). It is a landmark of the anime space science fiction genre and I guess I could notice references on Nadesico (1996), Cowboy Bebop (1998) Vandread (2000), and on Samurai Champloo (2004).

On FLCL, Naota asks Haruko who is she after discovering the mechanized version of his father. She answers: "I am the youthful illusion of childhood in your heart." (according to the subtitles). It is a reference to what Maetel tells Tetsuro: "From now on, I will be a woman who lives in your memories only. I will be nothing more than an illusion of your young boy´s heart, a phantom of your youth." (also according to the subtitles). On Nadesico and Samurai Champloo it is the singer in the bar. On Vandread the logic behind the enemy. On Cowboy Bebop, Vicious uses a mixed reference of Lupin III´s Goemon and Captain Harlock (coincidentally they have the same voice actor, Makio Inoue). Tochiro´s bird (phisically it has the same characteristics as Vicious´ bird) ends on Harlock´s shoulder in the end of the movie. It looks very much like Vicious and his bird.