Ah, the era of OVAs: here's a couple episodes of the most amazing thing you've ever seen, and you'll NEVER get anything else related to this IP.
That was the American experience, anyway...companies would license bundles of these (often as a requirement to get a popular full series that they actually wanted) and dump them on the market. Most of them were basically commercials for a manga, video game, or something else: the kind of thing they use manga for these days, to advertise light novels.
The editor is HanahakiBlank on Youtube, the music is "Grounded" by Jameson Nathan Jones. HB does a fantastic job of evoking what anime felt like seeing it for the first time.
⬆️🩵 Always UPvote the Expanse. Try and catch SCAVENGERS REiGN (2023) after, it's a masterpiece —with the only downside being that it was acquired by NETFLlX and as you can guess, they KLd it. But don't let that stop you from binging it @HB0, or on the high seas.
Glad I wasn't the only one who remembered this. Dos freeware was the wild west, stuff just got passed around through floppy disks. I dont know how I ended up with that one but it was such a fun one.
Dude 80's and 90's mecha anime has the most bonkers detailing for robotics / automation. Like the actual people look ok, but the real love was for the machines and it showed
It also came with a appreciation for hand drawn art- often directly woven into the stories. Crest of the stars, spaceships decorated with pictures of flowers come to mind.
I think the biggest issue is change in who owns and ordered some of the modern animation. CGI can equal this in every way, but it will cost just as much. And the modern pencil pushers in accounting do not want that.
It's almost impossible to find physical copies nowadays... unless you're willing to shell out a crap ton of cash or go to every garage sale you can find.
Note that it was an OVA (original video animation) release in Japan, basically going direct to video instead of airing on TV, which is why even the planned episode count was so low.
Original Video Animation. Home release anime. Back in the day before it was common to adapt every manga under the sun and churn out anime shows, they used to only animate the big important arcs and release those on VHS. Full anime series were far less common because the work was a lot more difficult and time consuming than it is today.
They still do it today but also some big Anime names like MHA and Slime will *also* do OVAs in between seasons. They are canon but the events are almost never referred to in the series.
Many are completely original, not adaptations of anything and sometimes downright experimental. The Mighty Space Miners was also original but sadly it was left unfinished and ends on a cliffhanger, it originally was meant to have more episodes (6 according to wikipedia).
Something similar today would be this one, I honestly didn't even know it was still happening annually I just remember Little Witch Academia and Death Billiards:
QuantumInc
Watching it and seem like the space ships have more detail than the characters. Got their priorities straight.
lordnequam
Ah, the era of OVAs: here's a couple episodes of the most amazing thing you've ever seen, and you'll NEVER get anything else related to this IP.
That was the American experience, anyway...companies would license bundles of these (often as a requirement to get a popular full series that they actually wanted) and dump them on the market. Most of them were basically commercials for a manga, video game, or something else: the kind of thing they use manga for these days, to advertise light novels.
jetblue7
i also learned of star ship troopers anime from the late 80s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-guOcATIHc
spiritplumber
space engineers, the cartoon
Detacheddavid
It flopped commercially, and was expensive to produce. Hence, only 2 episodes out of the 6 planned.
Detacheddavid
That is, the story ends abruptly without a coherent wrap-up unhappily.
barrocoyote
Anime truly peaked in the 90s. The animation style back then was simply better.
MKESewerRat
The editor is HanahakiBlank on Youtube, the music is "Grounded" by Jameson Nathan Jones. HB does a fantastic job of evoking what anime felt like seeing it for the first time.
Adester
https://anisuge.se/watch/mighty-space-miners-qdgzj/ep-1
fractalsphere
The level of animation is fantastic. This era of animation was peak in so many ways.
ShadeMeadowsArt
Bless old anime aesthetic!
Arbitrarynamehere
They don't make em like they used to anymore
VodkaReindeer
Lucky for you, there are English subs and dub available. Here's a cover
VodkaReindeer
Sadly the story wasn't finished https://anidb.net/forum/thread/10522
seir
One of the scenes reminds me of the comic series "We only find them when they're dead"
Filanwizard
1994 which I guess means technically The Expanse is like Mighty Space Miners.
scubadude222
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Space_Miners
scubadude222
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEIrpcCTlbs
DonL9
The music gives me a Philip Glass vibe. This looks so cool.
Zarick
You can watch it on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEIrpcCTlbs
onlyfourlinks
hetnkik999
Somebody used the last of their Japanese bubble economy money to fund these two episodes.
scubadude222
A search said there were 6 episodes
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
found it: https://anistream.one/anime/mighty-space-miners-1867
thelionandtheloon
Helluva vibe!
FudgeLicense
⬆️🩵 Always UPvote the Expanse. Try and catch SCAVENGERS REiGN (2023) after, it's a masterpiece —with the only downside being that it was acquired by NETFLlX and as you can guess, they KLd it. But don't let that stop you from binging it @HB0, or on the high seas.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
Jesus fuck, it was clearly only 2 episodes because they blew the entire budget animating two episodes.
That's Akira theatrical release grade detail.
ElbowDeepinaTinyOctopus
I wonder how much this influenced the designers for Homeworld.
ScourgeOfAges
Seriously, watching this just made me want to go replay it.
FleaTron
Aye lemme know if you find this!
gablestout
YT. literally just search for Mighty Space Miners
Atomic2
The music and the vibe reminds me of the 1992 DOS game called Galactix. Anyone play that?
Atomic2
music and gameplay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9h0y4i3GbQ
itzdirtnasty
Yo holy shit I loved that game. Thanks for the memory!
Atomic2
https://www.playdosgames.com/play/galactix
itzdirtnasty
Thank you so much been lookin to play this for so long!
Atomic2
Glad I wasn't the only one who remembered this. Dos freeware was the wild west, stuff just got passed around through floppy disks. I dont know how I ended up with that one but it was such a fun one.
Ava1198
the amount of detail in those ship interiors is insane, you can tell every frame was hand-inked
Sturdycrotch
Dude 80's and 90's mecha anime has the most bonkers detailing for robotics / automation. Like the actual people look ok, but the real love was for the machines and it showed
afterdarkart
I would say literal sweat and tears when into this work. Every now and then I'll go back and watch this and Akira to be reminded of how good it was.
IDontKnowWhatToDoAnymoreAndImTired
Oh definitely. Some dude was sketching away at that until his fingers bled, probably for the equivalent of minimum wage.
weilong
The entire era was full of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBYD7uX-72U
BallsToYouMyGoodSir
god i miss art..... CGI did give way to some amazing things but what we lost along the way.....
PicassoCT
It also came with a appreciation for hand drawn art- often directly woven into the stories. Crest of the stars, spaceships decorated with pictures of flowers come to mind.
Filanwizard
I think the biggest issue is change in who owns and ordered some of the modern animation. CGI can equal this in every way, but it will cost just as much. And the modern pencil pushers in accounting do not want that.
[deleted]
[deleted]
NiftyWolf125
well now i'm sad and rewatching macross
weilong
Boy do I have the video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBYD7uX-72U
PlacentaEaters
Fuck off with that heapio scan link
gablestout
Literally just search for "Mighty Space Miners" on YouTube. Top result is a playlist, with all 2 episodes
magus200342
I assumed they meant look for a physical copy
SirBonSama
It's almost impossible to find physical copies nowadays... unless you're willing to shell out a crap ton of cash or go to every garage sale you can find.
BeaverOnFire
onlyfourlinks
chiefrunswithscissors
Is it complete after 2 episodes or they made 2 and had to stop?
Bystandr
Yes
b0stark
6 was planned, cancelled after 2.
marsilies
Note that it was an OVA (original video animation) release in Japan, basically going direct to video instead of airing on TV, which is why even the planned episode count was so low.
ISayShenanigans
I bet if we still had Kiss Anime, this would be easy to find.
MerriMod
It's on the Internet Archive, along with a ton of other out-of-print archived anime and other shows.
Camelspotting
r/freemediaheckyeah keeps fresh links for everything
alcaray
nyaa has everything. Very easy to find.
DaftTechno
https://www.wcoflix.tv/anime/mighty-space-miners-ova/
Arbitrarynamehere
New domain, but very limited selections: https://kissanimetv.in/
ISayShenanigans
Anything is good as long as it keeps Cuntyroll from making a profit!
ThaEnder
wcostream.tv seems to have a good selection.
Arbitrarynamehere
.
BiVoidRat
Only 2 episodes? This looks so cool!
GroovyCrowley
I have the suspicion that it is a reason why there are only 2 episodes. The amount of work must've been time consuming and expensive.
Wyndynwyre
The cost to toy sales ratio must have been off.
cosonfused
probably an ova, they typically run low on the amount of episodes, but 2 is not a lot
SmolderingBanana
What is an ova exactly?
DianNaoChong
Think of it like a mini series built to be sold on home video. Generally self contained or spin-off and higher budget and a lot of tna.
Alozar
Original Video Animation. Home release anime. Back in the day before it was common to adapt every manga under the sun and churn out anime shows, they used to only animate the big important arcs and release those on VHS. Full anime series were far less common because the work was a lot more difficult and time consuming than it is today.
Snooj
They still do it today but also some big Anime names like MHA and Slime will *also* do OVAs in between seasons. They are canon but the events are almost never referred to in the series.
Radix865
Many are completely original, not adaptations of anything and sometimes downright experimental. The Mighty Space Miners was also original but sadly it was left unfinished and ends on a cliffhanger, it originally was meant to have more episodes (6 according to wikipedia).
Something similar today would be this one, I honestly didn't even know it was still happening annually I just remember Little Witch Academia and Death Billiards:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Animator_Training_Project
SmolderingBanana
Ohhhh
numbonvalium
OVAs are also often longer than a usual TV show episode length. Those 2 episodes could be over an hour long.