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--- Nambu/Chief Anderson Week (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=2097)
Posted by Springie on 09-09-2008 at 23:45:
lborgia, you should post that pic to the BOTP site...I'll bet they'd be interested in seeing a moustache-less, glasses-less,sideburns-less Nambu! 
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Posted by lborgia88 on 10-09-2008 at 01:28:
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Hee, would he even be recognized? He looks a lot different!
Plus, I don't think I did the greatest job on his mouth. Something about it doesn't look right -maybe it's too small.
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 10-09-2008 at 01:42:
Some of those pictures are scary!!!
But ahhh way to go Chief!
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by tatsunokofan on 10-09-2008 at 02:29:
Hi all!
Just call me nitpicky, but I've got a few addendums/corrections to the information on Carolyn's site.
First, though, it should be noted that there is very little truly official information on Dr. Nambu available. In the series Planning Establishment, he is hardly described. The most they say about him is as follows:
"When they receive their orders, they change into their special costumes, then quickly unite as a team and commence action. Using a special Telex, the "International Science and Technology Development Organization (ISO)" orders the boys to confront Gallactor. They board special mechanics invented by an ISO Doctor of Engineering, Sensaburo Nambu. The boys report to him via a relay. After receiving their orders, the actions of the heroes are hard-boiled, as they fly to save the world, opposing Gallactor, volunteering their souls to combat. It will always be full of speed, thrills and suspense as the dynamic action unfolds."
Later, they expand things slightly by saying:
"Each of the mechanics used by the "Science Ninja Team" were developed by the superior scientists of the "International Science and Technology Development Organization." When a cell of "Gallactor's" existence is detected, Branch Manager Dr. Nambu is contacted. The members of the "Science Ninja Team" are then contacted by Dr. Nambu with orders. The communication device is hidden within the "Transformation Bracelet" worn of the left wrist of each member."
The only other mentions of Nambu come when describing the "Headquarters of the Science Ninja Team:"
"At one time, they used Dr. Nambu's seaside villa to hide from the eyes of Gallactor, but this is destroyed in Episode 3, "Dr. Nambu Assassination Plan."
After that, their base is established within a giant undersea combinant, an undersea city established for the sake of developing undersea resources."
And when describing the "Dramatic Composition of Each Episode:"
"From the beginning of the very first scene, the peaceful surface of the Earth will be disturbed when the Gallactor gang calls out mecha monsters. Their appearance will draw in the viewers.
After that, the Science Ninja Team is ordered to "Transform" and "Unite" by Dr. Nambu. They head out in pursuit of Gallactor, beginning their confrontation once they arrive at their destination."
And, lastly, when describing the God Phoenix:
"(Weapons)
Installed with Bird Missiles (It will not set without the wiring of the G-1 ~ G-5).
It has Dr. Nambu's seal, and cannot be fired without the Doctor's permission."
So, as you can see, there wasn't much to go on there.
You have to go back to the even earlier character concepts to get to much of what we know of Nambu's background. It is there that we are told that Nambu is an unmarried 48-year-old Japanese man who lives in a villa in Kanagawa Prefecture. He graduated from Oxford and Cambridge with degrees in Engineering and Medical Mechanics. Awarded the Mami Scientifiic Prize, he is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, and a consultant on the I.S.O.'s Mantle Plan. Completion of the Mantle Plan is his goal in life. He has both a automobile and an air license, and has first degree Judo training. His basic physical appearance was supposed to resemble that of Japanese actor Shinsuke Ashida, who can be seen on the right in this picture of a lobby card from a 1963 movie he was in:
Now, obviously, some of this information was changed as the show was in production. Nambu's first name was stated as Kozaburo, not Sensaburo, in Gatchaman #81. Rather than living in Kanagawa, he lives in Utoland, but at least he still lives in a villa (And a very large one too)! In the absense of other solid background information regarding him, much of the remaining information (Such as his age and where he went to school) has been accepted as the closest thing to canon that we'll get.
So, Carolyn's site has a bit of erroneous information by saying that he attended Harvard, and that his specialty was in Astrophysics. There is also no mention of World War III in the series, and therefore nothing regarding any involvement of Nambu in this never-mentioned war.
To be fair, I've seen this information on other sites as well. I'm focusing on hers only because it was given as a source for information on Nambu.
The series does provide a few other bits of information regarding Nambu's past.
When in school, one of his classmates was fellow scientist Dr. Demon. The two had a falling out when Nambu was chosen over Dr. Demon for an important position in the I.S.O., after which Dr. Demon disappeared until many years later. (Episode #84)
Also while at school, Dr. Nambu met Dr. Henjiman, who was a senior student at the time. Nambu remembered him as an intelligent individual with an enthusiasm for research, but with a dislike for mankind. (Episode #21)
He was one of the first people to recognize the danger presented by Gallactor, at the time Ken was 4-years-old and he asked his best friend, Kentaro Washio, to go to Hontwal to investigate the situation. (Episode #52)
By the time he went to BC Island three years later, he knew the enemy was named Gallactor, and he saved Joe when the boy was nearly killed by the Devil Star who killed Joe's parents, lying on Joe's death certificate to save the boy's life. (Episode #81)
At some point after these events, he created the Science Ninja Team, apparently in secret from the rest of the main I.S.O. council (Episode #1)
Continuing to work in secret, he built the Science Ninja Team's "castle," Crescent Coral Reef, though this time with more public knowledge of the I.S.O.. (Episode #8) Crescent Coral Reef has been referred to by the nickname of "Nambu Base," presumably because of both the importance of Nambu in it creation and for the amount of work Nambu does there. (Episode #15)
Nambu apparently has good knowledge of most of the top scientists of the world, and was surprised that he had never heard of archaeologist Dr. Mukashiski, so obviously his knowledge does not extend to scientists who work for Gallactor (Episode #38)
As far as the notion that Nambu received the transformation technology from aliens goes, that idea has its roots among the series staff. Rei Kozumi, the "SF Consultant" for the series, whose job was to make sure the SF elements in the series were at least somewhat plausible, explained in an interview that ppeared in "Fantastic TV Collection Vol. 1 - Gatchaman," published in July of 1978:
"As a point of scientific consistency, if I was left scratching my head over something, it was none other than the main idea of the transformation. The thing with it was, no matter how you looked at it, it was beyond the level of Earth science on hand in the background.
I thought that perhaps good spacemen, who were critical of the "Governor" who ran Gallactor, might have secretly presented Dr. Nambu with the technology, but in the end this never made an appearance. I thought it was a good idea."
Anyway, it's more about Nambu that you ever wanted to know.
James
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 10-09-2008 at 03:29:
James thats the most information I have ever read about Dr.Nambu. You're right in saying so much is hazy about him. I figured the series writers wanted him to have some mystery about him.
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by saturn on 10-09-2008 at 09:24:
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LB,
Well, to be honest, I am not really put off by moustache, perhaps because my dad has always kept his moustache, and I am a Daddy's girl, so, oh well.....
I basically hate everything about Dr.Nambu's appearance in the OVA, the clothes, the hair,because, I can't believe I am saying this, but he actually reminds me of a pimp, and in fact,a low-class pimp. What actually were the artists thinking when they drew him like that?
Anyway, great work with the makeover. Love it and really think that you should make a fanfic based on the new Nambu, now that you have made him to have a little bit of s.x appeal,
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Posted by saturn on 10-09-2008 at 09:25:
Dear James
Thank you so much for the extensive information. You are indeed the Gatch Guru. 
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Posted by lborgia88 on 10-09-2008 at 13:05:
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I think it's similar with me -my Dad has a beard and mustache, and my brother has a mustache, so I'm used to seeing facial hair on men. My brother grew his mustache when he was about 20, and actually once admitted that it was because some woman told him his face was "cute" -he wanted none of that!
If I ever get an idea for a Nambu romance fic, I just might someday do it -there aren't many out there. I would never, never pair him with Jun, and Dr. Pandora is almost too easy, so I'd have to invent a female character. Or, I could make a Nambu romance a "B plot" in a fic centered on someone else...
Posted by Transmute Jun on 10-09-2008 at 13:35:
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I think you just rectified that, James! I can only imagine how this long post would have increased in length if you added in information from Gatchaman II and F!
Thank you for your input. The picture of that actor has me
! I wish they had used his colors for Nambu's suit though. That yellow shirt and powder blue jacket make me cringe...| quote: | |
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A little off topic here... is that the correct spelling: Hontwal? I thought I'd see it as 'Hontworl', or is that an ADV thing, like 'Jutland'?
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Posted by clouddancer on 10-09-2008 at 18:00:
Thank you James for all the information about Nambu.
I have been enjoying all these character weeks we have been doing, because of the information you have been able to provide us on each character.
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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by Springie on 10-09-2008 at 21:34:
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A little off topic here... is that the correct spelling: Hontwal? I thought I'd see it as 'Hontworl', or is that an ADV thing, like 'Jutland'?[/quote]
I was wondering this myself...I have seen so many different spellings...and when I did my fan pages on those eps I still wasn't sure...one site called it "Hontwahl" so I went with that...
I could really use your expertise on this, James!
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Posted by tatsunokofan on 10-09-2008 at 22:56:
Hi all!
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The "correct" spelling of Hontwal/Hontworl/Hontwahl is unfortunately something can't be easily declared, mostly because of the vagueness of the Japanese language in certain areas.
Phonetically from Japanese, the name of the country is "Hontowaru." How you modify that so that it sounds natural to a native English speaker comes down to a matter of interpretation. Hontwal and Hontwahl are obviously trying to come close to the phonetics, dropping the "o" after the "t" and the "u" after the "r" (Which is a common thing to do with 'Englified Japanese,' since Japanese adds vowels to so many English words. For example, in Japanese, football would be pronounced "futtoboru"). The trading of the "l" for the "r" is also common, but how you want to stress the pronounciation of the "waru" portion ("wal" or "wahl") is very subjective. Using "worl" instead of "wal" or "wahl" probably stems from the Japanese pronounciation of the word "world," which would be "warudo." The spelling of the "worl" portion of the word "world" is the same as the "waru" portion of "Hontowaru," so they probably just figured that they'd spell it using the same English letters.
So, is one spelling more "right" than another? That's more of a subjective choice, and really not one that can be easily proven right or wrong.
As for myself, I go with Hontwal. My reasons for this date back to 1980, when I first got my hands on a copy of the program booklet for the Gatchaman movie. In that booklet, they had a few small segments that were translated into English, including a story synopsis. In that synopsis, they referred to the country as "Hontwal State."
In those early days of fandom, there was precious little in the way of English-language information regarding anything Gatchaman. Now, here we had something that was prepared, approved, and published by Tatsunoko itself. If that was what they wanted to call the country, that was good enough for me. Fast forward several decades and add in a bunch more knowledge of the Japanese language and I still see nothing technically wrong with Hontwal, so I've seen no reason to change. Someone else may disagree, but that's their choice. On this particular point, it's all subjective.
"Jutland," on the other hand, is just plain wrong, no matter how you look at it.
James
Posted by tatsunokofan on 10-09-2008 at 23:31:
Hi all!
Mentioning the Gatchaman movie program got me thinking about whether they might have had more information regarding Nambu in there. Most of the brief write-up on him there is fairly familiar stuff, like that he is working on the Mantle Plan to develop pollution-free energy sources, that Director Anderson trusts him, that he created the Science Ninja Team, and that he creates the plans to oppose Gallactor. About the only new thing they say is that he is the utmost authority in Space Aerodynamics, which works well with the Engineering background they planned for him. Just figured I should add that in.
James
Posted by Transmute Jun on 10-09-2008 at 23:37:
James, you are such an amazing source of info!
That's it... from now on, all of my fics will refer to 'Hontwal'!!!! 
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Posted by lborgia88 on 11-09-2008 at 02:30:
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Yes, that one had me scratching my head, thinking "wait, isn't that in Denmark?"
Thank you for all this information, James!
Posted by gatchgirl on 11-09-2008 at 03:13:
James , your knowledge of the show, in it different versions and all really is amazing.... thanks for sharing it!
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" No gratitude needs to be voiced, your mind speaks to us!"
Racer by day, Feather Thrower all the time!
Posted by Transmute Jun on 13-09-2008 at 18:06:
Just figured I'd end Nambu week with the posting of my Nambu filk. This was a request from Birdscramble.
To the tune of the Beatles' She Loves You
Dr. Nambu
Dr. Nambu (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Not much you can't do (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Hakase Nambu (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
So you thought Jun lost her shoe
But she found it yesterday
The God Phoenix is blue
But your hair is turning grey
Your Science Ninjas
Fight Galactor hand-to-hand
But with all that you do
You are slowly turning mad
You've hurt Galactor so
Katse's almost lost his mind
But now his mecha blows
Up the project you've designed
The Mantle Plan's through
'Cause Berg Katse's such a cad
And though you pray for
Success you're going mad!
Oooooh!
Oh Dr. Nambu (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Not much you can't do (yeah, yeah, yeah)
But with a job like that
Mental health's going bad
Seems it's always up to you,
To get Science Ninjas there
When each mission is through
You've always lost more hair
Because you're Nambu
In a suit you're always clad
You stick to light blue
Though you'd much prefer a plaid
Oooooh!
Dr. Nambu (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Not much you can't do (yeah, yeah, yeah)
But with a job like that
Sanity's not to be had
The Science Ninjas love
You like a Foster Dad
And though they can be brats
They still can make you glad
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
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Posted by Hinotori on 13-09-2008 at 21:11:
Nambu meets the Beatles?? I just had the mental image of the Doctor with a shag haircut and flashing the peace sign... <shudder> 
Thanks for all the great Nambu info, James! You're always a wealth of information for us!
And, LB, wow, that metamorphosis of Nambu/Anderson was amazing!! Thank you for photoshopping the pics so we could see what he really looks like under that scientist exterior of his!
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Hinotori
Eagle in Charge
Posted by Transmute Jun on 13-09-2008 at 21:41:
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He came pretty close in the OAVs...
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Posted by lborgia88 on 13-09-2008 at 22:11:
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Memo to self: Do not sing TJ's filks out loud to see how they sound unless you are positive you are alone.
BF thinks I'm really nuts now...
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