Ulysses 31

1980

published in Empire No.66, Sydney
Complete Collection

2007

Much of the retro anime currently on sale is a generous mix of camp sentiments and hyper-stylised visuals. Ulysses 31 potentially outdoes them all. A Japanese-French co-production based on the legend of Ulysses, it puts cultural mash-up into overdrive. The storylines are Homer's Odyssey on board the Battlestar Galactica, while the US voicing sounds like an Aaron Spelling production. But the visual style is somewhere between an 80s gay pantomime (all butch beard and angelic figurines) and late-period Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Throw in some gorgeous hand-painted backgrounds and 80's rock-disco and you have the definitive precursor to Daft Punk's Interstellar 5555.