Long ago in the spring of 2008, my local anime shop had an inventory sale. In a box full of unsold DVDs (each going for $5.00) was the 2001 release of Assemble Insert. A friend named Parthena was encouraging everyone to try and get into 'old-school anime', so I decided to buy the DVD just to see what it was about. (On a further note, I bought Assemble Insert along with Wedding Peach. Guess which one I enjoyed more!)

 

The series turned out to be a parody, an enjoyable one, that took elements from popular 80's anime while sticking to its own creative storyline. I even showed the series to my ten year-old brother, of whom enjoyed it as well, except I had to explain a few obscure references. The Right Stuf International handled this series horribly in translation, and instead of having a special feature or booklet that could explain the more obscure jokes, they chose to cover them up or leave them unexplained. (For example, at the talent show where the Mayor asks if Hattori really auditioned the contestants, Hattori says "No, it's not Hattori but Hottari" (which means "bluff"). But in the English subtitles, the line is replaced with "Nah, it's all a bunch of crap.") I've never seen Right Stuf's 2004 re-release, so I don't yet know if they'd handled the translation better in that version.

 

I created this site to be the one reliable page with everything that the Assemble Insert fanbase (albeit a small one) would want to find, along with rare material none could find anywhere else. (This is the largest site online, and I guess I can say that I'm certainly the biggest fan of Assemble Insert.) Assemble Insert is memorable, yet not enough to become a famed classic. It still is a lovely little series, and I guarantee that most of you will enjoy it.

 

If you need to contact me, go ahead at robotkat@live.com !

 

 

 

Masami Yuuki is a famed manga artist, originally born Shūji Satō. As of December 2008, he is 51 years old. His most popular creations are Mobile Police Patlabor and Birdy the Mighty, which are both available in North America, and his comedic Kyukyoku Choujin R. His homepage is here, albeit in Japanese.