The Golgo 13 anime (Japanese animation) and the manga (comic
books) they're based on, chronicle the adventures of a very
hard-boiled professional assassin named Duke Togo. As far as
I know, there are two animated videos legally available in
America, THE PROFESSIONAL and GOLGO 13: QUEEN BEE. The latter
is especially noir in style and subject matter, but both are
good.
BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, in particular the first-season
episodes before Fox insisted on more Robin, are probably the
best HB/Noir animated cartoons we're likely to see produced
for mainstream television. (Series producer/designer Bruce
Timm, is a big fan of HB and film noir, and actually
contributes covers to Gary Lovisi's HARDBOILED magazine.) The
series was remarkably well-written, scored and designed, with
more-often-than-not superior animation (especially for TV).
Loathe as I am to contradict my good pal Kevin, the excellent
full-length animated feature he mentions was MASK OF THE
PHANTASM, not THE PHANTOM MENACE, which was something else
entirely...
BATMAN BEYOND is also great, smart TV, but not nearly as
noir-influenced as its predecessor. I'm hearing good things
about the forthcoming direct-to-video feature, RETURN OF THE
JOKER, however.
CEM
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