March 1990 Pt.1 Anime Hasshin.

A bit of self-indulgent trumpet blowing as we arrive at Blog post number 50!

Now the anticipation and excitement of 'EastCon 90' in April next month is so much nearer, and the conception of UK's Anime and Manga Fans looking forward with that determination and boundless enthusiasm that will become a Fandom.

What arrived by post was “The Rose” the Newsletter of Anime Hasshin number 20, and what follows is a brief overview to help you get in to the mindset of the Fans and the US\Canadian Fandom.

Front cover: “Appleseed” Fan-Art by Matt Collins.

'Editorial' Lorraine Savage reports on Kevin O'Connell's American manga poll (April 1990), with 97 responses coming from 75% of Anime Hasshin members, the results for the Top 4 favourite translated manga are :-

Appleseed,

Nausicaa,

Lum,

Outlanders. 

The Top 6 manga that fans requested to be translated are :-

Ranma ½,

City Hunter,

Saint Seiya,

Cats Eye,

Lupin,

Five Star Stories.

Lorraine Savage also reports the membership of Anime Hasshin has swelled considerably, with so many people joining after seeing the club's details in print in fanzines\magazines “Protocluture Addicts”, the CBG (Comics Buyer's Guide), and in the translated manga “Appleseed”.

Lorraine was wanted to meet a lot of members in the up-coming Science Fiction Convention “InConJunction X” (10^th. Aniveristy of the Con) running on the 29^th. Of June to 8^1st. of July (1990), and to have an official appearance of the club at the Con.

Anime reviews in the issue: Locke (the Super man) - :Lord Leon, Venus Wars, Megazone 23 – part 3, and Gunbuster. Manga reviews: Mugen-Shinishi (by Yosuke Takahashi)

One notable feature was “Is there a Laser in your future?” by Stephen McCloy. The positive outlook of the developing format of the Laser Disk in the US and in Japan, and the boon to our hobby of Anime, with its better picture quality and a longer life than VHS tape.

[Note: Anime Laser Disks are very collectable now (2014) for there quality of image, and cover artwork that has yet to make it to DVD or Blue-ray.]

“Fans can make a difference” 

Susan Triger writes to encourage fans to write to their local independent American TV stations to air the third series of “Starblazers”, and Rob Hull urges fans to write before May 1^st. 1990 to him so he can bulk send to Harmony Gold, to spur them to continue with the Television series of Robotech II: The Sentinels.

[Note: this is an old-fashioned Letter writing campaign, much like the modern Facebook and twitter campaigns of today, a grass roots approach that can gain momentum and influence companies.]

A look back at the première on the 4^th. Of February of the Fan parody “Viva La Dirty Pair” by Pine-salad Productions, the last parody was “A Fist Full of Pasta” came out a year before.

One nice touch is the inclusion of a list of “Birthdays” (March & April for this issue) on the back page.

Information on other Clubs, Fanzines, Computer Bulletin Boards, APAs (Amateur Press Association) , Classifieds Adds, Conventions, Businesses, mini synopses, Japanese vocabulary lessons. and a Members list. With plenty of Fan Artwork that were all done in a strong Black ink

[Note: on page 18 (the back page) under Clubs was the details of “Summer Side” (contact - Alec Orrock). A good fellow, and an Anime Pen-pal of mine.]

[Note: as part of the NEWS section I supplied the Addresses of two Anime Studios – Bandai and Tatsunoko Production Co. (always nice to see you name in print)]

[Note: A synopsisis a brief summary or a condensed statement of the major points of a subject (be it Anime or Manga in our case) giving a general overall view, without opinion or review.]