Sunday 28 August 2016
June 1990 Pt.1 Mangajin Magazine
Consisting
of 80 pages (including front & back covers), with a Cover price
of $4.50. Mangajin was Distributed by KINOKUNIYA BOOKSTORES (in the
U.S.) & was available in Japan through SEKAI SHUPPAN KENKYU
CENTRE (Tokyo) First (Pilot) Issue Volume 1 #1 Printed June 1990,
start of print run August of 1990. Last issue published Volume 7 #70
November\December 1997. Mangajin was published 10 times a year,
Monthly except for January and July each year.
Editor &
Publisher Vaughan Paul Simmons (Based in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.)
The
Mangajin Project (as its Editor refers to it) issue one is such an
oddity of a point in time when interest in Japan went a little
deeper, from a fascination of modern Japanese business practises, and
it's almost unknown alien culture to that America. With
Hollywood movies like “Black Rain” staring Michael Douglas and
Andy Garcia, and Yusaku Matsuda that was only released in September
of 1989 in America still fresh in people's minds.
A
magazine aimed at helping those interested in the Japanese language,
studying both its politeness and slang, alongside what business
tourists may want to add to their understanding.
I
have only included a few samples of what you would find within the
pages of Mangajin from my own view as someone that appreciates all
aspects Japanese manga, in the hope it will spark a search for
knowledge in you the reader.
[NOTE:
By the late 90's Mangajin had ceased being published, it did have a
presence on the Internet, sadly that too is now in the past - using
the Internet's Archive Way-back machine
http://web.archive.org/web/20110215113738/http://www.mangajin.com/
you can discover the WASABI BROTHERS Trading Company run by....]
The Contence page (just look at the variety, and the scope).
A few words from the Editor.....
Supporting Advertisement from VIZ COMICS, showing popular Translated Managa of the past few years.
How to make Sushi.
Tanaka-Kun (Salary-man) by Hiroshi Tanaka.
What's Michael? by Makoto Kobayashi.
HOTEL by Shotaro Ishinomori
(better known in the West for his Anime 'Cyborg 009' and his creation of live-action series 'Kamen Rider' ).
If you lived in 'Los Angeles', 'New York', or 'San Francisco' you had access to a Kinokuniya Bookstore, and a copy of mangajin.
Supporting Advertisement from ECLIPSE INTERNATIONAL and featuring a production from STUDIO PROTEUS (the translation company founded by Toren Smith).
Your Janpanese vocabulary at a glance!
The future of Mangajin, what's coming next!?
Not only does West meet East, but now you know that the city of Atlanta, is the birthplace of CocaCola, is also the birthplace of Mangajin.
[Note; a 7 year old link may still work if you are looking for resources thespectrum.net mangajin ]
{Note: I did not have a subscripion to this magazine, but chose to pick it up at Comic-book stores around England in the early 1990's, it may have been months or even years before an issue would get to the UK.]
Thursday 18 August 2016
May 1990 Pt.7 Anime Kyo UK
Anime Kyo UK
This Page is under continued development, and its Links will be updated from time to time.
A
continuing fact page will also be updated.
A time of
'Pen and Paper', a time of ' Scissors & Pritt Stick glue', when
Photocopiers re-sized Artwork and printed whole Fanzines, who knew
Desk-Top-Publishing was done on a table or on the floor?!
Having found paperwork
from my Anime club, and personal letters of correspondence from my
old Pen-pals, as well as the month of May being the time when I was
having treatment for Cancer, I will have to make a great deal of
effort to show the transition from Novice Anime Fan and consumer of
all things Anime, to an enabler, connecting Fans far an wide, to a founder of a local
Anime Club that developed beyond its Shire borders.
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Dated August 2016, August 2017
Post 77 American Fandom
And now another break
from the chronology of the past.
I thought you would
all like to know that with a road-trip up to Sheffield Arena on
Saturday 13th. Of August 2016 I attended the
“FILM & COMIC CON Sheffield” run by Showmasters,
just on the off chance of picking up some old Translated manga from
the 80's and 90's (they are in the same format & style as any
American imported comic-books, not like modern Manga that is in the Diary format).!
Out of the six or so
stalls that sold manly DC & MARVEL comic-books, one would have
ten random issues of manga, and one of those was now to replace a
lost comic-book that many a UK Anime and Manga fan would have read
back in 1989, if remembering it for its 'Letters Page'.
Appleseed
Book3 Volume 2,
September,1989
American Appleseed
Cover painting by Adam Warren
American Appleseed Logo
designed by Tom Orzechowski
Editor Fred Burke
Editor-in-Chief
Catherine Yronode
Publisher Dean Mullaney
English translation by
Studio Proteus
The Letters Page.
For what I am so thankful for is a comic-book fan Dan White writting to the Editor Fred
Burke, and that his letter about the cost of Anime (on VHS) was published in the Letters Page.
[NOTE: The reply was
signed Toren Sez, with the tone of someone who knew the industry in
Japan, could this have been Toren Smith founder of Studio Proteus and
supporter of Comic-Con giving his insight?]
[NOTE: These two
American Anime Fan Clubs (Earth Defence Command, Anime Hasshin) would be an early part of my own Nexus into
a wider Fandom, linking me with other Fans in the UK and forever
changing my life.]
Sunday 31 July 2016
About this Blog (post 76)
Much of my free time
has been spent in the last few months taking photos and scanning
Pen-Pal letters, Fanzines and manga (sometimes stretching from '90 to
'92 or even taking the Chronology further in to the future from the
past) to record what is left of my collection of mainly 80's and 90's
Anime and manga memorabilia, as well as adding to them for
cataloguing. I still hope that by tackling the past on a month by
month basis an over-all picture will emerge from my observations and
recollections, and from the written word.
Blog updates as follows
A small piece of
information regarding Convention Video room listings has come to
light.
More information on
Robotech in the England has been pieced together.
Finding the lost manga
of BAOH
The May of 1990 onwards
was when I was having treatment for Cancer of the tongue, both
Radiotherapy and later surgery and is to this day difficult to write
about, and think about that time of my life.
My continued scanning
of private Anime Pen-Pal letters (many of whom I have lost touch with
over these past 20 to 25 years - writting as of August 2016), to help track how events unfolded in
the infancy of the UK's Anime & Manga Fandom has again taken up
my time in more ways than one. As I am transported back in time
rereading them, I am once again immerse the excitement, hope, and
discovery of like-minded people exploring what Japanese animation had
to offer, making it all so fresh in my mind 26 years later!
Spending snippets of
time when I can, to use the World Wide Web and the Internet to try
and reconnect with old friends, I had not prepared myself for the
possibility of them no longer being alive. This has taken me aback,
and emotional and personal feelings have come forth and slowed my
progress in typing this record of the early days of the Fandom as I
reflect this.
You may also see this link from time to time, these pages will be under construction, but accessible !
Tuesday 28 June 2016
May 1990 Pt.6 Nippon Shuppan Hanbai USA INC
Having just found
paperwork (sorry hard copies) from Nippon Shuppan Hanbai USA INC .(Books Nippan)
buried among reams of correspondence in a few tightly packed surviving boxes, finding more fragments
from May 1990 for you the reader to ponder over.
It was about this time
I joined the B.N.A.F.C. (Books Nippan Animation Fan Club) that gave
you discounts on what the company was selling [much like Manga video
did in the UK later in the 90's].
My Membership of Books Nippan Animation
Fan Club Paid $12 (invoice 04.18/1990) - Membership Card 05/90 to
06/91.
I had seen their advertisement
in April's issue of 'Protoculture Addicts' fanzine of their
subtitled Japanese Animation on VHS 'GUNBUSTER Vol. 1' and '
DANGAIOH' a first for Anime to the direct-to-home American market,
to be released January 1990 by U.S. Renditions.
[NOTE: According the
internet (post 2000) GUNBUSTER Vol. 1 was released in March 1990. But
I can not confirm this.]
U.S. Renditions was the
Special Projects Division of
Books Nippan, the American branch of Nippon Shuppan Hanbai, the only
UK connection being the shop in London 'Books Nippon' that I knew of at the time.
The B.N.A.F.C. Had a
leap in membership from about 1000 to 4000 members in just a short
space of time, that triggered a re-organisation of their
mail-ordering department to harmonise to meet the new demand for
goods.
Looking at BOOKS
NIPPAN's Newsletter #8 - (copyright Shinji Aramaki IDOL/ARTMIC
1985) Previous newsletters were originally to come out Yearly. Can
you imagine waiting 12 months or more for News and feedback from a
distributor of Anime, that's breaking into a new market!?
[NOTE: U.S.
Renditions Update “Work continues on the new English subtitled
videos for 1991. The original U.S. Renditions production team along
with new translators Toshfumi Yoshida and Trish Ledoux (Editors of
ANIMAG Magazine) are currently (late 1990\early 1991) projecting an
April 1991 release for 'GUNBUSTER Vol. 2', and APPLESEED, GUNBUSTER
Vol. 2 which contains episodes 3 & 4 will also have the “Science
Classroom II” which was cut out of 'GUNBUSTER Vol. 1' due to length
of time considerations.]
[NOTE: Sometime during June or July will be the
Release of 'GUNBUSTER Vol. 3 and Black Magic M-66. ( There are
currently other projects being discussed for FALL 1991 release.).]
Sunday 12 June 2016
May 1990 Pt.5 Round-up \ overview
We
still had a few on-going
Manga comic-books and
Anime based comic-books that could be still found “On the racks”
in May of 1990, such as:-
#20
of 'AKIRA' (1-38)
#33
of 'Lone Wolf and Cub' (1-40)
from First comics,
#17 of Outlanders.
(1-33)
from Dark Horse
Comics.
#6 of Dominion. (End of
1-6)
from Eclipse Comics.
#4 of COBRA (1-12)
#6
of 'Baoh',
(1-8)
#3 of HOROBI: Part One (1-6)
from
Viz Comics.
GRAPHIC-NOVELS STILL ON
SALE IN THIS MONTH:
What's
Michael?
Appleseed
Book #1
Dirty
Pair – Biohazards
from
Eclipse Comics
LUM
Vol #1
from
Viz Comics.
[Note:
You still had #2
of
Lensman
#4 of 'Leiji
Matsumoto's Captain Harlock',
#15
of 'Robotech II – The Sentinals Book One'
from
Eternity Comics.
Saturday 4 June 2016
May 1990 Pt.4 Animag 10
With all my efforts on
giving the reader the whole view over time, of my journey with the
start of the UK's Anime & Manga Fandom getting the facts of the
dates historically correct has been paramount and a driving force.
With this in mind, the printing of Animag #10 in1990 looks to be May
of that year going by the advertisements of 'Horizon' (Dirty Pair
-May, Markalite (the magazine of Japanese Fantasy) Issue #1 JUNE
1990, SF2. (San Francisco Science Fiction) - The Garage Kit Network
(model shop) with its 20% off that ends on 15th. July, and Stargate
(model shop) at Project A-KON JULY 28 – 29.
[NOTE: my conclusion of
when Animag #10 was printed does not tell the reader when in the UK
I picked this issue up, it may have been a year later, in March of
91.]
What follows is a very
brief overview and reappraisal, of this issue that is centred on
Science Fiction and Japanese Mecha, all but one small article on a
four part OVA soon to be relesed (at the time) entitled Mosaica
(giving its full title Heroic Armor Mosaica) a fantasy, about a
young warrior called Wu Talma (U-Taruma) who make a stand against the
murderous conquest that has befallen the land, in the hopes of
awakening the ancient giant warrior to aid him.
[NOTE: Mosaica's full
title Heroic Armor Mosaica was supplied by a member of the Jarod Nandin's Vintage Anime Fans group on Facebook, very little in English is found about this 4
part OVA]
Contents Page
Featuring Articles on
'Space Cruiser YAMATO; Gundam F91; Iczer 3; A-KO the Versus; Mosaica;
'Gall Force'; Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam; and Mobile Police Patlabor.
Editorial by Trish
Ledoux.
Trish's editorial gives
us an insight into the love of a language and Japanese culture in
this popular medium of animation, and even her remembering – back
in those days “the days when you watched everything, when all
animation was new and wonderful and you embraced it with equal
favour” seeing so many shows that were produced and aimed at
Japanese high school boys (aged from 10 to 18) that was an out-let
counter to what Japanese society expected with “tales that relied
upon the sadly overused
revenge-seeker-whose-loved-one-has-been-slain-by-the-bad-guys
storyline”.
NEWS on up and coming Anime.
(remember this was the internet of its day.)
NEWS on up and coming Anime.
(remember this was the internet of its day.)
NEWS on up and coming Anime.
(remember this was the internet of its day, this was who information traveled.)
More NEWS.
NEXT ISSUE.
Back cover Ad. and the pricely cost of £2.95 for the issue.
Advertisement of
popular items.
Advertisement of
popular items.
Advertisement of
popular items.
Advertisement of
popular items.
Advertisement of
popular items.
Well you have scrolled
down from the Contents Page and passed all the Ads, as for the
articles you will need to hunt down the Magazine (I did say it is a very
brief overview - you now have the internet and e-bay).
Monday 30 May 2016
May 1990 Pt.3 Anime Hasshin
What next arrived by
post was “The Rose” the Newsletter of Anime Hasshin number 21,
and what follows is a brief overview, with Special Features – Hayao
Miyazaki spotlight & Nausicaa, Interview With Rob Gibson (writer
of the Harlock comic-books), Minky Momo, A Winter's Tale, Patabour,
Lupin III, Totoro – Kiki & Eriko Songs.
Front cover:
“Totoro, Nausicaa & friends” Fan-Art by Kevin O'Connell
'Editorial' Lorraine
Savage reports on the benefits of money saved by using bulk mail in
the US, “as this issue is a whopping 22 pages long!” Canadian
membership & renewal prices were raised by $2 to cover the
postage of the heaver issues of “The Rose” as the bulk mail did
not apply to Canada, however back issues and synopsis packs remain
the same. Two more synopsis packs have been added, and a NEW Flyer
“that you may pas around to tell your friends about us”.
Lorraine adds “Miyazaki
fans should enjoy this issue, but we do have a lot of other good
stuff besides.”, and that there seems to be a renewed interest in
starting up a NEW APA (Amateur Press
Association).
Lorraine also reports
on the sightings of the AKIRA movie in: Tulsa OK; Lakewood &
Columbus OH; West Los Angeles CA; Pittsburgh PA; Autin TX (but at the
time of writing – had no news as to its next schedule, and that it
hasn't reached New England). The club's bulk order of 'Madox-01'
arrived very quickly “My cheers to AnimEgo.”, and She noted the
standing ovation for musician\writer Kitaro who wrote the music for
'Queen Millenia' while in New England as part of his World tour -
“His breath-taking drum piece shook the house”.
The company 'General
Products' that a few of Anime Hasshin members had dealt with, voiced
their concerns and complaints.
Lorraine Savage would
“like to meet a lot of you” as she attends the Conventions in
Indianapolis (ConJunction) in June, and in August at the San Diego
Comic Con.
In the NEWS section
I see an interesting statistic from Eclipse Comics - Eclipse reports
that its typical readership is 18 to 24 years of age, but its readers
of Japanese comics in translation are 15 to 20 years old.
On Page 4 you will find
that the Interview With Rob Gibson (writer of the Harlock
comic-books) was by Lorraine Savage who gives us an insight in to an
American adaptation of a well loved Anime
As part of Page 5 David
Merrill writes about Lupin III's origins “The Exploits of Arsene
Lupin” from the French stories of the Victorian age.
On Page 8, the two
paged article By John Ott on 'The Return of Nausicaa' was very well
done, adding the technical notes about how the Manga art work was
printed in different sizes affecting its detail and look have you a
keen eye when re-reading the Manga.
On Page 10, John Ott
provids another two paged article, this time centring on Hayao
Miyazaki - Animator, Animated Film Director, and Manga Artist.
Page 12 has an article
written by James Troutman entitled “Around in Minky Momo's Dreams”
a Magical girl TV show from the mid 80's, with its happy ends for its
captivating characters in an action adventure that on occasion has
some good social satire & symbolism for a kids TV show.
A Manga Review on Page
13 by Widya Santoso on the Japanese Manga (non-translated) “Winter
Story” - Written by Hara Hidenori & Published by Young Sunday
(Volumes 1 to 5 – as of May 1990). The story of 3 students and tier
time just before getting in to the Universities that they want, and
not of their families, as well as dealing with the feeling of
friendship and love.
On Page 14 we would see
an Anime Film review of the 'Patlabor Movie' by Tsao Sheng-Te. Tsao
reminds us that in 1989 Hayao Miyazaki's animated feature “Kiki's
Delivery Service” was topping the box-office charts and in stark
contrast the Science Fiction Movie of Patlabor, “is very different
to the OVA in that it is deadly serious.”, and with the character
designs by the popular artist Akemi Takeda (Orange Road, Urusei
Yatsura). The reviewer notes how much more in-depth and fleshed-out
the characters are compared to the OVA series. With a compelling
action, a terrific soundtrack, and an excellent (but complicated)
story, He Ends by saying “it certainly ranks as one of the best
animated features ever done.”
A Manga Review on Page
15 by Kevin O'Connell on the Japanese Manga (non-translated) 'Dragon
Half' that was first published in 'Dragon' Japan's popular
role-playing game magazine (RPGs that you need Dice and Pen &
paper for).
[NOTE: The manga was
created by Ryūsuke Mita and serialized from 1988 to 1994. The two
episode anime OVA series was adapted from the Manga in 1993.]
A Manga Review on Page
15 by James R. Winchester on the Japanese Manga (non-translated)
'Laughing Salesman'
You will still find
Information on other Clubs, Fanzines, Computer Bulletin Boards, APAs
(Amateur Press Association) ,
Classifieds Ads, addding to this will be Personal Ads (were you can
ask for Pen-Pals)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: 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.]
[Note: APAs (Amateur
Press Association) is a fanzine of sorts featuring fiction, art, and
topics of interest, written & distributed between the same 20 or
so people, who photocopy their work and then mail it to a CM (Central
Mailer) who then on a bi-monthly basis redistributes it]
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