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Thursday 24 March 2022

December 1990 Pt6. AnimeUK Newsletter

The ANIME UK newsletter Issue 3. December 1990

AnimeUK Newsletter,Consisting of 23 pages, #3 December 1990. Editor: Helen McCarthy.  And was available by subscription only, photocopied and mailed to subscribers on a bi-monthly basis (6 per 12 months). Subscription rates were to be: UK £6, Europe £8, USA £10, Australasia £12, Asia £12. 

A review, and look back on what was in minds of Anime Fans in the United Kingdom approaching the end of the year, that first saw a few like-minded individuals join together and create a nexus that would expand to small groups, and plant the seeds of an Anime Fandom, and would encourage retail companies that Animation was not Kids stuff, of Saturday morning cartoons. Contributors and readers alike did their part, in what today (post 2022) is pitifully slow in gaining momentum and numbers, compared to the rise of social media. 


Devilman artwork by Steve Kyte.

This is the start of print run from October's Volume 1 Issue 2 of 1990, and over a year later the issue published would be Volume 2 Issue 6 October 1992 (the last issue I have), and the.

[NOTE: Helen McCarthy was kind enough to let me know, that “Anything not credited in the newsletter is usually by me”. (July 2020)]

[NOTE: That in the days of scissors, paper, and glue (the real CUT & PASTE of Desk-Top-Publishing), and typewriters and their like (even before Word processors), all to be photocopied and stapled by hand, you can see the dedication in individually drawing the page numbers freehand.  Such was the love and motivation for cartoon for a mature audience.]

EDITORIAL;


“KONNICHIWA!" 

“First of all thanks to DEAN HEATHCOTE who has provided our first-ever FREE GIFT -  the issue of his comic HEITAI enclosed with this issue of ANIME UK.  All comments and feedback will be appreciated and should be sent to Dean at the address inside the back cover  -  with your subscription, of course. “

“Thanks to everyone who's commented on A.UK so far -  all favourably, which is nice for the ego but doesn't make for a riviting, kicking-and-screaming, controversial letter-column!   This, by the way, has a new name (ANIME PLUS, the “plus” being you, gentle reader) and logo, courtesy of MARK JOHNSON -  thanks, Mark”

“Two bits of good news: Dean H.  tells me that AKIRA (English dub) goes on sell-thru in the US in January 91, so get your orders in to American penpals now;  and a friend in Japan writes that after financial holdups and undercetainty CTBER CITY OEDO 808 #2 goes on sale in Jaan on 28th Dec. I hope to have a copy sometime in January.”

“Here's wishing you all a very merry Christmas with lots of animegoodies in your stockings (I'll settle for another Char in mine, this time in 3D, but that's another story..)  and a great New Year.   See you at the end of February 1991 with A. UK 4!”


“All views and opinions expressed herein are the personal views and opinions of the writer.   Accuracy of information contained herein is always striven for but cannot be absolutely guaranteed!”

ANIME UK is a non-profit fan publication and recognises and upholds the copyrights of the creators of the various works of which it mentions for review, discussion and information purposes.  
With this proviso, all artwork and writing herein is copyright to the artist or writer and may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without their prior permission.   The Editor will forward requests for permission to republish articles appearing here in other fanzines,”


BITS AND PIECES

AKIRA finally premieres in London in the English-speaking version at the ICA from 25th. January.   Book now!!”

“Many thanks to DAVE ROW whose generosity in printing the first run of A-UK 2 for free has enabled me to run a higher page count than expected this time.”

“Some of you will have found an extra freebie apart from HEITAI in your envelope – a poster, cutting [Carlo's NOTE magazine cutting\scrap page] or one of those inimitable magazine giveaways so beloved of the Japanese.   Thanks to STEVE RYTE who has gone through our anime bits & pieces for doubles and unwanted items, these small anime goodies go to subscribers whose names have come up in this issue's lucky dip.   I'll continue to do this as long as the goodies last.   )I may also slip something the way of the author/s of my favourite contritions in each issue too, editorial bias being what it is!)


CONTENCE PAGE
Contributors to this issue; 

Writers;
Page  2-4 Editorial, credits, bits & pieces
Page 5 ART OF THE DIRTY PAIR reviewed by DENZIL J. BROWN
Page 6 AKIRA reviewed by ANTONY JACKSON
Page 7 THE MIYAZAKI PROJECT – report from HARRY PATNE
Page 8 FORGOTTERN FLEETS OF YAMATO: PAUL DAVISON – imagines the Space Cruiser's sister ships.
Page 9 CONCERT II  - CON  review by HARRY PAYNE.
Page 9 – 10 CONVENTION NEWS by HM
Page 11 BRIAN FLANAGAN reports on the latest VCR tech [note that's Analogue Video cassette Recorder]
Page13 – 15 STEVE KYTE looks at the kits recently available in 'Forbidden Planet'.
Page 16 -18  CITY HUNTER: PETER R. EVANS reviews.
Page 20 – 23 ANIME PLUS: letters

Contributors to this issue; 

ARTISTS;
Page 2 & 5 STEVE KYTE (from A- CLUB (who probably ripped 'em off from NEWTYPE!)
Page 4 PETER EVENS
Page 8 PAUL DAVISON
Page 10, 11  VAUNDA K. PERRY
Page 12 TREVOR BROWN
Page 15 top DEAN HEATHCOTE
Page 15 bottom PETER MILLIGAN
Page 18 PETER R. EVENS
Page 19 DIEGO PARONI
Page 21  VAUNDA K. PERRY
Page 23 STEVE KYTE


LOGO & FOOTERS by GRAHAM BLEATHMAN











LETTER COLUMN LOGO by MARK JOHNSON






Thanks to everyone who's contributed!

JAPAN CENTRE PART TWO  is just a few yards further down Brewer Street [Carlo adds, LONDON, ENGLAND] than the original shop and is devoted entirely to anime and video hire. [Carlo adds, renting VHS video cassettes, see example 'Blockbuster Video']   Prices convert roughly yen to penny but there are a few bargains.   Club membership costs £5 with a £50 deposit (returnable on leaving) and hire charges £1.50 - £2.00.   Anime on shelves included ZGUNDAM, LUPIN III, LAPUTA, CITY HUNTER.  Open 10 – 6 Mon-Sat, 11-7 Sun.

LATE ADDRESS INSERT: ROBERT J CLIFFORD III  JAPAN. US Navy professional involved in Anglo-Japanese manga etc translation group, would like to hear from anyone interested in working on translations.  Costume fan/photographer, another nice American fan I met at ConFiction.


Page 5 ART OF THE DIRTY PAIR – STANDARD EDITION: SEXY TWO reviewed by DENZIL J. BROWN 

[A colour ART book of about 90 pages (with only 2 pages with any text), that may cost you £20 - “Well, does the book live up to its Title?  The answer is yes, if you're an anime fan”.]

Page 6 AKIRA reviewed by ANTONY JACKSON

Akira – 124 mins – Sereo – Digi/Auto CX

Cat. No. SF070-1550 – Letterbox – Gatefold Sleave – 7000 Yen

“A superbly animated film that is NOT for kids. A mixture of Blade Runner, Scanners and A Clock work Orange, it is a very violent film.”

Antony Jackson scores the film a 9 for Picture, 8 for sound, and an overall score of 10



Page 7 THE MIYAZAKI PROJECT – report from HARRY PATNE
The Nausicaa Filmbook, “Roman Graohic Album extra 61”. A4 size, perfect bound, 180 pages (40 pages of production notes).  Published by Tokuma Shoten: cover price 920 Yen.

A copy could be procured from 'Books Nippon' (Japanese book shop behind Saint Paul's Cathedral London) for maybe £8.44 to £10.00, sending a £5.00 deposit for Mail-Order is best.

Other 'Roman Graphic Albums' are also available from 'Books Nippon'; Laputa the flying Island, “Mt neighbour Totoro, Kiki's delivery service.


Page 8 FORGOTTERN FLEETS OF YAMATO: PAUL DAVISON – imagines the Space Cruiser's sister ships.

No. 1 The Space Battleship Yamashiro, and engagements with Gamilas Space dreadnaughts, based upon eyewitness accounts of the time.



Page 9 CONCERT II  - CON  review by HARRY PAYNE.

Page 9 – 10 CONVENTION NEWS by HM

OTHER CONVENTION NEWS 

SPECULATION, the 1991 Eastercon in Glasgow, has approached me to contribute to the video programme.  (they actually asked me to run it but I didn't fancy working 24 hours a day for the whole Easter weekend – you only do that if you're mad, or a techie, or both.)  This means there will be anime at SPECULATION, about 4 hours a day.  I will of course bring as much hot new-release stuff as I can get sent from Tokyo in the week before the Con, but if anyone has any special requests I'm open to suggestions.  Registration is currently £25 and I don't yet know the room rates.

MASQUE
is to be held early in 1992 and will be the UK's first-ever costume convention.  All types of dress – historical, roleplaying, TV or film reproduction or just plain silly will be worn and welcomed.
There will be an art show, dealers' room and film/video programme all revolving round costume, and a full workshop programme to increase your costuming skills.

If You've ever wanted to strut your stuff as Minmei or Harlock, make a Knight of Gold from cornflake boxes or hammer out a perfect Dunbine armour from sheet metal, this conis for you.   It's also for you if you want to model, as costume-makers always need them, take pictures or just admire.  For more details contact MELUSINE... Borehamwood, Herts, enclosing an SSAE please.

AnimeCon 91, the American manga/anime convention in San Jose, has confirmed 9 Japanese guests including Matsumoto (Harlock), Mikinoto (Macross, Megazone 23), Sadamoto (Oneamis) and Otomo (AKIRA), plus 4 US manga pros.   The Con runs from 30th. August – 2nd. September and you can get details from 3145 Geary Blvd, Suite 524, San Francisco, CA 94118.   Membership are currently $35 and room rates $62 single to $81 quad.   If anyone's thinking of going please let me know.

ANIME SHOWINGS IN LONDON

SAT 19TH JANUARY 1991
Host: Jay Felton
SUN 17TH FEBRUARY 1991
Host: Helen McCarthy/Steve Kyte
SUN 17TH MARCH 1991
*Host: Helen McCarthy/Steve Kyte
SAT 27TH APRIL 1991
Host: Jay Felton
SUN 26TH MAY 1991
Host: Helen McCarthy/Steve Kyte

INFO & NEWS from ROGER DUARTE
ADVENTURE!  ICZER-THREE will be a six part OVA; part One was released 25th. Oct 1990.
the GATCHAMAN series has been released on LD [Laser Disk, an analogue optical disk the size of a vinyl LP record] at a whopping 150,000 Yen!


Page 11 BRIAN FLANAGAN reports on the latest VCR tech  [note that's Analogue Video cassette Recorder]
THE NTSC/PAL BARRIER – SOON TO BE BROKEN?

[note that's Analogue Video cassette Recorder, and that Anime from Japan has been recorded using the Television format of NTSC, that has a different picture frequency, and ]

Also from the Letters page, was the added information, from Brian Flanagan, of a company that converts VHS tapes from NTSC to PAL;
"REAL VIDEO, 17 Cavedish Raod, London NW6 7XT - Rob Prince, charges apx £12 an hour plus VAT to convert NTSC to PAL."

Page13 – 15 STEVE KYTE looks at the kits recently available in 'Forbidden Planet'.

Page 16 -18  CITY HUNTER: PETER R. EVANS reviews.



   

Page 20 – 23 ANIME PLUS: letters

Tom Edge from Western Australasia writes about how he and his Anime fan group got to read the AnimeUK Newsletter via a “Finnish” contact, and how Anime groups are forming everywhere.  And they sympathise regarding our video format problems, and in their case solved the issue by getting tapes from Hong Kong.


New subscriber Robert L. Davies, mentions that 'CARDIFF FANTASY CENTRE' (that are only Open on Saturdays), will find and order Manga comic-books for you.
And hoped to start a LIST of people's 'TOP 5' Anime\Manga, he starts off;
Manga; AKIRA, DOMINION, OUTLANDERS, APPLESEED, BLACK MAGIC.
[NOTE: at the time there were NO dedicated retail Anime labels\companies in the UK. For Anime]


[NOTE: Helen writes that “interesting letters, the first 2 of which come from people who haven't even seen ANIMEUK! (not sure if that makes us famous or notorious...)

Philip Reeder, wrote; “I have for many years been collecting robot model kits”, and he had seen a poster in the 'Sheffield Space Centre', [Helen notes that the poster didn't mention kits at all, just AUK..]

Eric O. Hunting from New Jersey USA, wrote to ask for help in sharing sources for videos, and  tape trading.  As  “New Jersey being the cultural no-mans-land it is, I've had difficulty acquiring Japanimation videos”.





[NOTE: Regarding modern copyright and publishing online;  Helen McCarthey wrote “I don't have a problem with any of it, it seems reasonable. As far as I am concerned you can reproduce anything I wrote in full, But that would put pressure on other contributors.”] 

[NOTE: As a publication which was circulated, my understanding is that anyone may legally quote up to 10% of any article or chapter within such a publication for research or scholarly purposes, with appropriate credit to the author/rights holder.   All AUK articles gave us first periodical rights so all rights now belong to the authors.   Image rights are different, they belong to the rights holders and may not be reproduced without their prior permission for any purpose.] 



LAYOUT of December 1990's issue of the AnimeUK Newsletter;

Pages One to Six,

Pages Seven to thirteen,

Pages Fourteen to Nineteen,

Pages Twenty to Twenty Three,

[NOTE: Page Twenty four added is the Contact list of those that have joined the subscription, and are playing a passive or active role in being part of the United Kingdom's First Anime Fandom! With a Total Number of 35 as of December 1990. Only 8 months after Easter Con '90]

[NOTE:Freebie - poster, cutting or magazine giveaways,

[NOTE: Dave Row - Paid for the printing for AUK issue 2,

[NOTE: ICA to be FIRST show Dub of AKIRA on 25th. January 1991 in LONDON,

[NOTE: Anime video rental from JAPAN CENTRE (Brewer Street, London) Membership £5 + £50 deposit Cost £1.50 - £2.00,

[NOTE: Philip Reeder saw a AUK poster in Sheffield Space Center!



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