August 1990 Pt. 4 Mangajin Magazine

Mangajin Magazine 

Consisting of 80 pages (not 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) Issue Volume 1 #2 Printed August 1990, the start of print run 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.)

This is the start of the monthly Print run of 10 magazines per year.  The magazine was aimed at helping those interested in the Japanese language, studying both its politeness and slang, alongside what business tourists who 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.

Front cover 

 Editorial (Vaughan P Simmons) 

& Ads.  

Contents Page

 Ask Mangajin; Send your Questions to

 Classifieds  

Questionnaire\Reader's Survey
(this can be read at the end of this post)

 Feature Story; Kanji, Kana & Brand Imeji

 VIZ comics – Volumes of Trade paperbacks of Translated Manga

Nausicca, of the valley of wind

MAI, The Psychic Girl

GREY

LUM – Urusei Yatsura

 The Politeness Levels

 Pronunciation Guide

 About books  

 About books  

 About books:  Japanese words & their uses.  

 Vocabulary Summary

 Japan Travel Service, INC.

 “What's Michael” By Makoto Kobayashi

 “Jimi-Hen” By Nakazaki Tatsuya

 “Tanaka-Kun” By Tanaka Hiroshi

 “Hotel” By  Ishinomori Shotaro

Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia 
(the same City that Mangajin was created in.)

[NOTE: the following is the text taken from the replies to the first issue's questionnaire, and I think it is worth reading, and preserving. ] 

Feedback from a total of 147 people.

From  June to July of 1990 - questionnaire;

Reader's Survey

Q1. In my study of the Japanese langue I consider myself to be:

#of responses

Beginner         1       26

        2       14

Intermediate 3       8

        4       26

5 22

Advanced 6 17

7 7

(Teacher 20

Q2. Please indicate the features or manga from Mangajin which you like.

#of responses

Q&A Column 73

Feature Story 68

Sushi Primer 84

Basic Japanese 96

Book Reviews 81

Puzzlegram 45

Manga

Tanaka-kun 69

Assari-kun 55

Bravo Theater 55

What's Michael 78

Q3. Next, please indicate the features or manga from Mangajin which you did not like.

#of responses

Q&A Column 2

Feature Story 3

Sushi Primer 4

Basic Japanese 5

Book Reviews 9

Puzzlegram 25

Manga

Tanaka-kun 5

Assari-kun 9

Bravo Theater 5

What's Michael 11

Hotel 8

Q4. What kind of features, stories or articles would you like to see in Mangajin?

responses

More on Japanese religion, especially popular forms of religion.

An article on availability of video tapes - both feature films and documentaries in Japanese.

Japanese attitudes towards Americans

Any kind that continue to show the uniqueness that several of your first issue articles have;

For example, the "Titles in Translation" is the first article I have see (in English) on the subject.

Many publications meant for Japanese language students seem to all cover the same subjects over and over. Yours seems to be designed to be different. Good for you!

Emphasis on business conversation.

Stories about Japanese-American relations, both country perspective and personal.

Business etiquette and conversation.

Song translations, maybe a poem every now and then.

More history and/or cultural articles, how do westerners cope with cultural shock (if any) when living for a long time in japan.

Stories which help to understand Japanese etiquette/human relations.

More female characters like Sazae-san, also politically critical manga.

Developments in Japanese film industry (especially animation), and feature on Akira Kurosawa would be really great.

Cassette tapes with this publication would be be extremely useful.

Book review of recent literature.

I have lived in Japan so the basic "this is Japan" kind of articles are boring. 

Perhaps articles on what Gaijin in Japan find strange (riding Tokyo trains, the Office life, relationships) would be good.

Articles about slang and levels of language usage.

Japanese cooking;

U.S. Japan relations - describing or discussing the political trends/current news.

Entertaining Japanese guests, playing with japanese infants & toddlers (baby talk/kiddie talk).

Type of music, books liked in Japan; Fashion; computers.

Information on use and construction of Japanese verbs, maybe a section of Kanji learning.

More about authors of Manga, the popularity of Manga in Japan and what type of people read what type of Manga. 

More political cartoons - _ I never get the point.

Japan as seen by the traveler from abroad and the traveler as viewed by the Japanese.

Pop Music, news from Japan.

Japanese film reviews.

Articles by people who have life in Japan.

A regular feature on medium to advanced grammar topics.

Work/Office culture related manga; cultural events/ceremonies with new (special) vocabulary (shrines, etc).

Japanese cultural, both "pop" and "high" movies, literature, plays, poetry, etc.

More comedy.

Some family situations or daily situations (not business) - manga on the order of Tora-san movies. 

[NOTE: Otoko wa Tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as Tora-san, a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans.]

Q5. What type of manga would you like to see?

#of responses

Business/Economics related 58

Science Fiction 45

Sports         26

Golf            2

Baseball            5

Sumo    2

Martial Arts    3

Historical         61

Contemporary Fiction 59

Romantic         23

(mentions of specific titles were very mixed, and no patterns emerged)

Q6. Any other comments?

responses

I think a lot of foreigners want to learn Japanese from manga. 

Yours is the only publication I have seen that explains the words in their context. Keep up the good work.

Congratulations on a well made and much needed publication!  Mangajin finally fills a void that has been empty too long.  Keep it up!

Great as it is - more humour would be nice.

I love the magazine!  I think it is a wonderful idea for people trying to learn the japanese language. 

I would also like to see it (in a small way,perhaps) teach customs and their origins. 

(Although the comics serve this purpose to a great extent for the modern culture.)

I particularly appreciate the discussion of different levels and differences between the language of men and women.

I think it is a very good idea, why didn't you do this earlier! 

This was the magazine I was hoping to find. Maybe a periodic audio-cassette would be nice.

I love this book, what a great idea!  Now I will be able to say things as Japanese people do, and not just like the books!

 The first issue was great fun to read! 

Very impressed. Titbits on basic Japanese culture and entomology can be utilized in classes.

Manga themselves are informative and entertaining.

Will encourage my students to subscribe.

What a wonderful publication!  I like the colloquial tone - your translations of slag are  great.  

Best wishes for all success!

This is great and much needed - you ought to have a big following soon, but why is the female character in 'What's michael' referred to as "young woman" on page 36 and "girl" elsewhere?

Either she's over 16 or she's not.

I wish you would publish more often.

A first-rate publication!  Great for learners at all levels.  I will spread the word.

I have been looking for a publication like this for a long time.  This is great!

It makes learning fun and painless.  I am frequently baffled by manga Japanese and Japanese humor. 

This publication gives clear explanations of both and was great fun to read.

If this first issue of Mangajin will be typical of future issues, then this is a real find.

Anything which deals with contemporary social issues, but especially woman's roles including mothering, working, marriage, aging.  

Anything available on "Oyaji-gal".  Also, perhaps on role conflict men are feeling with work/family conflicts.

Japanese was never so much fun"  First magazine I enjoyed enough to subscribe. Outstanding!

[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....]

About this Blog (Post 80)

Working as a part-time Anime Fandom historian, transferring written questionnaires (and trying group interesting data together), scanning Magazines, and manga comic-books, and those few surviving pen-pal letters from the late 80's and early 90's. All to be re-read and correlated chronology, and to see what statements of that time can be used as testimonials, to give a seance of what new and existing time it was, when cartoon were not just kids shows, and Black & White comic-books had a new cinematic feel to them for an older reader.

What tasks I set myself, can of course lead me away from uploading on a regular basis, as I'd hoped to give a month-by-month view of what it was like back in the day.

At times when you get immersed in the past when reading these old letters, and after 25 years or more have gone bye, the temptation to explore the internet to re-connect with old pen-pals does take you to the side once and a while, what stopped me in my tracks was the discovery that a Anime pen-pal had died 18 years ago (1999) on the Isle of Wight at the young age 27, I only had a few letters spanning two years (1990 & 1991) that had survived in my collection, but the overwhelming feelings of loss, of a fellow pioneer, and the time that had already passed bye this was October 2016. I was already struggling with the self-promoting idea of my own part in the spread of Japanese pop culture in the UK entitled Birth of a Fan Club   and an aversion to writing had sunk in.

By December of 2016 my attentions had moved to the information that my job after 11 years was to be made redundant, and later that month my son was admitted to hospital with the discovery of a very serous heart condition. Six months on and I have re-discovered the joy of collecting the past, a few Manga comic-books at a time, scanning, dating and cataloging in the hope of uploading to a future Blog post, or other medium for content.

Now diving back into the past.....

Area88 and Mai the Psychic Girl

Area 88 ran for 42 Biweekly issues (2 per month) from May of 1987 to February 1989.

Mai the Psychic Girl ran for 28 issues Biweekly (2 per month) from May of 1987 to June 1988.

GREY and BAOH

Grey ran for 9 monthly issues from August 1988 to April 1989.

Baoh ran for 8 monthly issues from December 1989 to July 1990.

JUSTY and Appleseed 

Justy ran for 9 Biweekly (2 per month) issues from December 1988 to April 1989.

Appleseed ran to 20 issues from December 1988 to November 1991, 4 books each had 5 parts.

With American imports to the UK those smaller complete runs of 8 to 9 issues could be easily missed, or even later forgotten about.

March 1990 Pt.5a Manga

HOROBI. Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami. published by Viz Comics with translation by Len Wein & Matthew Allen Thorn, in 8 and then next in 7 monthly issues, form March 1990 to June 1991 (Part One 1 – 8 March 1990 to October 1990 & Part Two 1- 7 December 1990 to June 1991) . Originally serialized in Shonen Captain and published by Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co. Ltd. From 1987 to 1990.

Somehow I'd missed this Manga comic-book back in the 90's, its unmistakeable art style on the covers are a dead give away, as Yoshihisa Tagami's illustrations to any fan of 'GREY' his apocalyptic science fiction that had already been translated!

[Note: I was able to pick up the first six issues from one of my old local comic-book shops last year, only a few months ago, - sadly it too has now closed down!]

This Horror comic-book form VIZ's Preminere Comics – 'For mature readers only' shows the skill of the writer\artist in switching genres, covering such topics as; Dreams, Reincarnation, E.S.P., and of course the ubiquitous Japanese 'secret organization'.

I found VIZ's Tag-lines on each front cover quite compelling; “Enter the nightmare world of...Horobi”, “Ancint evil walk the Earth once more....”, “The terror begins when you close your eyes...”, “The time to be frightened has long since passed. Now it's time to die...”, “If he sleeps, he'll dream... If he dreams, you'll die...”, “His dreams can kill you...”

A lot story takes place at the Yobuno Biological Institute where Professor Zen Amako and his lab assistant Shuichi are involved in doing genetic experiments on amphibians, the over worked Professor is having some horrifying nightmares featuring sexually grotesque Demons that may have a connection with the deaths some local inhabitants!

As the plot progresses the legends of a 700 year old travelling poet Monk “Idari” become interwoven, in an era of great unrest from about the year 1335 these troubled times have been referred to as “the age of Demons”.

[Note: That in issue 4 it has a quick run-down of the main charters,] 

[UPDATE: Collection of issues 1 to 15 now complete.]

HOROBI 

Parts ONE and  TWO, Issues 1 to 8, and then Issues 1 to 7.

Genealogy of Manga;

"HOROBI". Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.

"GREY". Also Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.

Manga-in-80s-pt-4 GREY. 

"FRONTIER LINE"  Also Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.

Manga in the 80's Pt. 12

Grey. Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami. Viz Comics published 9 issues in a monthly format, from October 1988 to June 1989 . The manga was originally published by Tokuma Shoten in the mid to late 80's.

One of my fondest memories was seeing a poster on the wall of the 'Final Fronter' comic-book shop (sadly no longer with us) this film size poster of Grey death with the iconic two legged flying machines in the background, just looked like the coolest Science fiction I'd ever seen (back in 1989)!

Set in the future when man's lust for war has reduced the human population to small pockets of scattered villages and the occasional town, with most of the high technology lost or restricted to the general populous. Life is hard, living in what for most is a ghetto, feeding from what others throw away. There is endless war and the threat of attack from the next village or even from your own 'Troopers' who defend the settlements and strike back, because in this class system of society, if you're not a 'Trooper' you're scum (class “F”)! There are even classes of troopers class “E” up to class “A” (50% of all who start never make it to a class ”D” trooper), with the promise of food, shelter and safety from invaders in 'the City' being a class “A” entitles you to become a citizen, and you are set for life! Killing the enemy and destroying vehicles and machines of war advances you up the ranks!

We follow the chronicles Grey as he becomes determined to survive after the death of his girlfriend called Lips, carrying her dream of becoming citizen and living in the city, is his relentless drive. As a trooper he is sent on mission after mission, each one harder than the last. His uncanny survival and being the sole trooper out of his squad to return from many a mission marks him with the nick-name Grey Death as we witness him becoming a ruthless killing machine focused on the next class rank! From retro fitted WWII tanks and vehicles to power amour and Mecha, and the realisation that humanity's fate is not their own, and that there is a group fighting a resistance, Grey now seeks answers to the endless battles.

[Note. The American author Harlan Ellison mentions in his introduction to the manga of Grey, “it is an important comment on how a society mad for war can debase and chill its citizens. Grey is also a powerful statement about the demeaning caste systems we create to keep others in their place.”]

[UPDATE: Collection of issues 1 to 9 now complete.]

GREY.

Issues 1 to 9.

GREY.

 Volume ONE and Volume TWO.

A look back at GREY.

Gerard Jones Writer, "Confessions of a rewriter".

Gerard Jones Writer, "Confessions of a rewriter".

GREY, THE END AND THE BEGINNG.

[Note. The three page article at the back of volume one entitled “Confessions of a rewriter by Gerard Jones, can be quoted as saying “Ultimately, the story of Grey springs not from the characters but from the machine-dominated world in which they function.”]

Genealogy of Manga;

"GREY".  Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.

"HOROBI". Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.

March-1990-pt5a-manga HOROBI

"FRONTIER LINE"  Also Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.

Notable adaptations in to animation;

Anime entitled; GREY: Digital Target. (December 1986, 75\80 minutes, Director Satoshi Dezaki).

GREY: Digital Target, Released in the UK by .

[NOTE: On the 12th.September 1994, in the UK 'WESTERN CONNECTION - Film and Video Distribution'  released a PAL VHS tape, with Japanese Dialogue and English subtitles of GREY: Digital Target.] 

 

GREY Illustrations ART BOOK. 

(with THANKS to Brain F. for finding this book for me.)

[NOTE: 1984's TV Series 'Super High Speed Galvion' sees Yoshihisa Tagami credited with the character designs. - a keen eye can see this, by the distinct style and shape of the characters noises.]