January 1990 Pt2.

What an exciting time it was, when the letter-box could be heard and that gentle thud of mail when it hits the carpeted floor in the morning (that's right the Royal mail delivered on time at 07:30!), especially when it was a thick A4 or A5 sized envelope!

What arrived was “The Rose” the Newsletter of Anime Hasshin number 19, was the 3^rd. Anniversary issue (January 1990). This Bi-monthly Newsletter\magazine was the voice of the Anime club that had decided to be more mail-order oriented, to quote the founder Lorraine Savage “We're a family of Anime fans sharing what we love.”, and what you got was news on Manga and Anime in the U.S.A. & Canada and some translated news from Japan too.

With what was to become an average page count of 20 pages, this bumper issue had 24 pages of hand-typed two column style though-out the issue, and lots of “Black & White” artwork by fans that complimented the 'Editorial', Anime reviews, manga reviews, OVA reviews, mini synopses, and Japanese vocabulary lessons, and other Special features were all done in a strong Black ink

Information on other Clubs, Fanzines, Computer Bulletin Boards, APAs, Classifieds Adds, Conventions, Businesses, and a Members list, made such a ravenous read that you could not wait the 6 to 8 weeks for the next News Letter to come.

There was a Review on the popular TV show 'Kamagure Orange Road', a Manga review on Leiji Matsumoto's story telling and art style, as well as an OVA review on 'Cosmo Police Justy'. I also found the two page over-view of the 1966 TV show 'Prince Planet' very informative, and the Recommended Anime by Lynn & Lorraine Savage spot-lighted 'Super Gal' by Rumiko Takahashi, 'Famous Detective Holmes' by Hayao Miyazaki, and 'Sherlock Hound' the English version (in 2010 the chain of British high street stores 'HMV' released an exclusive DVD box set, that I gladly picked-up).

Many like myself would scrutinised all the information we could glean from each issue, and start an investigation and write off for answers on our own.

[Note: At the time of publication (January 1990) Anime Hasshin had 177 members Worldwide, three of whom were from England: Jay Felton, Mr. Horseman; Mr. Willett.]

[Note: This Anniversary issue had all 177 members printed, 95% had full details so you could contact them via post – it was a family of Pen-Pals.]

[Note: A synopsis is 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.]

More treasures from comic book stores.

A locally started fanzine from Nottingham was 'Console-Magazine' (edited by Onn Lee), a monthly zine about the newly imported video game consoles, many of the games came from Japanese Manga & Anime, and in a few cases the game was made in to a Manga, and Anime show, so the cross-over of die-hard console gamers would soon become aware of Anime and Manga.

The other source of information in the late 80's and beyond was of course the fledgeling Comic books of translated Manga from such companies as :- Eclipse International, VIZ Comics, Dark Horse, First, and even Marvel comics ( under the trade name Epic Comics).

A few containing snippets and portions information, such as, Writers profiles, a Letters Page (with names & address, and some insight from the publishers), cultural articles by well respected authors and translators, Fan Club details, and of course all had the original authors, Artists, and Japanese publishers (This I would use to my advantage later on).

[Information on American and Canadian Anime fan clubs and pen pals, would be a lifeline and hub for UK fans in finding out more and even being put in touch with other UK fans who may live close by.  [Note: started to find more details here EDC & Anime Hasshin.]

[With so few people owning home computers and having Dial-up access to online information, the written word and the art of letter writing became our super-hiway.]