From the pages of Model Graphix comes Fruity Five, a photo novel and manga series that was half Sentai, half Gerry Anderson show. 9,800 yen garage kits not included.
Category: Books & Magazines
All the Gundam That Was Fit to Print: Western Gundam Fandom Before Anime Village
While Gundam is everywhere today, for most of the ’80s and ’90s it was up to Western anime fans to carry the torch of Gundam through fanzines, magazine articles, and newsgroups.
Doujin, Cosplay, Garage Kits and Dinosaurs: A Look at Do-Pe Magazine
There was no shortage of anime magazines in the 1980s, but what about all those other things the maniacs cared about? Cosplay, garage kits, doujin, dinosaurs… Do-Pe covered an eclectic array of otaku interests over its brief three-year run.
Monthly Halloween: How American Horror was Translated for Shoujo Manga
At a glance it may seem like the intermingling of Japanese and American horror movie motifs with manga-literate millennial artists is a relatively new phenomenon. And yet, as is often the case, this is not the first time these flavors have mingled.
Hideaki Anno’s Macross Movie Production Comic
As an up-and-coming young animator, Hideaki Anno worked on big animated films like Nausicaä and Macross: Do You Remember Love? For a brief time in 1984, he had a short comic feature that ran in Comic Box Jr. detailing his production experiences.
Bandai’s Brain Bank Media: B-Club
At the tail end of the gunpla boom, Bandai’s enthusiast publishing and garage kit division, B-Club, unleashed a monthly magazine and dozens of garage kits on a modeling community that was growing out of normal plastic model kits.
Hobby Japan’s Experimental Otaku Subculture Magazine Mark 1
Way back in 1985, Hobby Japan (the biggest name in hobby magazines) attempted to diversify with an all-new periodical focused on the broad spectrum of otaku subculture. The experiment lasted three issues.
Visual Horror Magazine V-Zone
The rise of video in the 1980s inspired plenty of new magazines dedicated to specific genres — particularly horror. Originally positioned as an otaku “jack-of-all-trades” magazine, V-Zone soon pivoted exclusively to horror.
Kaba and the Commercial Art of Katsuhiro Otomo
Renzo revisits the classic Otomo artbook ‘Kaba,’ highlighting the world-renowned director’s work outside of anime and manga.
SMH: The Magazine for Sex, Violence & Resin
Though it lasted for less than twenty issues, SMH gave artists and model builders the opportunity the flex their creativity outside the constraints of normal hobby magazines.