With the gunpla boom in decline and TV robot anime losing its luster, in 1985 Bandai began to look for new ways to embrace older fans and early otaku.
Category: Features
Go Nagai’s Horror Zone
During the video boom of the late ’80s, manga legend Go Nagai was involved in a series of live-action horror compilations and and films.
Before Hideaki Anno: A Production History of the Original Shin Kamen Rider
Long before the creator of Evangelion had the chance to reimagine one of his favorite superhero shows, Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue debuted on home video with an adult, edgy spin to celebrate Kamen Rider’s 20th anniversary.
AnimeCon ’91: A Japanese Convention Report
One of the earliest U.S. anime conventions, AnimeCon ’91 was held thirty years ago in San Jose, California. This a Japanese convention report of the event from Gainax’s in-house magazine, G-Press.
Gainax’s Never-Completed Uru in Blue and an Interview with Hiroyuki Yamaga
During a particularly rough period for Gainax in the early ’90s, Hiroyuki Yamaga sat down to discuss his plans for a sequel to Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. Nearly 30 years later it remains unfinished.
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.
What Could Have Been: Gainax’s Brief Stint as Video Game Consultants
The reputation of Gainax is one that looms large among anime fans. The studio’s iconoclastic origin story and the meteoric rise of Hideaki Anno, its star creator, have become the stuff of legend. But there are still pockets of Gainax history that remain largely unexplored.
After the End: The Never-Made Evangelion Film
Long before the Rebuild of Evangelion series, plans existed to create an all-new original Evangelion film after the TV series ended. While it was never made, two different proposals for this film are known to exist.
Progress and Nostalgia for Mankind: The Persistence of Expo ’70
With a progressive, science-based theme, Expo ’70 presented a future of unlimited opportunity to the schoolchildren of Japan. It never quite panned out, but Expo ’70s influence and presence have endured in the decades since.
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.