Like all good giant robot shows, Mobile Suit Gundam had a proper toy sponsor. Unfortunately, the brightly colored metallic toys were utterly at odds with the show’s more realistic tone. Before Bandai’s gunpla, there was Clover’s toys.
Category: Features
The KVLTWORX Artist Oil Weathering Tutorial
Welcome to the second part of our KVLTWORX painting tutorial. The first part covered using lacquer paints and in this installment, we’ll be using oil and enamel paints for weathering.
Moé for Moai
The Emotion logo was created in 1983 — around the same time moai statues made a surreal appearance as spacefaring, laser-vomiting opponents in shooting game series Gradius. Just why is Japan so moé for moai?
The KVLTWORX Lacquer Hand Painting Tutorial
The first part of a how-to series on painting with lacquer paints in a weathered, Maschinen Krieger style.
Of Rough-and-Tumble Women and Unfinished Films: Shoji Kawamori’s Maimu
In the years after Macross, Shoji Kawamori and Haruhiko Mikimoto collaborated again on a film about a young girl and her bicycle.
A Hero Never Dies – The Enduring Themes of GoShogun: The Time Etranger
A look back at the film sequel to a giant robot parody TV show that defies expectations.
The Book of Otaku Insects: 1980s Fandom Trapped in the Web of Loathing
A tongue-in-cheek taxonomical breakdown of otaku fandom circa 1985 from the pages of Monthly OUT.
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.
Goldorak Go! Early Anime Fandom in Côte D’Ivoire
People often think of the countries in Africa as not having much in the way of anything, a stereotype that doesn’t reflect a much more complicated truth. This article isn’t about that. It’s about Go Nagai’s UFO Robot Grendizer and how much he meant to people growing up in the Francophone Côte D’Ivoire.
Skies, Planes, and Macross Plus: A Shoji Kawamori Interview
The first volume of Macross Plus was released on August 25, 1994. To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of one of the most iconic OVAs of the 1990s, we’re publishing a translated interview with series creator and chief director Shoji Kawamori that was originally found in the This is Animation Select Macross Plus Movie Edition book.