Jul 25, 2012 Comments Off
In the third part of our look at superhero themed anime, we look at the first six episodes of the dub of the Kinnikuman sequel, ULTIMATE MUSCLE. Currently airing in the UK on Kix, it also doubles as this months 2002 anime.
Plus, this weeks UK anime releases, a Dark Knight Rises WATCHUWATCH and we also watched some of the original 1982 Kinnikuman anime too.
Jul 23, 2012 Comments Off
NEWS
Upcoming Releases (titles that got a news feature in bold)
Anime Projects – Oh My Goddess 4, Bubblegum Crisis 5 (dub)
East2West – Kekkou Kamen 2
Manga Video – Heroic Legend of Arslan 3, Project A-Ko 3, Angel Cop 5, New Dominion Tank Police 6
Japan News
Captain Tylor OAVs
Virgin Megastores Anime Top 20
Top three were Space Adventure Cobra, New Dominion 8, Angel Cop 3
Reader Survey Results
It was a different time.
COMICS
Akira – Part 26
Striker – Part 2 (aka Spriggan)
Dirty Pair: Sim Hell – Part 2
FEATURES
Flesh and Blood – Julie Davis on Tokyo – The Last Metropolis and Zeiram.
Fist vs Freeman – Dave Hughes on the live action adaptations of Crying Freeman and Fist of the North Star.
COLUMNS
Cyberdrome – Lots on Doom, less on Descent, Hewlett Packard’s invisible toner and Spider-Man Cartoon Maker CD-ROM.
Animatedly Yours – Sailor Moon and Dragonball on their way to US television.
Get Animated – The final letter from future shading curmudgeon Paul “Otaking” Johnson, only he was using a different nickname in 1995…
MegaByte – Sega Saturn had arrived in the UK, and Playstation was due along shortly. Gundam on the Playstation got 70%.
Short Cuts – A robot size chart. Pretty sure they have done this already.
REVIEWS
One anime review. Arslan got 3 stars. This issue clearly came out during one of periodic stalls the UK anime market suffered.
In conclusion, if it wasn’t for the comics, this issue would have been pretty bad.
Jul 18, 2012 Comments Off
Remember that Batman OAV that came out around the time of The Dark Knight? Well we do, and we’re joined by Debbie Collins to talk GOTHAM KNIGHT and all things Batman. So warm yourself up for The Dark Knight Rises with latest episode of Dynamite In The Brain!
PLUS: Anthony debuts a character, the week’s UK anime releases, WATCHUWATCH and game of BATMAN VILLAIN OR CONSERVATIVE PARTY MP?
Jul 16, 2012 1
NEWS
Upcoming Releases (titles that got a news feature in bold)
Manga Video – Tokyo – The Last Megalopolis, Macross Plus 3, Angel Cop 4, New Dominion Tank Police 5
Kiseki – Fly Peek – Peek The Baby Whale
East To West – 8 Man After 2
Anime Projects – Oh My Goddess 3, Bubblegum Crisis 4 (dub)
Upcoming Japan Releases
Dirty Pair Flash II
El Hazard
Legend of Christiana
Slayers The Motion Picture
“New Century Evangelion” – a city under threat from the mysterious Apostles organisation is protected by a young girl and her robot! Sometimes these previews of Japanese releases are like a window into an alternate dimension.
Virgin Megastores Anime Top 20
Top three were the Patlabor movie, New Dominion 7, Angel Cop 2
Other News
Channel Four to air Cyber City Oedo 808, Tokyo Babylon, Devilman and Doomed Megalopolis. I taped every single one off the telly at the time. Anecdotally it seems to have been a key point in growing the UK anime fandom at this point in time.
COMICS
Akira – Part 25
Striker – Part 1 (aka Spriggan)
Dirty Pair: Sim Hell – Part 1
FEATURES
First Love – Cathy Sterling on Love City. Mainly comparing it to Akira, which leads into the next feature…
Deja Views – A one page feature comparing KO Century Beast Warriors to Ladius, then losing it’s theme totally with some Macross vagaries before a flippant Guyver remark.
Short Cuts – A one page “comedy” feature about anime hair cuts from Dave Jerrom. Totally filler in the proud tradition of UK publishing.
Renaissance Man – Julie Davis on Yuji Moriyama, and the Project A-Ko sequels in particular. This probably helped cement Yuji Moriyama in my brain as the earliest Japanese animator I was familar with.
COLUMNS
Get Animated – Letters include complaining about a dearth of robot shows available in the UK, dumb questions and people saying how great the magazine is.
Cyberdrome – A guide to getting on the internet and what to do once you are there.
Mega Byte – Here’s your regulation reference to Buichi Terasawa’s Apple, as Hudson Soft were apparently planning to release Space Adventure Cobra Digital Comic in the UK. Anyone know if that happened? Panzer Dragoon got 89% in the review.
Animatedly Yours - More on versioning manga for the US market.
REVIEWS
Top rated release was Ushio & Tora Comical Deformed Theatre with 4 stars. Of course it was. Starting to see harsher anime reviews now too, with nothing else getting more than 3 stars.
Jul 13, 2012 Comments Off
“Staked through the heart and you’re to blame, you give genetically engineered monsters designed for fighting, a bad name.”
That’s right, it’s 2012′s anime adaptation of Masakazu Katsura’s bloody superhero manga. Our first of four superhero shows, we discuss this melange of Batman, Devilman and Iron Man. Did we love it or hate it? Find out in a new episode of Dynamite In The Brain.
Jul 10, 2012 Comments Off
I was out at the weekend so no Manga Mania Monday this week, instead I have grabbed something within arms reach, the Minami 7 conbook from 2001. Let’s take a look.
Editorial – begging you not to just sit drinking in the bar, but instead actually take part in the con. This fell on deaf ears as long time attendees eventually stopped paying for con membership and just turn up at the hotel and drink in the bar all weekend.
Advert for Rumi Vyse’s Tangerine Volume 10 - there’s still a website up
The Future of Anime In The UK – Predictions we can now point and laugh at from our vantage point of the future. SUCK IT THE PAST, THE FUTURE ROOLS.
WELCOME TO MANGA TOWN: Can Anime Save Japan’s Regional Economies - Probably not.
ANIME BIT BY BIT – An explanation of what DivX is and where to find anime online. These were the days when UK cons actively encouraged piracy.
Anime Shopping In The US – Greater Boston - I have no idea why this was thought a good idea for a conbook at a Southampton con.
Anime – The Next Step – This has a more realistic view of what will happen to Anime Clubs, in fact it gets it pretty much spot on in how mainstreaming of anime removes the necessity of clubs and the rate of release would lead to a crackdown on fansubs (this would happen to UK cons in 2005). It then proceeds to suggest that Final Fantasy The Spirits Within is the future of anime, thus blowing its Nostradamus credentials. YOU DID IT AGAIN THE PAST.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade - A review of Jin-Roh. A film that would not get a UK release for another 6 years.
Alcohol, Mundanes and Otaku Do Not Mix – First off, let’s draw attention to the use of the term “mundanes” in the title. Just horrible. Anyway, this article was some guy telling you how his yaoi got him in some bother with the rozzers.
Pokemon – Regional Variations – “Comedy”
The Letters Page – More “Comedy”
Afterword – Yet more “Comedy”
Jul 6, 2012 Comments Off
To begin the episode Anthony & Brian look back to episode 43 and the spring anime they said they were looking forward to. Did they watch them? What did they think of them? Then, having undermined their anime quality soothsaying abilities, they go ahead and pick what summer season anime they are looking forward to.
Yes, this is just the description of episode 33 with seasons changed. Don’t judge!
Jul 2, 2012 1
Cover this month was by Metin Salih
NEWS
Upcoming Releases (titles that got news feature in bold)
Manga Video – Project A-Ko 2, Patlabor the Movie, Wings of Honneamise (sub version), Space Adventure Cobra, Angel Cop 3, New Dominion Tank Police 4, Orguss 02 2, Legend of the Four Kings 11 & 12
Western Connection – Love City, Ushio & Tora 6
Anime Projects – Oh My Goddess 5, Bubblegum Crisis 5 (dub)
East To West – 8 Man After 3, The Adventures of Kekko Kamen 3
Upcoming Conventions
Anime Expo ’95 – 30 June – 2 July, Los Angeles – Guests announced were Koichi Ohata and Satoshi Urushibara.
Anime America – 6 -9 July, Anaheim – Guest announced was Megumi Hayashibara.
Robocon 10 – 6 – 8 October, San Jose – Guests included Carl Macek and Arlon Ober.
Minami Anime – 22 July, Portsmouth – One day con at Portsmouth Hilton, two video rooms, a traders hall, a fan artshow room and a video programme that ran 10am to 10pm!
Japan News
Fire Emblem OAV
Shin Megami Tensei OAV
Virgin Megastores Top 20 Anime
Top three were New Dominion 6, Angel Cop 1 and Akira.
COMICS
Akira – Part 24
Silent Mobius – Part 5
Firetripper – Part 3
FEATURES
Speed – Yes that is the title of this Julie Davis piece on 8 Man After. There’s also a side bar on the 1994 live action 8 Man film
How to draw the manga way part 3 – No mention of Buichi Terasawa’s Apple this time! Instead some instruction on cel painting and animation.
Yeah, that was it, six pages of features total. I think they wanted to burn off two of the strips so they could launch two more with the price hike next month.
COLUMNS
MegaByte - Ultra 64 was on it’s way with a promised November launch in Japan and the US, no mention of the Europe release date of course. This was the way of things in 1995. The Story of Thor on the Megadrive got 86%
Cyber Drome – Yes, the fastly dated tech column was back. With a big piece on digital actors, no mention of Avatar yet, I think we have to wait until Cameron is linked with Battle Angel Alita before we start to see Avatar mentioned in the magazine.
Get Animated - Hey it’s the eternal when will we get some Ranma anime released in the UK question. There’s also a weird letter justifying next months price hike announced in this issues editorial.
Animated Yours – Trish Ledoux talks “versioning” manga.
REVIEWS
Top release was Patlabor the Movie with five stars. Though bear in mind Kekko Kamen got four stars, as did every other anime reviewed release this month.
ADVERTS
In the inside front cover was this beauty of a time capsule of UK anime fandom…
Did anyone actually join this thing? If so, please elaborate in the comments below. I am curious about the Japanese cartoon fueled decadence depicted in the photos in this advert that could attract the presence of grinning, greedy, poisonous, bearded balloonist Branson.
