+========================================================================+ || __________ __ __ || || / > / \ / > || || / _____ / / \ / / || || / / / / / /\ \ / / || || / <____/ / / / \ \ / / || || / _____ / / / \ \ / / || || / / / / ------------------- / / \ \/ / ------- || || / / / / N I M A N G A / / \ / U Z U || || <__/ <__/ ------------------- <__/ \__/ ------- || || || +========================================================================+ | Presented By: [_The_Palace_ST_BBS_] (212) 219-3896 300-2400 Baud | | <_Silent_Running_BBS_> (718) 526-5395 300-1200 Baud | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Vol. I Issue. 1 Public Domain | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ To the reader... Welcome to ANIMANGA NUZU! This is a newsletter dedicated to Japanese Animation and all of it's fans. The purpose of this newsletter is to inform the animation fans of the latest news and happenings in the animation world. We intend to inform the fans with movie and OAV reviews, story synopsis, and any other kind of information relating to japanese animation. We will try to come out with a new issue as often as possible. Japanese animation is not only found at CF/O's, Conventions, and Magazines, they are also found on Computer Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). The purpose of computer bulletin board services is to share information on any subject and to find questions and answers on problems. Since I run a B.B.S. and love animation, I decided to create a message base on my BBS solely for the Animation lovers. I was quite surprised to see how many animation lovers out there! I also discovered that there were already quite a few Anime related BBS around. I then decided that my users and I could make up a Anime newsletter every month for the anime fans. We hope you enjoy this newsletter and remember, We are looking for writers! Edmund Eng Palace ST B.B.S. (212) 219-3896 Another hello... Hi. My name is Jack Szwergold, and I am editor of this newsletter. I will not bore you to death by repeating what Edmund Eng said, so I will tell you some of my views on anime. Many people don't know about Japanese animation for one reason. It is very inaccessable. Oh sure there are clubs that hold meetings and show video tapes of anime, but how many of us have the time or the resources to attend such meetings? This newsletter originates in NYC, and being a metropolitan area, we have access to many sources of anime, club realted and other wise. But what about the others? The people who don't live near places where meetings are held? Should they be looked down upon? Should they be shunned from ANIME fandom just because they cannot make it to a meeting? I don't think so. But how do they get their info? That is a hard question to answer, but you can be asured they get it, because without info, there wouldn't be a fandom. This newsletter is not intended for those who have info, but don't share it. It is not for those notorius anime fans who nitpick at the slightest mistakes. This is a newsletter for people who like the stuff, and just want to learn more about it. I hope you enjoy it, and please let us know what you think! Jack Szwergold a.k.a. Edison Carter +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DANGAIOH - Plot Summary | | by Masaki Takai | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Character Descriptions: ----------------------- ROLL - Sex: Male Hair: Short wavy black hair MIA - Sex: Female Hair: Long brown hair Clothes: Lt Blue w/Black Stripe swimsuit NAMBA - Sex: Female Hair: Short Lt Blue Clothes: Yellow swimsuit PAI - Sex: Female Hair: Short Purplish Blue Clothes: Red Swimsuit Well, basically, Dangaioh is a tribute to the old classic live-action and anime shows with sped-up animation and neato-looking mecha. Four youths (Roll, Mia, Namba, and Pai) wake up to find themselves on an asteroid with no memories except their names. They escape from the asteroid just as it explodes. An old geezer meets them and tells them that they have passed his test. He is a weapons scientist and he tells them that he created them to be the ultimate weapon. They are to be sold to the Bunker, a group of space pirates, shortly. Mia suddenly begins to have flashbacks, remembering Earth. Meanwhile, an android built by the professor is not too happy about being pushed into second place by these newcomers. Later that night, he comes to Mia and tries to force her to tell the professor that her memory is coming back. This, he believes, will force the professor to memory-wipe them again which will take so long that he will get to go to the Bunker instead. Suddenly, Mia bursts in a flash of psychic energy that pushes across the room and knocks him out. The four of them escape, realizing that the professor had lied to them and that they weren't "built" by him. The professor had just drawn out their latent psychic powers. Immediately, the professor orders a pursuit. There is a short battle which the group wins. But, Pai starts having her own flashbacks and goes to the Bunker with Roll tied up. She is the daughter of one of the leaders of the Bunker! She meets with her father. Her father orders her to prove her loyalty by killing Roll. She refuses and just at that moment, Mia and Namba burst into the chamber. All four escape. They head to Earth where the android in a humongous'bot given to him by the Bunker is busy trashing Tokyo. They form Dangaioh and are all suprised to find out that only Roll's cockpit allows control of Dangaioh. Big battle which ends with the android committing suicide. Pai, Roll, and Namba try to get Mia to leave and to stay on Earth but she refuses, saying that they're a team and if she left, the remaining three wouldn't be able to form Dangaioh. So the team of four sail off happily into the sunset while the professor's ship busily tries to keep up/catch up with them. E N D +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Summary Of The Last Two Part Episode Of KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD | | by Hitoshi Doi | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ /////// PART 1 /////// Kyosuke is taking a nap under a tree in the park. Madoka comes by and wakes him up. They have the conversation about "hirune" (same as the end). Madoka says that she made a promise with her first boyfriend, six years ago, to meet him under the tree. Kyosuke finds out from Hikaru that Madoka had her first kiss under that tree six years ago. Kyosuke's grandfather sends Kyosuke unwillingly six years into the past. Kyosuke is now six years in the past! Kyosuke spots someone who looks exactly like Madoka in the park and follows her. She meets her boyfriend in the park and she kisses him. Kyosuke thinks that it was Madoka and gets shocked. Kyosuke runs into little Hikaru and little Yuusaku. He still doesn't know that he is in the past. Kyosuke goes to an ice cream store and finds out that he is six years in the past. He then realizes that the girl that he saw was not Madoka. Meanwhile in the present, Madoka gets a phone call from America. Her father is sick, and she has to go to America immediately. In the world of six years ago, Kyosuke is sleeping under the tree. Little Madoka (who looks very boyish) wakes up Kyosuke. He thinks that she is a boy. They have the conversation about "hirune" (again). Madoka was carrying a soccer ball, and a group of older boys (from a High School soccer team) comes and picks on her. Kyosuke doesn't know if he should help or not. He remembers his grandfather telling him that if he interferes with the past, then he may never be able to return to the present. However, little Madoka falls off of a cliff, and Kyosuke uses his power to help her. He then finds out her real identity. Kyosuke tries to fall down the stairs so that he can return to the present, but it fails. Little Yuusaku comes crying to tell Kyosuke that little Madoka is captured by the bullies as a trap to catch Kyosuke. The bullies think Kyosuke is an alien because Kyosuke used his power to save Madoka from the cliff. Kyosuke goes to help Madoka, who is now wearing a skirt and a yellow hat, but gets captured. He again uses his powers to escape and save Madoka. He then buys a red straw hat for Madoka. (This is the same hat that Madoka gives to Kyosuke in the very first episode of the series) Then, as Kyosuke is resting under that tree, little Madoka leans over and kisses him. As she is running home, Kyosuke promises to meet her six years later. Then there is a flash, and Madoka appears out of thin air. Kyosuke's grandfather had sent Madoka to the past. /////// PART 2 /////// Kyosuke explains to Madoka that they are in the past, and that their family has the special powers. Madoka says that she loves him. Then, as Kyosuke was running to get something to eat, he falls down the stairs and slips into a parallel world in which he does not exist. Kyosuke meets Hikaru, Yuusaku, Kurumi, Manami, Komatsu, and Hatta. None of them recognize him, and he gets in trouble with the police (Komatsu and Hatta). As he remembers that he left Madoka in the past, he meets up with Madoka of the parallel world. She helps Kyosuke from the police, as a gang of hish school students comes to fight Madoka. Meanwhile, in the world of six years ago, Madoka meets up with little Madoka. If they are to come in contact with each other, Madoka will disappear from existance. In the parallel world, Madoka fights the gang, but gets captured as their leader puts a knife at Kyosuke's throat. The gang takes Madoka back to the school, and beats her up. In The World Of Six Years Ago... LITTLE MADOKA: Are you that boy's girlfriend? MADOKA: Why do you think that? LITTLE MADOKA: Because he said that he likes girls with long hair. MADOKA: Well, don't you like him yourself? LITTLE MADOKA: Yes, I like him a lot. I'm going to be his wife. MADOKA: I'm with you too. Then, they are about to shake hands. In the parallel world, Madoka is about to get raped. She sceams for help, and Kyosuke somehow "hears" it. He had been tied up, but he breaks out, and yells "Ayukawa". In the world of six years ago, Madoka somehow hears this and stops from shaking little Madoka's hand, just about when they were about to touch. Then, Madoka's sister calls little Madoka, and they go home. In the parallel world, Kyosuke runs to Madoka's help and they escape. Kyosuke used his power to defeat the two captors. As they are riding away from the school, Kyosuke falls off of Madoka's motorcycle and returns to the world of six years ago. The grandfather sends Kazuya into the past to bring back Kyosuke and Madoka. MADOKA: Kasuga-kun? Are you Kasuga-kun from six years ago? Oh, you're Kazuya-kun. KAZUYA: Where's Kyosuke? KYOSUKE: Ayukawa! (running up to Madoka) Ayukawa. Oh, I'm so glad you're okay. (hugging Madoka) MADOKA: What do you mean? KAZUYA: (coughs) KYOSUKE: Oh, Kazuya. (turning around to see Kazuya) KAZUYA: If you don't want to return, I'll leave you here. Are you ready? KYOSUKE: Ok. MADOKA: Kasuga-kun.. KYOSUKE: I'll wait for you until you come back from America. KAZUYA: Kyosuke, where do you want to return to? Kazuya returns them to the present. KYOSUKE NARRARATING: So, I'm pretending to be sleeping at this place again. She'll come soon and tickle my nose. Then, she's going to say... MADOKA: If you take a nap in such a place like this, you're going to catch a cold. KYOSUKE NARRARATING: See.. KYOSUKE: (sneezes) In Japanese: (because it doesn't make much sense in english) MADOKA: Konna hirumakara nechatte. KYOSUKE: Dakara hirunette yuunjanai. In English: MADOKA: Sleeping already during the day. KYOSUKE: That's why it's called a nap. MADOKA: "Dakara hirunette yuunjanai", Someone said the same thing a long time ago. KYOSUKE: Who was that person? MADOKA: That was... that was my first boyfriend. And... KYOSUKE: And a person who still thinks that you're very special. They kiss.. The ending is: In Japanese KYOSUKE: Kasuga Kyosuke, Ayukawa Madoka to nidomeno first kiss desu. In english: KYOSUKE: Kasuga Kyosuke, this is my second first kiss with Ayukawa Madoka. T H E E N D (This was a great last episode, but I'm disappointed that Orange Road is over. They are planning to make LD's of all episodes of Orange Road. Too bad I don't have, and can't afford, a LD player) +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Underlying Homosexuality In MEGAZONE 23 - Part II | | by Jack Szwergold | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Megazone 23 part II was the first real anime my friend has ever seen. He is an aspiring cartoon artist, and is very into film analysis. When I showed him this film, I expected him to comment on it, but I never was expecting what he was going to tell me. "Jack..." he said "...Johnny Winters is a homosexual." According to him, there is latent homosexuality in Megazone 23 part II If you are laughing now, I don't blame you. I was also, until he grabbed the remote control, and started to show me specific scenes as evidence to his claims. I sat, watched a didn't believe how much evidence there was. The first thing he pointed out was a scene early in the movie in which Johnny Winters (Shogo) and his friend (sorry I forgot his name). They are sitting together looking at each other and then Johnny is offered a cigarette by his friend. Normally, one should write this off as just pure friendship and male bonding. This would be written off if it weren't for one fact. This is a movie, not a documentary. Though many of us miss the subtleties of directorial influences, they still exist and if analyzed, can reveal a lot more to the story than one though existed. The motions that they were going through during that small sequence have all the signs of homosexual flirtation (at least that is what Justin said). This, by itself means nothing. One scene doesn't summarized the feeling of a whole film. Thus here are some other references. Sue (Yui) gets her hair cut shorter, and to many (including me) this doesn't make her look any better at all. The question of why she cut her hair was always in my mind. Why would she do it? It wasn't a new style at all, but just basically a shorter "soup bowl" haircut. She didn't do this for herself, she did it for Johnny. Why? Did she feel that the bond between her and Johnny was distanced or separated? She must have to take such an extreme measure. But what does the hair have to do with anything you may ask? Girls do it all the time to attract their partners, or rekindle life into a relationship. The difference is that now, with the shorter haircut she looks masculine. She knew this would happen, and was in fact proud of it in the scene just before the sex scene in MegaZone 23. And what did Johnny do to her afterwards? He started "fooling around" (to put it lightly) with her. The sex scene itself gives even more light to the homosexuality theory. Many of us know that the sex scene in Megazone 23 part 2 was edited. The cut scenes can be found in the Megazone 23 movie books, and looking at these show that Johnny is constantly doing Sue in one position. Doggie Style. This is a position that is not exclusive to the hetrosexual community, but it is common in the homosexual world. Why would Johnny want to have sex with Sue in this way? Could it be that he was acting out a fantasy that Sue was really a man, and he was... ahem... you know what I mean. Many of you may say this theory is bullshit. I don't blame you. It does sound strange, but there is enough evidence to prove this point. I am still not decided myself on wether Johnny is being presented as a homosexual or bisexual by the film makers, but that isn't the point of this article. This article was presented to show others how a common artform can be viewed in different ways. If you have any comments at all, please let us know about it. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A Look Into The Animation Industry In Japan (Part 1) | | Submitted by MACROSS | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The first animation studio we visited was TMS, better known as Tokyo Movie Shinsha. It is located in an area of Tokyo one would hardly expect to find an animation studio, much less, one with such a reputation. TMS has had a hand in fabricating such greats as ORGUSS, LUPIN III, TETSUJIN 28, CAT'S EYE, ULYSSES 31, COBRA, and multitudes of other animation for Japanese T.V. and Feature films, as well as the animation for a great deal of the "cartoons" that we see in the United States (such as GUMMY BEARS, MIGHTY ORBOTS, GALAXY RANGERS, BIONIC SIX, GALAXY HIGH SCHOOL, etc...). TMS has also done some "test" animation for the people that brought us STAR WARS, Lucasfilm Ltd. Evidently, they wanted to show Lucsfilm just how realistic animation can look. The drive in our tour bus took quite some time, perhaps 40 minutes or more, before we arrived at our destination. The area was extremely cramped as the streets are hair-raisingly narrow. How our tour bus driver was able to manuver such a large vehicle in such limited space was certainly an entertianing thought, but we did make it. We walked down a very narrow side street, crossed over some rail-road tracks, and the building on our immediate left was TMS. It was a very narrow building, and at first glance, appeared to have five levels. It was built right alongside the railroad tracks, and we found out later, the whole building shook everytime the trains would pass by. The moment Hata-san (our tour guide) entered the building to find the person in charge of our studio tour, Tat Ikeuchi greeted him and welcomed us warmly. Upon entering the building, one could see that the people at TMS were very serious about their work. It was spotlessly clean and very quiet. Mr. Ikeuchi then took us upstairs and we immediately began our tour. At first, we walked into the artist's room. This is where the actual animation gets done. The artists were illustrating the pencil sketches. The room was rather quiet. These very young people (18 - 24) very busy illustrating what would later become the guideline for the actual cels. Most of them wore walkman radios to help keep them stimulated. The work appeared very time consuming, and very boring. One young lady was working on what may have been water drops, splattering outwards. She constantly flipped the pages her drawing were on over and back again to see if she was acheiving the continuity she wanted to attain. The most striking feature of the artwork being done was that it was drawn near-perfect, as there are no "clean-up" artists in Japanese animation. Upon examining the room these young people actually worked in, we were quite amazed to see such a large amount of reference materials. Books from multitudes of shows were scattered on desks and jammed into book cases and shelves. Posters from STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and many other shows from both America and Japan decorated the walls. Actually, it was a cheery work atmosphere, but it did not cover up the very obvious fact that these young people work very hard. MORE TO COME... STAR BLAZERS HAS BEEN RELEASED TO HOME VIDEO CHECK out the latest issue of Starlog Magazine... Inside Front cover, you'll find the full page ad (cel painting courtesy of me). 14.95 for the first tape, contains episodes 1 and 2. More tapes to follow. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT will be the LAST Speilberg/Bluth production, though there was a rumour about American Tail 2. All plans have been canceled as Speilberg can't stand Bluth. Turns out that Bluth is slightly anti-semetic, and was talking about Speilberg behind his back. Speilberg found out, go pissed, and is canning Bluth after this film is finished. OLIVER TWIST the next Disney animated feature, will be delayed in it's release due to a move in the animation studio. They are moving from their California base to a new production facility in Florida as part of a new MGM/Disney Studio. This new area will be part film production facility, part tourist attraction. You'll get to see how live action and animated productions are made, while the productions are going on! To fill the blank spot in it's release schedule, Disney is re-releasing BAMBI. The 1 hour, 9 minute, 39 second film will be out into theatres on JULY 22. The supervising Director was David Hand, and the film was originally released in 1942 after five years in the making. LUM: Urusei Yatsura (a name familiar to many anime fans) will be released by Eclipse comics in May. This is the english translation of the manga that inspired the immensley popular anime series. It will be bi-weekly, just like the 4 other manga titles Eclipse runs. BUBBLE GUM CRISIS, the adventures of the Knight Sabers in Mega Tokyo 2032, will be continuing for 13 episodes. The OAV series is currently up to episode 3 (Blow Up) and episodes 4 and 5 will be released this summer. ORANGE ROAD IS GOING TO BE RELEASED ON LASER DISK! The entire series is going to be released on LD starting from April 21. Each volume will contain 4 stories and will be released every month. BAYCON '87 IS OUT!!! (I don't have a copy, but here is a list of what it contains, thanks to Emerald Gladiator) Area 88, Act III Arion Arriverderci Yamato Cobra Pilot and Movie Cosmo Police Justy Crusher Joe Dagger of Kamui DaiCon Dancougar: R.F.V. Dragonar, Episode 1 Etranger Galient III Gall Force: Eternal Story Gundam 1-3 Hokuto No Ken Movie Iczer-1, Acts 1-3 L-Gaim III Laputa Lensman Movie Lupin III:Cagliostro's Castle Macross: Do You Remember Love? MD Geist Megazone 23, Part 1-2 Mospeada: Love, Live, Alive My Youht In Arcadia Nausicca Project Ako Remember My Love(UY 3) Super Gal Time Stranger Tobikage, Eps. 1 Vampire Hunter D Windaria +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | GALL FORCE Perfect Referance | | by Jack Szwergold | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ This book can be summed up in one word. Awesome! It is page upon page of charcter/mecha sketches and designs (153 pages to be exact). Pages 1-10 are color designs and sketches of characters and mecha. Pages 10-37 are filled with great animation pencil sketches and color planning sheets. Pages 38-40 are reproductions of the original proposal for Gall Force Eternal Story. Pages 42-61 are story boards from the film, but they are shrunk down to 1/25 the size of the page, but they are still useful. pages 62-71 are filled with preliminary sketches and drawings of the charcters in Gall Force. The rest of the book is filled with incredibly detailed character and mecha sheets. The character sheets are so complete, and give so much info on how to draw these characters, that any artist can definitly make use of them. All in all, I was very pleased by this book. Since it is mainly sketches and designs, everyone (Japanese speaking or not) can benefit from this book. I recommend this book to people who haven't even seen Gall Force. It's detailed designs and renderings can help teach anyone how to draw anime characters better. It is a must for any art fan. I got this book for $15.00 at Books Nippon in NYC, but prices will most likely be hiked up in other places. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A Wing Of Honneamise: Royal Space Force Completed Files | | by Jack Szwergold | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you have seen Honneamise (pronouced Oneyamise), you will probably want to get this excellent book. It is very similar to the "This is Animation..." books. It contains information on the characters, and other interesting info from the movie. Though not at thorough as Gall Force Perfect Reference, the information given is excellent. The book has a lot of Japanese text and will probably not interest too many novice anime fans but for those "veterans" out there, this is great. Get this while you can. The cost is more or less $12.00 depending on where you buy it from. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Music Reviews | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Editors Note: The following reviews were taken out of the IMAGE newsletter of the Texas based anime club, PANIME. It is being reproduced here for your enjoyment, and enlightenment. TOUCH MUSIC FLAVOR 1-5 ---------------------- by Patty Ewing There are really great soundtracks. Between them, they all have major vocal songs, etended opening and ending titles, and even the Meisi school song! The BGM's are fun too, and can invoke strong images of the TV episodes. A must for serious touch fans. Most of the music recalls the warm, happy sounds of the 50's. The mix between vocals and instrumental is approximately 5 vocals and 14 instrumentals per album. Queen Millenia BGM ------------------ by Patty Ewing This soundtrack is by Kitaro. if you like Kitaro, you'll like this. It's very soothing. There are no voacals; all is instrumental, in true Kitaro fashion. Millenia is a good soundtrack to study by. The music is New Age, mostly synthetic, certainly different. Hino Tori (Pheonix) ------------------- by Patty Ewing This is also very soothing. There are a couple of vocals but mostly instrumentals. A few of the songs are sort of alike. This tape is better for background noise than straight listening. The music is very synthetic something I've recently gotten into. Iczer One Special CD I ---------------------- by Helo Chen Iczer fans, this is the CD for you! It is over 45 minutes long, starting with "Fight! Iczer I" and ending with "Never Run Away" There are 3 vocals and the rest are instrumental. Most of the songs have a hard driving rock beat that was probably produced by a drum machine but enjoyable never the less. The song of Iczer 2 has an interesting Eastwood Western / Japanese street gang flavor to it. Project A-ko 2 -------------- by Helo Chen This soundtrack is very different from its predecessor. All the vocals are in Japanese and the instrumentals are upbeat. There is nothing distinguishing about this soundtrack, but it will give you a fun time. Laputa ------ by Helo Chen Out of the major soundtracks that Joe Hisashi has done for Animage Music (The others were Nausicaa and Arion), this is the best! The music is diverse and delightful. There's even 2 songs that sound like a girls' school choir. Arion ----- by Helo Chen A very exotic sounding soundtrack. It conjures up images of a busy Mideast/Indian marketplace rather than ancient Rome. Well... Thats it for our first issue! Hope you liked it! If you have any ideas, suggestions, articles, ANYTHING!!! Call the... Palace ST BBS and Smurf's Turf and pass it on! Current list of Anime related BBS's (4/15/88) NAME BAUD TELEPHONE # COMMENT -------------- -------- -------------- -------------------------------- Electric Holt 300-1200 (215) 387-4326 Elfquest/anime/SF Palace St BBS 300-2400 (212) 219-3896 Animanga Nuzu, Anime Database Silent Running 300-1200 (718) 526-5395 Animanga Nuzu, Great Anime Base Tomobiki-net 300 (313) 884-0418 Anime/manga/Jap TV/etc. Unknown Kadath 300-2400 (201) 615-0214 24 hrs daily Please let us know about any other BBS's supporting anime! Till next time... Bye