Evidence #36 - Same Gorg Time, Same Gorg Channel!

Download Here! (579mb)

Happy Halloween! It's been a few months since the Cowboy Bebop post, so forgive me on the delay. This was a post I've been thinking about doing for a long while, and it was time I just got whatever I owned of Giant Gorg and put it together. This is lacking the DVD collection from Discotek Media, and the reason for that is I don't own that yet, but maybe I will one day. It's been years since I saw the translated fansubs of the show thanks to Skaro Hunting Society, but they dropped that when the official release came out, so they maybe floating online (I still got mine on my HD).

So let me introduce you readers on what is in this .rar file. These consist of scans from a small art book that was included in the last laserdisc of the Giant Gorg series, an issue of Dual Magazine that features Giant Gorg material (No.8 Spring 1984), an Animage booklet that contains images and a large amount of info that i'm assuming was in an issue of Animage as a bonus, and a 45 single of two of the songs in the show, along with scans of the booklet that came with the 45. Talk about a bundle!

To give a quick lowdown on my fascination with Giant Gorg went back to about when Skaro was starting to fansub the series, and its a show that the likes of Dave Merrill and other online anime reviewers would talk about often that seemed to peak a little interest in the show. After a couple of episodes of seeing it online, I wanted to get my hands on whatever I could find that was Giant Gorg related. I got the laserdisc off ebay back in the fall of 2013 to start out with. After a while, I came across the poster you see above one year at Animazement from Anime Asylum booth. After some time passing, Tim Eldred Our Star Blazers fansite had a marketplace he briefly set up for a time, and he was selling the Dual Magazine, so I got that sucker off of him. Only recently, I came across the Animage booklet and the 45 single from Otaku Joes. The major grand piece i'd love to own but "can never afford nor find room for" would be that big Giant Gorg Soul of Chogokin figure that is roughly over $500 bucks online these days, which ive seen briefly one year at an Animazement con. 

I don't see my Giang Gorg collection to just stay the way it is, as long as there's some cool Gorg to be found at cons. Getting the official DVD set is on the list that I just need to bite the bullet and get, but that'll come in due time (as long as Discotek has the license). So if your a Gorg fan or wanna know more about what's out there of Gorg, then have at it with what I have on the download link. So see you next time!

Maybe this is the Gorg piece I "really" need...

Evidence #24: A-ni-me: The Berkeley Journal of Japanese Animation (Vol.1, Issue.1, 1990)

Download File HERE!!

(Total Size: 158 mb)

Well, now that Animazement has come and gone, I do have a gem that I got from the convention, what was from over a year ago that I haven't gotten around to scanning until just now. I also mention this story and the book in my con report from last year, so give that episode a listen if you care too.

So here is my story on that: I remember walking around the dealers room floor before they closed that Sunday of Animazement 2014, and I came across a dealer who usually sells model kits and unique die-cast Japanese toys that are at the usual prices in Japan. This same dealer also happens to sell hobby magazines and the like, which these kinda cons is where I get one issue a year from Hobby Link Japan. I remember looking at the bottom of the magazine shelf and seeing this book, which is something I had never laid eyes upon and started flipping through it. It was then that I realized it had translated transcripts and synopsis from anime series like Ranma 1/2 and Nadia, to OVA's like Bubblegum Crisis, Dragon's Heaven, MegaZone 23, Gunbuster and Outlanders.

I went over to the dealer and asked him about this book, which he told me that this was something he had and sold long ago, but had it been sold back to him sometime after. When I got home from my usual long drive back from the con to my home South Carolina, I was able to look at the book further. What I found most interesting on the back was advertisements for AnimeCon '91, including a print out of guests that would be coming, and an application to attend. So I decided to do what I normally do in this situation when I get something this cool, and that's to put it on the shelf to not be seen or hardly remembered for a certain period of time. 

It wasn't until I talked to Trish Ledoux over on her Twitch.tv channel one night months later that I mentioned this book to her, which I also found that her husband Toshifumi Yoshida was credited as a "special thanks" in the book. So to my curiosity, I wondered how much involvement he had with this book? I was able to get my answer at this years Animazement when I showed him and Trish this book, which they both seemed to be pleased with this relic of the past. Toshi was cool enough to sign it for me and Trish seemed interested in wanting this to archived on the blog.

So now that the tl;dr story is outta the way, I can let you guys see this for yourselves. I went ahead and scanned everything into a .pdf file so anyone who is interested can see this for themselves. I'm not sure when my next post will be after this one, which is really to say in the coming months. Hope you guys enjoy this anime relic, and see you next time!

Pre - Animazement 2015 Post: This Site Credibility is Totally Legit...

I know that just about every single post on this blog is dedicated to scanning and uploading my personal collection, followed by my lack of interesting opinions for certain columns, but I thought I would share this with you today. With a week away from Animazement 2015 to again make its mark on Raleigh NC (and my roughly 6 hour drive to get there), I occurred to me that on a random youtube search for "trish ledoux animazement," I came across a video someone did of one of her and Toshifumi Yoshida Saturday panel from last year's Animazement that my magazines were featured in this video.

To sum up the story, I usually bring a handful of Animag or Animerica stuff for Toshi and Trish to autograph every year if there at the convention, and last year I was willing enough to have them use some of the issues I had as a prop for one of their panels. I'm just happy that it was featured in someones video that was literally a few feet from me on the first row with out me ever knowing about it till today. Even though this isn't a full panel video, it does briefly explain Toshi and Trish back story on how they got into the anime industry.If you want more on my convention report from last year, here is my podcast episode about it. See you guys in a while, because I'll have plenty to scan...

Evidence #18: TurboForce Vol. 3 (Jan 1993)

Happy New Year guys!!

Now that were in the New Year, and who knows when i'll post again, I might as well put in my blog time to get things started. So, let's kick off things with a magazine that just turned 21 today, as we get to party with the TurboForce magazine!!

The story on how I got this issue (well, 2 issues to be exact) takes us back to Animazement 2013. With the game rooms set up in the Marriott hotel across the street from the convention center, I decided to browse the rooms and check out what they got while snapping some pictures. Then lo' and behold, there I saw some video game magazines sitting on a table in the retro console room. I decided to just shuffle through to see what they had, and that's when I came across this magazine and decided to cycle through it. Little did I know, this was the issue that had a write up cover of Bubblegum Crisis that I saw on the internet a couple of years prior on the internet, or at least a screen cap/ what someone said about it. Also to my surprise, there were 2 COPIES of this thing. So I picked up the issue, plus some issues of Weekly Famitsu (which I could post on this site one day in the future... maybe) and went up to the guys who were running the game room. I asked if these were on sale or if I could purchase these issues from them, and they told me "Hey there free, pick a few that you like." And with a humble "YOU BET SIR!" attitude, I got the magazines that caught my eye and walked outta there with a great score.

So with that, I am going to show you what this issue of TurboForce has in store, so lets take a look:

Oh boy, the way things were advertised in the 90's and how they priced things. It seems quite clear that when it comes to products being advertised in the 1990's, they used the tactic of "Hey! You There! You're a gamer right? You're not that good at math or money, am I right? That's why you should give us your money to get this system, because you don't know what money is or how to manage currency well. But that's ok cool guy, we get it. And by get it, I mean get this system!" You can find this tactic that companies like Tiger and Atari were so so guilty of using, and look how they turned out. All in all, people who bought this spent way to much on something NOBODY ELSE HAD!!!!

This was the BGC write-up I was talking about that I heard about on the "net" a couple of years ago. It seems like when I first read this, they wrote it like Nene was the main character of this whole anime series based on what it seems to be that they watched the last OVA and were like "Oh hey, this is all of BGC that we need to put in an anime review. We got this guys!" I actual talked about this issue with the guy who runs BanzaiCon this past year and he mentioned in conversation how he had first heard of Bubblegum Crisis from reading this issue of TurboForce. So, despite that this might be a hack review 21 years later, at least it got people interested in watching this anime. And I hope they wern't disappointed to find that Nene wasn't the main star.

I have only heard of this movie being mentioned on the Adult Swim one shot pilot "Welcome to Eltingville." But, who knows if i'll ever see this piece of cinema in my life. But hey... things can happen, and they usually do.

To show the "knowledge" of anime at the time, these writers must have never seen Patlabor before. Because, correct me if i'm wrong on this, the CGI Ingram never, NEVER transforms into a CGI race car in the entire series/OVA/movies/manga/novels. I believe i'm good on this fact. However, could it have been possible? Hey, in 10 years, who knows?

I think that about covers it. I do plan on putting something out for the 3rd anniversary of this site, so stay tuned for that (as long as I don't forget.) So with a new year, new changes await... or maybe some things!!!

Evidence #15: The ANIMAG Saga (Issue #8)

Sorry for the delay guys, but I do have a new piece of the past to show.

So I know its been a while (about 4 months, which is double than what I wanted to go for), and my only excuse this time is school, work and life (it’s the typical fallback excuse everyone gives these days, but it’s a solid one). I am finishing up this summer at my community college to get ready to enroll and get in student loan debt (hopefully not) at Anderson University in South Carolina. As for work I am doing a graphic design internship at my local newspaper for the summer, which is sweet sub-contracted work. Also, I have failed to mention that I put my spare efforts into the newest podcast my co-host and I have started, The Anime of Yesteryear Podcast, which has been going nicely since the beginning of the year. But, its high time I show you more publications of the past, so here we go.

I originally wanted to put this out about the middle or end of May, but held off because I was going to Animazement, which had someone who I have mentioned countless times when I post these issues. It was cool seeing Trish Ledoux and her husband Toshifumi Yoshida at this years con, which was another reason for me to harass them for autographs and catching up (since its been like 3 years since I last saw her.) I had her sign one of her old Animag publications back in the day, which you may know off hand who these damsels of destruction are… because THEY’RE THE LOVELY ANGELS DAMMIT!!!

Trish gives her thoughts on translation work back in the late 1980’s. Its funny how she makes a mention on “those” people who do translation work regarding to them as purist. I say its funny, because you got people likethese that are still out there. I guess something will never change. I had both Toshi and Trish sign this issue at the most recent Animazement.

Here is the synopsis for Holy Machine Beast SaiGuard (which we all knew later was Cybernetics Guardian from CPM). If you ever wanted to watch a dumb, forgetful and semi boring Koichi Ohata anime, this is it. And below that is animation news, which is whatever TV series were coming out in the later part of 1989 (I believe) and what US Renditions was going to put out, namely Gunbuster and Dangaio. If you have seen the past post on this website, about a good chunk of those magazine ads are for these two series from US Renditions. I still wanna get the rest of Dangaio on VHS to go with my USR vol. 1 copy.

Above are the write-ups for Dirty Pair and The Five Star Stories. I do own Project Eden and the OVA’s on VHS, but I have not seen Affair on Nolandia (which I have heard was the weakest of the animations, but could be wrong), which ill get around to watching one day. I have seen the first 2 of the OVA’s, which its just an enjoyable, incoherent roller coaster to watch (come to think of it, I think there was a call back to the mine cart chase from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom in the first OVA. That and surfing on lava to get to the prison). They also do a very good write up on the world of Five Star Stories, since it is a rather unique and diverse universe to begin with. 

Here we got write ups on the Yotoden (aka Wrath of the Ninja), Hades Project Zeorymer and episode synopsis for Zeta Gundam. 

Here we got the Product watch, which I kinda want my hands on that SD Gundam Famicom game (not like I don’t have any to begin with). I know I have said this before, but it does need saying again, you kids need to stop complaining over anime being too high. I hate giving these “back in my day” speeches, but its true. They listed that Gunbuster and Dangaio are 35 bucks a tape, and that is for ONE FRIGGEN EPISODE!! Back then, that was as good as its gonna get. There is also an article on making a resin kit, which I am guessing back then, everyone needed help with that. 

This is a pretty interesting article by Fredrick Schodt on Go Nagai. It’s kinda sad that he didn’t get to ride a bike for long, but were not all perfect. I really wanna see these wedding invitations he made, especially about sexy flower women taking his bride away. Does anyone out there have a scan of this?

And of course, I end everything with product placement of 1989 for otakus. I don't think your ever going to see Kaneda's bike from Akira that low in todays ebay market. I would love to have that with the McFarlane Akira figures I own. 

And that concludes this segment of the blog. I know my intended goal is to do these once every other month, but with school (mostly) that put that on hold, and I was kinda lazy and preoccupied with other things. I guess you can't blame me for that too badly. I will shoot to try and get one out before I start university, but until then, I gotta work on holding onto that vision...