//////////////////////////////ANIME STUFF 77777777 777 777 777 777 "Reviews and Information for the Anime Gourmet!" 7/7/1988 This is the 7th in a series of files of comments and reviews of anime (Japanese animation) items that we have bought. Please direct all comments to us by E-mail or post us a message in the Forum. We also welcome any reviews or comments you would like to have included in the next ANIME STUFF article. Also please send us any comments about any incorrect information contained here. A correction will be placed in the next ANIME STUFF. The ANIME STUFF Staff... - Tom Mitchell, Editor & Writer/Graphic Designer CompuServe Address : 75156,1067 - Masaki Takai, Writer & System Distributor CompuServe Address : 75106,3257 - Mike & Janet Naylor, Writers CompuServe Address : 76074,1631 - Rick Sternbach, Anime Modeling Writer CompuServe Address : 74616,526 Contributing writers for this issue... - Dana Fong CompuServe Address : 76626,771 - Jude George CompuServe Address : 72307,1752 ////////////////////////////////QUICK NOTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ This issue of ANIME STUFF brings with it another addition to our staff. We would like to welcome Rick Sternbach to our publication. Rick works in the art department for the excellent STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION, and will be reviewing some of the anime model kits he builds. I found his article for this issue interesting in that it shows me just how a good model builder approaches his project. Makes me want to try my hand at this HONEAMISE kit! Welcome Rick! Can't wait to hear how that Lum model turns out! (grin) Also note that with this issue of ANIME STUFF we will be adding CompuServe GIF format graphics that can be downloaded and viewed on most popular machines. This will add an interesting new demention to ANIME STUFF. Some of the articles will refer to GIF picture files for viewing. This also means that we now have a graphic "cover" for ANIME STUFF. Featured on this first cover is PROJECT A-KO. I hope you enjoy this feature, and if you have any GIF artwork that you would like to see added to our file pack of graphics in a future issue, please send it! Please view graphic files AS7G1.GIF for a look at this issues "cover" and then view AS7G2.GIF for our first anime "poster"...PROJECT A-KO! Oh, and remember in ANIME STUFF 6 when I said that I looked like the the character RYO MATSUMOTO from the OVA "Urban Square"? Well, file AS7G3.GIF is a picture of Ryo. I swear this character looks just like me. I just hate it when he gets beat up. (grin) - Tom Mitchell //////////////////////////////////VIDEO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ DANGAIOH - ORIGINAL ANIMATION VIDEO: Even if this is a video, I still can't read the credits! What follows is a review of the OVA Dangaioh. It is not a synopsis, but an illiterate person's view of what the film is... If Dangaioh were a live action film, it would be considered a "genre" film. That is, a video of a specific type, with certain requisite plot and character twists, all which emphasize the nature of its particular genre. Dangaioh is a giant robot story. It is as simple as that. What makes Dangaioh interesting, however, is that it is a fine example of its genre. It contains all the necessary prerequisites: four young, indestructible Heroes, four very sleek meka which transform to form the giant robot Dangaioh, a powerful and deadly alien pirate foe, bloodthirsty enemy cyborg pilots, and, of course, the destruction of Tokyo. Where Dangaioh succeeds is that it takes all these classic ingredients, and melds them into a fast-paced adventure. Perhaps that is the strongest aspect of the film. Toshihiro Hirano's direction moves the story at a rapid pace, each scene following the next in quick succession, with only the briefest breaks between the action. And that is what a giant robot film is about, action. Each little scene slowly builds towards the inevitable climatic battle between the Heroes (actually three heroines and one hero) and the vicious and very, very, huge enemy meka. Each step towards this final confrontation successfully adds to the excitement, and after the climatic battle quickly, without any anti-climatic or overlong end scenes, the video draws to a close. Within the mere forty five minutes running time, the four lead characters are developed into distinct individuals fairly quickly. They are: Mia Aris, quiet, pretty, and perhaps the most powerful of the group, who has a distinct aversion to hurting or killing anyone. Rol Kram, an easily dominated but very fast young man (the only male in the Dangaioh team). Namba Nol, obviously the youngest of the group, and last Pai Thunder, very herculean, and who has no real qualms about using their strengths to fight. And, as in all good films of this genre, the four are not your average teenagers off the street. They have been each chosen for their use as weapons, and each has special powers beyond the normal. However, these special powers and abilities do not always save them from trouble. Within the team there is enough diverse personalities to provide internal conflict, differing opinions, and at times, abandonment and near betrayal. This is a refreshing change from a typical hero team which always works towards the good and always works together. Another refreshing part of the Dangaioh team is that there is no one member which is dominant at one particular time. There is no one character whose only purpose in life is to be rescued by the others, and no one specific hero who will always comes to the rescue. Their abilities complement one another, and it is when they act as a team that they are successful. The characters do not remain static throughout the video. They develop and change in response to their particular situation. The most dramatic example of this is Rol Kram, who, while fairly wishy-washy and easily lead about on his own, shows an unexpected inner strength and determination when it is discovered that it is his Meka which controls Dangaioh. Dangaioh is a classic giant robot. Made up of four individual fighter-meka, each piloted by one of the four young heroes, it comes complete with an anthropomorphic form, energy beams, psychic waves, and a sword formed by raising the meka's fists together. The transformation sequences are very well done, and the resulting giant battle armor that is stylish and fairly well designed. The villain's meka are huge and terrifying, and their spacecraft are varied. Of course, the villain's fleet is huge, and it swarms around the great mother ship, in its fearsome dragon form. Those who are looking for sleek and varied mecha will find their expectations met in this video. Dangaioh's problems, however, are all entwined with it being a genre film. While it may be an excellent representative of its type, as a stand alone OVA it has several weaknesses. Where there is some development of the lead characters, the villains are almost stereotypical. While there are enough different villains to allow a variety of motives and desires, each is fairly flat and has no chance to become more than just a bit player. Those bad guys who do survive are either the conniving opportunist (Dr. Tarson) or the big-baddie-which-will-haunt-Dangaioh-forever (the Bunker). The second problem with Dangaioh is that, in order to keep the dramatic pace and vibrant action rolling, a few sacrifices of continuity were made. There were visual faults, such as one of Dangaioh's removable projectile arms being knocked to the ground, yet in the next scene being firmly re-attached to the meka. And logical continuity problems, where actions were dictated simply to provide a specific obvious plot situations, as when Pai Thunder kidnaps Rol Kram just so he can be threatened in the next scene. These incidents, however, are very few, and while a small bit annoying, do not stop one's enjoyment of the OVA. The animation of Dangaioh is good. While it is not up to the same level of excellence found in Toshihiro's other works, it is clean, crisp, and well executed. If there can be any complaints, it is that the animation is too slick: every surface is smooth and polished, and all the hair has the same reflection. The music, on the other hand, seems very familiar. That which is truly original is good, with standard violence required of a giant robot story, but much of the background themes seem to be the left over from Iczer-1. If you are looking for three-quarters of an hour of action and fun, then Dangaioh will not disappoint you. As a genre film, is faults are far outweighed by its fast paced action and exciting story. It has been a long while since there has been a competent heroic giant robot tale, and Dangaioh is a good one. - Mike & Janet Naylor PROJECT A-KO PERFECT LASER LASER DISC (PROJECT A-KO 1 LASER DISC) PONY VIDEO always seems to give anime on laserdisc their best treatment. From using high-quality pressing for Cream Lemon and Urusei Yatsura , to adding special features to anime on LD that can't be had on video tape. For example, adding a digital BGM soundtrack album to the digital audio track on the Project A-Ko 2 OAV Laserdisc. Since the first Project A-Ko Original Anime Video has been out for some time now, I won't get into what this popular comedy is about. Most anime fans know that. Rather, let me describe the wonderful presentation that PONY VIDEO has done for this OAV on laserdisc. If you are thinking about getting this OAV on laserdisc, get it! It's a must have video! And if you don't have a laserdisc player, well get one. Anime on home video does not get much better than this. First of all, this is a 2 disc set with a nice gate-fold sleeve featuring graphics and original art from the show. Also included is a story and data sheet on the production. Disc sides 1 to 3 feature the Project A-Ko OAV. These sides are recorded with the laser format's every feature in mind! The video portion features CAV recording for flawless rock-still freeze-frames. The disc is also divided into chapters...an LD feature not used very often. (VIEW THE FILE AS7G4.GIF) The video transfer is crystal clear...taking full advantage of a laser disc players high resolution. The audio portion is special too...these discs feature traditional analog and new digital soundtracks for the OAV which was also presented in Dolby Surround Sound! Side 4 is a special presentation included on the laserdisc version of this video only. It is the PROJECT A-KO SECRET FILE...a live action inside look at the folks who created the music and animation for the OAV, plus several advertisements and trailers for the film. (One of them is in French!) This is an amazing Laserdisc edition...I wish more video companies would follow PONY's example. And A-Ko never looked so good! - Tom Mitchell ORIGINAL ANIME VIDEO BUBBLEGUM CRISIS 3: BLOW UP With this OAV, the first trilogy of the Bubble Gum Crisis series comes to a close. While it does wrap things up nicely, it suffers from the shortcomings of the 30 minute format. Certain aspects of the OAV seemed to be rushed, as if the creators tried to cram things into too short a time. This is especially apparent with the ending. I would have liked to see Sylia and Meison's final battle to have been drawn out more. Also, it might have been better if Priss' relation to Sho and his mother was expanded on. The story also seems to have this repetitious tone to it. It seems as though, like the last episode, the KnightSabers require a friend to die before going into action. Along this line of repetition from BGC2, there were about 2 or 3 seconds of reused animation from BGC2. However, leaving those considerations behind, this OAV shows more of the nice animation, neat mecha, and great music that the BubbleGum Crisis series has become famous for. As I mentioned in the last Stuff, I believe the soundtrack to this OAV to be the best one so far in the BGC series (especially the ending song, "Wasurenaide") A good chapter in the BGC series but not their best. (VIEW THE FILE AS7G5.GIF) - Masaki Takai RUMIKO TAKAHASHI'S RUMIC WORLD 3: LAUGHING TARGET To say that Rumiko Takahashi is a giant in the anime and manga industry would be an understatement. She is the creator of several successful anime TV series, movies, original anime video's, and manga. Most notably she is the genius responsible for such fine works as TV show MAISON IKKOKU, the OAVs THE SUPER GAL, FIRE TRIPPER (both are the first 2 stories created for the RUMIC WORLD OAV series), and the creator of the classic phenomenon that is Urusei Yatsura. With this 3rd installment of the RUMIC WORLD OAV anthology series, it's evident that even a genius can have an off day. LAUGHING TARGET is just plain junk as far as it's story is concerned. Not the type of thing we are used to seeing from Takahashi. This time she dips into just about every horror, and demonic possession cliche to come up with a dull and predictable story of a girl possessed from childhood by demonic forces that clean up her messes with carnivorous slugs. She enters the life of a school boy and his girlfriend. She loves the boy and does plenty to rub out the girl. The boy is into archery...and of course we know how and were this skill will wind up being used. It amazes me just how simple minded the story and direction of this OAV is. It is far beneath Takahashi-sensei's capabilities. A real shame when you consider the gems she created in the other two Rumic World anthology episodes. I will say that this OAV is a nice technical achievement. The artwork is clean and in the Takahashi style. And many of the scenes are quite wonderful to look at. The music on the soundtrack is also excellent, and the sound is realistically engineered. The laserdisc quality of the OAV is superb, with its crystal clear picture and digital sound. I would not recommend this to most anime fans, but for the Takahashi fan and collector, this horror/suspense offering is an interesting footnote to any Takahashi collection. But only that. - Tom Mitchell //////////////////////////////////AUDIO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ROBOT CARNIVAL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK SPECIAL COMPACT DISC: If you like Hisaishi Jo music(Nausicaa, Laputa, Arion), then you'll probably like this album. Most of the music was either arranged or composed by Hisaishi, even though sometimes it doesn't sound very much like his previous works. His music varies, from orchestral, as in the opening theme, "Coming Soon", to new wave, as in the tracks for "Deprive", to eerie synthesizers, as in the tracks for "FURANKEN no haguruma"(Frankenstein's Gears) or "Niwa-tori otoko to akai kubi"(The Chicken man and the Red-head). Probably the most recognizable Hisaishi music is from "Presence", which sounds similiar to his previous work on Nausicaa. The other remaining tracks are done by Fujita Isaku and Takechi Masahisa. Fujita's music for "Cloud", is innocent sounding yet dramatic. Takechi's music for "Starlight Angel" is generally sappy sweet, and comes over as being too cheerful.(at least to me) As a bonus, the CD Special has a big 10 tracks more than the record version, with a total of 27 tracks. I'm not sure which ones are the extra ones though, since I've never heard the record version. The tracks themselves are spread almost randomly throughout the CD, usually not in the order they appeared in the video. Oddly enough though, even at nearly 70 min. long, some tracks seem to be missing. Sorely missed are two tracks from the "Meiji Karakuri Bunmei Kishou" sequence. They only decided to put two tracks from this video, while they have seven tracks for "Cloud". I would have liked to have had more tracks from the "Meiji" video rather than "Cloud", or perhaps they could have used the extra 4 min. theoretically available on the CD for this. Other than that, this is a fine CD to add to any anime fan's collection. - Dana Fong NAUSICAA IN THE VALLEY OF THE WIND ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ON COMPACT DISC: Music composed and orchestration by Joe Hisaishi and T.J.C. Orchestra Containing almost all of the music from the movie, plus an equal amount of new material, this CD is a treat for Nausicaa fans. 'New material', you ask? The tracks are arranged such that just about every other song (and there is usually more than one song per track) is something that either never made it into the Nausicaa movie, or is something produced especially for this record; I can't quite tell which. However, I am fairly certain that most of the music was re-done for this recording anyway... there seem to be variations in even the actual BGM tracks. Some of this may just be due to the better fidelity of the album's sound. Also, included as the insert to the CD, is an 8 page "Nausicaa Studio Memo", which contains some watercolors from the movie in nowhere near its current form. Quite interesting. The album starts out with some light mood music, which I think is supposed to represent the jungle sequence at the beginning of the movie. My only misgivings here are that they left out all of the weird little sound effects made by the jungle creatures... :-) It then takes you full force into the opening theme, which is probably the most memorable music from the movie. After some more jungle music, there is a track which, if it isn't, should have been titled 'Omu' (I can't read Kanji). This is the only track on the CD that I really question... harmonious chimes and pseudo-heavy-metal guitars don't mix well. I leave it to your imagination. The next few songs seem to represent the Valley of the Wind. Two have a distinct Asian/Indian sound to them, only with electronic instruments. This music is played very faintly in the movie, and for only a few seconds at a time. One of the selections reminds me rather strongly of the music from Laputa, also composed by Hisaishi. Three songs are then devoted to the Torumekians' invasion of the Valley. The haunting melody right after the invasion always sends shivers up my spine... as I am sure it is intended to do. The last song in this section is another that was not in the film. This one reminds me too much of the battle music from Star Trek II, or perhaps Star Wars; very good orchestration, even if it doesn't fit in too well here. The last one-third of the CD consists of BGM from the rest of the movie, all in chronological order. Most have been modified or lengthened to make them more 'dramatic', with good results. The last two songs are the messiahistic theme from Nausicaa's 'resurrection' and the entire closing theme, about 7 minutes altogether in these extended versions. This is good stuff! After listening to what was done with the music here, the actual BGM from the movie seems bland by comparison. So, if you don't feel like watching Nausicaa for the 15th time, pop in the CD. It's a mix (almost a clash) of musical styles, but Hisaishi has managed to preserve some aspect of the flavor of the movie in each track. - Jude George PROJECT A-KO ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ON COMPACT DISC: From Joey Carbone & Richie Zito, the gentlemen who composed the music for the film FLASH DANCE, comes this giddy selection of pop vocals and rock instramentals for the OAV PROJECT A-KO. This soundtrack has some pretty unusual features: It was completely composed and produced by American recording artists, and all the vocals are sung in English by a trio of American vocalists. Despite the fact that the music for Project A-Ko was produced on the other side of the Pacific, the music was perfectly fitted to the wild romping action of the OAV. The instrumentals are excellent beat-heavy drum machine laden action tunes. Many of the tracks are extended versions of the music heard in the OAV. Notable instramentals are the throbbing and evil sounding MAX 5000 theme, the explosive rattling snare drum solo on MORNING LIGHT TYPE A, the galloping beat of of MORNING LIGHT TYPE B, and the urgent guitar solo on EXPLOSION. All of the pop songs here are very good, as are the vocals. The stand-out performance here is Samantha Newark's smooth emotion-charged vocal on IN YOUR EYES. The song perfectly sums up B-Ko's desire to get close to C-Ko...and gives you some insight into the character. The vocal is a dead ringer for the way I would imagine B-ko sounding in English. Simply great! On the whole, this album is highly recommended. The CD quality adds plenty of punch to all of the tracks. And there is not a poor song or composition in the whole bunch if you don't mind the heavy use of drum machines and light pop songs. It's a shame that this crew was not called back to do the music for PROJECT A-KO 2. - Tom Mitchell ORGUSS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK COMPACT DISC: This CD, which finally came out last summer('87), is a small collection of the music used in the series Orguss. If you're familiar with the series, then you'll probably recognize most of the tracks right off. Included are the opening and ending themes, along with synthesizer versions of each. Also included is the theme that played whenever they reviewed how Kei got stuck there at the beginning of each episode. The music was done by Haneda Kentaro, who also did the music for the series/movie Macross. Listeners familiar with the soundtrack from the t.v. series Macross will easily recognize the similiarity in feel with that of Orguss. Even though I've only seen a handful of the actual episodes, it seems to me that they could've put more tracks on this CD. Running at roughly 47 min., it seems a bit short as a "complete" collection, unless Tokuma plans on releasing more Orguss CDs. I'm pretty sure that there were several record albums released by Tokuma on Orguss, so I wonder if this CD is lacking tracks from the show. Overall though, this is a good choice for Orguss fans who want to get the soundtrack in CD form. - Dana Fong ///////////////////////////BOOKS AND MAGAZINES\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ MACROSS FLASH BACK 2012 GRAFFITI BOOK: Although the new animation produced for the MACROSS FLASH BACK 2012 OAV was short (no more than about 10 minutes of new animation), the quality of the new character and animation designs were stunning. And, in my opinion, rivaled or surpassed the animation and design work shown in the Macross Movie. (It's obvious that more money was spent per minute on the FLASH BACK 2012 animation.) Well, for the Macross fan looking for a good reference to the new art contained in the OAV, the Best Hit Series book MACROSS FLASH BACK 2012 GRAFFITI should fit the bill nicely. This slim, glossy softcover book contains tons of color stills from the new animation, plus some 4 color stills of scenes from the TV series and movie that were used in the OAV. Also included are shots of Haruhiko Mikimoto's fantastic watercolor and cel-style paintings done for 2012. And of course the book has an excellent section of new character and mecha designs. Note how much the designs for the Megalord/Megaroad has changed since the last time the Macross staff worked on them. I like this new ship better since it's open-hull look has a lot more dramatic possibilities! Ending the book are sections of staff comments and interviews about the creation of the OAV. Selling at 880 Yen, this book is a great value and fantastic way to include the new Flash Back 2012 art into your artbook collection. (VIEW THE FILE AS7G6.GIF) - Tom Mitchell SHONEN SUNDAY GRAPHIC SPECIAL URUSEI YATSURA: BOY MEETS GIRL This is a definite must-get book for any UY fan. It is supposed to be the SS Graphic Special for the UY 5 movie, "Boy Meets Girl", but it is much, much more than that. To start off the book, we have the Rumic Gallery, a series of color illusts from various Rumiko works. We then have the film story from "Boy Meets Girl" in color, which pretty well summarizes the story. There are some really nice pictures in this section from the movie. Then, for some reason, they throw in the film story to the UY '87 OAV as well (in color)! And even though this section is much shorter than the UY 5 section, it is an interesting bonus. Following this section, is an information section on basic background from UY5. There are plenty of character sketches in this section. Following the character sketches, we have mecha sketches and then background art sketches. Some of the sketches of the World of Darkness are really nice! We then have messages from the actors/actresses and the staff. This is followed by an extended interview with Rumiko Takahashi where she goes over her long time with UY, her history in drawing manga, her future plans, and much more. But that's not all! Along with this special offer, you also get a Rumic World chart describing all of her releases in terms of manga, videos, and soundtracks (on the side, are pictures of all of the covers from the UY 50-LD set). Now how much would you pay? But wait... there's more! There's a questionnaire asked to the staff and cast, a sub-character compendium, and an Urusei Yatsura encyclopedia. This is followed by a comparison list between the mangas and the TV anime. Finally, at the very end of the book, we find a folded up poster "Boy Meets Girl". How much would you pay for ALL of this? The list price is 950 yen in Japan... which probably means about $15 in the States. Look for it. (grin) - Masaki Takai ANIMATE COLLECTION 07 - AILE DE HONNEAMISE BOOK: To say the least, this 212 page, 7 X 9 inch book is crammed, stuffed, and packed with tons of valuable design and story references to the the new, and now classic anime film WING OF HONNEAMISE - ROYAL SPACE FORCE. Here is what this mostly black and white book contains: A complete scene-by-scene storyboard and script for the film featuring TONS of pencil test drawings for every scene. Tons of mecha designs. Tons of costume designs. Character profiles and backgrounds. GAINAX staff interviews and production notes and photos, original watercolor paintings and other original art, and descriptions and renderings of rejected design concepts...plus much, much more. It's easy for me to spend an hour exploring this crammed book every time I pick it up...I always find something new. My only complaint about this book is that it is missing color shots from the film. And, in fact, there are hardly any pictures from the actual completed film. When any shots from the film do appear, they are only about 3/4" X 1 1/4"...much too small to be of any real use. Also, they are also only in black and white. Ahh well, there are tons of other books on the film that feature lots of glossy color stills. I guess this book's primary role was to serve as a compiled reference to the design elements of the film. It is clear that the GAINAX staff spent years designing the HONNEAMISE world down to the finest detail...from spacecraft to spoons. The work really reminds me of much of the fine design work that Syd Mead and Riddley Scott did in creating the real-world look and feel for the environment they built in BLADE RUNNER. Every design concept and element is represented in this book. A must have volume for the HONNEAMISE fan, design student, or anime film artbook collector. - Tom Mitchell ANIMAG MAGAZINE This publication is amazing. It is by far the best Japanese animation publication in the U.S. If you have yet to see an issue of ANIMAG, then by all means do so. It is a far cry from the usual fan publications that we are all used to reading. Although still a new publication, with issue 3 this magazine has really acquired a professional sheen. It scares me to think of what these folks must go through to get ANIMAG published. But they manage, and issue 3 of ANIMAG is out now. This issue features splashy full color graphics, and even art contributed by actual anime artists in Japan. Really impressive. It would seem that the publication is making its way in the world. Where many other publications have only made half-hearted attempts, the Animag folks really seem to be putting their hearts, and finances in making the publication the best it can be. It reminds me of the early days of STARLOG magazine...and I hope Animag meets with similar success. It's the only serious chance for a U.S. based Japanese anime magazine we've got. -Tom Mitchell YOSHITAKA AMANO'S IMAGINE BOOK: This large 8.5" X 12" softcover book is by far one of the most beautiful anime art books that I have seen in some time. It features a fantastic portfolio of paintings and sketches by Yoshitaka Amano. Clearly one of the most unique anime and manga artists to surface in the '80's. This book is delecatly composed trip into the strange visual world of Amano. It features many original paintings and sketches presented in the mediums that Amano-san is a master of; pencil, drybrush, and watercolors. The works presented are quite captivating with bold but dry looking splashes of color and fine pencil and drybrush detail. The book touches on just about all of the major works of Amano's career so far. He has been responsible for the innovative character design in many strange anime classics like GATCHAMAN, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA , EGG OF ANGEL, AMON SAGA and others. He has also done manga and illustration work for childrens books and adult novels. Some that that work is represented here too. But it is the original artwork that is the most intriguing thing about this book. Many of the paintings are quite haunting in their own way, and yet they are simply thought out and never dark, but full of delicate detail. As I said, this is an incredibly beautiful presentation of Amano's work. I really learned a lot and I am totally captivated by this book. Clearly there has never been an artist quite like Amano. I _highly_ recommend IMAGINE. - Tom Mitchell /////////////////////////////ANIME MODEL KITS\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ WING OF HONEAMISE SPACE CAPSULE KIT REVIEW: When I first looked at the box, two things stood out. First, the actual box is plain white cardboard, not at all like the flashy full-color boxes usually seen surrounding plastic hobby kits (sometimes it seems as though model companies spend more time on the box than what's inside). Second, the illustration which *is* attached to the box is a 3"x4" actual color photoprint, a photo of the finished model. Already this got my fingers itching to see the parts. This kit, as many of you know, is what is termed a "garage kit", although the quality is far above what the name implies. I know *I* couldn't make this in my garage without a lot of help. No scale is obvious, but it appears to be close to 1/48. There are three main pieces molded in a white resin/filler compound; the pressure cabin in which Shiro sits, an equipment module behind the cabin, and a final orbital "kick motor" at the back end. The rest of the parts are cast white metal, making up various pipes, struts, brackets, and tanks. Most of the metal pieces are sculpted to look as though they are covered with foil thermal blankets. The resin parts are solid and show a good clear detail, though there is a small amount of sanding and carving to be done to kill the mold lines. Any modeller who fights with injection-molded or vacuform kits will have an easy time prepping these parts. The white metal pieces are equally clean and nicely detailed. Be warned; there are a lot of strut assemblies and protruding shapes on this design. You'll want to devote some time and TLC to do this right. The instruction sheet is clearly drawn, though I can't say how well written since I don't speak the language yet. Assembly of this type of kit should proceed with some kind of cyano-acrylate or "super" glue. I recommend something like Plasti-zap, which is just a tad bit thicker and easier to control than the usual Crazy Glue formula. CA cement can be sanded and filed like the resin and metal. The fit of the parts is not really an issue, since most are simply tabs or blocks touching similarly-shaped depressions. Nothing in my kit was bent or mis-molded (there are a few tiny pits in the resin; fill them with regular styrene filler putty). Painting can be done with enamels (use a primer on the metal parts) or the water-based model acrylics. The cover photo shows various grays, dark green, bright gold foil, and an overall yellow-orange hull color. Other color references can be found in the books connected to the film. One last comment on the design is necessary. The capsule, and all of the other space hardware in Wings of Oneamis, are wonderful combinations of U.S., Soviet, and European designs with a definite Far East touch controlling the whole thing. This was a deliberate move confirmed by producer Toshio Okada, and it is also evident in the aircraft kits as well (all produced by General Products and yes, the name came from the Larry Niven stories). - Rick Sternbach /////////////////////////////ANIME NEWS FLASH\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ THE DEMISE OF THE MACROSS FAN CLUB: If you remember in ANIME STUFF 6, I was wondering what had happened to Yvette Nunn's fantastic Macross Fan Club based in Costa Mesa, California. Well, thanks to a note send to club members, I found out that the club is being dissolved. Although Miss Nunn states that the club was in the height of its popularity, She and the other directors of the club are splitting up due to the fact that they will all be going off to different schools. She feels there is no way that she can continue to run the club under these circumstances. Ahh, well...I will really miss this club and their excellent news letter. Thank you, Yvette, for the fun. Your publication really taught me a lot as a new anime fan. From your only Ohio member... - Tom Mitchell NEW MACROSS MOVIE PLANNED: It appears that a new Macross movie will be created for release over the next couple of years. Little is known about the plot of the film. One dissapointing fact about it is that many of the original Macross TV & movie staff will not be involved in the project. (This includes famous character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto, who is involved in other projects.) One of the things that really burned me up over the last year is folks who have been passing around the rumor of a Macross Summer 1988 movie. As us folks in the Comic & Animation Forum have been saying for the past year, this will NOT happen. If the groups that have been spreading this rumor around had any brains, they would note that no such thing has been covered in any of the anime magazines over the past year. If it were true, it would have been one of the hottest anime news items of the year, and you would have seen tons of coverage in such magazines as ANIMAGE, ANIMEDIA, and NEWTYPE. - Tom Mitchell ///////////////////////////////END NOTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Well, I must say that it is really nice to have a bunch of new folks writing some articles for this issue. It's always much more fun to share the soapbox. Special thanks should also go to the folks at Wyvern Web Graphics and Wok Talk. They have been able to get me even more of the anime we have been looking for. And of course that means we have a lot more stuff to talk about in ANIME STUFF 8! In the mean time, if you have a laser disc player that can play Compact Disc Videos, pick up the KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD CDV 1! I just can't keep the laser light off this one! -Tom Mitchell PS: Also, please tell us if you have any comments on the GIF files. I plan to keep this as a feature of ANIME STUFF. For folks who can only view RLE graphics, I will give converting these files into RLE files a shot. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 7/7/1988 ANIME STUFF (C) 1988 MIDORI COMMUNICATIONS This publication originally appears on CompuServe Information Service's Comic Book & Animation Forum. Original Copyrights to the material reviewed, and graphics presented are reserved by by their respective owners. The contents of Anime Stuff are public domain and may be reproduced in any form of media so long as the names of the authors are preserved, articles remain intact, and ANIME STUFF is mentioned as the source. Articles & computer artwork in Anime Stuff may be re-published in newsletters so long as 2 copies of the publication in which the articles appear are sent to: MIDORI COMMUNICATIONS c/o Tom Mitchell 474 Chowning Circle Dayton, OHIO 45429 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////