Lost Manga and Anime

I've recently immersed myself in a nostalgic journey through the late 80s and early 90s manga and anime that shaped my youth. It has been a truly enlightening experience traveling back to an amazingly formative period in my life as I navigate through what some may call a mild mid-life crisis. It was a golden time for 'Japanimation' - that term still makes me shudder a little- and this period holds a truly special place in my media-consuming heart.

Now, I had a lot of VHS tapes, both original and recorded but with my many house moves and the transition from VHS to DVD I shed a lot of my manga and anime VHS collection along the way. I give them away to friends, exchanged them at CEX for credit or donated some to charity shops. I had many bootleg copies of series that I have saved on a hard drive but my physical collection has whittled down somewhat.

Manga Entertainment built a bit of a cult following in its heydey of the late 80s and early 90s. When the transition of VHS to DVD came, it re-released its main titles but all the others disappeared as VHS was phased out. Classic series like 3x3 Eyes, Crying Freeman, Guyver, Angel Cop, Devil Man and Doomed Megalopolis remained stuck on VHS, never getting an official DVD release in the UK. I praise the sun for my multi-region DVD and Blu-Ray player as I know some of these have been released abroad but there is so much more that has been lost. Even the early anime rippers and translator forums, which were the lifeblood for fans seeking unreleased or undistributed media, are empty. As a result, we have lost many good anime titles that may have otherwise found their way to eager modern audiences who want to look into the past.

Determining the exact number of titles that lack official releases on DVD or Blu-Ray poses quite the challenge and, while not classified as lost media (as they can often be accessed through alternative means such as various video streaming platforms and torrent sites) it would be great to see specialised distributors, similar to those catering to horror films, to consider producing limited print runs for these sought-after titles in contemporary formats at a reasonable price.

I'm beyond excited for the Macross Plus Blu-Ray but the limited edition £150 release is too rich for my blood. The 4-part series is an all-timer for me as it introduced me to the music of Yoko Kanno and the wonders of rogue AI Sharon Apple. Hopefully, a £30 or so regular Blu-Ray release will be forthcoming and pave the way for other classic anime and manga OAVs, films and series to finally see the light of day again. I think there is a niche market for physical releases of old skool manga and hope we get more.

Manga Mania and Me

Over the new year, I planned on using my annual month long abstinence from gaming in January to catch up on the television shows, movies, comics and books I’d collated. Whilst visiting my family in Barking in December, I visited the local CEX and found the Haibane Renmei bluray set. I bought it as it is one of my favourite series ever. This lit a fire in me; I needed to get back on that manga train and reserve some space for retro anime and manga from the 80s and 90s. To help me compile a watch list I started to look through my old Manga Mania, Anime FX and Manga Max collections and this sent me down a rabbit-hole.

Manga Mania was an incredibly formative read for me in my early teen years as it published some great manga stories (including the entire run of Akira) whilst also talking about the wider manga and anime scene through informative articles. This was where I learned about Ghibli before it was a thing in the West as well as other series which would gain traction over time including Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and many others.
Regular writers Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements were the arbiters of good taste, much like Kieron Gillen and Julian 'Jaz' Rignall were for videogames and Q magazine was for music (until that crazily overenthusiastic review of Oasis' Be Here Now which is a meh album at best). These enthusiasts spoke from experience and their longform essays became formative in my interest in Japan, turning me from a weeb to a full on Japanophile.

Manga Mania was cool but it went through a cringy phase with covers featuring badly cosplaying women and splash words that emphasised SEX! VIOLENCE! etc.... It was so edgy try-hard at a time. When I was trying to convince many people that manga wasn't all sex, violence, tentacles or mysogyny the biggest magazine on the matter was putting these key words on the cover! This was the time of lad's mags, frosted tips, 'largin' it' and Nu Metal so these were weird times indeed.

Luckily though, Manga Max came out a short while later and I appreciated its move back to the centre, more sensible ground. It was a more premium looking product and looked classy- think Edge videogames magazine rather than Games Master magazine (I loved Games Master magazine when I read it in WHSmiths so that’s not a knock but it was definitely a different vibe to Edge and has aged less well)

Looking back now, I can see where my interest in writing about my various interests comes from... It's from these magazines I consumed in my youth. I have less time now and so I only buy the 3 magazines each month, Edge (videogames), Retro Gamer (err, does was it says on the tin) and Infinity (Cult Retro Pop Culture).

I'm enjoying revisiting these various old manga magazines and am creating a list of manga and anime I will watch over the next year. I missed a lot in my youth due to lack of availability, time, constraints and generally just living my life and going out with friends to London and gigs. Now, I have a little more time set aside each evening and will watch what I missed.

I know there's so much manga and anime out there but I miss the community that existed when I was younger. This sounds incredibly hipster and gatekeepery but it's not meant to; I'm just getting older so it's hard to connect with people my age on the matter. I've joined a couple of FB groups and that's on the older animations so that's good.

There is just so much content that we are constantly moving on, very few things are allowed to bed in and become part of the zeitgeist. We had limited funds and availability and so, when my group of friends and peers would share a VHS tape it became a water-cooler conversation situation... but in the playgrounds as we were young tweens. The cost of those old VHS tapes was prohibitively high so you'd watch and rewatch those same tapes, cherishing them... even if they were a bit crap sometime (I’m looking at you Legend of the Four Kings- which my best mate at the time owned). Like the odd duff videogame you'd buy based on screenshots at the back of the cassette tape, you'd have almost a Stockholm Syndrome level of affection even though everyone knew that it was inherently rubbish

When Channel 4 started showing manga and anime late at night, it became *THE* conversation for a lot of my friends and I. We would discuss plot points, art styles, music and all that went with the show. However, with the emergence of DVDs and the Internet there wasn't a monoculture anymore. It was great for access to a wider variety of content, but it also meant we lost that sense of community. No doubt, a lot of that is due to my age; I'm 43 years old and the cool stuff now is not stuff I've seen or I'm into and I get that. Also, there's just sooo much stuff out there so where to begin? I do like going to conventions and seeing the variety of costumes and merchandise out there- there really is stuff for everybody and I’m pleased that manga has become mainstream.

I'm not decrying options but the choice paralysis that hits when you have too many options is real. With Gamepass and PS + I could have access to thousands of games but sometimes it's exhausting so I go revisit an old favourite. That's what I'm doing now with manga. I haven't got time for a 1000+ episodes of One Piece but I can spare a few hours for GTO, Death Note or Future Boy Conan.

Manga Mania was a hugely formative part of my life and, even though it's not a big a part as it used to be, it still informs much of my interests nowadays. I’ve had a blast looking through the magazines and will endeavour to keep them forevermore.

Manga and Me

In Japan, manga has been a part of the culture for a long time. The origins of manga are debated and The Handscroll of Frolicking Animals by Kitazawa Rakuten is considered a major influence, but generally it gained prominence in the post World War 2 era where artists such as Osamu Tezuka brought some levity and lightness to proceedings with Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. Tezuka was to manga what Will Eisner was to American comics; the medium existed before their arrival but they brought it to the fore and forever changed it.

There was a giant Astroboy figure at the Manga Exhibition at the British Museum.

As a young boy growing up in east London, England, I didn't know anything about manga or anime but I was consuming it unknowingly through shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31. One Saturday I went into my local WHSmith’s and saw issue 22 of a magazine called Manga Mania and was taken by the big eyes, spiky hair style and tiny mouth and nose of the cover star that reminded me so much of the animation style I liked. When I picked it up, from the top shelf next to the more salacious magazines, I felt a bit of a rebel but upon opening it the kinetic imagery and artistry blew me away. Flicking through it I saw a mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold in the letter pages and knew I had found something special.

My uncle who was only slightly older than me, saw that I had an interest in manga and gave me Devilman and Akira to borrow on VHS- not bad for a 13 year old kid enthralled by this new genre. At the time Akira blew my mind, I didn't understand it then and don't even pretend to now but I knew that I was watching something special

My interest in manga peaked at the same time of the Marvel and DC comic boom in the early to mid 90's and I soon forged a group of friends who became Japanophiles and comic buddies, recording and swapping recordings off the Sci-fi Channel and Channel 4 late on Saturday nights. However, getting some cool or fresh manga was difficult as it was still pretty cult. I’d buy some items from my local comic store, Rodney’s Books and Comics but this was quite limited.

This was the local comic store in Barking and was legendary for those in the scene.

Later on, when I got my part time job at Peacock’s in Ilford, I had disposable income and so could afford to buy stuff from Forbidden Planet. It was amazing but came at a premium price. Here are a few of the soundtracks I still have which are in my collection.

I visited the Manga Exhibition at the British Museum and loved the scope of it!

Later on, with the advent of the internet, getting stuff became easier as I could always get things on ebay, usually bootleg copies of stuff that hadn't made its way West yet. I'd buy a series, usually for about £15 to £20 and consume it over the coming weeks. I found that the guy I was buying from lived just in the next town so I'd get on the bus, pop over to his house and buy a few series at a time. This was how I watched Haibane Renmei, Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiment Lain, Vampire Princess Miyu TV series, 3x3 Eyes, The Big O, Giant Robo and many, many others.

With the onset of Bear Share, Limewire and Pirate Bay and other file sharing platforms I just bought a hard drive and got loads of stuff that way but the DVDs were the best for me as they felt real and looked impressive rather than ephemeral and disposable.

These are bootleg soundtracks I burnt in the early 00s.

I visited Japan over 10 years ago and love it.

I still have a lot of these bootleg series in the loft, alongside my real copies of stuff I bought, but these were halcyon days of anime and manga and I miss the camaraderie of a tight group sharing and discussing cult stuff. Manga was one of my first true loves and one that has survived to this day, at least to some lesser extent. Manga is in my lifeblood and even though it doesn't feature as prominently in my daily life as it once did for me, it was formative in my youth and for that I am still grateful.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum: Review

In Japan, manga has been a part of the culture for a long time. The origins of manga are debated and The Handscroll of Frolicking Animals by Kitazawa Rakuten is considered a major influence, but generally it gained prominence in the post World War 2 era where artists such as Osamu Tezuka brought some levity and lightness to proceedings with Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. Tezuka was to manga what Will Eisner was to American comics; the medium existed before their arrival but they brought it to the fore and forever changed it.

Astro Boy is iconic and will feature heavily in the 2020 Olympics, which will be held in Japan.

As a young boy growing up in east London, England, I didn't know anything about manga or anime but I was consuming it unknowingly through shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31.
One Saturday I went into my local WH Smith and saw issue 22 of a magazine called Manga Mania and was taken by the big eyes, spiky hair style and tiny mouth and nose of the cover star that reminded me so much of the animation style I liked. When I picked it up, from the top shelf next to the more salacious magazines, I felt a bit of a rebel but upon opening it the kinetic imagery and artistry blew me away. Flicking through it I saw a mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold in the letter pages and knew I had found something special. From then on I would buy Manga Mania monthly and purchased graphic novels, VHS films, soundtracks and even anime cels. The shop Forbidden Planet became nerd nirvana for me and I'd visit it monthly. Manga was one of my first true loves and one that has survived to this day, at least to some lesser extent. Manga is in my lifeblood and even though it doesn't feature as prominently in my daily life as it once did for me, it was formative in my youth and for that I am still grateful.

I loved getting my monthly Manga Mania fix.

I loved getting my monthly Manga Mania fix.

Since those heady underground days in the early 90s, manga has grown and thrived and its influence is spreading across the world. So, when I heard that the British Museum was hosting the largest manga exhibition outside of Japan I wasn't surprised and knew that I had to go. The British Museum has dipped its toes into the manga and anime pool before over the years but these have been smaller, more focused exhibition. This promised to be a much larger, grander affair as manga is still developing and evolving, the form has and is still contributed rather uniquely to modern culture and I'm glad that a venerable institution as the British Museum is recognising this. I visited the Kyoto International Manga Museum several years ago, which is the largest repository of manga in the world, and wanted to see how this exhibition would compare.

So the question is, is the exhibition worth visiting? In a word, yes.... but this comes heavily loaded with a proviso, which I'll go into later.

The whole show feels less like a staid exhibition but more like something you'd see at more immersive and engaging galleries, no surprise as manga means 'irresponsible pictures' and what is on show is a riotous walk-through of the medium. Being a family oriented exhibition the more controversial elements have been excised but that doesn't diminish what's on show, rather it still offers a smorgasbord of artists and genres that covers the art-form well without excluding younger generations or upsetting some sensibilities.

The exhibition starts with an introduction about the origins of manga and provides a guide on how to read it, from left to right. Then there is a section on the manga-ka, the artists who produce the manga, and the tools of their trade.

On an impressive display of collected comics are a few televisions with the chiefs and editors of the weekly manga collections which are published weekly and sell in the millions. They offer their insight into the creative, production and distribution process.

Around the corner, there is a brief look at the influence of woodblock and scroll works on the medium. There are a few stunning pieces on show but a couple stood out to me, the one where a recent piece of work by artist Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Domu and Memories) was compared to his woodblock forebear. The current breed of artists have built on the shoulders of giants and their influence is appreciated here.

After that, the bulk of the exhibition is split into little islands where different themes of manga and artists are explored like Love, Sports, Horror etc. This is all quite dynamic and exciting as there are banners and posters hanging from the ceiling and giant murals and original art pieces stuck on the gallery walls.

In the middle of the exhibition, there is an impressive library of manga on offer and many soft seats in which to read at your own pace.

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

The last section of the exhibition has a couple of art installations. Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain from 1880 was painted in just four hours after the artist had imbibed several bottles of rice wine. He painted the 17 metres by five metres high piece using a huge brush and it was done in such a rush of inspiration that you can still see his footmarks on it!. It really is an impressive achievement and whilst not manga, it shows the kinetic frenetic art style that would feature in so much manga years down the line.

Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work.

Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work.

Near the exit, a large projected montage of Studio Ghibli films at the end is a fitting bookend to an impressive exhibition.

The exhibition is a great primer for the common manga fan or someone with a cursory interest in the medium but someone looking for a deeper look into the minutiae of manga, this is not that. In my opinion the exhibition, whilst well organised and curated, had some glaring omissions in manga-ka such as Rumiko Takahashi (Mermaid Saga, Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha) and Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Aplleseed and Dominion Tank Police),  but on a personal level I'd have loved to have seen some works by Yoshitoshi Abe (Serial Experiment Lain, Haibane Renmei) and Yukito Kishiro (Battle Angel Alita). I understand that with such a large number of artists it is not possible to get everything in the exhibition but Takahashi and Shirow are titans of the medium and needed some mention or recognition. It’s like having an exhibition on Italian masters and forgetting to mention any of the Turtles; Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, it just wouldn’t seem complete. However, as the first real look at manga outside of Japan this is an excellent exhibition and well worth the 90 or so minutes of your time. It is an amuse-bouche to the promise of something more and for that I’m excited.

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

LINK- The Moomins 80's Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Inspector Gadget Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- The Mysterious Cities of Gold Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Sonic Mania Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack

LINK- Thomas Was Alone Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

Japan: My Journey to the East

Yesterday my life changed forever as after years of believing it wasn't possible, due to various circumstances, my wife and I finally had a child. The introduction of my daughter is obviously a life altering event and late the next day has me becoming more reflective over my past. It is 4:04am on the Saturday as I write this, a piece about my dreams and aspirations as a child.

A couple of years ago I finally fulfilled a dream I've had ever since I was a child of 8, I went to Japan! Japan has held me in awe for so long due to a variety of factors. I was (and still am) a huge Mysterious Cities of Gold (MCOG) fan, which I found out was a specific style of animation called anime. For me the series had it all; relatable characters, amazing adventures and a thrilling story line. I found out much later that the series was only 39 episodes long but back then it seemed to stretch on forever, like Dogtanian, Ulysses 31 and Willie Fogg; all large sequential series that showed on BBC 1 and ITV weekly and then in large chunks in the morning during those looong summers.

Whilst wondering through our local WHSmiths, (a newsagents here in England) I saw Manga Mania on the top shelf, next to the more salacious magazines. The art seemed reminiscent of MCOG so after seeing it a few times over the next few days I finally picked it up and fell down the rabbit hole. I vividly remember going over the next few months with my friend to WHSmiths and reading Fire Tripper, a lesser Rumiko Takahshi work but for me at the time I didn't know any better and it was perfect! My uncle, who was only slightly older than me, saw that I had an interest in manga and gave me Devilman and Akira to borrow on VHS- not bad for a 13 year old kid enthralled by this new genre. At the time Akira blew my mind, I didn't understand it then and don't even pretend to now but I knew that I was watching something special.

This was the cover of the first Manga Mania I bought, in the letters section it had a comment about the 'Mysterious Cities of Gold' and I remember being excited to see my favourite show mentioned.

There was a local comic shop in our town called 'Rodneys Books and Games' which sold games, VHS films and books too. Every Saturday, my best friend and I would go to browse and occasionally purchase something. Even though I knew they sold anime and manga it wasn't until I'd been given the films by my uncle that it clicked, these were the same genre and style that I'd liked- for all those years I hadn't noticed them but now I was all about them. The first series I worked through and completed was The Guyver. Getting only a couple of pounds a week, it took me a couple of years to complete the entire 12 part collection. Even now I have the series, unwilling to part with it even though I do not have a video recorder to play it on. My interest in manga peaked at the same time of the Marvel and comic boom in the early to mid 90's and I soon forged a group of friends who became Japanophiles and comic buddies, recording and swapping recordings off the Sci-fi channel and Channel 4 late on Saturday nights.

I loved the Guyver series, although it ended only a third into the manga.

For my friends and I, Japan was a fantasy place where everything came out first and it was all amazing. This reached its zenith with Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, two of the greatest series of all time. The late 90s were a difficult time in Japan with its economic bubble bursting. High unemployment and soaring suicide rates were featured prominently on the news and this soaked into the media coming out at the time. Being a teen with all the difficulties that entails I enjoyed the nihilistic and over the top mayhem of films like Battle Royale, which showed the anger and desperation of youth and a society trying to figure itself out. However, GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) showed another side, it made me laugh. I remember getting the last trade paperback and reading it on the train home. I stifled laughter and an Asian passenger who sat opposite me looked at me quizzically until I showed the cover, he then smiled as if he understood. Yup, there was no doubt about it... Japan was a huge deal for me.

Evangelion is still everywhere in Japan, the cottage industry that grew out of the series is unbelievable. Even in England the amount of Eva related stuff you could buy was mental!

So, with only a few months to go before we were going to leave Cambodia where we had been teaching for two years, Japan was booked. Even though we only had a little bit of cash it was now or never; my wife and I agreed that this was the time to do this as we would probably never be closer to the country geographically! Excitedly, I told my oldest friend, the one I used to go to WHSmiths with regularly and share manga comics and films. In a weird case of serendipity he had booked to go near the same time as we had booked. There would be a couple of days overlap where we would be able to meet up. Considering he had emigrated to Australia and we would be moving back to England this was unbelievably lucky, almost like destiny. Neither of us had been to Japan and now after 32 years we had booked to go to Japan and there would be overlap. Weird!

When we reached Japan, I can honestly say that it was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. We stayed in Shinjuku and walked around the red light district Kabukichō, in the heady days of the economic boom unbelievable amounts of money passed through here. Now it was slowly recovering, highlighted by the fact that there was a robot fighting show opening that week, all at a reasonable price of £50 for admission- bargain!

A great book for a great megalopolis!

On the first day, we explored Shibuya and Harajuku. Harajuku I knew through various quirky fashion magazines and Fruits books which I'd bought in Forbidden Planet in London. My wife and I explored the area for the day and loved it, the uniqueness and individuality of the products on sale were beguiling. Living in London, where chain stores rule and very few independent stores existed or survived, it was refreshing to come across a country that appreciated individual shops as well as the big chains. For lunch, we had a quick MacDonald lunch and saw that people were there with their ipads, macbooks and tablets but when they needed the toilet they just left it at their table and off they went. The crazy thing was that when they returned their property would still be there, pretty much unthinkable in London yet here it was happening in a city of 20 million plus!
Working our way through Harajuku my wife bought a lot of makeup and trinkets and I bought a few skate stickers which I knew I'd put on my recently bought macbook pro.

Yoyogi Park was nearby so we headed down there, I was keen to see the cosplayers out in force as it was a Sunday. We saw a few but what really stood out for me was the peace and quiet I felt whilst in this small park within a huge megalopolis. The temples were beautiful and I loved getting pictures around the Dori gates- now I felt like I was in Japan! We travelled to Shibuya and I went into Mandrake, a well known anime and manga shop, whilst my wife went mall shopping.

The highlight of the journey for me was visiting Akihabara, the gaming and manga mecca. My friends and I had heard about this hallowed place in the 90s but being there alone seemed a pity for me. My wife is not a gamer and so had little interest in going with me, so I  deposited her in a nice French style cafe (after trying to persuade her to wait for me at the Gundam Cafe- which she didn't like). Walking around Aki with a pupils borrowed copy of the 'Guide to Japan for Geeks' book I popped into various computing and manga shops in thrall to just ALL the stuff that was there. Much I recognised from my childhood but a lot I hadn't seen before. I bought a few games and an original Gameboy but wish I had more money to buy a lot more. I went to Namco Museum Arcades and Sega Gaming Parlours and played a few games, including the Persona beat em up, but it being a school day and just past midday there were very few people there. I loved the experience but just wished I had someone to share the experience with. I went into a pachinko parlour and left very quickly due to the amount of noise, even for an old gamer like me, someone who is used to arcades, the noise was deafening.  Akihabara held its allure for me but I know that if I had gone to Japan at the peak of my interest in anime and manga, then it would have been a much bigger deal.

We had booked tickets to go to Kyoto and I was very excited as I wanted to go on the Bullet train. However the cost was wayyyy to much for a return so we decided to go by bus and arrive back in Tokyo by Bullet train. The bus was extremely comfortable and cheap so that was a bonus and once we arrived we travelled to the Kyoto temples, the largest number of buildings under UNESCO in the world. The temples really didn't disappoint, the most spectacular being the gold temple and the famous Kiyomizu Temple.

The journey back by Bullet was a real pleasure but, to be honest, having travelled by Eurostar it didn't have a wow factor that I thought it would. However it was great to see the Japanese countryside drift by at speed.

The last day in Japan we spent walking around Tokyo some more and caught up with my best friend for our overlap day. We walked around Shinjuku and chatted away and it was the first time that they had a chance to meet my wife. All in all Japan was amazing but make sure you take someone who likes hustle and bustle and the city as it is a very fast paced city with courteous and friendly people.

So why did the birth of my daughter lead to to think about this Japan trip from a couple of years ago? Well, I think it’s due to a couple of things. Firstly, even though I had visited Japan I hadn't written about the trip until now... a bit of unfinished business I suppose. But also I guess I was just ruminating about what my life was and how now it is going to be very different from now on. It's now no longer about just me and my dreams but about my whole family- life is never going to be the same but that's okay... I am really for the next exciting part of my life.

Gods in his Heaven

And all is right with the world.