Actually, these scans have nothing to do with Christmas. But I thought it best to get these out now while everyone is taking a break and I'm waiting for the lamb to finish roasting in my oven. These are scans from the few issues of Manga Mania which I own, and have a games related theme. Manga Mania used to be a monthly magazine covering manga, anime, and a tiny bit about games and "The Internet". They also serialised the whole of Akira I seem to recall. It was a great magazine, and I wished I'd bought more copies. Their games coverage was actually really poor, and reveals more by what it omits than what it covers. If you wanted Japanese gaming coverage you were probably better off buying Super Play... Still, one of the games they covered might feature in an HG101 article, so I thought it worth scanning everything. Oh, and the Cyber Drome page may rekindle some memories of the internet back when it first started. How times change! One of the articles here has nothing to do with games, but is an interview with the BBFC, and goes in depth regarding UK censorship laws, and is quite interesting! The BBFC rates, or used to rate, quite a lot of games, and I've always thought was an excellent system, since it covers America's AO rating under our "18" age rating (Restricted 18 is really only for hardcore pornography). The pages that follow the covers belong to that issue. If you're enjoying the scans that sometimes go up on the blog, we do it regularly over on he HG101 forum. Corsair has practically scanned an entire library of awesome things.
Right click into a new tab to see them enlarged.
It's nice to see censors give a rational, understandable explanation of why they cut scenes of rape.
ReplyDeleteHowever, porn is porn. Urotsukudouji(Overfiend) and Adventure Kids is first and foremost hentai.
I really miss those days--back when anime and manga were something the "eccentric" fan enjoyed, something exotic that was more unknown and exciting rather than the overinflated, nerd-only manchild entertainment it is today. Back when it was known as "japanimation" to most people and its fans weren't obnoxious asperger's-ridden children.
ReplyDeleteThose were good days (though I'm not sure if my description of them being "good" is due to nostalgia, or actual goodness). I recall a time when the only way to acquire anime or manga was to sign up to tiny mail order places, receive their little catalogue, and then order something (usually extremely expensive). Book stores never carried manga like they do today, and video stores were sketchy at best. Usually your indie retailer maybe had a couple of the common releases. But it seems like mail order was the only way to get it back then.
ReplyDeleteMagazines covering the subject also suck. In the UK there's NEO magazine, but it's awful. The manga they serialise are also trash, like really REALLY poor doujinshi produced by Westerners. Compare that to Manga Mania which serialised the whole of Akira. That's impressive.
I was given a free copy of NEO at a convention. I didn't enjoy it.
DeleteI think the main problem with that magazine is that they really have no clue who their target audience is. It's written in a "Down with the kids" style, Suggesting it's aimed at younger people (<16, I'm guessing, Which I thought was primarily a Naruto-only zone), Yet makes offhand jokey comments about Hentai and the like.
How many volumes did it take for Manga Mania to publish all of Akira? I'm guessing well over the 50 issues mark.
Seeing nostalgic coverage of magazines like this always makes me narked that for some reason I didn't catch them the first time around. As others have said, NEO is awful (and to my knowledge the only UK manga/anime magazine) but I only found out about it a few years ago. I can honestly say I would have sold a kidney to get one of these magazines when I were a lad but they just didn't feature in any newsagent I ever went in :(
ReplyDeleteYeah, back in the day Manga Mania wasn't the easiest to find. I only knew of one store that carried it.
ReplyDeleteThe paper was cheap though. Like daily newspaper cheap. Which I kinda like. It makes photographing with a flash easier than the glossy paper used by Neo.
@Bruce
The "Metal Heart" cover was issue 42 I believe, and by then Akira had run its course. It was quite a sizeable chunk every month, and was even in colour for the pages which featured it. Later in Manga Mania's life they did b/w regardless for the manga serialisations.
I have to say, the first 40 issues or so of Manga Mania were INCREDIBLE. They ran 3 (yes, THREE) serialisations every month. Those issues above featured Akira, Dirty Pair, and Striker.
It was worth buying for those serialisations alone.
I don't think it's just nostalgia. Anime and manga really were better back in the 80s and 90s. The bulk of what's sold today is aimed at preteens, and most of it is highly derivative (card battles, etc.). You can tell that merchandising is the prime directive. Also, the style of art has become a caricature of itself. Maybe there is still good stuff out there, but it's drowning in a sea of crap. Before, you could order something from a catalog or magazine ad and expect it to be good even if you'd never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteYes, many are aimed at kids for video games and toys. But also, a lot of the newer anime is practically porn, having little to no plot, and loads of nudity and sexual content. Sure, older series this too, but that wasn't the focus of the entire show. The line everyone would use about anime was it was "not for kids" but now that phrase has a completely different meaning with the way modern anime is...
DeleteThere was also a very high "you must be this not terrible to get here" sign in front of the English-speaking territories back then.
ReplyDeleteFor every venerable classic there's a large amount of forgettable series that are, well, forgotten.
On the other hand the 80s and to a lesser extent the 90s had a lot more experimenting with style, but now it is more of a business.
I personally blame the industry alienating the nerds who were the backbone of it. Without people who think getting to draw Devilman in the background of a show is worth terrible hours and bad pay the product loses its heart.