Long Lost Japanese Anime Magazines Part 3 (of 4)

Note: Originally published on this blog in late 2011, republished on the Anime Archivist blog in January 2013.

After “Evangelion” tore its way through the landscape of Japanese animation and became a runaway hit, many companies decided to cash in like mad and pumped as much product as they could onto the airwaves. The main method for doing this became “Late Night Anime”, with tons of shows of rather questionable quality appearing in the wee hours of the night, and then promptly disappearing from the memories of anime fans and producers alike as soon as they finished their broadcast run. Naturally magazine publishers decided to get in on the act and a number of anime magazines appeared on the market, only to disappear within 6 to 24 months later.

“AX”

Publisher: Sony Magazines
Frequency: Monthly
Size: A4
Publication Dates: March 1998 – October 2001

Very much like the top three selling monthly anime magazines (i.e. Newtype, Animage and Animedia) this magazine initially contained the same sort of content; features on upcoming and screening anime, animation design reference sheets, interviews with creators and voice actors, manga, poster inserts, new game releases, broadcast and video release information and fandom sections (fan art and letters). The magazine also heavily promoted “Nurse Naniko” and “Jubei the Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch”, with excerpts of manga adaptations. However Naniko was pushed very heavily. I’m assuming Sony must have had a sizable financial stake in the series. In mid-1999, the occasional issues came with a free VCD, filled mostly with trailers for anime and games. In 2000, select issues came with a CD-ROM. It was rather noticeable by this time that with the inclusion of the discs, the magazine had gone from about 170 pages to about 80 and with a 100 yen price increase. A bonus DVD came with most issues from mid-2000 to the magazine’s eventual end. However the DVD increased the cover price by 200 yen, with no increase in length (still only 80 pages). Sony pulled the plug in October 2001.

“Dengeki B-magazine” and “Dengeki Animation Magazine”

Publisher: Media Works
Frequency: Monthly
Size: A4
Publication Dates: April 1998 – April 2001

When Bandai pulled the plug on B-Club magazine, the editorial staff went straight into publishing this B-magazine. As you’d imagine, there isn’t much that is different in content from other anime magazines of the era including; features on currently screening anime, the obligatory manga insert, animation design sheets, several columns from industry people, album, singe and video release dates, TV broadcast times, bonus poster etc. The odd thing which I never seen before in a magazine of this type is that they covered hentai anime OVAs. There’s four pages of reviews and some of the pictures are a little explicit. In May 1999 the magazine changed its name to Dengeki Animation Magazine. Mostly the format didn’t change much. There was an expanded fandom section (fan art, letters and the like) and there seemed to be quite a lot of hentai game reviews. I note that in the latter issues of the magazine, the hentai games/OVA reviews are pretty much non-existent. Some issues also contained CD-ROMs, though none of the issues I have include these.

“G20”

Publisher: Asukii
Frequency: Bimonthly
Size: A4
Publication Dates: October 1998 – February 2000

Specifically created for the 20th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam, this bimonthly nine part magazine series covered a number of topics in the Gundam universe. In particular there was a number of articles on the various mecha ns equipment that appeared in the various TV series, OVAs and movies. Being the 20th anniversary of Gundam, there were of course a number of articles devoted celebrations, events and merchandise being held or released around the time the magazine’s publication. In 2005 publisher Enterbrain republished two mooks (i.e. magazine/book) based upon the material published in the nine magazines. The first called “Side A” contained the material relating to mecha and equipment from the Gundam universe. The second book, “Side B”, contains material relating to the 20th anniversary. Unfortunately both mooks are now out of print.

“Character Damashii (Character Spirit)”

Publisher: Tatsumi Shuppan
Frequency: Bimonthly
Size: A4
Publication Dates: January 1999 – January 2000

This is one magazine which I have never owned or seen a copy of. I believe this magazine ran for only five issues. Known as “Charadama” for short (the title of which adored latter issuees), this magazine was actually published as a soft cover mook with a dust jacket. The main readership the publishers where courting seems to be the older anime and tokusastu otaku male. There is an obvious emphasis on older anime and tokusatsu series. The very first issue has a major feature on “Getter Robo” and includes synopses, manga excerpts and images of various toys and figures. Other articles and features on old anime and tokusastu series not only focus on the series themselves but also merchandise such as figures, diecast model and model kits. The first issue also contains a feature on UFO Catcher prizes released the previous year, and an article on Fujiko from the “Lupin III” series. It is unknown why this magazine was discontinued, however I have read on one or two websites that the cover price was considered too high, so that may have been a contributing factor.

“Kikan Anime Hihyou (Quarterly Anime Review)”

Publisher: Maikuro Magajin Sha
Frequency: Quarterly
Size: A5
Publication Dates: February 1999 – October 1999

This magazine was initially a special issue of the magazine “Game Review” and was first published in February 1999. Yet again this is one magazine which I have never had the opportunity to see or buy. From what I have read, this magazine published essays and criticism on various anime. The proper debut issue, volume one, contained an extensive essay on Gundam. There were also reviews of anime currently being broadcast, the burgeoning digital anime industry and features on voice actors. In one particular review of the magazine, the author criticised the magazine for being unsatisfactory in terms of its writing. In the end, only three issues of the magazine (including the initial Game Review special issue) were published.

“AIC Comic Love”

Publisher: AIC
Frequency: Bimonthly (?)
Size: A5
Publication Dates: May 1999 – 2000

As you can imagine, this magazine was created to blatantly promote AIC properties. Yet again, this is another magazine that seemingly didn’t make to over to any of the speciality shops or Japanese bookstores shops in Australia, so I never got a chance to look at it. However I do know that the magazine contained at least four manga titles in each issue such as “Kachoh Oji (Legend of Black Heaven)”, “Battle Athletes” and of course “Tenchi Muyo!” properties like “Magical Girl Pretty Sammy”. So, lots of AIC tie-ins there. I suppose you could really argue that this magazine sits on the cusp of manga anthology rather than anime magazine. However there seems to be quite a lot of non-manga content in this magazine, and most Japanese websites seem to lump this magazine in with anime rather anime anthologies. Other features included plenty of articles on AIC anime series including merchandise, articles on the girls from the series, a regular column on bikini models (I suppose then know their target audience well…) and a feature on cosplay (AIC characters only I’m assuming). The magazine lasted 7 issues.

“Tokyo Robot News”

Publisher: Keibun Sha
Frequency: Quarterly
Size: A5
Publication Dates: August 1999 – January 2001

Yet another mook (magazine/book), which is this time solely focused on robots. Why hadn’t anyone thought of this before? This one is pretty bog standard; every issue focuses on one particular common feature of robots (such as transformation or special items such as drills), then you have the usual anime magazine stuff like game reviews, animation design reference sheets, interviews with creators, video and CD release information, and fandom sections (fan art and letters). As you’d expect there were large sections devoted to new figure and model kit releases. Like all other anime magazines, it contained a manga insert, naturally one which involves robots, but also quite strangely with anamorphic cat girls as the lead characters. The magazine also didn’t limit itself to anime in terms of robots. There’s also a number of small mentions various tokusastu show robots. The copy of the magazine I have focuses on robots with drills. Not only does include a massive feature on the subject, it also includes a listing of every robot with a drill in all anime and tokusatsu from 1957 to 1999. The magazine ceased publication when publishers Keibun Sha went bankrupt in early 2001.

Next time we’ll be looking at the magazines that commenced and ceased in the first decade of the 21st century.

Roaming Around Japan: Zojoji Temple, Tokyo Tower and Wax Museum

I first went to Japan in October 2012. One of the things I had always wanted to do was go to Tokyo Tower. It’s an obvious choice for tourists visiting Tokyo for the first time. Though in recent years the facility has received a major upgrade, back then it was a little tired and run down. It was a bit kitsch which made it a bit interesting to see. Apart from the tower itself which I really wanted to see, was the Wax Museum which was located at the base of the tower. After the now defunct House of Wax in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, UK and the Hollywood Wax Museum in Los Angeles, it was probably the third worst wax works on the planet. In addition I also wanted to see the Zojoji Buddhist temple which was right in front of Tokyo Tower and was generally seen by tourists in conjunction because of the close proximity.

The easiest way to get to these attractions is via the Japan Rail Yamanote line which is one of the two main rail lines in Tokyo. Get off at Hamamatsucho Station and take the north exit. Turn left and walk 700 meters up the road to the main gate of Zojoji Temple, Sangedatsumon (there’s also a stature of Admiral Matthew Perry in a park just before the temple). Entry to the temple is free and it is open from 9am to 5pm. The temple was originally founded in 1393, but was moved to its present location in Minato in 1598 just before the start of the Edo era. It became the family temple of the ruling family, the Tokugawa shogunate. I came early in the morning and saw a fairly steady stream of worshipers, though most came one at a time. It was fairly quiet most of the time. One woman came in to play with and feed a number of cats who had apparently made the temple their home.

I’m not going to pretend that I really know all that much about Buddhism, however I’ll mention a few of the more notable features and buildings of the temple. Apart from the main gate, Sangedatsumon (above, click on all images to enlarge), which is nearly 30 meters high, you have the main hall, Daiden (below). Rebuilt in 1974, it is the centrepiece of the temple grounds and contains a large image of Amida Buddha as well as the highly influential 7th century Buddhist writer Shandao and Honen Shonin, founder of Jodo Shu, the first independent branch of Japanese Buddhism.

To the left of Daiden is Koshoden (below), a lecture hall and place to cleanse one’s soul. Its ceiling features 120 small paintings by various Japanese artists.

To the right of Daiden is Ankokuden (below) which contains Black Image of Amida Buddha, which was apparently deeply worshiped by Ieyasu Tokugawa.

Behind Ankokuden is a mausoleum dedicated to the Tokugawa Shoguns (below).

The grounds also contain various statues and graves including mizuko kuyo statues which symbolise miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion (below).

Next was Tokyo Tower itself.  It’s about 350 meters from the side exit from the temple grounds near Ankokuden. You really can’t miss it or get lost as it’s almost always visible from the temple grounds. The walk up there is really pleasant with lush, green foliage along the way and park with a small waterfall and small shrine just in front of Tokyo Tower. Entry to the main observatory will set you back ¥900. Though the tower is famously 333 meters in height, the main observatory is at the height of 150 meters, which by any stretch of the imagination isn’t all that high.

Built in 1958, its main purposes are as a communications tower and of course a tourist trap. These days its rival Tokyo Skytree does most of the city’s signal broadcasting, however it still transmits TV signals for NHK, Tokyo Broadcast Systems and Fuji TV. I think I may have said this before; these towers are really a monumental waste of cash. You might as well head off to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observation Decks in Shinjuku. They’re free, provide a view just as good as Tokyo tower, and are over fifty metres higher than the main observatory of Tokyo Tower.

Regardless I did get to manage to get a few good shots of the surrounding area around and beyond Minato;

Reiyukai Shakaden Hall, home to a shinshukyo (new religion, no, I didn’t say cult…) which is primarily based on Buddhism. Much like Kofuku no Kagaku (Happy Science), they have a political wing but don’t seem as nutty.

Odaiba with the Rainbow Bridge and the Fuji Television studios in the background.

And here is a shot looking towards Ueno and Asakusa with Tokyo Skytree in the distance. As I looked at it, I sort of wondered if I had made the wrong decision and should have gone there instead.

Next was the infamous Tokyo Tower Wax Museum which was at the base of the tower. Originally opening in 1970, it was created by Den Fujita, the founder of McDonald’s in Japan. In 1988 his son, Gen Fujita, took over the wax works. As I soon discovered, this place was definitely worth the ¥500 admission fee. Now it may seem like a normal wax works, however as soon as you enter, you can tell something is a little bit off. First thing you’ll see is a titanic display, without the wax models of Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet;

The wax model likenesses range from mediocre to “who god’s name is that supposed to be?”, and most are arranged in a higgledy piggledy fashion, almost seemingly randomly. Here Elizabeth Taylor from “Cleopatra” is teamed with Cornelius and Zira from “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” (and Marlene Dietrich at the bottom right);

Or this mess of actors including Toshio Mifune, Brad Pitt (apparently), Marlon Brando and James Dean;

Several world leaders and public figures are also on display, but are posed rather uninspiringly, such as this Ho Chi Minh;

The figure of Albert Einstein once had a pipe in his mouth, but now removed has him looking like he had a stroke;

John F Kennedy looks like he’s had an absolute gutful of being president;

A group of inspiring figures including Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Anne Frank and most bizarrely Princess Diana in her ballistic helmet and flak jacket that she wore in a Angolan minefield in 1997, because this is all how we remember her, right?;

Jesus at the last supper, who like Kennedy, really has had enough of this shit (and what the hell has happened to his left hand?);

Half way through, the tone of the museum changes dramatically and becomes one dedicated to rock music and memorabilia, specifically progressive rock and krautrock (i.e. experimental rock from Germany from the late 1960’s through to the early 1970’s). Here are what I guess are the Beatles;

We get a full range of really weird and obscure 1970’s rock from Frank Zappa, obscure krautrock acts such as Faust, Robert Fripp, Jethro Tull and even into the 1980’s with Metallica;

The owner of the wax works, Gen Fujita, is an utter prog rock tragic, hence why nearly half it is devoted to weird and obscure artists of the era (as well as few more mainstream acts).  I think the museum was rather embarrassed by people making fun of them on the web judging by this sign;

Eventually you come out into the obligatory gift shop which is jam packed with prog rock merchandise. Doing a bit of research on this place, I discovered that the museum had its own record label which reissued a number of krautrock albums and new recordings by people associated with that genre and era of music.

Unfortunately with the refurbishment of Tokyo Tower, the wax works was shut down in September 2013. In its place are several new attractions such as a One Piece exhibit and gift shop and an aquarium. Despite the changes Tokyo Tower is still a bit kitschy and a tourist trap full of cheap trinket crap for foreigners and locals alike to buy. However I find it really disappointing the waxworks are gone. I suspect the figures will never be displayed ever again in public.

Next time I’ll be heading off to Kabukicho in Shinjuku to the infamous Robot Restaurant.

Anime Music Video Compilations: “Nadia of the Mysterious Seas Music Video”

Publisher: Toshiba EMI
Format: VHS and Laserdisc, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue
Length: 29 minutes
Original Release Date: 30 August 1991
Animation Exclusive to this Release: Sort of…
Other Sources (Japanese unless noted): Nadia of the Mysterious Seas Music Video (Laserdisc, 1997), Nadia of the Mysterious Seas DVD Box (2001), Nadia of the Mysterious Seas Music Video (DVD, 2001), Nadia of the Mysterious Seas Music Video (DVD Re-issue, 2004)
Currently Availability (as of writing): Out of Print

Note: Originally published on the Anime Archivist blog December 2012.

In the early 1990’s, anime fandom in Japan and the west went absolutely nuts for “Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water” (or “Nadia of the Mysterious Seas”). Even the lead character, Nadia, a moody orphaned African princess and a vegetarian to boot, managed to knock Nausicaä from Animage magazine’s monthly character poll. That’s quite a feat as Nausicaä had been on top of the poll since 1984, and due to her personality and dare I say it, skin colour, Nadia seemed to be a highly unlikely candidate to make it to the top of the Animage character poll. In 1991 “Nadia of the Mysterious Seas” also won Animage’s annual Grand Prix. The irony of Nadia ending Nausicaä’s reign at the top of Animage’s poll was that “Nadia” itself was based upon a rejected Hayao Miyazaki story concept. He pitched the idea in the 1970’s to Toho Studios which was originally titled “Around the World in 80 Days by Sea”, which in turn was loosely based upon Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. While Toho shelved the idea, Miyazaki did use elements of it for his own TV series “Future Boy Conan” and his 1986 film “Laputa, Castle in the Sky”. However when public broadcaster NHK saw Gainax’s “The Wings of Honneamise” they was so impressed that in 1988, in cooperation with Toho, revived Miyazaki’s unused story and asked the studio to produce a series based upon it. It was first broadcast on Japanese TV in April 1990 and became Gainax’s first hit anime.

The story of “Nadia” begins in Paris during the World Exposition in 1889. 14 year old Jean Rocque Raltique along with his uncle, are here to compete in flying machine competition in an attempt to not only take home the prize money, but to be the first person to fly an airplane. While doing the final checks on the aircraft, Jean is taken aback by the sight of a young dark skinned girl riding a bicycle. He follows her to the Eiffel Tower in an attempt to become friends, however Nadia is very standoffish and refuses to have a bar of him. Suddenly a bodacious woman, Grandis Granva, and her two male companions, Sanson and Hanson (collectively called the Grandis Gang), attempt to rob Nadia of her pendant, the Blue Water. Nadia easily escapes and Jean decides to follow her and the gang back to Nadia’s current home, the circus. There she is a lion tamer and an acrobat. The Grandis Gang “buy” Nadia off the ringmaster, but Jean scatters the gang and rescues Nadia using a motorised monocycle borrowed from the circus. Despite this, Nadia still won’t have anything to do with Jean. That is until the Grandis Gang kidnap Nadia using their gadget packed Gratan tank. Using his uncle’s plane (unfortunately totalling it) and his own boat, Jean rescues Nadia again and the pair head back to Jean’s home in Le Harve.

Unfortunately racism rears its ugly head, and Jean’s aunt refuses to take Nadia in. With the Grandis Gang still in hot pursuit of Nadia’s pendant, the pair then set off in Jean’s own aircraft in search of Nadia’s homeland, supposedly somewhere in Africa. However the engine breaks down, and they find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean. Luckily they are picked up by a passing US battleship. The battleship is currently in the midst of hunting down a mysterious sea monster that has been sinking merchant ships. One of the sunken vessels was the ship of Jean’s father, who is still missing. Later the battleship is attacked and sunk by the sea monster and Nadia and Jean are forced to abandon ship. Luckily Jean’s damaged aircraft manages to survive the carnage, so they climb on board in the hope of being rescued. As luck would have it, they suddenly find themselves inside the belly of a highly advanced submarine named Nautilus piloted by the mysterious Captain Nemo. The crew are in the midst of fighting Neo-Atlantean Empire, led by the evil Gargoyle, who wishes to enslave humanity and are the ones behind sea monster menace. The synopsis I’ve written only covers the first few episodes. I could write a whole lot more about this series, but the focus for this post is to look at its first music video compilation;

“My Precious Trick Star ~Yasashisa o Kureta Anata e~” performed by Silk

The opening song of this music video compilation comes from the rather hideous Nadia movie sometimes known as “The Secret of Fuzzy” which was released a month or so before this compilation. The song originally ran over the movie’s end credits and is performed by Silk, Kinuko Oomori’s (the voice of Priss from “Bubblegum Crisis”and possibly the best pop idol from the period in my opinion) band. While the song was originally released on the Nadia movie CD soundtrack in July 1991 (also released on Silk’s “Face” EP in December 1991), curiously the video itself doesn’t contain any footage at all from the film. Instead we are treated to a bunch of random footage from various episodes. Oddly enough this video also contains a couple of very short sequences which didn’t appear in the TV series itself; a corrected shot of the Nautilus and an alternate shot of a landing of a Neo-Atlantis saucer. They’re both “blink and you’ll miss them” types of shots. Why these shots appear here in this compilation is anyone’s guess.

“Jinsei-Koro no March” performed by Yuuko Mizutani

Like the majority of songs in this compilation, this one is a character song. Yuuko Mizutani is the performer and it is sung in the character she plays, Marie, a four year old saved by Nadia and Jean from being killed by Gargoyle’s troops in the early stages of the series. Most of the footage is from episode 13, “Run, Marie Run!” which has Marie playing with Nadia’s pet lion cub, King around the island she lives on, until she is rescued by Sanson from Gargoyle’s troops. The video also culls Marie and King material from the infamous “Island Episodes”, which were a batch of low quality filler episodes towards the end of the series. You’ll note that Marie often seems to torture King rather than play with him. This song was first released on the “Music in Blue Water” soundtrack in July 1991.

“Deai Ha Kousyo Kyoufusyo” performed by Yoshino Takamori
In this music video, the focus is on Nadia and Jean’s relationship. Most of the footage is taken from the first episode, “The Girl at the Eiffel Tower”, with the rest being taken from various other episodes. Like the bulk of the music here, this song is another character song taken from the “Music in Blue Water” soundtrack which was released in July 1991. Nadia’s voice actress, Yoshino Takamori, provides the vocals to this song.

“Warera no Bannou Sensuikan Nautilus” performed by Yasunori Matsumoto, Kikuko Inoue and Akio Ohtsuka

The third character song (from the “Music in Blue Water” soundtrack of course) and this one is a bit of a corker. It’s a rousing symphonic track which features three of the members of the Nautilus. I have previously mentioned Captain Nemo, played by Akio Ohtsuka (also Batou in “Ghost in the Shell”), but on the track we also have the vocals of Kikuko Inoue, who plays Electra, the blonde first officer of the ship who has a love/hate thing going on with Nemo. Interestingly Yasunori Matsumoto also provides vocals on this track. He plays Eiko Villan, whom most would consider a minor player in the story of “Nadia”. He’s the sonar operator aboard the ship but does have a link to Jean, albeit a minor one. The three actors sing the song together and there are no solo sections dedicated to any of them. There is however a breakdown part in the song where the three of them act out a scene on the bridge of the Nautilus during the heat of a battle. Unsurprisingly the footage in the video comes from various battle sequences in the series.

“Let’s Go Jean ’91” performed by Noriko Hidaka
Yet another character song culled from “Music in Blue Water”. This one is performed by Noriko Hidaka who provides the voice for Jean. The video’s main focus is on the many, many fights between Nadia and Jean. However there are also quite a few scenes which show them getting on together. A number of episodes provide the source of the footage, but the bulk of it comes from the infamous “Island Episodes”. This song is not to be confused with “Let’s Go Jean”, a completely different song which was previously released on an earlier soundtrack.

“Song for Beginning” performed by Kenyu Horiuchi, Kumiko Takizawa and Toshiharu Sakurai

This is the final character song on this compilation and it also appeared on the “Music in Blue Water” soundtrack like the majority of songs here. This one features the Grandis Gang; Grandis (played by Kumiko Takizawa), Sanson (Kenyu Horiuchi), and Hanson (Toshiharu Sakurai). And stating the bleeding obvious, the footage here is from various episodes and highlights the exploits of our favourite trio of inept jewel thieves. Apart from the actors singing in character, there’s also a few lines of dialogue towards the end of the song. I’ll note here that the Grandis Gang are essentially a homage to the bumbling evil trios in Tatsunoko’s “Time Bokan” franchise such as the Time Skeletons in “Time Bokan” or the Dorombo Gang in “Yatterman”. Gainax were probably referencing the Dorombo Gang more than anything else though.

“Blue Water” performed by Miho Morikawa
The final video on this compilation is “Blue Water”, the opening theme of the series. There isn’t much to say here, it’s edited rather uninspiringly (like many of the videos here) from various episodes. The song is performed by Miho Morikawa and was first released as a CD single in April 1990.

Probably the best thing you can say about this compilation is that it’s rather mediocre. With the exception of “Warera no Bannou Sensuikan Nautilus” and “Blue Water”, I found none of the tracks all that interesting. Couple that with some really uninspiring editing of the series footage. Again, with the exception of the video for “Warera no Bannou Sensuikan Nautilus”, the anime footage for the most part is not really edited in sequence to the audio. It seems at times they just slapped in any old footage they could find to create them. It makes for some rather tedious viewing at times. With the disastrous Nadia theatrical feature being released only a couple of months before the release of this compilation, one can only assume that Toho or NHK were trying to wring as much cash out of fans of the series as fast as possible before they gave up on the show and moved on to the next hit anime franchise. At the end of the video the “To Be Continued” title comes up. This is because Toho/NHK were planning on second compilation, due for a December 1991 release.

If you want the series legitimately, there are a number of options available. The easiest ones are of course the 2001 and 2004 DVD releases of both music video collections (I’ll be covering the second compilation in a few months or so). The 2001 version comes in CD jewel case (like normal CDs) which was a standard packaging for many Japanese DVDs in the format’s infancy. The second release in 2004 is in a standard DVD case. The sad part is that the minimum you’re going to pay for the 2001 release is about ¥3,000 and you may well pay over ¥6,000 and far, far beyond that (try five figures). The figures for the 2004 release start at ¥6,000 and beyond. Note that most of these are going to be second hand copies. A 2001 DVD Box Set of the series also contains the music videos, but is rather pricy, even on the second hand market. The only other option is the original VHS and Laserdisc release (with cover art – reused box art from a General Products garage kit of Nadia – as uninspiring as its contents) or a 1997 Laserdisc which compiles both music video compilations. All are rather hard to find, in particular the latter which is as rare as hen’s teeth. It’s rather telling that reissues of the series on DVD since 2001 and the recent Blu-ray box set omit both music video compilations. Both remain out of print on all video formats.

Roaming Around Japan: Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum and Takarazuka Grand Theatre

It’s been over eight months since I’ve done one of my travel posts, so I thought I’d do a bunch more and have a break from documenting my seemingly never ending DVD and blu-ray backlog. When I first went to the Kansai region in 2013, I wanted to do and see a ton of things. But you really need more than week (the original time I allotted) to make any headway in trying to explore the area. One thing I always wanted to see was the Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture. Admittedly I have never been a big fan of his work (as an anime fan I feel like a heretic), however I still thought it would be fun to see the museum. I was also interested in going to Kyoto station which my guide book stated was home to Kyoto Tezuka Osamu World; a mini museum and shop with a theater which screened six exclusive anime films. Unfortunately I soon discovered it had shut down in January 2011. So the Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum remained the only museum in the area dedicated to his work.

To get there from Umeda station in Osaka, take the Hankyu Takarazuka Line to Takarazuka station, and then you can either get off there and walk one kilometre to the museum, or transfer to the Hankyu Imazu Line to Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi and get off at Takarazuka-Minamiguchi station. This trip will take a bit over half an hour. Takarazuka-Minamiguchi station is only 500 meters from the museum. The best way to get there is to use exit 1 from the station, walk north to the main road, turn right and walk around 45 metres. Then cross the road walk over the Takarazukao Bridge. The museum will be on your right at the cross road and is quite hard to miss.

Open from 9:30am to 5:00pm every day except Wednesdays, the cost for adults is ¥700. Looking around the museum it’s really hard not to see his influence on Japanese popular culture. It’s no exaggeration to say that Tezuka single handedly created both the manga and anime industries in Japan. From his early works in 1946 up to his final works in 1988 before his death the following year in February, he drew over 150,000 pages and published over 700 volumes of his manga. He created characters that became beloved over the world such as Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) and Jungle Emperor (Kimba the White Lion). His animation works are also beloved with Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion being the most recognised in the west. Though you could possibly argue his animated works are hardly as influential when compared to his manga. However outside of Japan his animated TV series, especially those from the mid to late 1960's, were initially what he was best known for.

The entrance of the museum has a statute outside of the Phoenix from Tezuka’s long running but unfinished manga of the same name. Right inside next to the reception desk is a life sized statue of Princess Knight (Ribbon no Kishi). Above in the ceiling is a rather amazing stained glass feature which depicts his most famous works. This level showcases exhibits of various Tezuka manga and anime works, most encased in large glass tubes.  I was very taken by the display of Tezuka’s trademark beret and glasses (see below). This level also contains a theatrette. The lower level has a mock-up of Tezuka’s studio, a rundown of the history of manga in Japan, displays about how animation is made and for some reason Tink from “Princess Knight” on a disco ball. A door leads outside to a small garden.

On the top level is a library featuring all of Tezuka’s works, with some translated versions, a café and of the obligatory gift shop. There are also temporary displays which sometimes feature non Tezuka works. When I visited the display was “TOMM the 58th Exhibition: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan and Osamu Tezuka”, which highlighted the science fiction works that influenced Tezuka as a child. Unfortunately for some reason I didn’t take too many photos of the interior of the museum, such as the stained glass window in the ceiling. A lot of the displays are quite stunning.

The reason why the museum is in Takarazuka is that Tezuka was born and grew up here. You may know that his “Princess Knight” manga was directly influenced by Takarazuka Revue, the famous all-female musical theatre troupe which first opened in 1914 partly as a gimmick by Ichizo Kobayashi, owner of Hankyu Railways in order to increase patronage of his new Takarazuka line from Osaka. Tezuka’s mother often took him to Takarazuka Revue shows as a child. The original theatre is still here in Takarazuka (a second theatre operates in Tokyo) and is only 250 metres down the road. The first thing I saw on my way there was a fairly big florist shop with posters of various Takarazuka Revue shows displayed in the windows.

A number of statues from some of the more popular shows also line the street (such as an adaptation of "Rose of Versailles", above). I was rather taken back as I headed past the entrance to the theatre to the stage entrance where around 75 fans had lined up to great the actresses as they came in for their performance (see below). It was all very calm and very well mannered. Some of the actresses received flowers, some chatted for a little while and some just waved as they entered. I’d never seen anything like it before in my entire life. It was very ritualistic and strangely clam.

On a pedestrian island in the middle of the road was a waiting area for fans to watch the actresses enter the theatre side door. The thing is the vast majority of Takarazuka Revue fandom is female. It’s really quite a strange phenomenon. Many of the popular actresses in the revue take on masculine traits and it’s really hard not to notice the inherent lesbian overtones, yet it’s probably safe to say that almost all of its fandom is heterosexual. Many theories have been thrown up to explain what is going on here. The most plausible is that women are attracted to this entertainment is a subversion of stereotypical Japanese gender roles. Yet another fascinating aspect of Japanese pop culture.

As I'm not really a fan of musicals, I didn't really bother looking into seeing a show. Tickets seem to run from ¥3,500 right up to ¥12,000. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of his works, the Tezuka museum was quite fascinating. Coupled with the spectacle of the Takarazuka Revue fans, it was a really fun morning.

Next time I’ll be going to Minato to see the Zojoji Temple, Tokyo Tower and it’s infamous (and sadly defunct) Waxwork Museum.