In which I just sort of pick and choose things I like, some things never change, and — ooh, a really nice clear file!
I was going through The Mooon (that’s the new official name I’m using for the craft-and-cool-collection-stuff room, because its previous informal name of The Crap Room doesn’t sound great, and it goes well with my moon bunny self in general ★彡) and I remembered that with a recent CD Japan order I’d picked up an issue of Animedia (July 2020).
I did this mostly for nostalgia; I used to buy a ton of issues when I was more of a “general interest” anime fan and not a “weird obscure series few people seem to care about, and if they do, I’ll probably like the weird character best” type anime fan like I have become. But luckily there’s plenty in this magazine for all tastes.
Some things about Animage have definitely changed for the better, mostly that the major illustrations for each series are included as two-sided posters without so much text at the front of the issue. That was something some magazines did here and there a decade plus ago when I used to buy these more, but it seems to be standard issue now, and I really like that.
In a magazine filled with a lot of great stuff (including a four-page fold-out poster for BNA, a series I liked the first episode of but haven’t gotten further in), the furoku A4 size clear file is still a big highlight. It features Hanako and Kou from Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun. If you haven’t seen this series, don’t let its strange-sounding-accurate-but-I-get-that-it-sounds-like-it’s-about-IBS-or-something English title chase you away. It’s crazy and cute and honestly one of the nicest-looking anime I’ve seen in a long time.
Day by day I feel the pull of Twisted Wonderland, which as far as I can tell is basically like Disney Descendants with way, way more fanservice and doujinshi, getting stronger and stronger on my interests and my wallet. So far I’ve resisted…
Speaking of Hypnosis Mic, as I include anything on it I can find, I must ask — Why was the guidebook for this series the one time in my adult life that I did not get something preordered to be on my doorstep immediately? And why am I as out of the loop on this fandom as possible so as not to know where to even get tiny scans?
Same to you, Paradox Live, although I’ve really made some concerted efforts to get into this franchise and despite really, really loving one song I just can’t find it as exciting as HypMic. (Then again, all it takes is one particularly handsome character or someone really good at explaining why they love the series, and I may well become some huge fan.)
Let’s also take some time to apprectiate the handsomeness of the Golden Kamuy guys:
I am both excited and nervous for this new anime adaptation of Higurashi. Excited because Higurashi is one of my favorite visual novels, but nervous because I remember being about this excited for the first one… Nonetheless, Rena and Mion look cute as usual.
Hooray for some very nice Pokemon coverage! Note near the bottom of the left page that you can see the Rocket Gachat. I am waiting every day for them to make this in a form that I can buy.
The issue features a most popular anime rundown; from first place to fifteenth, here they are:
- Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Detective Conan series
- Gintama
- A3! Season Spring and Summer
- Card Captor Sakura Clear Card
- Sailor Moon Eternal
- Ensemble Stars
- K-On! series
- Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun
- Haikyuu series
- Love Live!
- Urashimasakatasen no Nichijou
- Gundam SEED
- Pokemon series
- Osomatsu-san series
- Kuroko no Basuke series
I have to say, I’m not seeing much to disagree with there.
There’s a lot of other stuff in this issue, including character popularity polls and a ton of other coverage, but I figure others will do a better job writing about these than I will, so I really just went through whatever really caught my eye. There ended up being quite a lot!
I was already well pleased with everything here, and then I saw this. These cassette tape covers were a huge favorite of mine in late high school/early college. Now, of course, they’re specifically labeled as retro, but that doesn’t make them any less awesome.
Going through this magazine, I was struck how much things change and how much they stay the same. Of those fifteen most popular anime, it’s kind of cool that about half of them are newish and the other half are related to properties that were around when I was buying my first issues of Animage and similar magazines. It’s weirdly comforting in an unsettling year!
hello somebunny 