Japanimation Association of Michigan?

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AnEccentricArchivist
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Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by AnEccentricArchivist »

In one of the fanzines that I own, specifically the first issue of Japanimation, there was a form on the last page for if someone would’ve wanted to join a fan club that was called the Japanimation Association of Michigan. Like any person would, I searched to see if there was anything on the Internet about it; which turned up nothing...

Do you guys happen to have any information on this particular club? Also, for those who want to see what the form looks like, here’s a scan of it:
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davemerrill
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by davemerrill »

my theory is that this club never got off the ground, but it's just a theory.
Fireminer
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by Fireminer »

Since the leaflet mentioned Zeta Gundam, I would like to ask about how well-known and well-watched Gundam was before Wing Gundam was aired on TV? I understood that there were fan-sub of 0079 and Zeta Gundam in the 1980s, weren't them?
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by davemerrill »

I got into organized anime fandom in 1985, and Zeta Gundam was kind of a big deal. The show in all the Japanese anime magazines we were able to buy. People that traded VHS with Japanese fans would be getting episodes of the series. There was already some general knowledge of Mobile Suit Gundam, the original series was a big franchise in Japan and general articles about Japanese anime, like the ones Fred Patten was writing, would always mention Gundam. It kind of felt like Zeta was "our" Gundam, it certainly was a series we were going to get in on from the beginning. The first issue of Animag had a Zeta Gundam cover and they published an episode guide for the show over the next few years worth of issues. So it was a series most anime fans in the mid to late 80s would be familiar with.
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DKop
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by DKop »

To give you an idea on how Zeta Gundam was reviewed in Animag, I've done a number of scans of that magazine for a blog I still run (but horrendiously negelcted last year) that would do episode recaps of the series. Trish Ledoux once told me that the person translating it (which id assume was Toshifumi Yoshida) kinda gave a rough plot outline from what they were able to interpret of the show when they watched it, and they would write that up as episode synopsis.

http://animeofyesteryear.blogspot.com/2 ... sue-4.html
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by SteveH »

I think I visited Reader's Exchange a few times in my travels to Detroit back in the day. This club was nothing more than an attempt to increase traffic to the store for their bootleg VHS library, the toys and models bought from Pony Toy/ Horizon Hobbies and the books from Books Nippan (likely sourced via Capital Cities comic warehouse).

There was a sweet spot between '83 and '86 where you could go and buy cool stuff in many comic book stores. I recall getting a super nice Bandai HCM of L-Gaim in a comic shop north of Indianapolis back in '85. I have managed to hang on to that. :)

As to Zeta Gundam. Yeah, it was a thing for us back then. It was that 'perfect storm' of enough people having VCRs, enough people in Japan recording shows for American friends, and enough of us outside of the West Coast 'ownership-gatekeeper' mentality to spread the episodes around. Combine that with the (fragile) network of comic shops getting into that Japanimation thing and we were totally styling, building models, buying books (many many books!), listening to the music (thank you Melody Records) IN REAL TIME.

Back then Zeta Gundam looked sooooo clean, so nice. So detailed. It was a grabber.
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by davemerrill »

The remaining stock of bootleg anime VHS tapes can still be found in the dusty corners of comic book shops and used bookstores, sometimes. And thrift stores, for that matter.

I know that before we formally started our anime club in Atlanta, there was a screening of anime in the back room of a comic shop that probably included a fuzzy episode of Zeta Gundam.
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by SteveH »

Fireminer wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:13 pm Since the leaflet mentioned Zeta Gundam, I would like to ask about how well-known and well-watched Gundam was before Wing Gundam was aired on TV? I understood that there were fan-sub of 0079 and Zeta Gundam in the 1980s, weren't them?
Point of order. The ad mentions Gundam Double Zeta, aka ZZ Gundam. That means it's 1986. Just about the time all the good times were drying up. The Yen was stronger, prices were going up, selection was going down. Yuji Hiramatsu was gone from Books Nippan and Keven Seymore was destroying everything Yuji had built, TCI was out of the model kit import business and Pony Toy was doing a terrible job of promotion.

We didn't need no fansubs of Zeta Gundam, we watched it in raw untranslated Japanese and LIKED it. :)
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by Fireminer »

SteveH wrote: Thu Feb 20, 2020 2:39 pm Point of order. The ad mentions Gundam Double Zeta, aka ZZ Gundam. That means it's 1986. Just about the time all the good times were drying up. The Yen was stronger, prices were going up, selection was going down. Yuji Hiramatsu was gone from Books Nippan and Keven Seymore was destroying everything Yuji had built, TCI was out of the model kit import business and Pony Toy was doing a terrible job of promotion.

We didn't need no fansubs of Zeta Gundam, we watched it in raw untranslated Japanese and LIKED it. :)
Kevin Seymore? Wasn't he the guy who worked on Ghost in the Shel: SAC? Could you tell me more about how he "destroy" Book Nippan?
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Re: Japanimation Association of Michigan?

Post by runesaint »

SteveH wrote: Thu Feb 20, 2020 2:39 pm
Fireminer wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:13 pm Since the leaflet mentioned Zeta Gundam, I would like to ask about how well-known and well-watched Gundam was before Wing Gundam was aired on TV? I understood that there were fan-sub of 0079 and Zeta Gundam in the 1980s, weren't them?
Point of order. The ad mentions Gundam Double Zeta, aka ZZ Gundam. That means it's 1986. Just about the time all the good times were drying up. The Yen was stronger, prices were going up, selection was going down. Yuji Hiramatsu was gone from Books Nippan and Keven Seymore was destroying everything Yuji had built, TCI was out of the model kit import business and Pony Toy was doing a terrible job of promotion.

We didn't need no fansubs of Zeta Gundam, we watched it in raw untranslated Japanese and LIKED it. :)
and we watched copies of copies of copies.
That being said, when I ran a club in the early nineties, I ran unsubtitled stuff first/earlier(6 or 7pm), and subtitled stuff later (8 or 9, I misremember). I remember when I was switching and the people demanded I keep showing the unsubtitled show rather than switch =) The sub people stayed to see what the fuss was about and more people showed up for the 'earlier' show.
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