ANIME UK/ANIME FX Thread (Yesteryear of anime publications)

[kndy]

Back when American publications dedicated to anime and manga and the fandom were starting to blossom, another publication from the other side of the country was starting to get noticed in the US. While many of us probably caught on a bit late, Anime UK would eventually gain in popularity and win the Tezuka Award for best English anime publication in 1994.

With the staff wanting the publication to cater to readers worldwide, the magazine was rebooted and eventually renamed to Anime FX.

Unfortunately, the publication had its problems and in 1996 and it was not known if it was due to an editorial policy issue with Andy Frain, owner of Manga Entertainment (mentioned on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime_UK), one of the largest anime companies in the UK at the time and the company lost paid advertising.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what issue was the final issue of Anime FX.

But what did you all think of "Anime UK"?

I didn't see previous issues of Anime UK at our store until issue 8 and even then, you would never know if you would see a new issue because it came from overseas. Not until the magazine was rebooted, that I started to see the publication in stores. But back then, I always found a single issue put out...but at nearly $6, it may have been pricey for some people.

[SteveH]

I thought Anime UK/FX was pretty awesome.

Say, we need Helen and Steve here, don't we? Or better not, I'll just kidnap them and chatter on about Gerry Anderson shows...

[_D_]

I'll see if I can find any of the early draft zines, etc. from before AUK. I have several. Not many people here wanted to do stuff with the UK. The different TV system didn't help but I had my sources to get some conversions done, so some early fansubs went out that way. I worked with several people back when but it was tough going.

*Some hours later*

Went looking but couldn't find a lot of the stuff I wanted. Decided to give up for the night...put my hand on an old clothes hamper and came up with a treasure trove! Will have to get up early to scan and post some of this stuff. Currently it's 3am and that's about the end of my day. Back up by 8am though...I think you'll enjoy this stuff!

[_D_]

[kndy]

Wonderful!!! I have only read about their days of photocopying but have never seen this issues before!

[kndy]

I thought Anime UK/FX was pretty awesome.

Say, we need Helen and Steve here, don't we? Or better not, I'll just kidnap them and chatter on about Gerry Anderson shows...

Let me go ahead and ask Helen if she would like to join us...maybe she will? I don't know.

[Kid Fenris]

Oh yeah, I remember this one. Felt kinda like a British version of Animerica.

In fact, I recall that exact issue with El-Hazard on the cover. It had a fairly interesting piece about the Street Fighter II movie.

[usamimi]

I never got to see this magazine until after it was already discontinued, sadly. But what I saw of it, I did like! It was very much like Animerica, and very nicely put together.

[PinkAppleJam]

I ran a penpal ad in Anime UK (maybe issue 8?), I had a mad amount of letters (I guess young women were a rare type in this shoot-off of sci fi culture), connected with other people my age as well as my still-sempais/ fans and friends. A number of people I wrote to/wrote back I am still friends with to this day and see at cons Facebook made it easier to reconnect with old friends. I saw just today that one of my old penpals got married! <3 Joyous!

AUK published a few reviews of stuff I drew and fanzines I contributed to, the team were always so supportive of it's readers. The two main artists were Steve Kyte (artist of that "Anime Day Report") and Wil Overton. Wil makes "Smart Bomb" comic to this day and does a lot of games-based art. Wil Overton also did a lot of work for 1992-era Super Nintendo UK mag "Super Play" and Helen contributed articles to the mag. This mag ran for a good few years. It connected Japanese games (and republished the lovely game artwork in full colour in those pre-internet days) to anime to UK readers.

When I joined the boards I asked Helen (who has always been supportive of my stuff) about this place and she loved the idea but alas time is always so scarce! Helen is an author all-round, the last work we did was "How to draw manga made easy" and "Drawing basics made easy" about 2 years ago with Flame Tree Publishing. She compiled works from a bunch of UK and US artists

The Anime UK Newsletter is rare for me, it was around when I was a little bit too young and wasn't into the anime scene specifically, but very much into games so I bought Super Play in local newsagents before I was able to get hold of Anime UK via comic shops. Thanks for sharing!