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A time capsule of Anime fandom in North America.

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Animerica – Battle Angel – Japanimation – A. D. Vision – Mail Order – October 1993

March 3, 2012 by Lance Heiskell Leave a Comment

I love a good pun title and “Have Gunnm, Will Travel” caught my attention to read. The half-page article was written by Matt Greenfield of the scrappy new company based in Houston, TX called A.D. Vision. I liked the article. It was a quick ‘inside baseball’ type of retelling how they put the Battle Angel OVA release together.

Speaking of A.D. Vision – Their ad for “GUY” a title I had never heard about until seeing this ad, is the template of the type of ADV ads you will see for years to come – usages of innuendo and double entendre abound.

Examples from the GUY ad:

Headline:

Looking for T. & A.*? (*Terrific Animation, that is)

Description text:

“GUY. He’s big, he’s bad, and when he’s aroused, he’s nearly eighteen feet … tall!”
“…keep your eye on his partner Raina, a red-headed homicidal sex bomb with one thing on her mind”
“…and that’s not easy when you lose your clothes as often as she does!”
“…an over-sexed juvenile delinquent who outgrew the “juvenile” abut three bra sizes back”

I think this is the first ad to use the term “Japanimation” as a major selling point. It’s used in the following tag line:
“WARNING: Japanimation is so hot, it’ll melt your VCR!”

I would have gone with “WARNING: Japanimation is so hot, it’ll eat your tapes.” But that would be a horrible tagline for sales.

The content warning is in all caps for…clarity? “For mature audiences ONLY! All GUY programs contain GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF SEX, VIOLENCE and NUDITY.

(GUY was their fourth title ever released – Devil Hunter Yohko, Sol Bianca, Battle Angel and this one)

What also started to appear in the magazine were mail-order companies who specialized in anime, model kits and the like. Some were retail stores and some weren’t. Remember, this was pre-modern internet. No websites. You had to call to place an order, or send your order through mail. Patience was a part of fandom that is severely lost these days.

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Filed Under: 1990-1994, 1993, Animerica Tagged With: 1993, ADV, Animerica, Battle Angel, Gall Force, Gundam, Japanimation, Tokuma Publishing, US Manga Corps

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Practice Makes Awesome

A Few Tips Upon Reading

First off, find a secluded area and pour yourself a beverage of choice. You must cleanse the palate to take in the delicacies of the nostalgia I'm about to throw down.

Second, if it’s cold where you live, grab a blanket, maybe two. If at all possible, sit down while reading. I hate standing, never stood for it, never will.

Finally, see if you can find the encrypted message left in the third magazine post.

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