c/o Viz Comics P.O. Box 77010 San Francisco, CA 94107
viz@j-pop.com
"I like THC with my DVD!" -Fred Norris as Jackie Martling. Well, you know what I'm listening to as I type. First of all, I apologize for missing Allen Lau's letter (from back in April), who wants to know why Viz doesn't publish *Evangelion* "all in graphic novel form? I mean, that's how it's done in Japan! And it's convenient to read, not to mention it'll be cheaper for cash limited people like me". I know what you mean, but technically, *Eva* is indeed published on a monthly basis in Japan - in a magazine called SHONEN ACE (for those of you who watched *Eva* taped off Japanese TV, SHOOOOOONEN AAAAAAACE!!!) - before being collected into its Japanese graphic novel form. Admittedly ACE also contains 16 or 17 stories besides *Eva* (including the charming mermaid story, *Marine Color* - available in graphic novel form from Kadokawa, by Suezen, a.ka. Fumio Iida, Sadamoto's partner when they were both animation directors on *The Wings of Honneamise*). However, you have to pay ¥390 to get your bit o'*Evangelion* within ACE - currently about $2.65, not much less than the monthly English version, while the English version is printed on better paper (which means the art comes out better, as well), and you get a new installment every month, which isn't true of the original version - the last three months of SHONEN ACE have been *Eva*-less. Of course, Sadamoto's also busy with Hiroyuki Yamaga's *Aoki Uru*, so it's all good, and it means we're catching up with where *Eva*'s at in Japan.
Mr. Lau, who is from Elk Grove, IL, wants to know what you have to do to get into this business. That's an interesting question; there are different paths. Some of the people at Viz (and, I would imagine, at Dark Horse, Mixx, CPM, ADV, or any other comparable company), had no particular interest in manga or anime culture before they came there - they just wanted a job, had a willingness to work for the company, and the skills the company needed: marketing, layout, editing, a strong back. Others at this and other companies began at otaku first, and entered the industry out of their personal interest. Many already had considerable experience doing things such as translation, writing, editing and promotion when they became professionals ("professional" status is when you have to start paying taxes on what you do as a fan). Some of these otaku went to work for companies, and some started their own - an admirable but considerably more difficult proposition for which you need the skills of an entrepreneur (a education in business, self-learned, or from a school, is just as necessary and valuable in this field as writing or graphics skills), But in any of those examples, the person developed a skill important to putting out anime and manga in America. Anyone who wants to get into it should do the same.
It's not too early to get started: in my own case, I began when I was 15, writing about anime for my school paper and for the video program book of a local SF convention. I was definitely inspired back then (A.D. 1986) by Toren Smith, who had already done a great deal to articulate and promote the culture to the West as a fan, and would soon take it to what Geto Boys call "that other level of the game" with his Studio Proteus (and as Above The Law would say about Rally Vincent, "A lot of drama on her block but she never stress / Because she's built like a Presidential Rolex"). I wrote for various fanzines, convention programs, club events, and from 1990 on, for the Internet; it was from the Net that Trish Ledoux, already working for Viz, asked me in 1993 to write for *Animerica* (it was also Trish who asked me to edit *Evangelion*). However, it wasn't until 1996 that I decided to make this field my sole source of simoleons. If, like Mr. Lau, you're determined at a young age to make this your vocation, you have one up on me. You also have the advantage that people like Smith and Ledoux (not to mention Seiji Horibuchi, John Ledford, Mike Richardson, Gary Groth, John O'Donnell, Gareb Shamus, etc...) have led by example and created the opportunity for many more people to work in this field professionally, opportunity that simply didn't exist when I was in high school. And you hear new names every day; this industry is expanding. So whatever you'd like to do in this line of work, practice doing it in any way you can! (Can you tell I was a Boy Scout?)
David Reid (240 W. 64th St., Hialeah, FL 33012) wants to know if anyone out there wants to part with their Book 1, #3 of the *Special Collector's Edition* of *Eva*. We ain't got none ere: issue #3s of any magazine tend to be rare, because when you place your print order for #3, you usually don't have figures back yet on #1, so you tend to be conservative. Mr. Reid is one of a number of people who pointed out the appearance of Rei on a t-shirt on NBC's "Veronica's Closet". Keep on keepin' on...
Dear Misato's Fan Service Center,
(Cool name btw). I was surprised to see my drawing of Misato in Book One, Vol. 6. I'm also rather ashamed. That early piece lacked accuracy. My current work more closely mirrors Sadamoto-sama's style. Here is my latest (of Misato again, just love that gal). I've also drawn Asuka, Rei, and Maya Ibuki.
One odd point in the manga is that it fails to emphasize the connection between Eva-01 and Shinji Ikari. An important part of the anime but oddly absent in the manga. If this trend continues I wonder how Sadamoto-sama will deal with the events from the Twelfth Angel to the end? I love the Special Edition's Japanese layout. ***Eva*** has eclipsed ***Blade of the Immortal*** as my all-time favorite manga!
Hugs and kisses,
Alvin Yeo
Christchurch, New Zealand
This is an elegant drawing, and you're right, it does approach Sadamoto! How about doing one of Dr. Akagi? Though I think the manga actually hints at the connection *earlier* than the anime did, in the vision Shinji has in Book One, Part 5. Well, if *Eva* can best Hiroaki Samura's superb style on *Blade* (insert shout-out to Rachel Penn here) then it's really something. I can just see Asuka slicing Manji in two, and then crying "it's not fair!"
Dear Viz-Gods,
I have just recently delved into the magical realm of manga, being first introduced by the U.S. anime release of Naoko Takeuchi's ***Sailor Moon***. I got interested in the ***Evangelion*** manga through an ad, and was delighted to find it in a superb comic shop in downtown Chicago called _Comic Relief_ (at Wabash and Madison for you Chi-towners). Besides my desire to express my profound admiration of Shinji's good looks, I'd also like to ask a few questions.
First, are the original episodes of the ***Eva*** anime really an hour long, or do you bundle them? Secondly, is it possible to get merchandise (i.e., posters, T-shirts, etc.) from your catalog? You have pages of stuff dedicated to ***Ranma 1/2***, but not one bit for we ***Eva***-lovers (besides a graphic novel and some videos). Also, I want to know what Dr. Akagi meant when she said that Eva-01 was the first unit... what happened to Unit-00, which happens to be the number on Rei's uniform? (Forgive me if this question is answered later in the series). Finally, how long did the ***Eva*** anime run in Japan?
But I really can't complain about you guys, because you've opened up a whole new world of thought to me (gee, me, thinking, my parents will be so proud!). I can't say how many fights I've gotten into with friends who labeled my beloved manga as, "those stupid Japanese comics". Manga is more than just your average dime store funnies strip. There's a whole mindset to it (hint: don't read too much into the whole mindset thing, I'm not obsessive). The ***Evangelion*** series is solid proof that giant robots and spandex suits don't necessarily mean ***Power Rangers***.
Send my love to Shinji,
Ariel Anderson
Chicago, IL
P.S. I think that Nirvana might express a lot of Shinji's sentiments. Of course that only applies B.K.D. (Before Kurt's Death)
P.P.S. If possible, could y'all see that Shinji gets the enclosed self-portrait? Thought he may be a little too depressed to be thinking about a girlfriend now, I think I could shake him out of it.
Viz-Gods? Is that like the Elder Gods, the monotonous piping of the letter column at the center of the Universe? So you want to be Shinji' girlfriend of steel, huh? With your flares and sneaks, you look pretty fly (Shinji wears Converse Hi-Tops, worn also by Kubo in _Otaku no Video_ and Minnie-May in _Gunsmith Cats_) As a matter of fact, although Viz does feature the *Evangelion* anime in our Shop-By-Mail catalog - 800.394.3042, operators are standing by - the English version is of course produced by ADV Films in Houston, Texas. The episodes were half-hour (technically, about 24 min. - the fact that Japanese shows tend to have fewer commercial breaks built in than the American norm is a factor that sometimes requires their editing when on U.S. TV); they just come two episodes to a volume.
There is no U.S.-licensed *Eva*-related merchandise available yet (Virginia's manga house, Studio Ironcat, has announced an agreement with Gainax to release English editions of some of the *Evangelion* CD-ROM games and art collections, but has no release date for them as of this writing). One reason - perhaps the major reason - anime shows get or don't get on commercial television in the U.S. is that they either have or don't have U.S.-licensed merchandise, and on a large scale, to back them up. And merchandise rights are handled separately from other rights; each and every *Ranma* tchotchke is negotiated for - because as Yogurt said, merchandise is where the real money gets made. That is ten times true for *Evangelion*, perhaps the largest anime goods phenomenon in the history of Japan. That isn't to say you won't see U.S.-licensed goods here, just that it hasn't happened yet.
Dr. Akagi *did* say, "the first"; the apparent implication is that Unit-01 is the first model useful for actual combat (therefore, "01") - at that point in the story, Unit-00 had not seemed useable (though as you see, that has now changed). Oh, the *Eva* TV series ran for six months, between October 1995 and April 1996. I don't necessarily condone fisticuffs on those who talk trash of manga, but sometimes you just have to roll sets on homeboy's jawin'.
Toshiyasu Kimura sends e-mail from Japan, pointing out that many of the characters in *Eva* bear names from W.W. II warships - the _Soryu_, the _Akagi_, the _Katsuragi_, or the _Langley_. However, Staff Sgt. Norman S. Miller (Ret.), of Sheridan, CA, our military consultant, was the *first* person to notice that the gun muzzle on page four, Book One, Part One of the *Eva Special Collector's Edition* is pointing the wrong way (Yes: but it's fixed in the graphic novel). Miller points out also that the muzzle is obviously not from the guns on the tanks you see on page 5; to him, it looks like a M109A5 S.P. 155mm howitzer. So where are the howitzers hiding? Them boys at Gainax are on the Kensuke tip; I'm sure they know what they're doing. But, asks Miller, why is it that "Shito" is the Japanese word used in *Eva* to refer to the Angels, when it means "apostle" ("angel" is "tenshi")? The short answer is that is an extension of the already-observed phenomenon in *Eva* of using different "titles" in Japanese and English (for example, the names of the episodes and of the series itself).
Before we go, I want to thank my manna Yoko Kanno for making *Cowboy Bebop*'s theme - *Barnaby Jones* in outer space, and *Cowboy Bebop*'s hero, Spike Spiegel, for doing his part to make anime a little less goyische; Bernard Wiseman, the Zeonist from *Gundam 0080: War In The Pocket* (written by Gainax's Hiroyuki Yamaga, coming soon to the U.S. from animevillage.com!) also comes to mind, but otherwise there seems to be some kind of gentlemen's agreement. I've already started thinking about an "AlternativEVA" soundtrack for *The End of Evangelion* move, but so far I've been coming up with songs like Nirvana's cover of "Lake Of Fire", Beastie Boys' "Instant Death", The Clash's "Death Is A Star", and U2's "Wake Up Dead Man". That should tell you something, huh? As The Specials said, "You're wondering now what to do / Now you know this is the end." And Ba Ba Booey to y'all.
Carl Gustav Horn