Looking Back at 1996 & 1997 Anime By Paging Through An Old Magazine

I picked up the above-pictured magazine - Anime & Tokusatsu Preservation Plan '96-'97 - from Nikaku Animart (San Jose, CA) a couple of years ago. It was published by Sony Magazines in May 1997.



The first part previews some upcoming releases from that year and highlights 1996 TV & OVA anime as well as tokusatsu movies & shows from 1996. The rest contains interviews with six voice actresses followed by character art collections from five anime.




The anime profiled in the 1997 section include Evangelion Death & Rebirth, Shin Tenchi Muyo (aka Tenchi in Tokyo), Revolutionary Girl Utena, Slayers Try, the Maze TV series, Mach Go Go (aka Speed Racer 2000) and GaoGaiGar.



SLAYERS NEXT AND EL HAZARD 1ST SEASON



The 1996 section has some notable TV series including Nadesico, Kodocha, Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin, You're Under Arrest, and Escaflowne along with less notable ones like Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Virtua Fighter, Saber Marionette J, and Tobe! Isami. Some of the movies & OVAs with entries are Tenchi Muyo! in Love, Lupin III: Dead or Alive, Birdy the Mighty, Key the Metal Idol and Magic User's Club.



The tokusatsu section is comparatively smaller than the anime ones - it has pieces about TV series such as , , and and movies like Rebirth of Mothra and Gamera 2: Attack of Legion.



The following voice actresses have interviews in the magazine (roles mentioned in their profiles):



*(Sasami in Tenchi MuyoLucrezia Noin in Gundam Wing; Ruly Ginjou in Iron Leaguer; Sakura Shinguji in Sakura Wars)

*(Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury in Sailor Moon; Skuld in Ah My Goddess)

*(Risuko in Harimogu Harry; Key in Key the Metal Idol; Miki in Mojako; Melissa in Montana Jones; Hikari Hokari in Evangelion)

*(Shiori Fujisaki in Tokimeki Memorial; Raffine Orashion in PS1 game Queens Road; Alice in Sega Saturn game Tengai Maky : Daiyon no Mokushiroku)

*(Suzu Sakura in Marmalade Boy; Yuki in Nintama Rantaro; Mill in Maze; Midi in Voogie's Angel)

*(Nanami Jinnai in El Hazard; Audrey in Y sha TokkyMight Gaine; Orlin Carrie in Princess Minerva; Miho in Macross 7; Akari Kanzaki in Battle Athletes)



The 8 cm CD after the seiyuu text interviews has audio greetings from each of those six voice actresses.



There are around 20 pages of official character art from Tenchi in Tokyo, Utena, El Hazard 2, Slayers Try, and Battle Athletes - similar to what you'd find in issues of Newtype or Animage.



The back cover features an ad for Pioneer anime - the main one being the first episode of Battle Athletes. There's also a schedule of 11 events where voice actresses would appear: Rio Natsuki at all of them with Tomoko Kawakami and Akiko Yajima joining Rio at some events.



I get a kick out of looking at old anime magazines, partly from seeing what ones I've watched and remember being talked about and also coming across things I hadn't heard of before, such as Sunrise's .
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