(While in Hyogo, I was able to visit a collector of rare books who will remain anonymous as requested. We will refer to this individual as "M" for the time being when discussing their perspectives and ideologies surrounding the works that will be discussed. These are a mix of my views, M's accounts, and other historical connotations that give further basis for the conversation at large.)
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(The cover of Strange World Special Edition, first published in October of 1981. Originally sold for only 300¥, this volume was edited by Eri An, Akikaze Jun and Yuki Akira. This fanzine contains extremely rare documentation of a fan-made 0079 Gundam film that is now considered lost.)
While with M, I tried to be modest in my questioning, but as this was indeed a once in a lifetime opportunity, I hashed out any and everything. Thankfully, he was very receptive and actually eager to give his first hand accounts all while I perused his immense collection of texts and materials.
M had an original poster of the iconic Daicon IV mascot, clad in her crimson Playmate bunny girl suit, emblazoned on one end of his upstairs office. It was scrawled over with signatures, some of which I tried to make out, though seeing it only lead me to ask more questions.
I recounted to M about the debacle between the now defunct Gainax and Kineko Video (nee Femboy Films) and the copyright situation surrounding the restoration of the infamous Daicon III opening animation. M knew about these circumstances for a variety of reasons, as M himself had actually attended the original event. He then ensued to show me his materials from the convention, items which included a name badge and hand drawn illustrations that were passed around by other otaku like himself. On the topic of the original creator's notoriously muddled stepping on copyright, M only offered me his opinion in that these sorts of productions weren't new in the slightest.
"Many college manga groups and fan clubs would make their own (animations) and would have viewing parties. They could be real events, with food and games. A joining of minds, really."
I mentioned to M my knowledge on a fan animation that appears only in and had even come across cels indicative of being from fan animations on auction websites. I showed him a few to see if he recognized any, though he told me no. Curiously however was yet another conversation had about archiving media like so when it is, apparently, lost.
"This is the sort of thing that can depress me," he said to me over tea, "I remember watching several, many shown on film projectors. They don't exist today, and if they did, I believe they would be very badly deteriorated." He had, so he told me, helped a friend once in an effort to archive a fan animation that once was shown at the SF anime convention Solar Fest, though even with modern technology, the film was so poorly cared for that it was a lost effort. What did he have to say about modern efforts now? With Japanese copyright laws far more restrictive than that in the West, efforts for preserving film seem tedious at best.
While this is just one instance of a fan animation being taken note of, the quality of the images was robust in that actual Sunrise animation staff, presumably members of either Studio I or Studio II, assisted and even provided voice talent. Could this be said about any other groups? Just what was the influence held by this particular group?
M said he had no recollection of this event, though did tell me that this sort of this was, even still, not uncommon - Otaku were animators, draftsman and fan artists alike off the clock and had mass participation at times in their respective fan clubs. This sort of collaboration thus wasn't mutually exclusive. Back to the drawing board, so it seemed, until he brought forth a fanzine to give me more insight.
The fanzine in question was Strange World, one of which I had seen in passing on auction sites, though had never had a direct hand in understanding. This particular issue, a special edition, was published in late October of 1981, though the contents within revealed something exceedingly jaw dropping - the existence of a fan animation penned by the fan club itself.
"This was a very good team," M told me with a smile, "Many were a part of the RFC (Raideen Fan Club) at one point, so they understood the appeal of a well published book." You could certainly tell that from the printing and paper quality, but as for the contents?
"They were around (the team behind Strange World), for a long time." M produced other fanzines, all printed quite stunningly with dynamic inking and compositions. Primarily led by female fans, the team in this issue gives forth not only an array of beautifully drawn illustrations, but genuine criticism and correspondence for lovers of SF media.
Be it Japanese or Western, all of which were exceedingly robust. With that in mind, Strange World's special issue is not, in fact, a strictly Gundam based zine, though one can't ignore its very unique presence - The first Mobile Suit Gundam compilation film was released on February 22nd of 1981, whereas this book was released in late October of the same year. Overlaps being out of the question, these Gundam impressions were then real time and fresh.
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Reading further, Conversations about Spock, Star Wars and other musings show a group connected to not only the SF boom at the time, but that of the Western world and its offerings. My personal interests peaked further upon viewing the photographed film stills, which displayed a bright take on on-model designs with an all too uniquely artistic lean.It further proved that Gundam truly was a basis of certain types of media to be both an outlet for creativity as well as hyper fixation. The sheer level of artistry of the hand painted cels played a major role in my foray into digging deeper.
"I feel as if they were setting off towards something far larger with these types of works," M told me, "Imagine you and your friends slaving away for a production like this." When I began doing film screenings of both Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Leiji Matsumoto's works in undergrad, I often thought about making my own analog cel animations and even made a short foray without much luck.
In the digital age, similar collaborative efforts happen all the time on sites like Newgrounds, though the connotations of connectivity and modernity in doing so were a far fetched reality in the late 70s to early 80s.
At first, it seemed as if it was just a part of fans revisiting their favorites; Gundam, Daimos and Voltes V were works that had long been cornerstones in women lead mecha based fandom communities in the late 70s. Be it in both amateur or professional illustration practice, the intersection of dynamic story telling, head canons and dramatic image making never seemed to, at least on the outside, transform into actual film.
However, this culture of creating images was more than just setting a would-be standardized trend, and I refused to observe it as such a simplistic thing. The young women on Strange World's editorial staff were a genuine community, one that was readily making the intense foray into cataloging their favorite aspects of the anime and manga that held a firm grasp on their mind, body and soul. Its what seems to, at least on a visual basis, set these films apart from others.
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Taste, while subjective, lead me to throw my hat into the ring and ask further questions of M. While casual at first, I began to notice certain cinematic and artistic parallels between the hands of the artists who were behind these glorious films. Be it the way Rintaro tricked the eye with seemingly complex camera perspective in the 78' Captain Harlock feature or the way in which Yoshinori Kanada's groundbreaking explosions float across the screen on Towards the Terra, the carryover in visual aesthetics present in these film stills showed some alignment with what could easily be deemed early Sakuga fans.
While many have a muse to mill about on modern anime, the strength to this past community lies, in my opinion, within its once simplistic dedication to what they found to be both personally and collectively interesting. What is truly genuine is not left up to interpretation; from an illustrators stand point, the dynamic and visually challenging aspects of these stills genuinely revealed a prowess to make the best of the best, even if it was only going to be screened for a handful of likeminded friends.
As simple as that may be, this is the easiest way to approach the drawing quality, visualizations (or jaunts as I call them) within the film itself. The presence of other characters, such as Locke from Yuki Hijiri's seminal Locke the Superman, make their apperance among the ranks of an older depiction of Amuro Ray that pre-dates his persona as seen in Zeta Gundam by a mere few years.
Notions of longing, new identities, and even loss are encapsulated by more than the mere aspect of the "what if" - the pervasiveness of documenting this film by the club post the screening gives way to other conversations. Lalah's death, mourned by Amuro, is settled off the record by meeting Char, who works as a bartender undercover, by a mere handshake. This film, slated as part 2, had another prior, though no record at the moment stands to prove its contents.
While this film is more than likely lost to time itself, this was a production filled with several laborious revisions, drawings, and approvals, from genga to douga, as noted in a later chapter of the zine. A lot of information about the artists behind these works often fall into the category of being grey at best as many worked under pseudonyms, the murky waters of their identities shine through like a diamond in the rough regardless.
In the end, many find community to be, as an ever changing social constant, a genuine form of self actualization. Tt doesn't take much to see when this sort of energy is at play within Strange World's production of not only their zine, but the film itelf; art is, no matter how obscure, genuine human expression, one that was clearly championed by this group.