Anime-Zine

Zine
Title:	Anime-Zine
Publisher:	Minstrel Press
Editor(s):	Robert Fenelon, Beverly Headley
Type:
Date(s):	1986-1988
Medium:
Size:
Fandom:	Anime
Language:	English
External Links:	PDF of Issue 2 archived by Cosmo DNA
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Anime-Zine was a three issue zine published in the 1980s by Robert Fenelon. It was credited by those involved with The Star Blazers Fandom Report as a spiritual successor, Fenelon having published it after taking over leadership of the Star Blazers Fan Club.

According to the April-May 1989 editions of Final Stop Andromeda and the Anime Sacramento Newsletter, there was a fourth issue of Anime-Zine planned for late spring, but it was never published.

About

Anime-Zine is probably the biggest criminal of the bunch. This mag has the tendency to put blurbs on their covers for articles that don't appear anywhere in the issues. The first issue had cover blurbs for articles on the ROBOTECH MOVIE and Warriors of the Wind, and the second issue had a cover blurb for "Star Blazers ... 25 NEW EPISODES". Nope, you won't find any of these articles in the magazine. You WILL find a synopsis of Megazone 23, a character chart for Nausicaa (Taken from an APA), and another fucking article/episode guide for Yamato 3. Where's the REAL news? This is a magazine for the elitist hardcore fringe, and is completely inaccessible to the new kids just getting into it. The morons publisher and editor of this rag should be ashamed of themselves! STAR BLAZERS FANDOM REPORT was a GOOD 'zine ... What happened? Anime-Zine boasts that it is a magazine devoted to "International Animation" ... just as long as it's SF/Fantasy related. In other words, if it ain't Japanese, don't expect to read about it here. Let's call a spade a spade, guys. You're a Japanimation 'zine, so why not own up? The BIGGEST laugh in ANIME·ZINE #2 is Publisher Beverly Headley's Publisher's Notes on the inside front cover. She poses the burning question "What is Japanese Animation?", and gives her answer: "Japanese Animation is Science Fiction books on film. Done for an intelligent, literate audience with an appetite for variety". HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Gimme a BREAK!! Cream Lemon, Saint Seiya, Hokuto No Ken, and Dairugger XV. That just about says it all, don't you think? Intelligent? Literate?? VARIETY???! Who was the last Japanimation Fan YOU talked to?? And my final question for the ANIME-ZINE staff: Why were there two articles on Japanese monster movies?? What the fuck do these have to do with Anime??

"Again, More Sushi to Go" - 'Samuel H. Honda' [pseud.], Final Stop Andromeda Feb-Mar 1988

For those of you looking for a magazine to purchase instead of ANIMAG --- try ANIME ZINE. The third issue has just been released - it's 56 pages with lots of black and white illos. The third issue of ANIME-ZINE concentrates on DIRTY PAIR and CRUSHER JOE, but also has articles on the new Gundam movie, Mighty Mouse, Wizards, Dragonar, and more. [...] ANIME-ZINE has improved a great deal since it's first issue - if it could only come out on schedule, it'd be a great anime magazine! Try it, I think that you will like it - especially as its editorial policy is oriented towards the fans instead of the studios.

Randall S. Stukey, June 1988, reviewing what would be the final issue of Anime-Zine in the C/FO Mini-Bulletin

Truth be told, I don’t know anything about this magazine. Some Internet research leads me to believe only three issues were published, and aside from Robert Fenelon and Toren Smith (pioneers in American cosplaying and manga translation, respectively) none of the names involved with the magazine strike me as familiar. Anime-Zine #2’s publish date is given as 1986, [Edit: Again, it was actually published in 1987, not 1986] meaning it predates both Protoculture Addicts and Animag, possibly making it the oldest English-language “professional” anime magazine? I can’t say for sure. Hopefully some of the more knowledgeable readers can chime in with some actual information (paging Dave Merrill and Steve Harrison), but for now I’ll stick to just talking about the issue itself. Rather unassuming at only 40 newsprint pages, the magazine is nonetheless filled with interesting things. The typesetting and writing is professional enough, certainly not nearly as amateur as the early issues of Protoculture Addicts. Lots of big images from Japanese sources, none of which look particularly stellar when reproduced on black-and-white newsprint.

Colony Drop, September 7, 2009

Widely considered to be the first English language anime magazine, it’s debut issue was published in April 1986. The magazine born out of the ashes of the Star Blazers Fancub. Club founder Mike Pinto was instrumental in getting the magazine up and running, though the actual core staff of the magazine were editor Robert Fenelon, co-publisher Beverly Headley and Luke Menicheli who did the layouts and graphics. While the presentation of the magazine was a little rough in spots, the debut issue was quite impressive. In its humble 28 pages it included articles on “Megazone 23”, “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” and an article on the “Godzilla” films. In it’s pages you’ll also find some pretty good fan art for the period, including a Desslar “Gamilon Express Card” comic which Fenelon would later act out in cosplay at AnimeCon '91.

The Melancholic Middle Aged Anime Fan: Dead Anime Magazines in English: “Anime-zine” (Originally published 2014)