FEATURE: Japanese Anime Magazine Retrospective: "OUT" in 1986

The anime market started flooding with OVA (Original Video Animation) titles

Mikikazu Komatsu
February 19, 2012 11:35pm PST (2/19/12)

The most featured TV anime by the OUT magazine's 1986 issues was Blue Comet SPT Layzner produced by Sunrise. Layzner was the Sunrise's fourth robot anime series directed by Ryosuke Takahahi, following Fang of the Sun Dougram (1981-1983), Armored Trooper Votoms (1983-1984), and Panzer World Galient (1984-1985). Unfortunately the TV series was cancelled at the 38th episode and some of the untold story were explained in the OVA episode released later. Also many notable OVA (Original Video Animation) titles were produced this year such as; Project A-ko, Gall Force, Windaria, Mujigen Hunter Fandora, Megazone 23 - Part II, and MD Geist. 

 

January 1986 issue

Cover: Arion

Illustration by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko


Poster: Arion

Illustration by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko


February 1986 issue

Cover: Dirty Pair

Illustration by Kenichi Onuki

 

Poster: Renny Ai from Ninja Senshi Tobikage (aka Ninja Robots in the US)

Illustration by Toshihiro Hirano


April 1986 issue

Cover: Blue Comet SPT Layzner

Illustration by Moriyasu Taniguchi


Poster: Arion

Illustration by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko


Poster: Doris from Vampire Hunter D

Illustration by Noriyasu Yamauchi


June 1986 issue

Cover: Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

Illustration by Yasuhiro Seo


Poster: Blue Comet SPT Layzner

Illustration by Fumiko Kishi


Poster: Project A-ko

Illustration by Katsuhiko Nishijima


July 1986 issue

Cover: B-ko from Project A-ko

Illustration by Katsuhiko Nishijima


Poster: Blue Comet SPT Layzner

Illustration by Kouji Aisaka

 

Poster: Megazone 23: Part II

Illustration by Yasuomi Umetsu

 

September 1986 issue

Cover: Blue Comet SPT Layzner

Illustration by Fumiko Kishi

 

Poster: Project A-ko

Illustration by Yuji Moriyama

 

Poster: Blue Knight Berserga Story (Armored Trooper Votoms spin-off novel)

Illustration by Hiroyuki Hatake

 

October 1986 issue

Feature: Sunrise Space Story Part 1: Earth

Illustration by Kenichi Onuki

 

November 1986 issue

Cover: Cham Huau (Aura Battler Dunbine) and Lillith Fuau (Heavy Metal L-Gaim)

Illustration by Tomonori Kokawa and Satoru Nakamura

 

December 1986 issue

Cover: OVA "Katsugeki Shoujo Tanteidan"

Illustration by Yu Eguchi

 

Related:

FEATURE: Japanese Anime Magazine Retrospective: "OUT" in 1983

FEATURE: Japanese Anime Magazine Retrospective: "OUT" in 1984

FEATURE: Japanese Anime Magazine Retrospective: "OUT" in 1985

Tags
out, anime, anime magazine, 1980s
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24 Comments

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2/19/12 by tiooonnn
ARION LOOKS EPIC. ♥ these OUT retrospective pieces! :)
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2/20/12 by killaf0x
i like the illustration by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. looks fierce
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2/20/12 by kapusky
I <3 80's Anime!
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2/20/12 by Bluerose13
i love Project A-ko, they used have AZN in cable. it hard to find it these days
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2/20/12 by Stampz
Good ol' Porject A-Ko.
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2/20/12 by Anonymooo
Komatsu-san, you're a genius. I'll be doing future Natestalgia columns on Project A-KO and M.D. Geist!
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2/20/12 by mikikazukomatsu
Thanks! I am really looking forward to reading it >^_^<
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2/20/12 by msgundam2
Moe 80's style.
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2/20/12 by AnoCRMem
Project A-ko and MD Geist were great (too bad that they came out with that nonsensical "sequel" MD Geist 2). Gall Force was pretty bad.

From what I've heard, I wish I had gotten the chance to see Armored Trooper Votoms and Blue Comet SPT Layzner, but I never tracked them down when I had the chance.
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2/20/12 by rmiyashiro
My friend picked up a used Laynzer laser disc box set for me back in the pre-DVD days. I keep wondering if we will see either it or Yas' Giant Gorg here. Layzner did a number of interesting things I had never seen in anime when it was released, like having a different insert in the opening credits in each episode. There were also a number of episodes that had endings that felt more like CM breaks and would pick up in the next episode. Also the dynamics of the series undergoes some major changes, much like Blue Gender did years later. Votoms on the other hand has been released in the US and shouldn't be too hard to track down.
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2/20/12 by ARX8
I would love to see CR license some 80s classics. They really need to be preserved for the future...
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2/20/12 by kenkorrupt
Not much point in making anime available to users, when there isn't any measurable interest in them - I mean, I think it would be a great idea, personally, but I don't think it would fit the business model >.<
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2/20/12 by killaf0x
Paging Renny Ai and Doris.. Paging Renny Ai and Doris. please pin yourselves up in my garage, please pin yourselves up in my garage
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2/20/12 by Felidominus
I'd really like to see "Katsugeki Shoujo Tanteidan", those girls look so moe.
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2/20/12 by sickVisionz
Some of the women look like trannies.
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2/20/12 by rmiyashiro
The Arion and Venus Wars BGM are great. They still sound like Hisaishi, but a bit different from the Miyazaki movies. Layzner is easily one of my all time favorites. I love how the series skips ahead a few years between episodes, much like Berserk, Gugrave, Chihayafuru, and many other series since then. Also I love how the various books and magazines of the time have the designs and outlines for the Layzner MKII era episodes, and you can even see the third comet/V-max in the OP. A bit surprised that Laputa only has a small blurb on one cover, but then again Animage is the big Miyzaki magazine and Newtype had ZZ on almost every issue/poster leaving Out with Takahashi (they seem to have a good amount of Votoms articles) once again. I love Umetsu's artwork, especially the second Zeta OP, and his piece in Robot Carnival. It is also interesting to see how big Onuki was in the year before he did Yotoden and Dragonar designs and how quickly he faded after that. Seo Yasuhiro is another name that I had high hopes for since he was easily my favorite Zeta director. His episodes have some amazing Yas styled character animation. What a great year.
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2/20/12 by JelloBear
It's like looking back on childhood memories <3
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2/20/12 by kenkorrupt
I still have my project A-Ko manga... and it's hard for me to believe how old Dirty Pair really is >.<

Oh, when I was a young boy......
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2/20/12 by coolworlds
not only that but dirty pair is STILL GOING! XD
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2/20/12 by coolworlds
The thing i remember the most about Project A-KO was the awesome anime trailer that Managa entertainment used to have at the begining of there VHS releases, that had clips of project AKO fist of the North Star, Bubblegun crisis and cyber punk collections all tied together by that awesome chugging metal music.

Ah those were the days..
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2/20/12 by coolworlds
Ha haa I FOUND IT! youtube is awesome sometimes
http://youtu.be/6Afjo0ICoT0

there's a flashback for you!!
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2/24/12 by NocturnalHouse
Thats so cool, I love the retrospectives
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2/25/12 by DoMa666
love the art work. its reminder of the good old days
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2/26/12 by bluerunner
Wow, sci-fi channel flashbacks, soooo good...
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