[Originally posted January 24, 2023]
Something a bit more lighthearted. The anthology 白鳴琴 (White Harp) was released by the circle 薔薇色曲馬団 (Rose Tinted Circus Troupe) in 1983. Like TIME, it features a whole bunch of artists, and a couple of neat extras among the 100 or so pages.
Title: 白鳴琴 (White Harp, or more literally White Melodic Harp)
Year: 1983
Subject: Mobile Suit Gundam
Circle: 薔薇色曲馬団 (Rose Tinted Circus Troupe)
In the above table of contents, the first section is comics, followed by illustrations, and then “CM”, which are ads for books by other circles. I’ll be including all of those too, as some are pretty interesting in their own right.
As a final aside before we get into the content, the comics in this book feature a lot of author commentary in the margins. It’s kind of a cute touch, but a bit of a pain to decipher and read… regardless, enjoy the random musings of 1980s Garma fans.
This part covers pages 1 – 25
Before the table of contents are two illustrations printed on green and white glossy paper that my scanner for some reason refuses to process correctly so I’ve had to settle for photos. Please pardon the quality. The single page is by Hirotaka Yui (唯洋考) and the two page spread is by Mika Tadano (只野美香).
シャア・アズナブルの素朴な告白 (Char Aznable’s Naïve Confession)
The first comic in this anthology is by an artist featured heavily in TIME, Makoto Tateno (盾乃誡). It’s kind of neat to see how her style evolved in those four years.
Notes
- Nothing serious to add here, I just find the idea of someone in 1980s Japan being frustrated by a Billy Joel song playing on the radio kind of funny. To be fair, I don’t think I could focus on drawing a comic either if this song was playing in the background.
- Sayla says, あ~ ごちそうさま ★ (ah~ gochisousama) which literally means “thank you for the meal”, but in this case carries a double meaning, more akin to “Thanks for the deets/gossip”.
ガルマ♥男らしく (Garma ♥ Like a man)
Next comic is by Modo Mirai (みらい戻)
Notes
- Chiyonofuji and Daijuyama were both popular sumo wrestlers in the 1980s.
What follows is the first set of ads in this book. Outside of events, some circles sold their books through direct orders, as in, you would send money to the address listed and get a copy of the doujinshi mailed back to you. That’s why you so often see full addresses printed despite such a thing seeming so bizarre to us today (and of course I’ve edited these out of the image just in case).
The first ad is for a book called Banana Moon by the circle Flying Circus. No details are provided other than the fact it is scheduled to be released in the summer, but to contact them if you’re interested.
The second is for the book Year After Year by the circle 7 Persons. It’s a 32 page illustration collection that also came with a calendar. Not a bad deal for 500 yen. This is followed by an announcement that one of their other books, Southern Cross, has been delayed, and that they are no longer accepting new subscription memberships.
We’ll end on this illustration of Garma in fantasy gear with a dragon by the artist Katsutoshi Yabu (藪かつとし).
The text on the top reads, “Lately, there’s love in this hand”.
End of Part 1