I spent time with a collector/former industry member who allowed me to purchase a few items from their collection of rare texts, cels and other media while on my trip to Hyogo, and I acquired 100+ documents from them all together. These documents range from doujinshi, fan zines, cels and other obscure promotional materials. These pieces are printed on cardstock with a glossy laminate over traditional CMYK printing. Many of these would become menko, a famous Japanese card game, though many of them did not get the cut. A lot of these illustrations depicted came from several Animec magazines of the day and eventually were sold by Animec in their shop in Tokyo.

Many of the illustrators are uncredited, though I can make out works from Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Kazuo Nakamura, Kunio Okawara and Masami Iwasaki (supposedly). Other works range from promotional images from late 1978 to early 1979 to others simply being very obscure/mysterious, primarily the depictions of Lalah. Many of these were painted as cels while others were acrylic on artist's board. Overall dimensions for these in particular, as found, are 8 x 10 inches.

I call this Vol. 1 as there are actually 3 sets of these items, all with different sizes and artwork. These are organized in no particular order but were scanned as found. Light touch up/color correction was done to others that were fading, though for what they are, these are records of very obscure materials. My source, M, told me that they more than likely were proofs sent to the manufactures before they did become menko. Based on the art, these were done between 1978 to 1982 at best. These were published by Yamamatsu as well for their line of bromides, so licensing rights were obviously shared.

Archive Backup- https://archive.org/details/animec_mobile_suit_gundam_concept_and_promo_art
Website Backup- https://retroanimechris.blogspot.com/2024/06/animec-mobile-suit-gundam-menko-concept.html
MEGA Backup - https://mega.nz/folder/as81DACC#hQsPygE0KQXJoXduVbBxFQ
Questions? Comments? Contact me via [email protected] or @retroanimechris on X.

As I am back from Hyogo, I am translating an onslaught of books I acquired including some other rare materials in the coming days, months, etc. I bought over 300+ books! I'm crazy!

thanks for archiving a piece of our history. this is what pirates are supposed to do. not only do we provide for everyone but we also save them for the future

Base +3, Megazord0h +6

You're welcome, I appreciate you!

Base +6

now THIS is quality content. saving obscure unreleased artwork for the world to have. good shit OP, we appreciate it

Base +6

You're welcome! I have more to share in the following days, months and even year considering. Lots of the pieces are very rare and some have never been seen. I appreciate YOU!

Base +6