Black Magic: Notes & Commentary Shirow on Black Magic from Intron Depot 1: Black Magic was a "first and last volume" published during my fanzine years. It was published by Atlas Magazine, and put together with a lot of help from Atlas members. (Back then our workplace environment could best be described as "small and dangerous". There was no air-conditioner. Every sheet of screen tone was jealously guarded.) In December 1985 Seishinsha reprinted it with six additional pages (the M66 appendix in the back). This was the book that planted Appleseed in the mind of the president of Seishinsha. Below is that first cover, with its pathetically bad handwritten letters. This book introduced most of my favorite elements- bioroids, armored combat robots, magic, aliens- and they haven't changed to date (not enough R&D?). Despite which, this cover has been reprinted numerous times- hard to believe... The first printing was done in February 1983. Shirow on Black Magic M-66 (From Intron Depot): Black Magic M-66 was the first original animation to involve Shirow Masamune. I was entrusted with handling the storyboards and direction, and tried to evoke the mood of a quality B-grade SF flick. So what do you think, dear readers? Anyway, it was a long, long, loonnngg row to hoe... let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all who worked on the original drawings, the animation, and the music. You did a great job! Thanks a bunch! The laser disk somehow managed a second pressing (or whatever its called), so I guess it got Mr. Bandai's blessing. Still, I was so embarassed I couldn't watch it for the first year and a half after it was released... It never did quite come together... But the staff really did do their best, and- aah, enough of that. The video went on sale in the spring of 1987. Despite its flaws, the project actually produced a finished, released work without dying on the vine- thanks to people like Mr. Bandai. Thank you! I learned an awful lot working on this project. A very few members of the staff apparently felt that I discriminate against North Korea or something- I'm not quite sure what they meant- but I want to make clear that I do no such thing. I have never engaged in petty discrimination of this sort, and I do not believe in it. Conversely, I don't intend to give special treatment to Japan either. Also, as regards violence and Eros, I don't deny that these are important elements of my manga. But if I were accused of being a violence-monger or a porn-peddler, my response would be "Oh yeah? Well... it's too bad we had a breakdown in communication. Really a shame."

My Personal Opinions:

The last few sentences in Shirow's comments on the M-66 OAV drew my attention. Discrimination against North Korea? Why is this so? If I guessed correctly, it has something to do with the Yin Yang symbol Ferris wears on her hair. So, thinking about it further it seems possible that some people might have a hard time coming to terms with this. We all know that Korean-Japanese relations aren't particularly 'friendly' since the conquest and opression of the Koreans by the Japanese invaders in World War 2, but how could Shirow's work provoke such sentiments? The parallelism is there, Ferris (somewhat wearing a symbol that represents Korea) hunted down by the M-66 androids, created by her Grandfather. Maybe the M-66s represent a modern and more advanced South Korea? Or it could be the other way round, North Korea being the hunter and opressor. Or it might be a Japan-Korea thing here... Anyway, I'm sure Sensei Shirow meant no such thing, and like he said- he never gave any preference to any country or nationality including his native Japan. I might be horribly wrong about the whole issue, and is commenting on something really sensitive here. So if there are any mistakes or misunderstandings on my part, I apologize. These are just my personal opinions. Do forgive and please enlighten me.