| Analysis of Shirow Masamune's Angel Star 2001 Calendar |
Information (ISBNs etc.) for the Angel Star 2001 Calendar can be found at the Shirow's Calendars section. |
Part 1: Angel Star Japan vs Angel Star US
The tradition of annual Seishinsha Shirow Calendars have been kept unbroken since Dominion 1997. As we are treated to the latest calendar for the first year of this century, it was announced that a 'Western' (i.e. US) version of this calendar is also in the works. Two calendars! Whee! Rejoice! But wait... now that they are out, its the same merchandise *frown*. To the common man on the street they'll shrug it off and wouldn't give a damn, which is entirely justifiable because even for Shirow collectors (me for one) this is nerve-wrecking. As Shirow merchandise gets more and more commercialised, the drive to collect becomes less and less. Of course everyone wants a piece from something as profitable as Shirow Sensei's arts, but are things getting out of control here? At least a new Shirow manga / book is worth it because there's actually a LOT of effort gone into the translation and touch-up processes. But just re-producing and re-printing pictures? Even worse if they're the same one over and over again in different 'form'. I don't have the numbers and figures to give an indication of how serious this problem has become and frankly speaking, I'm really tired of this exploitation. Back to our calendars. Well, okay they are not exactly 100% identical. The whole purpose of me going through all this trouble is so that fellow collectors would be better informed and can make a better decision whether to buy just one version or both. So, let's play... spot the difference! ^_^
The Price: Japan version's recommended price is 1400 Yen (about US$14) while US version is US$20. Get it from your local comic shop, it will cost you bus fare (or food energy if you're walking). Get it from Japan and you'll be slapped with Japan's costly postage charges. So it evens up.
The Contents: Pictures- NO difference whatsoever. However, on the US calendar dates you get both English holidays as well as the Japan ones. So if those extra few drops of ink justifies the cost, the US version is somewhat 'more worth it'. Personally I don't care. I'm not buying this so that I know when to celebrate Christmas next year...
The Cover-wrap: Angel Star comes in an attractive plastic wrapping. Japane version has Seishinsha's recommended price of 1400 Yen printed on it while the US version deleted that. And the serial number and barcode section at the back is different too. So you can't sell Seishinsha's version in US and you can't sell Dark Horse / SP versions to the Japanese. Brilliant! Strangely, the info section on the back of the calendar itself is exactly the same as the Japanese one, even the ISBN. Maybe they're just taking the Japanese calendar and doing a print across on those empty spaces.
Otherwise, everything else is the same. Paper quality, size, print quality, number of pictures, level of sexiness... well, if you hang them on the wall they just look like identical twins. My recommendation: Buy Seishinsha's Japanese version. Just because it feels more 'Japanese' that way. After all, Shirow Sensei is from Japan. I'm just saying this if you have a choice! Don't buy both. A complete utter waste of hard-earned money.
Part 2: Angel Star 2001 vs Comic Gum
Now this is the more interesting part. I recall people asking about the Gum Comics covers and pictures and saying how it would be 'impossible' to see them. Well there you go, the Angel Star calendar, even with a specific US version. Put your trust in market capitalism. If something has the potential to make money and has high demand, you'll see it sooner or later. But that's not the point of this section. At last count, I identified nine out of the thirteen illustrations as Gum Comics covers or Pin-ups. Generally that's true, but technically its not. For the year 2000 we have seen nine Shirow pictures as Gum Comic's covers, leaving the odd three covers out and each and every one (up til' October 00' issue) is in Angel Star. Let's look at them more carefully and do a comparison...
Case Study 1: Comic Gum February Pin-up Girl vs Angel Star November Girl
'Comic Gum' clearly printed on the beret cap's badge. Clothing material is plain with an almost 'leathery' feel. Note the background pattern. |
The badge on the beret is now garbled into some symbol or logo. Uniform shows camouflaged army patterns. Background is the same theme, but different. |
Case Study 2: Comic Gum September Cover Girl vs Angel Star July Girl
'Gum' clearly printed on shirt sleeve. Wears 'extra' clothing underneath shirt. |
'Gum' removed from shirt sleeve. Wears nothing underneath shirt (ooh! ^_^). |
There are a few more glaring examples but I think that's sufficient for me to state my point. While to some extent it can be said that the illustrations used in Angel Star is just a re-print of Gum Comics pictures, its not entirely true. In the previous year's Milenium 2000 Calendar, the illustrations from Gum comics were left as they are, and the Gum logos are quite prominent. Most of the 'Gum' logos were removed from the pictures this year, with the exception of the 'Industrial Rain' June illustration where the Gum imprints on the girl's raincoat buttons were left intact. There were also some pieces, e.g. the January piece where the color scheme is in extreme opposites. In Gum February 2000's cover, the girl is dressed in light blue as opposed to bright red. The differences in this case do matter cos' I think it takes quite a bit of effort on Sensei Shirow's part to re-colour and remaking some of the patterns and backgrounds. I'd say that this makes Angel Star worth it, and is not merely a re-print of pictures already published in Japan. That said, would this mean for the next Intron Depot Shirow collection we'll be getting more 'old' material than new ones? I'm afraid looking at the current trend, it seems to be very possible.
In Conclusion...
As a Shirow collector, I'm finding these few recent years to be extremely chaotic where to get just a page or maybe even half a page of a new Shirow illustrations costs a fortune and a half. Its really sad thinking back to the old days when you buy something Shirow, its at least one whole episode of a Shirow manga and the illustrations only collected in artbook (Intron Depot) form. On the other hand, as a Shirow fan I feel happy that Shirow Sensei's works are in such high demand now and I take that to indicate that the fan base for Sensei Shirow is growing as time goes by. However, this new generation of Shirow fans seems to be hooked on Shirow's pictures and sexy girls. I can only hope that the new Shirow mangas that will be coming out (GITS 2 etc.) will showcase the real Shirow to the new fans, the man who not only just produces heavenly pictures, but a man whose mind is like a circuit board (eh?!?) where vast creativity and ideas run through millions of interconnected neurons (no worries I'm confused about what I'm writing myself too! ^_^).
Where this Angel Star 2001 Calendar is concerned, my recommendation is to just buy one copy, whichever version you prefer. And don't worry if you have some recent Gum Comics in your possesion. The pictures are different enough to justify the purchase. But for the new fans who have not yet fully discovered Shirow, if you see a Shirow manga (a set of Appleseed, Ghost In The Shell, Dominion Conflict or Orion) sitting on the shelves beside Angel Star and you can only buy one item, please, by all means go for the manga! - Lucas. 28/12/2000.