Introducing 'Eureka': The critical thinker's magazine on (among other things) manga and anime

Eureka (ユリイカ) is a monthly magazine published by Seidosha that features a special topic each month. Some of the topics they have covered so far are (in no particular order):

• Manga artists such as Takano Fumiko, Matsumoto Taiyou, Araki Hirohiko, Umezu Kazuo and Mizuki Shigeru
  
• Anime and anime creators such as Miyazaki Hayao and Oshii Mamoru.
• Literati such as Mishima Yukio, Tanazaki Junichirou, Yosano Akiko, Nishio Ishin, the Brontë Sisters, Marcel Proust and Murakami Haruki
• Theatre and film personalities such as Noda Hideki, Kitano Takeshi, Oshima Nagisa
• Photographers and artists such as Hoshino Michio and Fujida Tsuguharu
• Special topics such as Chinese fantasies, book designs, railways, post-war Japanese jazz, and blogging

It is interesting to see how well-known personalities in the cultural field interact with each other in this magazine, for example:

• Anno Hideaki (of Neon Genesis Evagelion fame) writes about what only drama can do in the issue about Noda Hideki.
• Hagio Moto (famous old-school shoujo manga artist) writes in the same issue about Noda Hideki's play The Sham Story: Under the Cherry Blossoms

To give you a better idea of the content of this unique magazine, I think I will just translate some of the titles of the articles.

1) In the issue about Uehashi Nahoko (writer of the novels on which Seirei no Moribito is based):

• The Invisible World / The World of the Five Senses - The Tactics of Seirei no Moribito the Anime
• Fantasy for the Purpose of Examining Reality (an interview with Kamiyama Kenji).

2) In the issue about Yoshihiko Yoshikazu (animator and manga artist whom I wrote about earlier here):

• Forgetting History and Resisting Fabrication - The Challenge that Was Gundam the Origination
• Yoshihiko Yoshikazu and the Eros of Lines (an interview with Takemiya Keiko)
• Yoshihiko Yoshikazu and Post-war Thought
• Gundam and The Revolution of 1968

3) In the issue about Araki Hirohiko (whose obscure manga I wrote about here):

• The Strange Love of Men? The Parallel World of Jojo's Bizarre Adventures
• One More Lucid Way of Connecting with the World: A Description for Understanding the Theology of Jojo

4) In the issue about Oshii Mamoru:

• The One Who Broke the Egg (written by Ubukata Tou, writer of Le Chevalier D'eon)
• The Dog Man Does Not Dream of the Wolf Man
• Ghost in the Patlabor

There are also issues on otaku subculture in general. When I first learned about this magazine this week, my heart muscles twitched. This is just the magazine I have been looking for. Unfortunately, a lot of the issues I want are displayed as sold out on their website, which means I have to troll auction sites, secondhand bookstores and what-not to find them...

Eureka (ie. 'I found it') indeed.

Comments

[hironde]

This site is recommended in case of the auction. http://auction.arekashite.com/

[Wabisabi]

I think I know my way already when it comes to auctions. But thanks anyway.

[Hige]

This genuinely makes me despair about not knowing any Japanese. If some kind, attractive person were to translate some of the key articles I may well love them forever . . .

[Wabisabi]

Well, I suppose you can always i) learn Japanese or ii) pay to have them translated. Money talks.

[Neohybrid_kai]

it's good to see anime being reviewed side by side with teathre and novels, though the only people I know from literati probably only Murakami Haruki. Some of his works are published here in Indonesian language, which is rare since most of foreign novel translated are western ^^

[Wabisabi]

Yeah, this would seem to be what I call an 'elastic-brow' magazine - it covers high-brow, middle-brow and low-brow.

[Jordan S.]

"Elastic-brow." XD – I'm going to have use that as username now, on the next thing I register for. I am, after all, someone who alternates between listening to Igor Stravinsky and MOSAIC.WAV. Though I don't think I care that much for "middle-brow" things, like most of my friends do – more things which combine the two extreme ends. René Laloux films are what always spring to mind first when I think of this. Oh, and have you seen La Planète sauvage? I think you might like that one.

[Wabisabi]

Actually, 'elastic-brow' is a word I first came across from one of Robertson Davis' books (either from one of his essays or published letters - I can't remember now).

At some point, I just stopped searching for people in real life who may be into the same things as I am. As Ialda (another regular on this blog) said, we tend to live more individually now.

I have not seen Rene Laloux films.