The Detroit News 

January 17, 1996, Wednesday 

SECTION: MLife; 

LENGTH: 349 words 

HEADLINE: Entertainment: Japanese videos get animated interest 

BYLINE: By Rob Allstetter / The Detroit News 

BODY: 


The latest rage in cartoons owes nothing to cutesy Disney characters like those 
from The Lion King. These films have titles like Cyber City Dedo 808, Wings of 
Honneamise, Ninja Scroll and Record of Lodoss War. 

And nobody calls them cartoons. They're anime -- or Japanese animation -- home 
videos. 

"The manga (Japanese comics) and anime audience is building like crazy over 
here," said Greg Vest, an editor at Dark Horse Comics, which carries a manga 
line. "Last spring you could go to your local video outlet and see one or two 
films. Now when you go, you'll see two rows of Japanese animation." 

"We're not at the Disney level -- yet," said Leslie Hyman of Central Park Media, 
which distributes 35 new titles every three months. "The interest has grown 
tremendously." 

Some of the videos aren't for kids and can be graphically violent. 

"Most of our movies take place in the 21st century, follow futuristic sci-fi 
story lines and are geared toward 17- to 28-year-old males and females whose 
interests include music, comics, virtual reality, Internet surfing and computer 
games," said Matt Nigro of Manga Entertainment, another large anime distributor. 


This month manga's Ghost in the Shell, from acclaimed director Mamoru Oshii and 
based on author Masamune Shirow's comic, will have limited release in theaters 
across the country. 

Where to get them 

Japanese animation is available at mot video and comic-book stores. Following 
are large distributors: 

* Manga Entertainment: Titles include Patlabor II, Ninja Scroll, The New 
Dominion Tank Police, and Macross Plus. Call (800) 428-4434 for orders and see 
Manga's Web site at http://www.manga.com/manga 

* Streamline Pictures: Titles include Akira, Dirty Pair and Fist of the North 
Star. Phone (310) 998-0070 for more information. 

* Central Park Media: Titles include Record of Lodoss War, Cyber City Dedo 8080, 
Urot Sukidoji and Iria: Zieram. Call (800) 626-4277 for a free catalogue of new 
releases. 

More comics information 

Call Ameritech PagesPlus at (313) 252-2200 and press 0927 for daily reports from 
The News.