Editor | None credited |
---|---|
Categories | Anime |
Frequency | Fortnightly |
Publisher | Manga Entertainment |
Founded | 2006 |
Final issue | 2010 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Website | http://www.mangacollection.co.uk |
ISSN | 1469-459X |
Manga Force: The Ultimate Collection was a UK based anime magazine published by Hachette Partworks in association with Manga Entertainment Ltd. It was available in several markets such as Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Malta, Malaysia, and Singapore and was distributed by Marketforce in the United Kingdom. Produced by Creative Plus Publishing Ltd, the magazine mistakenly refers to anime as manga, which is common for a Manga Entertainment publication, [1] and can lead to confusion to those initially discovering Japanese animation.
It was released fortnightly at £8.99 (€14.99) and came free with the DVD that was described in the magazine. The average Manga Entertainment DVD title sells for around £12.99 without the magazine. [1]
Although the publication was initially supposed to run to fifty published issues [2] it was first extended to seventy-one issues, then to eighty-six issues (according to a Customer Care Consultant for the mangaforce magazine), finally ending its run at issue 102, which featured a live action movie. [3]
The first issue was published in late 2006, but not available to purchase until early 2007. It came at a special introductory price of £2.99, [2] as opposed to the regular price of £8.99.
The publishers offered a number of free gifts [4] for those who subscribed to the collection rather than purchasing each issue from their newsagent. Subscription packages were only made available for residents of the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa. Subscribers would receive two issues of Manga Force on a monthly basis (as opposed to one issue fortnightly, two issues instead around every four or so weeks), and postage and packaging would be free. However, only subscribers from issues 1, 2 & 3, 4 or 5 were entitled to free gifts.
With the first delivery, subscribers received a Manga Force T-shirt and a free promotional poster for Akira with this delivery. The poster was initially for 'early bird' subscribers (who sent orders away within seven days) but was extended to all subscribers later.
Depending on when a subscription was taken out, some subscribers would receive some issues for free with their first delivery. If taken from issue 1, issues 1 & 3 were free. If from issue 2, issues 3 & 4 were for free. If from issue 4, issue 5 was for free. If from issue 5, issue 6 was for free. Subscribers could not take out a subscription from issue 3 as it was packaged along with issue 2 as a bundle.
With the second delivery, subscribers received a Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Episodes 1-4) DVD with their delivery. Many subscribers received a letter of apology stating that due to high demand, the DVD was unavailable until more were produced. Subscribers received this free gift in the third delivery.
With the third delivery, subscribers received a Manga Force branded watch and T-shirt along with their delivery.
With the fourth delivery, subscribers received an Akira: Production Report DVD, a behind the scenes look at the Akira film. This was the final free gift as part of the subscription package. After this, subscribers simply received two further issues with each delivery.
As part of the subscription, subscribers automatically received binders for the magazines, each costing £3.99 (€7.50) each. The first binder was given out with issues 11 and 12, with three binders in total sent so far. Subscribers were also told they may receive special issues that the publishers produced, but none have yet to be made or sent.
Issues 48, 49, and 50 were packaged together at full cost (not one being free like the issues two and three package).
An error was made with issue 9, which mistakenly instead of giving Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie, gave the Street Fighter Alpha: Generations OVA instead.
This was partially fixed through the subscription package of issues 11 and 12, where the correct Street Fighter Alpha movie was included in issue 12. There was no given explanation for the error or an apology for the mistake, and the DVD was given in a simple white packet, unlike the regular DVD packaging the DVDs were given in.
It was not until the subscription package of issues 15 and 16 that an official letter of apology was sent in regards to this error.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G and based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno. The first season aired from October 2002 to October 2003 and was positively received by critics. A second season, titled Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG, aired from January 2004 to January 2005. Critical response to the series was generally positive.
Doug Stone is a voice actor who is best known for providing the English voice of Psycho Mantis from the popular video game Metal Gear Solid, as well as the voice of Matt Trakker and several other characters in M.A.S.K., and Dragonborg in Beetleborgs Metallix.
Alucard, previously Count Dracula, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Hellsing manga and anime series created by Kouta Hirano. A vampire devoted entirely to the current head of the Hellsing family, Integra Hellsing, Alucard works with the Hellsing Organization against other vampires and evil forces, fighting with ferocity and cruelty, sometimes only killing after a target has been disabled and humiliated, while frequently allowing enemies more than one chance to kill him. Count Dracula was defeated by Abraham Van Helsing and became the family's loyal servant. Decades later, Abraham's direct descendant Arthur Hellsing gives the Count the codename "Alucard". Hellsing is set over a hundred years later, where Alucard and the Hellsing Organization are forced to fight the remnants of a Nazi battalion. Alucard also appears in the prequel series Hellsing: The Dawn, taking a female form alongside his partner Walter C. Dornez to end World War II in a fight against Nazis.
Mona Marshall is an American television and voice actress, known for her work in a number of cartoons, anime shows, films and video games. Her major credits include South Park, where she voices many of the female characters on the show, .hack//Sign, Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series, CBS Storybreak, and Digimon. She has also appeared on-stage for television shows such as Cheers and Who's the Boss?
Noein: To Your Other Self, also known simply as Noein, is a Japanese science fiction anime television series directed by Kazuki Akane and produced by Satelight. The series has 24 episodes which make up a complete storyline. The English version was produced and dubbed by Manga Entertainment.
Dynit Srl is one of the main Italian manga and anime publishers. Its head office is in the Cadriano frazione in Granarolo dell'Emilia, Province of Bologna.
Dave Mallow is an American retired voice actor.
Michael McConnohie is an American voice actor, writer and director who has provided many voice roles in movies, anime, and video games. He and fellow actress Melodee Spevack run a production company called VoxWorks. Some of his major works include the Narrator on Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and Hunter x Hunter, The Necromancer in Diablo II, Azulongmon in Digimon, Gork in Masked Rider, Keiichi Ikari in Paranoia Agent, Rolf Emerson in Robotech, Manzou the Saw in Samurai Champloo, Cosmos and Tracks in Transformers, Hot Shot / Ironhide in Transformers: Robots in Disguise, D in Vampire Hunter D, Chief Inquisitor Margulis in Xenosaga and Charles zi Britannia in Code Geass.
Steve Kramer is an American actor who has provided voices for English language versions of Japanese anime films, television series and video games. He has also done voice acting for various Power Rangers series in the past, with the best-known of those roles being the voice of Darkonda in Power Rangers in Space. His wife, Melora Harte, is a voice actress. Kramer has also been credited as Steve Kraemer, Steven Kramer, Drew Levi Thomas, Drew Lexi Thomas, and Drew Thomas. Kramer is usually cast in the role of wise old men. He is also a voice director and script writer, adapting many anime and video games.
Richard Elias Cansino is an American voice actor. He is also known as Richard Hayworth because he is the nephew of Rita Hayworth. Richard is best known for his voice work as Kenshin Himura in the anime adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin.
Tokko is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tooru Fujisawa, the creator of Great Teacher Onizuka. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from 2003 to 2004, with its chapters collected in three tankōbon volumes.
Hellsing is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs from April 1997 to September 2008, with its chapters collected in ten tankōbon volumes. The series chronicles the efforts of the mysterious and secret Hellsing Organization as it combats vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural foes who threaten England. The series was licensed for English language release in North America by Dark Horse Comics. From 2002 to 2006, Hirano released a six-chapter prequel series, Hellsing: The Dawn, in Young King OURs Zōkan.
The American Anime Awards were a series of awards designed to recognize excellence in the release of anime and manga in North America.
William Frederick Knight, sometimes credited as William Knight, William Frederick, or Frederick Knight, was an American actor who lent his voice to the English dubs of anime and video games. He was often cast in the role of a wise old man, such as in Ghost in the Shell, The Big O, Paranoia Agent, and Eureka Seven. He played similar archetypes in live-action roles in television and short films, including I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson and The League of STEAM. He was a recurring actor in sketches on the G4 series Attack of the Show.
Drifters is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It started serialization in Shōnen Gahosha's magazine Young King Ours in April 2009. The series focuses on various historical figures summoned to an unknown world where their skills and techniques are needed by magicians in order to save their world from total destruction. A 12-episode anime television series adaptation aired between October and December 2016; three additional original video animation (OVA) episodes were released from December 2017 to November 2018.
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Weekly Shonen Jump was a digital shōnen manga anthology published in North America by Viz Media, and the successor to their monthly print anthology Shonen Jump. It began serialization on January 30, 2012, as Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, with two free preview issues published in the buildup to its launch. Based on Shueisha's popular Japanese magazine of the same name, Weekly Shonen Jump was an attempt to provide English-speaking readers with easily accessible, affordable, and officially licensed editions of the latest installments of popular Shōnen Jump manga soon after their publication in Japan, as an alternative to popular bootleg scanlation services which were illegal and often poorly translated. It attempts to copy the Japanese magazine.
Kazuchika Kise is a Japanese director, animator, and character designer. He started working in the anime industry in 1989 with Patlabor: The Movie. In 2015, he made his directorial debut with Ghost in the Shell: Arise.