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Japanese Anderson
01/04/2006 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
A look at fan appeal on distant shores even if you can't speak the language. Buy Thunderbirds in the USA - or Buy Thunderbirds in the UK  Back in the late 70s, I was lucky to get a couple Japanese Town Mook books while I was in London respectively devoted to the Gerry Anderson TV shows 'Thunderbirds' and 'UFO'. They were expensive on my budget even then, more so as they were entirely in Japanese and totally unreadable. I mean, why buy something that you could never read let alone decide which was the front or back of the book?
What made them stand out, though, was the number of full colour photographs from each show. If nothing else, it also showed an extra-ordinary interest in the Anderson shows and the Japanese are just as obsessive, if not more so, than we are. My only regret was them not being equipped or later editions with English translations. These books are rare to come across these days. Buying hen's teeth is a lot easier. There have been other Japanese books since then but you still have to be lucky to pick them up in a media shop cos they don't hang around long.
While doing my own sort of research on something thing else the other month, I came across American website www.fabgearusa.com which carried a plethora of recent Japanese books, two of which I already owned but as for the rest, there was an urge to get them while I couldn't believe my eyes at the price.
Anyway, because of the difficulty in language, this will have to be a combined review looking at the books I bought as a collective whole, together with any comments to aid if you have a limited budget so need some advice as to which ones might attract your attention first. Finding websites with any of them in stock was difficult and outside of www.fabgearusa.com there was only one publisher, www.Asahisonorama.co.jp with a website. The odd book turns up the odd British based website but no doubt import duty and a little profit puts the price up. Saying that, this is the time of the Net and it's easier to trawl the world looking for what you're after.
I apologise from the start if I misinterpret what these books are covering.
The Thunderbirds Chronicles (pub: Darts. 208 page illustrated small softcover. ISBN: 4-575-29480-2) has only eleven pages in colour and is essentially an episode guide mixed in with a merchandise guide. Given the choice off the shelf, I think I would have chosen one of the other books first, largely cos so much is in black and white and text heavy.
The UFO Chronicles (pub: Futabasha Publishing. 208 page illustrated small softcover. ISBN: 4-575-29630-9) has two times eight pages in colour, one covering stills from the 'UFO' and the other merchandising Japanese models made up. Apart from a smaller episode guide, the real focus of attention is putting these models together with a lot of diagrams presumably covering the tricky bits. Whether or not you would find this of use if you own some of these kits is debatable but seeing what they look like made up can also aid any decision as to which model you want to go hunting to build. There's also a selection of sketches. Very nicely done but without translation no idea why.
Thunderbirds Mechanic File Book (pub: Futabasha Publishing. 208 page illustrated small softcover. ISBN: 4-575-29728-3) is the companion book to the 'UFO Chronicles' although why a difference in the name is left to the translation. With the bigger variety of rescue vehicles, there is a greater range of photos and less emphasis on the models although these are covered adequately. An interesting feature is the measurements of the Thunderbirds themselves although whether its in imperial or metric let alone for scale building is entirely up to you.
Thunderbirds Album (pub: Asahi Sonorama. 96 page illustrated softcover. ISBN: 4-257-03682-6) is really the queen bee with 70 pages of large photos of not just the Thunderbirds and cast but a lot of the other vehicles as well, not to mention behind the scenes photos which illustrates the scale Derek Meddings' team worked at. This is the one that should have your jaw dropping and wanting to collect anything released by the Japanese. It's really hard not to come away from this book without a smile on your face.
UFO Album (pub: Asahi Sonorama. 96 page illustrated softcover. ISBN: 4-257-03699-0) is the companion to the previous book but centring on 'UFO'. Although it follows the same pattern what makes this one stand out and is required reading for the Anderson fan who scratch-builds or wants to make their models as close to the original as possible is the large photos showing all the elevations from the Interceptor to Skydiver to the Mobile to the Luna Module. In many respects, this book reminds me of 'ITC SF Mecha Graffiti' only much larger.
Captain Scarlet And Joe 90 Fantastic Collection Book (pub: Asahi Sonorama. 128 page illustrated softcover. ISBN: 4-257-03718-0) is a little bigger than the previous two books but apart from Scarlet and Joe 90, there is also a slice of 'Secret Service' in here as well. Captain Scarlet carries the most pages but what is of interest is that copies of it and Joe 90's original spec sheets for its cast and vehicles are included which makes this an interesting find. As with the 'UFO Album', the close-ups of the vehicles are going to be a godsend for those who want to make their models close to the original paint jobs.
Thunderbirds Album 2 Book (pub: Asahi Sonorama. 96 page illustrated softcover. ISBN: 4-257-03725-3) has just come out which I just pulled from the publishers itself. One could easily say this is more of the same but there's much more of it and some fab full page spreads, production shots and such. There is also a further glance into Japanese Thunderbirds merchandising. The western world might revere the Anderson productions but the Japanese positively idolise it. Even without reading Japanese, it also looks like I missed a couple other books in previous years and I'm right out of hen's teeth at the moment.
As an overall observation, it's interesting how the Japanese books mirror British tastes. 'Thunderbirds' and 'UFO' carry the most interest with 'Captain Scarlet', 'Joe 90' and 'Secret Service' less so. Oddly enough, nothing at all for 'Fireball XL-5' and 'Stingray' with no indication of books missed.
I should point out that there are several other books available. The Japanese are more obsessed with model-making than we are considering how there are so many on the subject but then again, they do make very good kits if you're lucky enough to own any are great because they are designed to work rather than just look pretty.
Just in case anyone should think I've just focused on www.fabgearusa.com, check out: www.Asahisonorama.co.jp and http://www.hlj.com/top/Boo for its indexing search option. You can buy direct from publisher Asahi Sonorama and although I was initially a little confused by their site, you don't have to use PayPal to buy off them as they accept my credit and debt cards once you've chosen to buy something and switch payment option. I did talk to Asahi Sonorama about English translations but they explained they aren't up to that yet. Maybe either of you buying from our side of the world might get them to reconsider.
GF Willmetts
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