The thing I'm most curious about from that last batch of pages is the comic strip about Evan Dorkin's Eltingville Club comics. There was a cartoon adaptation that aired a pilot in 2002, which I guess is what this strip is responding to, but it's still a super deep cut for a Japanese toku magazine. I'd love to know what the artist was getting from a show about American otaku, and their weird fascination/obsession/fetishization of Japanese culture.

The comic strip you are referring to is manga artist Naoki Karasawa's monthly column for Newtype the LIVE. In the case of the strip you are referring to he was commenting how he felt that there are no borders when it comes to "otaku" as he was watching the Eltingville Club pilot animation on Cartoon Network during the late hours circa 2003. The trivia battle scene seems to have left an impression on him as he comments that he hopes a sequel is out in America and that he hopes Cartoon Network Japan airs a rerun.

That makes sense. Thanks!

It always blows my mind whenever I'm reminded that Japan actually watches American media, haha.

Gransazers Maximum, an insert magazine for Newtype - The Live 2004/05:

https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3563.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3564.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3565.JPG
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https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3567.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3568.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3569.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3570.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3571.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3572.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3573.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3574.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3575.JPG
https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3576.JPG
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https://challengerscomics.com/images...5/IMG_3581.JPG

Coming up in a few days in Newtype - The Live 2004/07:

-Dekaranger stickers!
-The making of an RAH Kuuga monster that Fish will immediately know the name of and I'll just think of as Probably The Second-To-Last Monster Guy On Kuuga Because The Show Wasn't Great At Naming Them Onscreen In A Way I Could Recognize I Mean I Came In Through Ex-Aid And In Goddamn Episode One Of That Show They Were Like This Monster's Name Is Salty Go Detonate Him!
-Hideaki Anno interview!
-More Dekaranger!
-The strongest Kamen Rider Blade coverage, with special guests Kiryu and Doctor Ladyfriend!
-Gransazers, maybe!
-Sailor Moon, with special guest Kamen Rider Ibuki!
-A 1977 toku show that got a 2004 DVD release, starring Astro Boy If He Was A Toku Hero!
-Toys and games!
-Literally no idea what old show gets five pages of coverage!
-All the normal/weird random crap in the back, including a one-page interview with Kamen Rider Knight and a few pages on Spider-Man 2!
-And, because no one cares, an entire Cutie Honey insert magazine!

Wow there was a lot more content than I thought when you first showed these magazines.

あ! the beauty of this magazine! I remember Isoyama Sayaka was really big at the time this came out and you couldn't move sideways in a Family Mart without being hit with some magazine featuring Sayaka gravure, lol.

Man, it's a shame the choseishin series never really continued cause Daisazer looks like GOAT material looking back. Befitting too considering this is TOHO's project so of course you need some draconic giant thing to be the ultimate weapon. This is the same studio that gave us Godzilla after all.

Let me guess. Go-Gadoru-Ba aka Grongi Rider Kabuto.

Either Izenborg or Ganbaron given it was 1977. But judging by how you describe it as Tokusatsu Astro Boy, I shall go with Ganbaron, which I did not know but was apparently the last of the three Baron series, the previous two being Red Baron and Mach Baron. Weird.

Hey, it's not like I knew the names myself until I made that thread! And they're surprisingly easy to remember once you understand they're all rooted phonetically in the names of the animals they're based on, albeit loosely. It's really quite fascinating!

...

...This is only tangentially related, but there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now. You did a bit at the start of your Hibiki thread, when talking about your writing style, where you direct people to my Kuuga one if they want "historical context or linguistic analysis", and I remember reading that and being like "Linguistic analysis!? I never did any OHHHHHH wait, that's right – I totally did linguistic analysis in that thread. On more than one occasion!"

I just, I feel like I needed to get that off my chest at some point, so thank you for providing the opportunity. :p

One of the best things is completely forgetting about what I write, so I can reread stuff and be like Oh This Dude Is Not Bad At This. (I got weirdly sucked in on the Faiz thread a couple days ago.) Completely forgot about that drive-by. Man, I got you good on that one! Nice work, Die!