Japan is known for being a country that loves both Fan Service and Fanfiction, and both are in full Otaku effect in the 1980s Japanese music magazine called 8 Beat Gag. The magazine features Manga caricatures of popular western artists of the time—drawn for the most part by manga artist Atsuko Shima.
The wonderfully weird comics feature The Cure’s Robert Smith, David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dave Vanian, Peter Murphy, Morrissey, Ultravox!, and more in situations ranging from being cute to amazingly bizarre.
We have not been able to translate any of these yet, save for the one below, where The Damned’s Dave Vanian, Duran Duran’s John Taylor, and The Cure’s Robert Smith are complaining about tourist season.
Here is where the full fan fiction treatment is in full effect, with the romantic pairing of Japan’s David Sylvian and electronic music pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto:
“The main story in the comic involves David being in the UK and missing Ryuichi. He decides to visit Tokyo to further the “romance” and finds himself in competition with Akiko Yano, Ryuichi’s wife. Quite a humorous story written by a woman who was a huge Japan fan. She caricatures herself on the cover as looking very guilty about writing such a homo-erotic story, possibly in parody of the lyrics to ‘Forbidden Colours’.
(Sincere thanks to Craig Peacock for this review).
Additional info on the cover: The front cover shot is an alternate take from the cover of the Japanese 7″ of Forbidden Colours. The back cover picture is from a fashion shoot David and Ryuichi did for an ad campaign for a department store, however it was never used.”-DavidSylvian.net
The Coiled One, the sophomore release from Los Angeles-based Spahn Ranch, holds a revered spot…
Bleak Recordings is delighted to introduce Gloom, the inaugural EP from Portuguese dark wave band…
We succumb tonight It’s the funeral of hearts This misery will vanish tonight Mekong is…
Non-being of limitation Empty of being, empty abstractions Conditioned by transcendence Extra extrapolations Today, the…
what you don't know what you can't see red cloud is calling stalking watching hypnotizing…
The Joy of Elephant has trampled through our aural garden once again with the project's…