Have you ever wished that there was a Megami Deluxe type of magazine aimed at a female audience, with great artworks of male characters? Well, your wish has sort of come true. Animedia Deluxe not only focuses on male characters, it’s also a magazine consisting of 100% full color artworks which are unhindered by text. It is worth noting that none of the illustrations span two-page spreads, thus making them crease free and suitable for framing if you wish to remove them. All of the landscape format illustrations are positioned sideways inside of the book. In addition too all of the ‘mini-posters’ that this magazine consists of, there’s also a double-sided B3 sized poster which is folded and included in the center of the magazine.
Cover Image from "Hakuoki"
The magazine is separated into 8 sections; each section features a different anime series with a varying amount of pages, which seems to be somewhat dependent on how popular that particular anime has been so far.
Image index for "Hakouki" section
The only pages in the book that are not full color illustrations are the index pages for each series. The index page contains page numbers and thumbnails for each illustration!
Hakouki Shinsengumi Kitan
The first section has 8 illustrations from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan, which based on a very successful otome game series in Japan. I’m a big fan of the artwork of Kazuki Yone, who does the artwork for all of the Hakuouki games.
Hetalia
Section 2 is 9 pages of the wacky series Hetalia. This is a really popular show and one I’ve been meaning to watch for awhile now.
Fullmetal Alchemist
The newer Fullmetal Alchemist series (aka “Brotherhood”) gets royal treatment at 19 pages of illustrations!
Kuroshitsuji II
Like FMA, Kuroshitsuji (the second series, to be specific) gets another meaty section of the magazine at 18 pages.
Sengoku BASARA
I know virtually nothing about Sengoku BASARA, other than that it exists and it has some dudes in it. This series gets 10 pages of illustrations in the magazine.
Durarara!!
I was quite pleased that the incredible “Durarara!!” made it into the book, as it was one of my favorite series of the past year. I only wish it had more seasons because I’m dying to know what happens next. It is less represented at only 5 illustrations, however.
Tegami Bachi
Tegami Bachi (aka “Letter Bee”) is a unique show that I’ve seen just a bit of. It has a kind of fantasy mixed with Steampunk feel to it. The character designs are also really interesting. It gets another humble 5 images in the book.
Kaichou wa Maid sama!
The final section is a typical but cute looking shoujo series called “Kaichou wa Maid sama!” This series sort of skipped over my radar as I tend to be a sucker for high school romance shoujo but I might check it out sometime.
Back Cover
The back cover has some thumbnails that preview the contents, which was useful for me at least because the magazine came shrink-wrapped. This is probably to keep people from swiping the loose poster inside.
Hakouki (Side 1)
Fullmetal Alchemist (Side 2)
The double-sided B3 poster is quite lovely. The front features the Hakuouki illustration which is also on the front of the magazine, and the back is a Fullmetal Alchemist image with Ed and Al looking very much all-growed-up. :D
Magazine purchases can be a huge gamble as they cost a lot to import and the contents vary greatly. Animedia Deluxe turned out to be a stellar purchase that really delivered to what some would consider to be a ‘niche market’. It’s hard to find anime magazines aimed at women that aren’t strictly yaoi-centric, so this one was a great find that I highly recommend even if you don’t care for magazines.
Plastic Pleasures 