Acquired from M while in Hyogo a few weeks ago. Office Baku pertained of many talented artists and writers creating a mix of bishoujo meets SF / mecha themed ero works. With the mix of comics, fanart and more, ESCAPE as an imprint is very well done and shows some of the best of the Showa era sensibilities of mixing mechanical elements with sensuality.

Hiro Hikari (Hirogoori Akio, 広郡明生, in this issue, gives his full name as Akio Kōri (広郡明生) was the main artist of this imprint and went on to have a relatively successful career as an illustrator. M told me that Hiro would often draw him pieces and showed me a few, though I was not able to acquire those from him. This is a special gift that was for M that he got at Comiket 23 specifically.

Haruhisa Minagawa (皆川晴久), who was behind the APPROACH imprint, was very close with Hiro alongside Office Baku's other contributors Hisashi Takahashi (高橋久志), Tetsuya Yamada (山田哲也), Yoshihiro Nakamura (中村義弘) and Yutaka Hayami (速水裕) and helped publish this particular book under the name "Minna Haruhisa". Hiro also goes by "Kōhō Akio" (Publicity Akio / 広報明生). The group was originally from Higashi-Hakata-Eki, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City.

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★Provenance:

Alt version of this very same doujinshi:

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/1225828851

Taking advice from their early fans, this is a revised edition of a previously made preparatory issue. This issue was reproduced exactly as it appeared in the original edition when the circle was apparently called KAYO.

“We Got Letters~♡” (お手紙がきたの〜♡)

Reader Letter 1

“I read Escape. Since I assumed it would be mostly illustrations of mecha and girls, the inclusion of lesbians, men, and even women together was a little confusing at first… but I enjoyed it anyway.
(Hyōgo Prefecture — Masaru Negi?)”

Editor’s response:

“Haha, it’s true that even if men appear, they don’t really bother me that much anymore…
(Though some people still object to it.)”

Reader Letter 2

“Escape safely arrived at my place. The combinations of mecha and beautiful girls (though in some places written as ‘mecha + woman’) were very interesting to look at. I hope you continue drawing more combinations involving beautiful girls like this(?). I’d also like to see more customs/mecha modifications. Rather than following trends like ‘ero’ or ‘fetish,’ please continue challenging yourselves with many different things and entertain us readers.
(Address omitted)
(Resident of Sasebo, Fukuoka Prefecture)”

Editor’s response:

“Thank you! …But what exactly do you mean by ‘beautiful girl woman(?)’?”
(“The lettering style is copied from another book.”)

While the imprint ironed itself out for volume 1 proper, they received several letters urging them to actually not make the imprint yet another illustration collection - Office Baku eventually went on to be a very important, well made ero imprint that lasted well into the early 2000s.

★From the Editors:

“First of all, thank you very much for purchasing this revised edition of Vol. 0 ♥ Come to think of it, the two of us only started drawing illustrations around April of last year… and somehow, by September, we’d already put out this book! Even though we were still complete amateurs, we ended up publishing something like this. I honestly thought none of it would sell. It’s not like we suddenly became skilled or anything…

I still really feel the limits of my drawing ability. Back in high school I got a ‘3’ in art, and my design grades were the worst in the class… even though I tried hard. But I strongly felt, ‘Even if it’s just once, I want to publish a book!’ and that feeling pushed me forward while making this. We also wanted to participate in Comiket, but the several dozen copies we’d saved for the event ended up being sold through Animec magazine in only a week. No way… it felt like a dream ♥ (Thanks everyone!)

For the first edition, we ran a manuscript solicitation project without restrictions, asking readers to illustrate ‘original characters’ or ‘favorite SF works.’ The response was surprisingly large, so if we get the opportunity again, I’d love to try it once more. Also, in the first edition we mentioned, ‘Will another issue come out between May and August!?’ but now we’re planning for sometime in late March… though Office Baku is basically a tiny operation waiting for manuscripts to pile up before anything can happen. It’s a very handmade, low-budget system.

Anyway, I’d like to keep working late into the night polishing the artwork and manuscripts! Yoroshiku. Everyone, please keep sending manuscripts! For size, please leave about a 1.5 cm border on all four sides matching this book’s dimensions. Preferably SF-themed works or illustrations of girls! We’ll also continue accepting the above-mentioned ‘original lists.’

Please lend your support and affection to Office Baku! Sorry for the messy writing.”

— by Minna Hiroto (皆川博都)

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Questions? Comments? Inquiries?

You can reach me @retroanimechris on X/Twitter/Bluesky and adoggoart@gmail.com or chrisdelabigne@gmail.com

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Scanning services are available! Simply send your inquiry to any of the contacts above and I will get back to you in 24 hours at best. Discord is @Adoggoart

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If you would like to help me acquire similar texts or others, please consider donating!

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/madanglerpress

For DDLs / Torrents:

https://archive.org/details/escape-inaugural-issue-revised-vol-1-doujinshi-1982

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