Go Nagai's Premire Toys Catalogue
(Nagai Go and Dynamic Pro Otakara Toys Collection)
Edited by Yasuhiro Ishiji
review by Matt Alt, May 7, 1999

Does the world need yet another guide to collecting Japanese toys? I don't know. But I do know one thing: I like this one.

I was lucky enough to get an advance review copy of Go Nagai's Premire Toys Catalog, and can safely say it's more than worth the 1200 yen cover price. It's actually a one-shot magazine, not a book, but I don't think any other Japanese toy-collecting text offers as wide an array of toys crammed into its pages as this one does.

Vinyls, diecasts, jumbos, clothing, food-product tie-ins -- you name it: if it was licensed from Go Nagai or Dynamic Pro, it's probably in here. Of course, there's ample coverage of Mazinger, Getta Robo, Tiger Mask, and other mainstay toy-lines, but what really sets this tome apart is the lovingly detailed photo-exposes on the toys of God Mazinger, Groizer X, Astekaizer, X-Bomber, Mazin Saurer, and a whole host of other obscure and unloved toy lines that really haven't been covered in detail anywhere else.

For those who can read Japanese, the interview of Dynamic Pro employees (conducted by toy-collecting legend Take-Shit) is a thrill. Besides being a total toy geek-out (and I mean that with the deepest respect), it features such bombshells as the fact that the original head for the Jumbo Great Mazinger was actually sculpted by Dynamic Pro and not by Popy. An interview with Nagai himself is noticeably missing, however (there's only a single mini-interview at the very back of the book. I guess he's still recovering from his interview in THE Chogokin.)

The only minor flaw with the book is the fact that it's of limited use as a "field guide." Only a small handful of Jumbo Machinders are shown (what happened to Getta III?) and many of the toys are, uh, "battle-damaged." But that being said, the obsession and love that went into creating this book are apparent on every photo-packed page. Go Nagai's Premire Toys does a spectacular job of cataloging some of the more bizzare specimens out there. And don't miss out on the opportunity to buy a pair of those Shono Planning Mazinger vinyls!