The story of Tiphares

It was a dark and stormy night…

It is 1997 when Ryo Saeba, Tribal and a third friend, three university students passionate about Japanese manga and cartoons, decide to create an innovative and complete magazine: at once a full guide to the products released in Italy and a pleasant, relaxing read. And so TIPHARES is born, the first Italian online magazine on Japanese comics and animation.

Run by a friendly and well-prepared staff (though not professionals), thanks to reviews written with the right dose of humour and expertise, and to the splendid graphics by BAT’s Multimedia Studio, the magazine soon wins readers’ hearts, and they grow in number with every issue. In the meantime the net-zine is included in some issues of TGM (on the CD-ROM that came with it), and this is what attracts most of those readers who are still not familiar with the World Wide Web.

In 1999 the editors decide to take a leap forward and try to enter the world of publishing with an ambitious project never attempted even in Europe or the United States: to become the first Japanese animation and comics magazine entirely on CD-ROM.

In 2000 the project becomes reality thanks to the publisher Fat’s Dream of Bologna: TIPHARES is the first magazine to combine complete reviews of the latest releases in the field with high-quality videos, images and gadgets of every kind related to products from the Land of the Rising Sun. And a DVD version, the medium of the next generation, is already being discussed!

Made entirely by the editorial team, it is overseen by Ryo Saeba for the organisational side and part of the video production, while the interface is made entirely by BAT (who runs the studio). The printed graphics are the work of Tribal, who also produces some of the videos.

However, every aspect is always evaluated by common agreement, ensuring a high level of quality control in production.