Hey all!
Just giving a quick shout of thanks to Gendomike & the AD crew for allowing me to share thoughts and memories with all of you. Now this will be the first of hopefully many journeys through the looking glass, where the face of early US anime fandom melds minds with that of today’s loyal armies. When not tapping away in the labs of my own personal art & geek site, I may also chime in with thoughts on current & older titles, trends, habits and soforth, once or twice a month. The time outside of this is spent continuing my film studies, as well as composing music for the little movies inside my head. Long and short, this’ll serve as a little oasis from the unrelenting clusterfudge I have so enthusiastically created for myself.
So, in order to make this workable, first, a quick dip into the past. I grew up not only surrounded by the golf courses & gaudily placed palm trees of the California desert, but with a very rarified affliction; a very early love for anime, live-action tokutatsu series, and of course the weekly Kaijyu-fests that tv could only provide throughout the late 70s and early 80s in hilariously dubbed form. The near blackout of US tv anime in the late 80s eventually led to the burgeoning of anime on VHS. ( remember, the only alternative to this were cruddy, third gen tapes found at your local Star Trek convention-no joke.) I am what many anime historians consider a 2nd wave fan (the first being the Mach Go-Go-Go! & Tetsuwan Atomu in america phase). I can vividly remember the day my brother sneaked a copy of Urotsukidoji into my virgin VCR.(!!!) And as crazy-old that makes me sound, it’s been a bizarre yet exciting ride. It’s strange to express just how much has changed. Whether collecting videos, figures, and art books, or eventually helping within the US industry, there’s always been something to keep the admiration strong. And to think that all of this came due to a small, but stalwart cadre of geeky low-techs, believing that something special was indeed coming from the east.
So it’s time to dust off the old flashlight, it’s exploration time….First post coming very soon!
Welcome aboard matey! Looking forward to your first column!
As mentioned on Twitter, this was the first…fifth(?) of my entire writeup. So expect the remainder sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned & thanks!
Cool, a veteran at anime. Great to have you!
Welcome! Your old-school credentials seem to be in order 🙂