Greetings all

Tell the old school world who you are, and let us welcome you into the forum!
Post Reply
raiderfan99
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:51 am
Anime Fan Since: 1993

Greetings all

Post by raiderfan99 »

I began watching anime, even though I was not aware of it, at a young
age. It must have been around the late 80s. I remember watching some
anime that was run on Nickelodeon at the time, Mysterious cities of
gold, Maya the bee, etc. Even at this young age, I noticed
differences with the animation style as opposed to the western
"American" style.

Fast forward a few years to 1993-1994. I had a friend named Chris.
He had an older brother that still lived at home, however he was going
away to college and living at a dorm. I remember Chris and I doing
what mischievous kids do, sneak through things we were not supposed to.
One time during a sleepover we located a small crate full of VHS
tapes that was his brothers. Inside the crate were various Streamline
Film and US Rendition anime vhs tapes. This was my first "true"
introduction to anime. I convinced Chris we should watch some of
these as the covers for Akira and Fist of the North star intrigued me.
We marathon-ed several tapes during the next few times I went over his
house. Once we finished all the tapes I was craving more. I tried to
convince my parents to buy me some anime VHS tapes at the Saturday
matinee (a store in the mall owned by sam goody), however the effort
was for naught as most titles being sold there were of the hentai
variety!

In 1995 there seemed to be a small wave of US syndicated television
showing dubbed anime cartoons. I used to watch Ronin Warriors, Sailor
moon, and the original Dragon Ball religiously, even in repeats. I also
discovered the Sci-Fi Channel aired anime titles Saturday morning, I
woke up at the crack of down eagerly anticipating the feature they
would show. I used to scour the TV guide in search of anime shows, I
found that the 80s gigantor was being shown in the morning on the Sci
Fi Channel as well, which I set a VCR to record

Around this time is when I finally convinced my parents to let me
rent/buy anime VHS tapes at a local blockbuster video. I sometimes
would beg my parents to allow me to rent these tapes, even if at the
cost I was tasked with more chores around the house. For the most
part, alot of the titles were the same ones Chris's brother owned, but
there was also alot of those early Viz Video and AD Vision titles. I
remember being shocked there was a Fatal Fury anime as I loved the
video game at the time. I was a huge Sci Fi and Comic fan growing up,
and the plotlines matched my interest.

I also got the internet via a dial up connection in late 1995-1996.
One of the first items I looked up was anime on Yahoo's search engine.
It is here I stumbled upon a web based chat system called Webchat
Broadcasting system, WBS for short. There were some chat rooms
dedicated to discussing anime. It is here I started to discover the
fansub trade taping method fans used to watch anime that was not
imported overseas yet. I used to trade with a few individuals,
however it was short lived as my parents found what kind of anime I
was trading for, and at a young age it was dubbed "inappropriate" for
me to trade such material (F3 and Cutey honey were on one tape!). It
was also this time period that I learned of Fan Parodies through
trading, such as dirty pair does dishes, ranma 1/3, etc. I used to
think these were hilarious!

By 1997-1998, I discovered a small kisok in the mall that was selling
fansub tapes. It was run by an attendant in a local arcade I used to
frequent. They were horribly mastered and undoubtedly a nth generation
copy, but I used to spend my hard earned allowance/chore money from
the summer to purchase these. I found the same variety of shops on a
trip to Chinatown in Boston and New York as well as other malls.
Unfortunately, it seems these shops had a small timetable they would
be opened, perhaps because of profits, perhaps because of copyrights.

In 1999, I went to my first anime convention, Otakon 99. It sounds
different than alot of those "older school" conventions alot of people
have described on this forum, but it still remains to be my favorite
convention I attended. I was blown away to Yoko Kanno was doing a
live performance. I spent all 3 days getting less than 2 hours of
sleep marathoning, playing video games, and buying all I could in the
dealers room.

As the new millennium rolled in, I noticed a change within the anime
underground subculture. It was no longer a subculture. Anime was
being showed regularly on TV, Anime on DVD had its own vast section
in video/electronic retailers, in short anime had become a household
word. I also noticed the subject matter in Anime was starting to
change as was the animation style. I have a soft spot in my heart for
the kind of "rough and gritty", cel animated, non-cg look of 80s and
early 90s anime. Since 2000, anime just seems "synthetic" with the
use of computers, creating what I call "washed out" colors. The
plotlines just became cli'ched to me.

I attended several more Otakons, some other conventions around my area
at the time, Anime Boston and Connecticon, but I noticed my interest
becoming dimmer and dimmer, especially since I had limited time to
watch as compared to my time as a child.

In 2008-2012, I sold off my entire anime DVD collection on Ebay to
help pay off some bills. Amazingly, I was not bothered by this.
Currently I have not bought a new anime title in many years. I've
noticed the "fad" of anime during the 2000s seems to be wearing off
too. Alot of those distribution company giants, such as AD Vision,
have gone under.

From time to time, I still pull out one of those classic Streamline
titles I have mastered to DVD from VHS and reminisce about the old
days, discovering the product for the first time.

Hope to discuss alot of the old days with you all!
User avatar
Heibi
Posts: 154
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:37 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1976
Location: Kansas
Contact:

Re: Greetings all

Post by Heibi »

Welcome. I couldn't sell off my stuff like you did. Too much to part with. You'd have to look at my intro and this forum topic http://forum.animepast.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=68

I'm too attached to it all.
raiderfan99
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:51 am
Anime Fan Since: 1993

Re: Greetings all

Post by raiderfan99 »

Heibi wrote:Welcome. I couldn't sell off my stuff like you did. Too much to part with. You'd have to look at my intro and this forum topic http://forum.animepast.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=68

I'm too attached to it all.
I thought that way for a long time, but then I had to sell off some stuff to pay off bills. I lost my job last summer and had to. I still have all my vhs to dvd rip stuff though.
User avatar
kndy
Posts: 639
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:39 am
Anime Fan Since: 70's
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Greetings all

Post by kndy »

Welcome to the forum Raiderfan99!
User avatar
Daniel
Site Admin
Posts: 525
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:56 pm
Anime Fan Since: 199X年
Location: USA

Re: Greetings all

Post by Daniel »

Welcome!

Please make yourself right at home.

Hope you enjoy your stay. ^_^
Daniel
User avatar
Nortavlag
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:43 am
Anime Fan Since: 1990ish
Location: Houston, TX

Re: Greetings all

Post by Nortavlag »

Welcome to the forum! :)
Post Reply