The Old School Otaku Lounge

I feel quite the kindred spirit in you. For years I've been illustrating in the anime style as a sort if means to express my love for it. Though I feel more in tune with it lately than the last 10 years. Also I am a huge TMNT nerd. I'm known for wearing a TMNT jacket like everywhere! XD

HUGE welcome to the forum! Fascinating reading your history with anime in the UK!

Welcome, Laura! Posting seems to go in ripples here so don't be concerned if you post something and nobody replies for a few days.

I look forward to your thoughts. I've had so many questions about anime fandom in England, assumptions that is must be the mirror image of American Doctor Who fandom in the '70s and '80s. The struggle of incompatible video formats, the odd mis-communications due to having different cultural assumptions (the business, the way of TV broadcasting is such a completely different animal there and here!), the influence (or lack thereof) of what was going on with anime over in Europe (France, Italy for the main).

And then also the works of Gerry Anderson, which I think I may well be the only fan of that here.

I like to learn things, I like to increase my knowledge base, I eagerly await to see what you bring to the party here.

Thanks so much for your lovely welcomes everyone, feels super comfortable to be here

Dave, good to see you here too! I've gone off Twitter a bit, I dunno. It is good when commuting or for sharing funny cat pics and other links, but sat at a desk it feels a bit superfluous to me at the time. Good job I'm on here now instead xD

Ryoran, that's great! I need to see this jacket. Do you have a gallery or DA? <-- Ah links in your sig too! <3

SteveH, what a great parallel. I had never thought of our misfit UK fandom in it's infancy in that way, but *do* remember someone making that sort of analogy in Anime UK (maybe Helen McCarthy), a very long time ago. I'm not a Who fan (though used to watch it regularly in the 80's, Sylvester McCoy was my gen's doctor, and Ace/Sophie Aldred was sooo badass, though I always had a soft spot for Bonnie Langford as she on kid's TV a lot, too xD) - but I can ask older fan friends and see what they say, as they may know/remember more than me

Welcome!

Hello Pinkapplejam! I think you're on my twitter feed too -- your icon rings a bell

Welcome welcome!

Thank you folks! Sgirl, yes I think I found you via The Anime Nostagia Tumblr! So happy to be here! ^o^~v

Hello! I am very, very impressed with your artwork! You are well studied in the area of artwork. You work is professional quality. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Yusaku, thank you! You are too kind! I always wanted to be a British Adam Warren-type <3 (My hero!) I'll keep striving!!

It's my aim to see comics/manga-style more into the UK illustration-mainstream, much like France, Spain etc have done with their comic art. An amalgamation of style is ultimately the best for each individual as it'll show, because it will be where their passions lie Anime and manga styles really pushed me to make and publish, instead of just draw at home. So I owe it a lot!

Buuut, such countries in Europe have a more open passion for comics, whereas in the UK it's still seen as kid's stuff due to Victorian opinion-legacy. So I have an uphill battle for the rest of my life! But that's ok, I accept my fate XD

Bump! Really sorry I've been so absent!! I used to run Sweatdrop Studios' forums (R.I.P Sweatdrop's comic forums) with my other art-friends and was very active on there 2001-2009ish. Now I see it from the other mods' point-of-view - barely one day went by without me posting, and it was always funny having someone go away fro a long time and then suddenly come back when it was part of daily life!

Things have changed a bit, even the forum design! Love them! Since posting, Netflix and Amazon Prime's video streaming launches have become a huge thing in UK geek-circles. Honestly, I believe streaming is the saviour of anime. Crunchyroll is also quire prevalent in anime fandom, but Hulu and it's related titles are not accessible to us, so no Takahashi once again. Nor Sailor Moon either! (Sob sob cry cry). But I'm glad ease of global streaming is generally a high priority for a number of anime companies nowadays.

I still work on http://www.BiomechaComic.com and have embraced the Patreon (link in sig) method to help fund print runs. Book 3 will be the final book for this series. I've had a lot of health problems (a new one and a recurring one bit me in the backside over the past 18 month, both are chronic), so I'm pretty determined to get these long-running comics done and work on new ones. I update my Instagram whenever I've done new stuff too I don't work fast but I do chip away.

Hope everyone is well, will catch up on forum posts now

Hey~! Glad to have you back! You're always welcome here!