Hi Everybody!

Tell the old school world who you are, and let us welcome you into the forum!
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Guyver I
Posts: 62
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:23 am
Anime Fan Since: 1992
Location: Richmond, Virginia
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Hi Everybody!

Post by Guyver I »

Hello, everyone!

I just joined the forum, and I am happy to have come across the AnimePast website; I've always felt there was something different about that era of anime fandom, but it was also something I could never quite place my finger on - maybe that's something discussions here can uncover.

My name is Nathan, and I'm an historian and author, based in Virginia. I've written a little on anime and manga topics, but mostly so far on popular culture around the turn of, to the mid, century - pulp magazines, comic books, dime novels, and the like. My most recent book was recently nominated for an Eisner Award, for best Scholarly/Academic work, so I'm really happy about that.

I first got into anime in the early 90s, but did not start going to conventions or anything of the sort until later in the decade. I chose my forum name because, while Guyver was not the first anime I watched, it was the one that really got me hooked on the medium. From that, I branched into other titles, largely mecha, but not entirely - always having an interest in history, I would go back and find poorly (or not at all) fan-subtitled copies of older, benchmark series, such as the the first few Gundams, Ideon, Urusei Yatsura, 70s Devilman, the Galaxy Express 999 television series, Mazinger Z, and others. The newest entries into the Gundam and Evangelion (a series that has remained among my favorite fictional works of all time, period) franchises, I've enjoyed a great deal, as well as other, new and original titles; I have also been going back and watching titles from "back then" - El-Hazard, Trigun, Blue Seed, and other works of the era that I truly associate with my period of fandom.

In addition to science fiction fandom, I hold an interest in the history of anime fandom in America, and have written about it to some small extent, but I hope to write on it further, perhaps as an article, or a post for a website I'm going to be writing for soon - while I am unsure of the mode of dissemination, I do know that there is alot to be said about earlier fandom, not only its history, but what set it apart, where that demarcation is, between the "past" fandom, that seems to be represented by members of this group, and the new which, I would argue (like much of sf and comic fandom today) isn't really a fandom at all, in many cases. I would go so far as to say that the 90s were really a golden age of anime fandom in America, with no disparagement to previous eras intended, at all.

I do believe there was something unique about that time period for anime, and its American fans: you had a wide swath of genres, with characters that originated many of the archetypes used repeatedly in anime today. Even in the science fiction and fantasy genre alone, you had such diverse types of narratives, from Slayers to Evangelion to Project A-ko, to Nadesico, Ushio and Tora, and beyond. While there are certainly many new shows that are quite good, I (personally, at least) do not see as much of a wide and varied selection from which to choose. As far as the fan community, it was a time wherein the term "community" could still be aptly applied to those holding an interest in anime and manga; that interest could still be considered a sub genre, which is certainly no longer the case. Yes, conventions were growing in size and numbers, but they were still selling items and goods, or showing films and movies that, in many cases, you could find there, and there only, adding further to this community notion.

I could go on far longer, concerning my views on the history of fandom, and I hope that I get that opportunity on this forum; after all, that does seem to be a significant point of this forum in the first place!

So, to wrap things up, thanks for your time, and glad to be here!


-
Nathan Vernon Madison

http://www.pulpmags.org
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greg
Posts: 2159
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:00 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1989 (consciously)
Location: Shizuoka-ken, Japan
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Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by greg »

Awesome! It's always nice to hear from someone who can look at fandom from an analytical, anthropological point of view. Dave Merrill on here writes a lot of the history of fandom on his blog. We've kinda gone through a dry spell lately here, of which I am to blame because I've had a lot on my plate for the past few months. New blood is great for getting conversations rolling again. Thanks for joining!
My presence on the Net, with plenty of random geekiness:
My homepage
My YouTube channel
My Flickr photostream
My Tumblr page
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Kame-Sen'nin
Posts: 451
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:20 am
Anime Fan Since: 1996

Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by Kame-Sen'nin »

Welcome to the lounge!

Regarding your words on community, I couldn't agree more. I hope you'll find that while we have a small community on this site, the atmosphere and friendliness of the members will make you feel at home instantly!
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Daniel
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Posts: 525
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:56 pm
Anime Fan Since: 199X年
Location: USA

Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by Daniel »

Welcome, welcome!!
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usamimi
Posts: 2783
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:00 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1987
Location: The Lonestar State
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Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by usamimi »

Welcome! Wow, it's always super cool to me to see people who can write about fandom related stuff academically! :D And nominated for an Eisner award to boot?! That's fantastic! I wish you luck!
Kame-Sen'nin wrote:Welcome to the lounge!

Regarding your words on community, I couldn't agree more. I hope you'll find that while we have a small community on this site, the atmosphere and friendliness of the members will make you feel at home instantly!
Couldn't agree with Kame more! While our little forum might not be the most active one, I feel like we're all pretty friendly here. I always like coming here and seeing what everyone's up to.

I have a podcast where I go back and talk about a lot of those older series that I remember, too, and it's been a lot of fun so far. Sometimes it really does pay off to go back and relive some of those things that got us into the medium in the first place. So I think you definitely came to the right place, you're with a lot of like-minded people here ;D
*:・゚・✧ TwitterThe Anime Nostalgia Tumblr & Podcast ✧・゚・:*
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Daniel
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Posts: 525
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:56 pm
Anime Fan Since: 199X年
Location: USA

Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by Daniel »

This lounge is so incredibly comfortable that people have a tendency to fall asleep from time to time... ;)
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yusaku
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:37 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1988
Location: Kansas City
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Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by yusaku »

Hello and Welcome!*Jumping from the shadows*

I remember the late 90's as a great time to experience anime. I remember Battle Athletes, Haunted Junction, Slayers, and a lot of other titles. Many companies were choosing to distribute anime titles seeming at random. I would got to the video store and I was never quite sure if I would like what I was buying. Anyway you will like it here.

Again Welcome!
***^__^***
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Guyver I
Posts: 62
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:23 am
Anime Fan Since: 1992
Location: Richmond, Virginia
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Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by Guyver I »

Thanks for the welcome, everybody! I'm looking forward to participating in the discussions here, and talking about "the good old days," as they were!

As I said, there was something (perhaps indescribable, perhaps not) I think that was unique to the late 80s to mid, late-90s fandom, and I was (happily) surprised to come across a page and forum that speaks to the notion that others thought so as well.

I've been on a kick recently of buying early American anime fanzines, so hopefully, once I get around to scanning some of them, I can post images of those up here!

Thanks again!
Nathan Vernon Madison

http://www.pulpmags.org
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Heibi
Posts: 154
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:37 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1976
Location: Kansas
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Re: Hi Everybody!

Post by Heibi »

Welcome to the lounge. Sit back and watch some anime.
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