Phoenix Japanimation Society?

The roughly mid-90's and earlier (generally pre-Toonami, pre-anime boom) era of anime & manga fandom: early cons, clubs, tape trading, Nth Generation VHS fansubs, old magazines & fanzines, fandubs, ancient merchandise, rec.arts.anime, and more!
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mbanu
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Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by mbanu »

Largely remembered now it seems for the .pjs subtitle format. (^_^) Not much info out there... It looks like the club was around in 1984; was it connected to the C/FO, or was it an early independent club? The names I hear referenced most are Tom Perry, Bruce Carlson, and John Fong...

Bruce Carlson apparently had some late-life celebrity as the anime reviewer "Grumpy Jii-san": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoXlh7PovVs

(It looks like both Bruce Carlson and John Fong might be dead now, though.)

No luck finding out what happened to Tom Perry, or the Phoenix Japanimation Society in general... any ideas? (^_^;)
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by mbanu »

Oh, and one more early member -- anime fanfiction author Gregg Sharp. (^_^) Apparently health problems forced him to retire from fanfiction writing a couple years ago; not sure what he's up to now...
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by DKop »

Ive known of Bruce Carlson for a few years now, but it was only a little after he died that I found out about him. Im subscribed to the wordpress site and his youtube channel to see his reviews from time to time, hes got some really good stuff.

I believe Carlson died in 2012 IIRC.
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by Drew_Sutton »

I think our buddy Greg here is originally from the Phoenix area, no? I thought I remember him saying he was active in fandom on FidoNet back in the mid-late 1980s, maybe he knew them tangentially through there if not in person? I'll PM him this thread.
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by mbanu »

Drew_Sutton wrote:I think our buddy Greg here is originally from the Phoenix area, no? I thought I remember him saying he was active in fandom on FidoNet back in the mid-late 1980s, maybe he knew them tangentially through there if not in person? I'll PM him this thread.
Thanks, Drew!
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by mbanu »

Image
(http://www.anikionline.com/fame/Arctic_ ... on/aa.html)

A 1993 letter from Bruce Carlson to William Chow of Arctic Animation fame. If I understand the context correctly, PJS was using Panimator at the time as their subtitling software? (Chow implies that Carlson created Panimator, but I don't think that's right... rec.arts.anime suggests that Panimator was created by a Thom Robertson.) Makes me a little curious how exactly the .pjs format was created, as Panimator used .pan files; did PJS branch off Panimator into their own software?
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by mbanu »

(Or maybe they were talking about the PJS software, and associating it with Panimator was just a memory lapse.)
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by mbanu »

More info from Rob Knotts (and a shout-out to this very thread; apparently hardly anybody else is talking about the PJS):
Rob Knotts wrote:The main membership of the PJS were essentially a small group of students in the late 80s who would meet regularly at Tom Perry's home to share videos or watch Tom's latest LDs. By the mid-90s anime fandom in Arizona had increased to the point where the big colleges each had at least one main group, and anybody could just get together with friends to watch anime. By then the PJS had dwindled to just that core group of students a few long-term collectors who were friends with Tom Perry.

Eventually group meetings dwindled down to showing up at Tom's house and organizing his every-growing comic/book/AV collection, especially since other groups were starting run their own anime rooms at conventions. By the late 90s I stopped going because of work and/or college, other people spending less time in the group after leaving college, or simply moving away from AZ. I'm still in contact with a few members of the student group (including Queso St Eele ), but it's been over a decade since I talked to Tom Perry. To be honest, I'd be embarrassed if I met Tom nowadays, realizing now how much of a pain I must of been to deal with as a teenager. :/
(https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vintage ... 0352168577)
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by gaijinpunch »

mbanu wrote: Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:07 pm
Bruce Carlson apparently had some late-life celebrity as the anime reviewer "Grumpy Jii-san": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoXlh7PovVs
Super late to this game, but some 30 years later, I now have a face to put to the name (and SVHS tapes). His subs were high quality.
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Re: Phoenix Japanimation Society?

Post by DKop »

Ah, now I know who this Bruce guy is. By the time I found out about his Grumpy Ji-san video's he was dead for a couple of years. I really like his format of him bringing a camera out hiking in the wastelands of AZ and talking about anime to the animals nearby him. He seemed like a pretty cool guy I'd like to get to know, too bad I can't now.
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