An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

[Fireminer]

Anyone here have any knowledge about Mark Simmons, the American Gundam expert back in the early 2000s? I know that he was hired by Sunrise and Bandai to promote their shows in America with his writings.

[DKop]

Mark Simmons is "the" Gundam guy that Bandai goes too to make sure their info on Gundam is correct. From what I understand he ran a Gundam site in the web 1.0 days, and also has his own Gundam Official Guide book printed by Viz/Animerica in 2002 (which I still proudly own to this day). That book covered the backstory of Gundam fandom, series (up until Seed since it was published before Seed aired), merchandise (up too 2002) and more tidbits of info off novels and audio dramas known at the time. I've used that book as much as my own Holy flipping Bible at the time when I was really hard into Gundam (which I'm still am to this day). You can also see his name on several Gundam properties from the 2000's onward, so his name will show up in say Gundam Unicorn and NT for example in the credits. That's my rough overall knowledge of Simmons.

[Fireminer]

Mark Simmons is "the" Gundam guy that Bandai goes too to make sure their info on Gundam is correct. From what I understand he ran a Gundam site in the web 1.0 days, and also has his own Gundam Official Guide book printed by Viz/Animerica in 2002 (which I still proudly own to this day). That book covered the backstory of Gundam fandom, series (up until Seed since it was published before Seed aired), merchandise (up too 2002) and more tidbits of info off novels and audio dramas known at the time. I've used that book as much as my own Holy flipping Bible at the time when I was really hard into Gundam (which I'm still am to this day). You can also see his name on several Gundam properties from the 2000's onward, so his name will show up in say Gundam Unicorn and NT for example in the credits. That's my rough overall knowledge of Simmons.

Thank you so much for that! And it is also nice to know about another Gundam fan here on this forums!

Say, does anyone here have any recommendation about which translators should I add to the index? I am only aware of Frederik L. Schodt.

[DKop]

If your looking for people who translated manga/anime I can think of Neil Nadleman and Toshifumi Yoshida. Yoshia is a producer for the Pokemon TV series these days and shows up at Animazement every year to help out with Japanese guests at panels, and Neil I hang out with along with Dave Merrill and a few other people at Anime Weekend Atlanta. If you can reach out to them for info they would more than likely help you out with any questions.

[Fireminer]

If your looking for people who translated manga/anime I can think of Neil Nadleman and Toshifumi Yoshida. Yoshia is a producer for the Pokemon TV series these days and shows up at Animazement every year to help out with Japanese guests at panels, and Neil I hang out with along with Dave Merrill and a few other people at Anime Weekend Atlanta. If you can reach out to them for info they would more than likely help you out with any questions.

Thank you so much for that! I have tried to contacted Toshifumi through Twitter, but like Mike Toole and August Ragone before, I have no luck getting through at all.

[DKop]

Your best bet to contact Toshi would be through facebook. His wife Trish Ledoux might be a better bet to contact, but you could be waiting a while.

[Fireminer]

Say, is there anyone here who is familiar with the 1980s and 1990s cosplay scene? Was there any notable individual, like designer or trendsettler or event organizer?

[gaijinpunch]

If your looking for people who translated manga/anime I can think of Neil Nadleman and Toshifumi Yoshida

Neil is on LinkedIn. I actually reached out to him to ask him about a SciFi books (he has translated a few) but didn't hear back. Don't blame him though, people have to remind me on other sites that they've messaged me on LinkedIn.

[Fireminer]

Neil is on LinkedIn. I actually reached out to him to ask him about a SciFi books (he has translated a few) but didn't hear back. Don't blame him though, people have to remind me on other sites that they've messaged me on LinkedIn.

Yeah, it seems to me that most people just make a LinkedIn profile and left it there.

[karageko]

Neil is on LinkedIn. I actually reached out to him to ask him about a SciFi books (he has translated a few) but didn't hear back. Don't blame him though, people have to remind me on other sites that they've messaged me on LinkedIn.

He's active on Twitter so you're more likely to get a response if you tweet at him.