The Old School Otaku Lounge

I must be getting old or I had great taste. I only remember about 2 of those by title only.

I've seen Pink Shock and Elf-17. I actually recommended Elf-17 here on the forum not too long ago. I actually liked them and thought they were entertaining. But I am also a fan of the people who worked on it, so that's probably why also.

When I was researching the column, I looked up Yamamoto's other manga work and it's interesting the turn his career took. His ELF 17 manga was not quite as cutesy or as characteristically "anime" as the anime, which isn't surprising I guess, but his other manga work is definitely not for kids. His ARNIS has some stuff going on that is S. Clay Wilson levels of disturbing.

The great part about writing this piece was going back and watching these OVAs again, some of which I hadn't seen in decades. Or tracking down the ones that I'd never seen at the time, and only knew about from pictures in anime magazines. Quite a few of them held up nicely over the years, and ELF 17 is one of them. I think I completely reversed my opinion of COSMOS PINK SHOCK. Others, like SAMY MISSING 99, didn't fare so well.

S. Clay Wilson. Now there's a name I haven't heard in awhile. I remember the blurb for the comic "Felch" that said S. Clay Wilson would suffer eternal damnation for drawing that comic book. After his brain injury of a few years back he is doing just that. A very sad case and a mere shade of his former self...

It's amazingly tragic how one instant can take a person from being a vibrant, creative force to a shadow of his former self. I miss him and his work, which was meticulous, funny, and at times profoundly disturbing. There would be times in the 90s when friends would be reading some current "shocking" comic book, and I'd have to hand them some of Wilson's work and watch their heads explode. If there's anything I miss about comics these days, it's the lack of the Wilson style of underground, the sarcastic, demented, mean-spiritedly hilarious nature of the work. Well, okay, there are comics like that today, but they aren't published in WEIRDO. I miss WEIRDO.

lol RootsSearch. The girl was cute at least.




I'd disagree regarding Cosmos, though, but to each their own, I guess.

Submitting the following cheese:
NORA
KIMAMA NI IDOL
GALIENT PANZER WORLD
DELPOWER X
Just about every motorcycle anime like CIRCUIT ANGEL