The Old School Otaku Lounge

Hi, I’m Don Magness. My first anime was 8th Man although I didn’t know it was anime at the time. I still remember sitting on the living room floor watching it on our old console TV tuned to Channel 11. A little later I was watching Johnny Cypher and then Speed Racer.

The first anime I watched knowing it was from Japan was Starblazers. That show really cemented my love for the art.

In the 80s you could find me at any local Sci-Fi convention, locked in a hotel room with multiple VCRs duplicating tapes.

In 1983 I co-produced Yamatocon and later Yamatocon II and Animagic.

Since then I pretty much enjoy the genre on my own, watching Cartoon Network and some streaming services.

Welcome! I've heard of Yamatocon. Nice to meet you; I'm glad that you joined.

Wow, hello Don! Glad to have an original Yamatocon alumni here on this board. A while back I reached out to Mark Hernandez and wrote a piece about Yamatocon for the Star Blazers fan website ourstarblazers.com and later posted it at my anime blog let's anime - I hope I managed to get things mostly correct.

I've seen the article, you may remember I supplied the photographs. It's pretty close on accuracy.