The Old School Otaku Lounge

Hi all! My name is Vash (he/they) and I'm probably a bit young to be counted as an "older fan" - I was born in 2000 and my first anime/manga were Inuyasha and Fruits Basket (it was elementary school, it's hard to remember which came first). I'm currently working my way through the Gundam series in chronological order as best I can. I'm here because I'm considering pursuing a history PhD and as part of my application packet, I have to write a paper. The topic I've landed on is the history of anime conventions in Washington state. While I'm also just personally curious about people's experience in anime fandom before I was around (another reason I'm here), if anyone would be willing to talk about the history of anime conventions in the US/WA, please give me a shout!

Welcome!

Thank you! I'm excited to be here.

I was at the first Project A-Kon in 1990, which was the longest-running anime con in the US for a while. Had I known about YamatoCon at the time it happened I probably would have been completely insufferable about trying to get my parents to take me to it (I was 14 at the time). Helped to start an anime con in Atlanta in 1995 that's still going! If you want to know any specifics, let me know. I've written quite a bit about the anime fan experience in the 80s and 90s here: https://letsanime.blogspot.com/

davemerrill wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:04 pm I was at the first Project A-Kon in 1990, (snip)

Hey, I was there too! I was running the model contest so if you made it to that room we may have met.

Welcome aboard, vexxervee! Which Gundam shows have you watched so far, which are you on and what do you think?