Hello all!
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:25 pm
Hey all!
My name is Dan and I've been a fan of anime ever since I first saw Robotech some time around 1988. My sister's boyfriend left a VHS tape of Robotech (recorded form TV) at my house, and I watched it. I watched all 13 episodes that were on it. Then I watched it again...and again. I soon became obsessed with it. Robotech was noticeably different than other cartoons -- it had calm, adult like characters, a continuous and interesting story, and a very different aesthetic. I looked for more Robotech anywhere I could find it. I bought the few VHS tapes I could get my hands on, and of course the crappy Comico comics, the Palladium RPGs, and Jetfire transformers at yard sales. It was damn hard being a ten year old Robotech fan, especially in a small town in 1988 after Robotech had been off the air a while.
Of course I started noticing all the other anime and manga at video rental stores (stuff like Wannabes, Star Warrior, Dog Soldier) on TV (Macron 1, Dragon Warrior, Super Book), or at the local comic store (Appleseed, Dominion Tank Police, Outlanders, Caravan Kidd, Venus Wars). Since I didn't have enough money to buy VHS tapes (unless they were Robotech), I bought manga, rented anime on VHS when I could find it, and also bought Animag and Animerica magazines (and the occasional AnimeUK). I bought whatever I could afford since anime and manga was so hard to find.
Of course I noticed that many video games were done in the anime style. The ultimate example of this was Lunar, which I played on my girlfriend's Sega CD when I was 15.
I continued my fandom this way for years. When I got a job in high school, I dropped a hundred bucks on the Record of Lodoss Wars VHS set at the local Suncoast. It felt like a steal at the time. I bought some more VHS tapes here and there, and was totally stoked when Macross II and Macross Plus got released. I discovered Tenchi Muyo at a tiny local con, and I really liked it. I rented as much of it as I could find at Blockbuster. Then in 1996 I bought myself my first computer and dial up internet connection. That opened up a whole new world to me, obviously. I soon joined the MacrossWorld forums, but I never really had an online anime community experience.
In junior college I bought all the Robotech DVDs when Harmony Gold released them. I was so happy to finally own all of it! This is about when Toonami started showing Robotech, and Tenchi Muyo. It was so weird to see them on TV!
After I graduated from Cal Poly in 2004, I bought the Tenchi OAV box set to celebrate. I fell in love with it all over again. Soon after I bought the Gall Force and Cat Girl Nuku Nuku DVD sets. That was the start a multi-year DVD buying spree. Now I have pretty much every old school anime on DVD other than the super-long Rumiko Takahashi type shows. And I used to wonder what crazy kind of person would buy a DVD since you would only want to watch a show once.
Nowadays, I rarely watch anime. I have a ton of it on my shelf, and someday I plan on getting to all of it. I listen to Anime World Order, wait desperately for the next Colony Drop post, and sadly miss the Buried Treasure column. I still check and post on MacrossWorld. But damn, I think after 20+ years of being a fan, I deserve to have more (one?) anime friends.
Last weekend I made the trip to Nikaku Animart. That was fun. I picked up some original Angel Cop manga, a Yasuhiko Yoshikazoo art book, as well as a bunch of old issues of Animerica (I'm a sucker for nostalgia). I miss the old days.
Anyway. I hope to make some friends here!
-Dan.
My name is Dan and I've been a fan of anime ever since I first saw Robotech some time around 1988. My sister's boyfriend left a VHS tape of Robotech (recorded form TV) at my house, and I watched it. I watched all 13 episodes that were on it. Then I watched it again...and again. I soon became obsessed with it. Robotech was noticeably different than other cartoons -- it had calm, adult like characters, a continuous and interesting story, and a very different aesthetic. I looked for more Robotech anywhere I could find it. I bought the few VHS tapes I could get my hands on, and of course the crappy Comico comics, the Palladium RPGs, and Jetfire transformers at yard sales. It was damn hard being a ten year old Robotech fan, especially in a small town in 1988 after Robotech had been off the air a while.
Of course I started noticing all the other anime and manga at video rental stores (stuff like Wannabes, Star Warrior, Dog Soldier) on TV (Macron 1, Dragon Warrior, Super Book), or at the local comic store (Appleseed, Dominion Tank Police, Outlanders, Caravan Kidd, Venus Wars). Since I didn't have enough money to buy VHS tapes (unless they were Robotech), I bought manga, rented anime on VHS when I could find it, and also bought Animag and Animerica magazines (and the occasional AnimeUK). I bought whatever I could afford since anime and manga was so hard to find.
Of course I noticed that many video games were done in the anime style. The ultimate example of this was Lunar, which I played on my girlfriend's Sega CD when I was 15.
I continued my fandom this way for years. When I got a job in high school, I dropped a hundred bucks on the Record of Lodoss Wars VHS set at the local Suncoast. It felt like a steal at the time. I bought some more VHS tapes here and there, and was totally stoked when Macross II and Macross Plus got released. I discovered Tenchi Muyo at a tiny local con, and I really liked it. I rented as much of it as I could find at Blockbuster. Then in 1996 I bought myself my first computer and dial up internet connection. That opened up a whole new world to me, obviously. I soon joined the MacrossWorld forums, but I never really had an online anime community experience.
In junior college I bought all the Robotech DVDs when Harmony Gold released them. I was so happy to finally own all of it! This is about when Toonami started showing Robotech, and Tenchi Muyo. It was so weird to see them on TV!
After I graduated from Cal Poly in 2004, I bought the Tenchi OAV box set to celebrate. I fell in love with it all over again. Soon after I bought the Gall Force and Cat Girl Nuku Nuku DVD sets. That was the start a multi-year DVD buying spree. Now I have pretty much every old school anime on DVD other than the super-long Rumiko Takahashi type shows. And I used to wonder what crazy kind of person would buy a DVD since you would only want to watch a show once.
Nowadays, I rarely watch anime. I have a ton of it on my shelf, and someday I plan on getting to all of it. I listen to Anime World Order, wait desperately for the next Colony Drop post, and sadly miss the Buried Treasure column. I still check and post on MacrossWorld. But damn, I think after 20+ years of being a fan, I deserve to have more (one?) anime friends.
Last weekend I made the trip to Nikaku Animart. That was fun. I picked up some original Angel Cop manga, a Yasuhiko Yoshikazoo art book, as well as a bunch of old issues of Animerica (I'm a sucker for nostalgia). I miss the old days.
Anyway. I hope to make some friends here!
-Dan.