The Old School Otaku Lounge

Hi, I'm Dave, Daniel sent me an invite and told me I should check this out, so here I am!

I've been an anime fan since I was 2 and saw Prince Planet on TV. In the world of anime fandom, you name it, I've done it; ran anime clubs, dated girls who cosplayed as the Dirty Pair, daisy-chained VHS and Beta, fan-subbed-and-dubbed, chaired anime conventions, returned from Tokyo with two suitcases full of junk, edited fanzines, was best man at the wedding of Star Blazers voice talent, and served as "fan guest of honor". Right now I write about classic anime at www.letsanime.blogspot.com and even though I grew up in Atlanta GA, I now live in Toronto ON.

Dave,

Reading your introduction and looking through your blog, I can only stand in awe at your incredible level of experience and expertise. It is my honor to welcome you to this forum, and I sincerely hope that you find your stay to be a pleasant one and your decision to register to be worthwhile.


I could probably start a conversation on each of the points that you listed in your intro, but I don't want to throw too much at you at once (and I'm starting to get sleepy) so I'll just pick a few.

I've been an anime fan since I was 2 and saw Prince Planet on TV.

I see you're also featuring the Prince Planet manga on your blog. Do you have 1965 issues of magazines just lying around?

The Prince Planet anime is streaming on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwsH0toX3k


As far as really classic anime goes, I myself love series like Ninpuu Kamui Gaiden (have it on JP VHS), and I adore Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji (have it on JP LD). I like the story/setting and the action of Ninpuu Kamui Gaiden, and I really like the fact that it isn't too totally far fetched, since ninja/samurai anime that have the kind of action that I like usually come bundled with fantastic superpowers, aliens, and other assorted extra goodies. Don't get me wrong, I love anime like Yotoden as much or probably even more than the next guy, but slightly more down to earth anime is nice as well. I also like the semi-random nature scenes, which really aren't found in anime at all anymore. And as for Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji, well, you've got to see it to believe it...!

dated girls who cosplayed as the Dirty Pair

Ah, I totally missed out...! Are Dirty Pair cosplayers even around anymore? I guess everyone's into Naruto and Bleach nowadays. Last time I watched Vampire Hunter D, I had a strange urge to do him as a cosplay. But, whatever I'd make would probably look terrible, and I don't know how many people would recognize D anyway...

daisy-chained VHS and Beta, fan-subbed-and-dubbed

I love the old tape era and especially fansubs...! There's just something magical about them that you don't get with normal releases.

I did a fairly extensive guide on Dragonball fansubs, which have a pretty interesting history, here: http://animepast.net/History/Worldwide/ ... sub_Tapes/

What did you sub?

I'm almost afraid to ask about the fan-dubs. Looking back on them now, are you proud of them? Do you look back on them and laugh? What did you dub?

Jen still has some Seishun Shitemasu stuff on old tapes.


Scanning through your profile; thanks for filling it out. I haven't seen Soratobu Yurei-sen or read Pluto. How are they?

I'm keeping a page with links to all the sites and such that the members of this forum are working on: http://animepast.net/Links/. May I put up links to your stuff as well? I see that you've got more than just let's anime; if you'd let me put up the links, would you please also get me a list of URL's to the stuff you're working on, to make sure I don't miss anything?


And finally, I'm kind of curious -- with this long career full of experiences as a fan, is there one, or maybe are there a few, moments that you remember that really stand out as being special?


I was trying not to throw too much at you at once, but I ended up with a lot of questions anyway...! This is a lounge, so please feel free to take your time, and to respond to as much or as little as you'd like.

Anyhow, it's great to have you on board! Welcome!
Daniel

Hi, welcome to the forum. I took a look at your blog and pretty much immediately subscribed to your RSS feed! I know what you mean about taking extra suitcases to Japan. I just moved to Japan a month ago (I'd lived and worked here before from 200-2002), and I would always bring empty bags to bring my loot home in.

davemerrill wrote:dated girls who cosplayed as the Dirty Pair

Wow. TV series or OVA costumes? Just wondering...

I'm also interested in knowing more about that Starblazers wedding. The show was just slightly ahead of my time (I was born in '76), and my only exposure to Yamato was the fansubs of the original two seasons.

I found a biography of yours here. Corn Pone Flicks was involved with fansubbing Galaxy Express 999 and/or Captain Harlock, right? I know I've seen that name before.

AnimeSennin wrote:Dave,

I've been an anime fan since I was 2 and saw Prince Planet on TV.

I see you're also featuring the Prince Planet manga on your blog. Do you have 1965 issues of magazines just lying around?

The Prince Planet anime is streaming on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwsH0toX3k


As far as really classic anime goes, I myself love series like Ninpuu Kamui Gaiden (have it on JP VHS), and I adore Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji (have it on JP LD). I like the story/setting and the action of Ninpuu Kamui Gaiden, and I really like the fact that it isn't too totally far fetched, since ninja/samurai anime that have the kind of action that I like usually come bundled with fantastic superpowers, aliens, and other assorted extra goodies. Don't get me wrong, I love anime like Yotoden as much or probably even more than the next guy, but slightly more down to earth anime is nice as well. I also like the semi-random nature scenes, which really aren't found in anime at all anymore. And as for Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji, well, you've got to see it to believe it...!

dated girls who cosplayed as the Dirty Pair

Ah, I totally missed out...! Are Dirty Pair cosplayers even around anymore? I guess everyone's into Naruto and Bleach nowadays. Last time I watched Vampire Hunter D, I had a strange urge to do him as a cosplay. But, whatever I'd make would probably look terrible, and I don't know how many people would recognize D anyway...

daisy-chained VHS and Beta, fan-subbed-and-dubbed

I love the old tape era and especially fansubs...! There's just something magical about them that you don't get with normal releases.

I did a fairly extensive guide on Dragonball fansubs, which have a pretty interesting history, here: http://animepast.net/History/Worldwide/ ... sub_Tapes/

What did you sub?

I'm almost afraid to ask about the fan-dubs. Looking back on them now, are you proud of them? Do you look back on them and laugh? What did you dub?

Jen still has some Seishun Shitemasu stuff on old tapes.


Scanning through your profile; thanks for filling it out. I haven't seen Soratobu Yurei-sen or read Pluto. How are they?

I'm keeping a page with links to all the sites and such that the members of this forum are working on: http://animepast.net/Links/. May I put up links to your stuff as well? I see that you've got more than just let's anime; if you'd let me put up the links, would you please also get me a list of URL's to the stuff you're working on, to make sure I don't miss anything?


And finally, I'm kind of curious -- with this long career full of experiences as a fan, is there one, or maybe are there a few, moments that you remember that really stand out as being special?


I was trying not to throw too much at you at once, but I ended up with a lot of questions anyway...! This is a lounge, so please feel free to take your time, and to respond to as much or as little as you'd like.

Anyhow, it's great to have you on board! Welcome!
Daniel

Just to pile all the answers up - I have one 1965 issue of SHONEN MAGAZINE that was sent to me by a guy in Brazil (??) back in the 90s. As far as I know, the Prince Planet (Usei Shonen Papi) manga has never been collected. More 60s weeklies are on my list of stuff to get when we go back. Prince Planet is also streaming on HULU as well for those in the States.

Kamui is a terrific show; I love the gekiga style TCJ animation they used for that and for Ninja Sasuke, all the brushy lines, it has a great hand-drawn look that a period show really needs. They've got a LD box of Kamui down at Nikaku Animart in San Jose that they want crazy money for.

Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji aka Little Prince & The 8-Headed Dragon is a 60s classic, terrific Serikawa direction. Got to see a 35mm print of that at my college one year.

There are still a lot of classic anime cosplayers out there; at ALA last January we saw a Minmay, a Emeraldus, and a Kei Yuki from Captain Harlock as well as a great Char Aznable. On the East Coast there's a contingent of people who do Yamato and Matsumoto characters. Sailor Moon is making a comeback, though up here it never really went away.

I was involved with the Corn Pone Flicks group, we made goofy live-action films, parody dubs, straight fan subtitles, and a few comedy subtitles. My help was with acquiring decent copies of stuff to subtitle, putting Matt together with experts whenever he got stuck on the Japanese, writing the parody subtitles, a little script-editing here and there. We fansubbed the 78 Harlock series, the first 5 episodes of SSX, the 999 Queen Emeraldus special, Adieu 999, and Endless Fantasy, Queen Millenia, Arrivederci Yamato, jeez, I forget what else. A lot of that is either commerically available now or has been fansubbed by others and is available digitally. You can watch all of Harlock and 999 on the Hulu and Crackle online networks, which still amazes me. The parody subtitles were of the Toei short films Grandizer Vs Great Mazinger and Mazinger Z Vs Devilman. CPF did a whole bunch of stuff, you can check most of it out at their website which is at http://www.cornponeflicks.org/

CPF did a series of Star Blazers parody dubs under the title "Star Dipwads". They finished the first one before I met them, I was involved in "The Making Of Star Dipwads" and "The Star Dipwads Christmas Special" mostly doing camera work, and I did the voice of Captain Avatar in "Star Dipwads II: The Metal Years". The comedy value of these varies greatly. Parts of "Dipwads II" are really funny, and other parts are almost incomprehensible.

Soratobu Yurei-sen aka Flying Phantom Ship is this great 1969 Toei film about a super flying battleship that looks like a derelict sailing vessel that battles a secret conspiracy involving giant robots and evil undersea monsters and a soft drink that dissolves people. It's based on a Shotaro Ishinomori manga and key animation was by a guy called Hayao Miyazaki. Pluto is a recent manga series by Naoki Urasawa (Pineapple Army) based on the Astro Boy serial "The Mightiest Robot In The World". It's a wonderful re-imagining of Tezuka's world in a realistic context, both with the script and the art.

Most of what I'm working on these days is updates for Mister Kitty - we do a Stupid Comics feature every week - and my goal is to get two Let's Anime columns up a month, which I generally don't make, but that's the goal. If you link to both those you'll cover everything, pretty much. The conventions I'm involved with are Anime North in Toronto and AWA in Atlanta.

I've had a lot of great moments involved with AWA, it's always a blast to help put on a convention and see thousands of people enjoying themselves. Meeting Peter Fernandez and Corinne Orr, they were responsible for so much that entertained me as a child, that was kind of amazing. When my wife and I got married Corinne told us "Mazel Tov"! which was kinda special coming from Speed Racer's "Trixie".

greg wrote:Hi, welcome to the forum. I took a look at your blog and pretty much immediately subscribed to your RSS feed! I know what you mean about taking extra suitcases to Japan. I just moved to Japan a month ago (I'd lived and worked here before from 200-2002), and I would always bring empty bags to bring my loot home in.

davemerrill wrote:dated girls who cosplayed as the Dirty Pair

Wow. TV series or OVA costumes? Just wondering...

I'm also interested in knowing more about that Starblazers wedding. The show was just slightly ahead of my time (I was born in '76), and my only exposure to Yamato was the fansubs of the original two seasons.

I found a biography of yours here. Corn Pone Flicks was involved with fansubbing Galaxy Express 999 and/or Captain Harlock, right? I know I've seen that name before.

One of the girls I dated was part of a sister-team of Dirty Pair cosplayers who did every Dirty Pair outfit - the TV series, the OVAs, the movie, even the silver suits from the novels. They're all married now (and not to me). I know photos of all the outfits exist but I don't have any other than what was printed in "Animage".

The Star Blazers wedding went like this - Amy Howard, the original voice actress of Nova, got in touch with anime fandom in, I want to say, '97 or '98. We had her as a guest at AWA and there she met a staffer named David Wilson, one of my oldest fan friends (also involved in the Corn Pone Flicks.) They hit it off really well and in 2000 or 2001, I forget, they got married and I was the best man. Amy is wonderful to know and still is amazed that so many people were fans of her show, she's still involved with the fandom. Dave and Amy live in Virginia now but they do several conventions and they come down to AWA every year.

I know I'm prejudiced, but the '79 dub of Star Blazers is probably one of the best American dubs ever done of an animated series, the voice talent was drawn from stage actors in New York and it really shows. I think the America voice of Desslok (Eddie Allen) is better than the Japanese Desslar, to be honest.

Will post a proper reply sometime soon, but I just wanted to mention that I took a quick look, and it appears that a couple of Prince Planet books were just released in Japan.

Book 1
Book 2

That is sweet! Now I gotta get somebody to pick those up for me.

BTW I thought your blog is pretty hilarious at points, I bookmarked it.

Dave

Were you on Fidonet? I recognize your name but for the life of me can't remember exactly from where. I agree w/ you on the Starblazers dub... to bad the quality went so far south when anime hit the mainstream.

Hi, greg!

Paul! So our paths cross again... I thought you didn't care for anime anymore? Or maybe you just long for the good ol' days, so that's why you're here? In that case, you'll fit in here, for sure.

So you were on Fidonet too?