Hi Everybody!
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 3:09 am
Hello, everyone!
I just joined the forum, and I am happy to have come across the AnimePast website; I've always felt there was something different about that era of anime fandom, but it was also something I could never quite place my finger on - maybe that's something discussions here can uncover.
My name is Nathan, and I'm an historian and author, based in Virginia. I've written a little on anime and manga topics, but mostly so far on popular culture around the turn of, to the mid, century - pulp magazines, comic books, dime novels, and the like. My most recent book was recently nominated for an Eisner Award, for best Scholarly/Academic work, so I'm really happy about that.
I first got into anime in the early 90s, but did not start going to conventions or anything of the sort until later in the decade. I chose my forum name because, while Guyver was not the first anime I watched, it was the one that really got me hooked on the medium. From that, I branched into other titles, largely mecha, but not entirely - always having an interest in history, I would go back and find poorly (or not at all) fan-subtitled copies of older, benchmark series, such as the the first few Gundams, Ideon, Urusei Yatsura, 70s Devilman, the Galaxy Express 999 television series, Mazinger Z, and others. The newest entries into the Gundam and Evangelion (a series that has remained among my favorite fictional works of all time, period) franchises, I've enjoyed a great deal, as well as other, new and original titles; I have also been going back and watching titles from "back then" - El-Hazard, Trigun, Blue Seed, and other works of the era that I truly associate with my period of fandom.
In addition to science fiction fandom, I hold an interest in the history of anime fandom in America, and have written about it to some small extent, but I hope to write on it further, perhaps as an article, or a post for a website I'm going to be writing for soon - while I am unsure of the mode of dissemination, I do know that there is alot to be said about earlier fandom, not only its history, but what set it apart, where that demarcation is, between the "past" fandom, that seems to be represented by members of this group, and the new which, I would argue (like much of sf and comic fandom today) isn't really a fandom at all, in many cases. I would go so far as to say that the 90s were really a golden age of anime fandom in America, with no disparagement to previous eras intended, at all.
I do believe there was something unique about that time period for anime, and its American fans: you had a wide swath of genres, with characters that originated many of the archetypes used repeatedly in anime today. Even in the science fiction and fantasy genre alone, you had such diverse types of narratives, from Slayers to Evangelion to Project A-ko, to Nadesico, Ushio and Tora, and beyond. While there are certainly many new shows that are quite good, I (personally, at least) do not see as much of a wide and varied selection from which to choose. As far as the fan community, it was a time wherein the term "community" could still be aptly applied to those holding an interest in anime and manga; that interest could still be considered a sub genre, which is certainly no longer the case. Yes, conventions were growing in size and numbers, but they were still selling items and goods, or showing films and movies that, in many cases, you could find there, and there only, adding further to this community notion.
I could go on far longer, concerning my views on the history of fandom, and I hope that I get that opportunity on this forum; after all, that does seem to be a significant point of this forum in the first place!
So, to wrap things up, thanks for your time, and glad to be here!
-
I just joined the forum, and I am happy to have come across the AnimePast website; I've always felt there was something different about that era of anime fandom, but it was also something I could never quite place my finger on - maybe that's something discussions here can uncover.
My name is Nathan, and I'm an historian and author, based in Virginia. I've written a little on anime and manga topics, but mostly so far on popular culture around the turn of, to the mid, century - pulp magazines, comic books, dime novels, and the like. My most recent book was recently nominated for an Eisner Award, for best Scholarly/Academic work, so I'm really happy about that.
I first got into anime in the early 90s, but did not start going to conventions or anything of the sort until later in the decade. I chose my forum name because, while Guyver was not the first anime I watched, it was the one that really got me hooked on the medium. From that, I branched into other titles, largely mecha, but not entirely - always having an interest in history, I would go back and find poorly (or not at all) fan-subtitled copies of older, benchmark series, such as the the first few Gundams, Ideon, Urusei Yatsura, 70s Devilman, the Galaxy Express 999 television series, Mazinger Z, and others. The newest entries into the Gundam and Evangelion (a series that has remained among my favorite fictional works of all time, period) franchises, I've enjoyed a great deal, as well as other, new and original titles; I have also been going back and watching titles from "back then" - El-Hazard, Trigun, Blue Seed, and other works of the era that I truly associate with my period of fandom.
In addition to science fiction fandom, I hold an interest in the history of anime fandom in America, and have written about it to some small extent, but I hope to write on it further, perhaps as an article, or a post for a website I'm going to be writing for soon - while I am unsure of the mode of dissemination, I do know that there is alot to be said about earlier fandom, not only its history, but what set it apart, where that demarcation is, between the "past" fandom, that seems to be represented by members of this group, and the new which, I would argue (like much of sf and comic fandom today) isn't really a fandom at all, in many cases. I would go so far as to say that the 90s were really a golden age of anime fandom in America, with no disparagement to previous eras intended, at all.
I do believe there was something unique about that time period for anime, and its American fans: you had a wide swath of genres, with characters that originated many of the archetypes used repeatedly in anime today. Even in the science fiction and fantasy genre alone, you had such diverse types of narratives, from Slayers to Evangelion to Project A-ko, to Nadesico, Ushio and Tora, and beyond. While there are certainly many new shows that are quite good, I (personally, at least) do not see as much of a wide and varied selection from which to choose. As far as the fan community, it was a time wherein the term "community" could still be aptly applied to those holding an interest in anime and manga; that interest could still be considered a sub genre, which is certainly no longer the case. Yes, conventions were growing in size and numbers, but they were still selling items and goods, or showing films and movies that, in many cases, you could find there, and there only, adding further to this community notion.
I could go on far longer, concerning my views on the history of fandom, and I hope that I get that opportunity on this forum; after all, that does seem to be a significant point of this forum in the first place!
So, to wrap things up, thanks for your time, and glad to be here!
-
And nominated for an Eisner award to boot?! That's fantastic! I wish you luck!