The Old School Otaku Lounge

I wanted to create a thread, more of an outlet for any member to just post their feelings of people in their lives, fellow anime otaku that inspired them or were to enjoy the things they enjoy but are no longer alive. No need to post condolences as a reply back, but if you want to honor someone...feel free to.

I would like to post a shout out to a friend of mine named Angelo. I just hung out with him back in June at a Yankees vs. A's game and he passed away weeks after.

Angelo was my anime bud... We would go to Otaku Generation club meetings together, he would purchase the coolest Japanese VHS tapes from Japan Video from Japan Town in SF and I can easily remember when we would be amazed about "Ranma 1/2", "Video Girl Ai", "Macross 7", "DNA^2".

He was there when I purchased my first LD, TV and home theater setup to watch anime on LD.

It's tough because while I have a lot friend in the anime industry, friends that still throw or attend anime conventions, I had one friend who was there during my anime years. And now he's gone.

Our last conversations were talking about "Ranma 1/2" in HD, "Hoshi no Kinka" drama series from the past and more... Even those old "Kimagure Orange Road" LD's that AnimEigo made and he was so happy to have his name at the ending credits for pre-purchasing.

So, RIP to my good friend Angelo....

You may not have found your Moemi-chan but this one is for you bud!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ObME3y2_g

and I'll always remember you continually laughing when you heard Tatewake Kunou's chants during Akane's "Haato nibun no Naisho":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbTaNzi7Jcw

So sorry for your loss, kndy. Sounds like he was a great guy who had good taste in anime. RIP.

Yesterday was what would have been my younger brother Alex's 25th birthday. He passed in 1996, when he was 6 yrs old, but every time another year passes I remember many good times I had with him. I think I would have been really close with him if he were here today, much closer than the rest of my family.

We all got into anime together. I have no doubt that he'd still be into it today. He had an infectious smile, loved cartoons and toys, and wanted to someday learn martial arts. He loved Ranma 1/2 just as much as I did, watching it every day with me, and even while he was bedridden and sick, we would watch the first movie together. His favorite character was P-chan.

He was a huge fan of Power Rangers, and was an avid collector of the Megazord toys. He also loved Ronin Warriors, we would record it every time it was on and watch it together. I think robots and armored fighting warriors were a recurring theme for him. He even drew robots of his own creation often.

As I have mentioned on this forum before, after his passing, while watching Robot Carnival one day, we always thought of him while watching Mao Lamdo's Cloud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgRMyexR1WQ

I dunno if he's really considered an "aging otaku" but I'd like to think he would have been.

My homeboy Steve back when I was in my mid-teens. He died of leukemia back in May of 2000.

We loved playing games, watching anime, and talking about Japan together. He was barely diagnosed with leukemia when I first met him but that didn't stop him from hanging out and seeing me. His family, my family, other friends' family did all we could to be there for him. But despite his condition, according to his family, he was still him. During his time with us, we would be playing Dragon Ball Z games on Saturn and watching VHS fansub anime or VHS anime in general. We also played up the Dreamcast from dusk till dawn. He also spent his free time doing model kits mostly Rockman stuff. I remember he bought some Japanese model kits at an import store just down the street from where he was living with his brother and mom. Unfortunately, we lost contact with his mom when she moved to Florida.

Then the later half of his condition, he went to North Carolina to be with his father. Then after a family trip to The Philippines, we got the news from another friend that he died. It was tough. In his last few weeks, he couldn't go to school and I remember his father managed to find a Japanese tutor for him and he was starting to study Japanese which was cool.

I'm pretty sure if he were with us today. He'd really enjoy the world regardless of all the fucked up problems going on today.

Jeff Thompson worked as ADR and producer for The Right Stuf on titles like Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Kare Kano and Assemble Insert; he got us invited to our first Ohayocon in 2006; and a week later he was dead.

I likely would not have gotten involved in anime fandom if not for a guy named Derek Wakefield; he ran the EDC Starblazers fan club in Dallas in the '80s. My membership application to the club was answered by a phone call from Derek who wanted to know if I wanted to run a chapter of the club in Georgia (yes I did). He turned the management of the club over to others and it eventually became Project A-Kon, more or less, but Derek continued his Star Blazers fan activity up until a series of illnesses finally did him in earlier this year. Not a day goes by I don't look at a Yamato thing and think of Derek.

I think my bud from Nagasaki might have passed some time ago. He was a big mystery book fan and attended Bouchercon numerous times. I did a quick look and his name is not on the attendees lists for the past 5 years. I do know he had some medical problems about 2000 when we ceased writing to each other. There doesn't seem to be a way to check Japanese obits online however. I'll probably never know. Without him, I would never have been able to get the tapes and other material to distribute to clubs and individuals over the course of 20 years.

They just buried an assistant video director for AWA last weekend. He wasn't an old guy, either. In fact I think he was younger than me.

I know the AMV director that died a few years back was DEFINITELY younger than me. Getting spooky out there.

Daniel Taraschke passed away in his sleep late Halloween/early Nov. 1:

http://kevinbolk.tumblr.com/post/101901 ... to-big-dan

If you attended East Coast anime cons you might have known him as "Big Danny T", frequent and enthusiastic cosplayer, con staffer, and fan personality. I didn't know him that well myself, but he was more or less my age, which makes me wonder how somebody my age can "die in his sleep" and if it's catching. I hope not.

davemerrill wrote:Daniel Taraschke passed away in his sleep late Halloween/early Nov. 1:

http://kevinbolk.tumblr.com/post/101901 ... to-big-dan

If you attended East Coast anime cons you might have known him as "Big Danny T", frequent and enthusiastic cosplayer, con staffer, and fan personality. I didn't know him that well myself, but he was more or less my age, which makes me wonder how somebody my age can "die in his sleep" and if it's catching. I hope not.

I'd read about that on Twitter--I never met Big Dan, but I knew people who did (I even know someone who lives in his neighborhood, apparently!) and I was shocked and saddened to hear he'd passed. That story you linked was very sweet...I think many of us are lucky enough to have someone like that in our lives, so it's always heartbreaking when something happens to them. RIP, Big Danny T.