Keeping The Faith, yeah
CHORN%POMONA....@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu
ANIME-L list at VTVM1. If you simply forward it back to the list, it will be
distributed with the paragraph you are now reading being automatically removed.
If you edit the contributions you receive into a digest, you will need to
remove this paragraph before mailing the result to the list. Finally, if you
need more information from the author of this message, you should be able to do
so by simply replying to this note.
----------------- Message requiring your approval (87 lines) ------------------
From: POMONA::CHORN 6-APR-1991 23:23:31.23
To: IN%"sakai%dylink....@usc.edu"
CC: CHORN
Subj: RE: ????????????
Dear Mr. Sakai: My first exposure to anime was in, of all places, Teheran,
Iran, where I lived from 1973-75, with the show "Speed Racer" (the English-
language version of the show I believe was called "Maha Go Go Go" in Japan).
"Speed Racer" was shown on AFRTS, the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
I don't know how different the American version of the show was from the
original, but it came under attack from PTA groups throught the country due
to the show's depiction of violent car crashes, death and injuries. You might
be interested to know that "Speed Racer" is today considered to be a part of
American popular culture. Rolling Stone magazine regularly features advertise-
ments for four different Speed Racer T-shirts, and I've seen bars that have
adopted Speed Racer motifs for their own ads. Pitney-Bowes uses Speed Racer
in its TV commercials, and comedians who address audiences under 25 can make
Speed Racer jokes and be sure they will laugh...I naturally have an affection
for the show, even though I haven't seen it in years and would probably be
embarrassed by the quality of the dubbing. My next exposure to anime was not
until 1982, when I attended a Dungeons and Dragons convention in San Mateo,
California, and a man named Owen Hannifen was showing English-subtitled
episodes of "Space Pirate Captain Harlock." (Mr. Hannifen, as I later found
out, introduced many people to anime through showing it at gaming, comic book,
and SF conventions throughout the West Coast). My sister and I were both taken
with the show, and I sought out these shows at later conventions in 1983 and
1984. It was at these convention anime programs that I first saw such things
as Tezuka's "Phoenix 2772," Miyazaki's "Nausicaa," and TV episodes such as
Urusei Yatsura: "Memory Is A Lum Doll" (which was so strange, I thought at
first the entire episode was meant to be a dream. But I knew I wanted to see
more of the flying girl in the tiger-stripe bikini), and Lupin The Third:
"Goemon's Revenge" (Lupin III remains my favorite anime TV series). At the
1984 Grimcon in Oakland, I saw a flyer for the Dublin branch of the C/FO,
at that time the first English-speaking anime fan club in the world. I
joined up, and at their first meeting they showed the first Lupin movie,
dubbed in English (a very bizarre story, but one of the best dubbing jobs
to date in the voice casting), and the second, subtitled in English. By 1985,
I was helping put on anime shows at conventions. By 1986, I was helping to
write and draw for the program books for these showings. BayCon 1986, in
San Jose, was a milestone for anime fans in the U.S., with its comprehensive
program and professional program book. In December of 1986, I organized my
own one-day Lupin III convention, "Lupin 15" (for 15 years of Lupin on TV)
which was held in my high school's video projection room and also featured
a program book. The high point of my working for conventions was in 1987,
when I co-authored the 1987 Timecon anime program book (an excellent book,
especially with its dynamic art layout). It was at this program that Mr.
Hideo Ogata of Animage spoke and screened the English-dubbed version of
"Laputa," which, I understand, was its American premiere. It was also in
1987 that I went to Japan and interviewed Mr. Yasuo Ohtsuka of Tokyo-Movie
Shinsha for ANIMAG. And it was in 1987 that The Wings Of Honneamise premiered,
which I consider to be without a doubt the greatest anime film, shamefully
underappreciated both in Japan and the United States. After the climaxes of
1987, I entered college and fell out of the mainstream of anime fans.
But I think that around 1986-1987, a new generation of anime fans began to
emerge in the United States. The old generation was characterized by small
groups of widely scattered people, who had a few tenuous connections to
Japan (a pen-pal, perhaps) and would watch a few precious third-generation
copies of anime movies and TV shows, often with little knowledge of what was
actually going on. They collected soundtracks on LP, coveted as much for
their music as for the cover art and posters included--for instance, Monkey
Punch's great cartoons for the Lupin soundtracks. Information spread by
mail, by newsletters which might come out a twice a year (The C/FO Magazine,
put out by Jane E. McGuire and Kurt Black, had articles often better than
ANIMAGs.) This generation watched Astro Boy, Kimba, Cutie Honey, Gundam,
Lupin III, SSX, Cobra, Patalliro, Urusei Yatsura. In 1986, ROBOTECH made
anime commonplace on American TV. Practically everyone at my high school,
whether they had shown any interest in SF or anime previously, watched it--
and discussed the episodes at school the next day. It was something never
seen before--cartoons with issues frequently larger than those which could
be found on ordinary television. At this time, slick magazines such as
Anime-Zine, and, most importantly, ANIMAG, began to emerge to fill the
information gap. Paradoxically, many "old generation" anime fans saw the
quality of anime declining, with talent disappearing from TV and films and
going into the new field of OAVs. Many of the early OAVs were stylish and
exciting, such as "Megazone 23" and "Vampire Hunter D," but it seemed that
those that followed were rarely of great quality. The new generation watches
their animation on laser discs and listens to their soundtracks on CD. For
conventions, they demand projection TV, subtitled films, and surround-sound.
They watch Kimagure Orange Road, Dominion, Bubble Gum Crisis, Dirty Pair,
Ranma, Dangaioh, Nadia, AKIRA. Their ideal will be the Animecon this year.
Maybe this is the triumph of the old generation, to which my heart belongs,
too. Sorry to ramble on, but the story of an American anime fan just kept
pouring out...I hope you found some of it interesting.
Sincerely,
Carl G. Horn