Japanese Anime

The world has changed a lot in the last 33 years. Osamu Tezuka stunned Japan with his Tetsuwan Atomu in 1963. Japan was still recovering from the destruction caused by WWII and emotions were highstrung on many issues. It was therefore a bold move as Tezuka, an established manga artist, told a story of the little robot boy with an atomic heart. This robot, disowned by his creator for the unpardonable sin of being a failure (he never grew), is rescued by people who care. Nurturing and accepting him, this "heartless" creature becomes the staunch advocate of the very race who shunned him and all his kind. Robots are second class citizens in the 21st century. The story goes on, but you get the idea. Japanese Anime has been around a long time and it's since spread to America. Our own Michiru Hikaru Kunou lives in the state of Colorado and is a dear friend to our JennyJ in Washington State. (If you don't know who JennyJ is then just look around are magazine a little and I'm sure you'll figure it out.)

Japanese Anime found it's way to America in the form of Astroboy in 1964. What Osamu Tezuka created was unique ... and people all over the world knew it immediately. Other shows slowly found their way to America. First, a giant robot show called Gigantor (Tetsujin 28) appeared, then, a robotic crimefighter called Tobor (The Eighth Man) appears and a show about a boy who is as at home underwater as above (Marine Boy).

As we came to the end of the sixties, Speed Racer popped up, and little boys went nuts. Here's a show with fast cars and a daring driver, who happens to have a little brother and his pet monkey who frequently stow away in the trunk. There were also shows created with female and animal characters. Overall Japanese Anime was securing a firm grip in many American's hearts both young and old.

As the Ninties dawned, so too anime in the US began to come into its own. In very short order the first true anime convention took place in America (AnimeCon '91), CPM/USMC was releasing anime, AnimEigo was releasing anime, US Renditions was releasing anime, Streamline was releasing anime (Stuf was releasing Astro Boy) ... in short it was almost everything that any fan at the time was looking for. There were only a few problems: first, the dollar dropped about half of its value against the Yen effectively making all the books twice as expensive in a matter of months. Second, while the US companies were gobbling up titles the release schedule was not what many would call expedient. Third, hard information was difficult to come by (outside of the few US magazines and some brave souls who were learning Japanese), much was largely conjecture.

Outside of people at Universities, having an Internet account around this time was a rarity. Most of the information being distributed was coming either from a few big BBS's, or from a translator named Sue Shambaugh. If you didn't own a personal computer and a modem, you spent your $3 and Sue would send you a neatly typed and photocopied script. Most people took these and flipped the pages while watching the program in question (one reason why earlier generation fans prefer subtitles almost to a person), but for some the way was clear. Besides the language barrier there were also logistical problems getting a watchable copy of what you wanted (particularly if you didn't live on one of the Coasts).

All those problems of language and logistics behind, Japanese Anime has definately found a strong footing and is a well recognized form of art in America. It's not to everyones liking, but then, what is?