MORE
THAN JUST A
(The ABC^s of Anime)
“In the name of love
and justice...”
Recognize this? If
so, you’re one of many.
Since Japan’s “meatball”-
headed, bubbly superhero ^
first arrived on the scene,
she was destined for star
dom. Although immense
ly popular in Japan, her
first arrival in the States
was ...less-than welcome in
America. The English/North
American version of “Sailor
Moon,” adopted by DIG, ran on the
FOX network for a short-lived while, and then was discon
tinued, to the dismay of many new fans. I remember ninth
grade biology class composed mostly of doodles upon doo
dles of Sailor Moon and her four Sailor comrades. I was
even part of the online fan network that sought to re-instate
the “Sailor Moon” episodes where they had left off in the
middle of the second season. However, nothing really came
of that, and FOX never saw the Sailors again.
Meanwhile, I had graduated onto other anime. The
interest in “Sailor Moon” had apparently hit a nerve, and 1
was eager to find out more on this subject some called
Melissa Lin, Sophomore
“Japanese animation,” while others called it “aneem” (in
attempt to pronounce the Japanese vocabulary defining the
unique style of animation). Other friends of mine had become
interested through “Ronin Warriors” or even “Dragonball Z,”
which is still intensely popular. Still others grew up watching
Miyazaki Hasao’s famously endearing epics, such as “My
Neighbor Totoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” or the unfor
gettable “Grave of the Fireflies,” written and directed by
Takahata Isao and based on the semi-autobiographical story
by Nosaka Akiyuki.
In any case, I quickly found companions for this
anime obsession. It was completely new to me, though
Japan’s first anime is usually considered to be Astroboy, circa
1963. Mach Go-Go-Go a.k.
Speed Racer was an
anime that became
even more popular,
imported in 1967;
however, anime
made even more
of an impact in
the ‘80s, via
Robotech. The
early ‘90s saw the
addiction of “Sailoi
Moon” fans (of all ages
and genders), me included.
My obsession led to the internet, which was also
becoming an important asset. And once I learned about fan-
subs... (For those of you who are still “newcomers” to the
anime scene, fansubs are defined as anime in original
Japanese, with subtitles provided by fellow fans. This form of
nonprofit subbing benefits the anime-seeker since subbed
anime can be bought for the cost of the tape and S&H. There
is the dispute that fansubbing violates copyrights, since the
Japanese animation companies or creators aren’t getting com
pensated for their work; however, fansubbers argue that distri
bution of fansubs should help the Japanese industry. By
spreading the popularity of
anime at cost, more anime
fans are “created.” And once
the market sees the growing
demand for anime, supply in
the form of due compensation
and imports should follow.
(4)
(l)Sailor Moon, courtesy of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon for Neophytes at http://congly.freeservers.com/anime/smoon/;
(2) Dragonball Z, courtesy of Planet Namek at http://www.planetnamek.com/;
(3)Speed Racer, courtesy of the Unofficial Speed Racer website at http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/2523/;
(4) Totoro, courtesy ofSuika’s Totoro Page at http://www.angelfire.com/anime/totoro/
EW - 22