The General Anime Thread!

[Firebird]

Anime became more mainstream in the U.S. long before Toonami.

Space Battleship Yamato/Starblazers started the first real penetration of Anime into U.S. culture (there was Anime in the 1960s too with Speed Racer/Mach GO GO, Tetsujin 28/Gigantor and Kimba The White Lion but it wasn't really recognized as such at the time by many in the U.S. audience) in 1978 and SDF Macross/Robotech and Captain Harlock and the Queen of 1000 Years continued the trend in 1984 - and the film AKIRA made a splash and raised awareness in 1988 followed by Sailor Moon and Pokemon in the early 1990ies.

I'm aware of the shows that made it over during the 60s thru the 80s, but they were still relatively niche compared to the explosion of the medium following the turn of the century. It was still incredibly hard to find much translated or localized anime and manga in the states until the 90s.

 

[Noname On A Naughty List]

True -- except in the '80s, we called it "Japanimation."

Not on the circles I was in, that was considered a slur even then (and I was deep into Anime fandom on the 80s. I was often the person running the Anime room at various science fiction conventions and assisting when Anime conventions started to become a thing.)

It was either "Japanese Animation" or "Japanese Anime" or just "Anime".

If you used the term you described, the person got a quick talking to and didn't use it in our fan circles.

 

[Christopher]

If you used the term you described, the person got a quick talking to and didn't use it in our fan circles.

Stands to reason. Kinda like how Star Trek fans got offended if you called us Trekkies instead of Trekkers, and how hardcore science fiction fandom used to see "sci-fi" as a demeaning slur. But it was the term used in early media coverage, e.g. in Starlog Magazine. It took a while for the Japanese term to percolate out of the core fandom into wider public awareness.

 

[Noname On A Naughty List]

I'm aware of the shows that made it over during the 60s thru the 80s, but they were still relatively niche compared to the explosion of the medium following the turn of the century. It was still incredibly hard to find much translated or localized anime and manga in the states until the 90s.

The 90s is when actual Anime Conventions specifically focused on Anime started to appear.

That's when it really started to become more mainstream; and at least in my area of Sourthern CA; Manga started to become accessible in regular comic shops thanks to VIZ and Animego around the time of AKIRA in 1988; and in the 90s some Blockbuster video stores had a small selection of Anime available.

 

[Set Harth]

They're both set in fantasy worlds based on D&D tropes and European settings (though the characters' attitudes and cultural values are very Japanese). Both universes' magic systems are based on the concept of mana as a magical energy source, though I guess that's part of the larger "based on D&D tropes" point (though D&D got it from Larry Niven, who appropriated it from Polynesian spirituality).

D&D didn't originally use a mana system. That crept in somewhere along the way, several rule revisions later. Even now it's referred to as a 'variant' system.

 

[Charlie Xmas]

Stands to reason. Kinda like how Star Trek fans got offended if you called us Trekkies instead of Trekkers, and how hardcore science fiction fandom used to see "sci-fi" as a demeaning slur. But it was the term used in early media coverage, e.g. in Starlog Magazine. It took a while for the Japanese term to percolate out of the core fandom into wider public awareness.

I heartily embraced 'Trekkie' and never got angry over it. It's a badge of honor now. I remember 'Japanimation' being used for a brief period in the early 90s, and 'anime' by the middle '90s.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Anime became more mainstream in the U.S. long before Toonami.

Space Battleship Yamato/Starblazers started the first real penetration of Anime into U.S. culture (there was Anime in the 1960s too with Speed Racer/Mach GO GO, Tetsujin 28/Gigantor and Kimba The White Lion but it wasn't really recognized as such at the time by many in the U.S. audience) in 1978 and SDF Macross/Robotech and Captain Harlock and the Queen of 1000 Years continued the trend in 1984 - and the film AKIRA made a splash and raised awareness in 1988 followed by Sailor Moon and Pokemon in the early 1990ies.

Those were the "Early Days".

The fans of Anime back then, were the first embers to light a fire to the larger Anime Fandom that would follow afterwards.

Spoiler: How manga broke the US comic industry

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Here's a good documentary of the Early Days of Manga coming to the US shores and how it came about.

 

[Steve Roby]

Stands to reason. Kinda like how Star Trek fans got offended if you called us Trekkies instead of Trekkers

I never liked either Trekkie or Trekker. I'm a Star Trek fan, just like I'm a Doctor Who fan rather than a Whoey or a Whoer.

Back on the subject of anime... I finished Psycho-Pass 2 and liked it more by the end than I had early on. Then I watched Psycho-Pass: The Movie, which put me in mind of Mamoru Oshii's Patlabor movies and Ghost in the Shell, given its greater focus on the philosophy and politics of the Sibyl System. It's not every anime film that refers repeatedly to Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth. (I haven't read it, but my wife did when she was doing a degree in anthropology.) But it's also well animated and it's good to see Shinya Kogami and Akane Tsunemori back in action together.

 

[Charlie Xmas]

Those were the "Early Days".

The fans of Anime back then, were the first embers to light a fire to the larger Anime Fandom that would follow afterwards.

Spoiler: How manga broke the US comic industry

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Here's a good documentary of the Early Days of Manga coming to the US shores and how it came about.

That was pretty good. I subscribed after watching him.

 

[Set Harth]

I never liked either Trekkie or Trekker. I'm a Star Trek fan, just like I'm a Doctor Who fan rather than a Whoey or a Whoer.

A Whovian?

 

[Steve Roby]

That also sounds silly to me, and though I don't know if this is accurate, I've read that Whovian was a term invented by American fans and not terribly popular in the UK.

 

[Christopher]

That also sounds silly to me, and though I don't know if this is accurate, I've read that Whovian was a term invented by American fans and not terribly popular in the UK.

Hm, I would've thought it was derived from Latin-influenced British usages like "Shavian" for George Bernard Shaw.

 

[Set Harth]

well I certainly don't think "Whoer" is likely to catch on for obvious reasons...

 

[JD]

Anime became more mainstream in the U.S. long before Toonami.

Space Battleship Yamato/Starblazers started the first real penetration of Anime into U.S. culture (there was Anime in the 1960s too with Speed Racer/Mach GO GO, Tetsujin 28/Gigantor and Kimba The White Lion but it wasn't really recognized as such at the time by many in the U.S. audience) in 1978 and SDF Macross/Robotech and Captain Harlock and the Queen of 1000 Years continued the trend in 1984 - and the film AKIRA made a splash and raised awareness in 1988 followed by Sailor Moon and Pokemon in the early 1990ies.

Was it a regular thing to use anime footage in music videos in that era? Just seems kind weird and random to me since the songs in this video and the earlier one don't seem to have an connection the movies the footage is from or even Japan in general.
I've been meaning to ask, what is the proper pronunciation for manga? Is mon(like Montreal)-ga, or main-ga? I've only seen it written, never heard it spoken.

 

[Christopher]

I've been meaning to ask, what is the proper pronunciation for manga? Is mon(like Montreal)-ga, or main-ga? I've only seen it written, never heard it spoken.

The "a" in Japanese is always pronounced "ah." So it's "ma" as in "Ma and Pa." It's actually three syllables, ma-n-ga, but usually said so quickly that it's hard to tell the difference.

 

[Firebird]

It's actually three syllables, ma-n-ga, but usually said so quickly that it's hard to tell the difference.

I have never heard manga pronounced other than with two syllables, regardless of it being said by a Japanese or English speaker.

 

[Christopher]

I have never heard manga pronounced other than with two syllables, regardless of it being said by a Japanese or English speaker.

Every syllable in Japanese ends in a vowel, except n (ん), which is a syllable unto itself. "Manga" is written in hiragana as まんが -- three syllables, ma-n-ga. (Although it's normally written in kanji as 漫画.) As I said, the word is normally pronounced quickly enough that the syllables blend together, but it's still three distinct syllabic units, and would be pronounced that way if spoken slowly for emphasis, or if it were used in a song lyric and spread out to fit the notes.

 

[Noname On A Naughty List]

Was it a regular thing to use anime footage in music videos in that era? Just seems kind weird and random to me since the songs in this video and the earlier one don't seem to have an connection the movies the footage is from or even Japan in general.
I've been meaning to ask, what is the proper pronunciation for manga? Is mon(like Montreal)-ga, or main-ga? I've only seen it written, never heard it spoken.

I don't recall if it was a regular thing in the late 80s or early 90s; but I remember seeing some footage of Vampire Hunter D in an actual bands music video back in the day.