My Anime Roots

[puppetmaker]

There is a live action version of Battleship Yamato aka Starblazers that is showing in Japan. There is rumor that it might come to the US next year. I’d buy a ticket to it in a heartbeat. Starblazers is my early Anime. Also there is a CGI version of Harlock that there has been a teaser trailer to that I so want to see.

It was TBS I think before it was TBS and I was in high school. TBS starting showing Battle of the Planets/G-Force (Gatchaman), Star Blazers (Battleship Yamato), later that horrible mash-up of Queen of 1000 years and Captain Harlock (Captain Harlock and the Queen of 1000 years), and Robotech (which is a mish-mash of a couple of series). Those were my first shows. I liked the animation but loved the sweeping story lines which wasn’t really done in American cartoons which tended to be done in one.

Through conventions, Bill Ritch, and my college anime club I was introduced to Vampire Hunter D, Project Ako, Akira, Moblesuit Gundam, and My Youth in Arcadia among many other series. I found that I preferred the series with the convoluted storylines rather than the robot battles. I loved Vampire Hunter D and all the lovely artwork that came out of it. (Remember kids this is before the age of the Internet so finding things was difficult and expensive.)

Since then I have drifted in and out of anime. I have enjoyed Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Witch Hunter Robin, and any Miyazaki had a hand in. Ariel grew up with Sailor Moon and Pokemon. Caroline enjoys those and Bakugan (which she learned to play in New Zealand), Sugar, and other anime that Ariel enjoys.

I am still on the look out for a copy of Arcadia of my youth: Endless Orbit SSX but no luck so far. I am also on the look out for things I might not have seen yet that people think are good.

So what do you like in animeland? Or even good US series (Symbiotic Titan rules!) with an anima twist?

I am grateful that I found Anime when I did.

Comments

[wide_worlds_joy]

I too grew up on Battle of the Planets/Starblazers. It was channel 46 in Atlanta that showed them. I STARTED, however, on Speed Racer, the really original. That was when I was 8 or so, and BotP/S was when I was 12 on. Didn't get exposed to anything else until much MUCH later. Didn't know who the Dirty Pair was even though a friend from here and DW played one at a con, and moved with some of the same people I was with at the same time.

Now, Bleach, Witch Hunter Robin (a lot like La Femme Nakita, but in anime), Princess Princess, All the Girls love Elder Sister, Neon Genesis, Fullmetal, Angel Layer and many others are animes I come back to many times. I've seen other series that are "eh", but just as I don't like every show on TV, I'm not going to like every anime either.

Rhiannon grew up on Sailor Moon, Inuyasha and others, and she's trying to get into some of the cosplay at the cons. Love her to death.