Sunday, 08-Nov-2009 23:35:27 CST
History
of Anime in the U.S.
US Anime Releases During the Nineties
As the Nineties 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.
Remember, 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 (sometimes both at the same time ... a situation that
was most disturbing to her!). 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. Then, as now, a small group of people owned a particular
computer built (and basically disowned) by Commodore Business Machines,
and with some relatively inexpensive addons could subtitle on their
own. Of course, since even with this hardware and available scripts,
it was a bit of work for a finished product so only the person's
favorite stuff would be so treated. Even then, there were logistical
problems getting a watchable copy of what you wanted (particularly
if you didn't live on one of the Coasts). Enter the tape traders.
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