Before everybody was an otaku...

[John Dillinger]

I hope this doesn't sound bad,but do any of the anime and manga fans here sometimes wish for the old days when anime and manga still had it's cult status
in the U.S and the rest of the world? Don't get me wrong, I like the fact you don't have to hunt high and low to get it, and you don't have to watch a third or fourth generation tape like the fans in the late 80's early 90's had to, but it just seems like too many people jumped on the bandwagon.(I'll admit to some hypocrisy, I'm going to enter a manga contest when my drawing skills are good enough.)

[Kuang_Grade]

I'm not busting on you man, but when I read the post, my first thought was this US TV ad from the 80's selling the music of what the 60's was supposedly all about
[yt]eBXjPuy_E0k[/yt]
Unfortunately, this is version is missing the classic opening question of one hippy saying "hey, man, do you remember the 60's...War...Protests...going to Jail?" to the other hippy, who is actually reading the Wall Street Journal.

Every subculture that gets popular goes through this...the original small vanguard, whom the market was originally focused on, is supplanted in importance by a less fanatical mass group that is viewed as posers and wannabes by the original vanguard. And eventually the market gets flooded with more and often weaker product and then it peeks, and the mass audience disappears and the vanguard blames the fakers for the collapse of the market. While some of the criticism may be correct, often it can be just someone who lives, breathes, and eats the subculture being put off that someone else enjoying the subculture without 'living the life' and putting the same amount of belief/effort into it as the hardcore does.

I thought this WaiWai piece from last year was a nice preview of the inevitable otaku thermidorian reaction that should be coming any month now. The last quote is really good.

Self-professed 'real otaku' rips into 'moe' fetish fakers
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2006/05/20060512p2g00m0dm014000c.html

Overall, I think it is not a bad thing...sure there a ton more stuff out there and alot of it is crap and it was easier 'back in the day' because there was simply far less stuff to sort through, but the fact is most of the stuff back in the day was crap too, but just because it was 'rare' and 'uncommon', westerners were alot more forgiving. Now that the market it bigger, companies can make bigger investments and hopefully produce better products, although some companies will just go for the quick buck.

[Naniwan Kid]

As someone who has entered and exited the anime scene off and on for the past 15 years, to bitch about the volume and access available today is like bitching that your internet is too fast. In the early 90s we had no information, and I had to go to a comic book store to rent anime titles (at sickening prices) to see anything. About 10 videos came out a year, and we wouldn't dare raise a ruckus. We were happy to get what we could dubbed, subbed, or whatever. Did I mention that that comic book store was on the top of a hill that was always covered in 2 to 4 feet of snow?

[Charles]

I disagree with the basic premise. Everybody is NOT an otaku. Manga sales are down. There's less anime on TV lately. Now that anyone can buy the stuff, it has lost its exotic appeal. Manga and anime have jumped the shark. Hooray.

[dimwit]

I hope this doesn't sound bad,but do any of the anime and manga fans here sometimes wish for the old days when anime and manga still had it's cult status in the U.S and the rest of the world?

I feel for you bro. I feel the same about monster trucks and midget wrestling.

[Uhhuh35]

I'm not busting on you man, but when I read the post, my first thought was this US TV ad from the 80's selling the music of what the 60's was supposedly all about
(Link Deleted)
Unfortunately, this is version is missing the classic opening question of one hippy saying "hey, man, do you remember the 60's...War...Protests...going to Jail?" to the other hippy, who is actually reading the Wall Street Journal.

LOL! "Hey man is that Freedom Rock? Well turn it up man!" ROTFLMFAO!:rofl:
Thanks for posting that I remember that from the 80's, I thought it was long gone.
Re-borne on You-Tube!

[John Dillinger]

As someone who has entered and exited the anime scene off and on for the past 15 years, to bitch about the volume and access available today is like bitching that your internet is too fast. In the early 90s we had no information, and I had to go to a comic book store to rent anime titles (at sickening prices) to see anything. About 10 videos came out a year, and we wouldn't dare raise a ruckus. We were happy to get what we could dubbed, subbed, or whatever. Did I mention that that comic book store was on the top of a hill that was always covered in 2 to 4 feet of snow?

You've got a point Naniwan. I really need to be glad it is so readily available. I feel you in regard to having to to great lengths in the old days. I used to be only be able to find a few titles at the chain video stores and when I did find a comic store that had a lot, I had to drive 27 miles. Kuang, you make a good point as well, I really just need to quit being a whiny bastard.

[Visitor K]

I hope this doesn't sound bad,but do any of the anime and manga fans here sometimes wish for the old days when anime and manga still had it's cult status

fuck yah, i have never been able to understand why anyone would like that shit.

[Naniwan Kid]

You've got a point Naniwan. I really need to be glad it is so readily available. I feel you in regard to having to to great lengths in the old days. I used to be only be able to find a few titles at the chain video stores and when I did find a comic store that had a lot, I had to drive 27 miles. Kuang, you make a good point as well, I really just need to quit being a whiny bastard.

Well, you said it, not me.

And I think we are a little spoiled now. With New Type and Shonen Jump and other magazines now in English, not to mention the thousands of official and fan sites on the internet, the volume of information is insane. As a result, we are getting titles like Coyote Ragtime Show about 6 months after its release in Japan, as opposed to several years later, as it used to be. I am not sure what the "heyday" is like. Otaku are still just as dorky as they ever were... maybe more so. They used to have a corner at the comic conventions, and now cos-players have their own conventions. YIKES!

[Mote2]

I hope this doesn't sound bad,but do any of the anime and manga fans here sometimes wish for the old days when anime and manga still had it's cult status
in the U.S and the rest of the world? Don't get me wrong, I like the fact you don't have to hunt high and low to get it, and you don't have to watch a third or fourth generation tape like the fans in the late 80's early 90's had to, but it just seems like too many people jumped on the bandwagon.(I'll admit to some hypocrisy, I'm going to enter a manga contest when my drawing skills are good enough.)

I agree with you.

I the 'old days', yah it was a pain and you had to deal with crappy copies more often than not (unless you had a contact like we did in AnimeCincinatti), but the trade off is kinda one sided in my opinion.

Now we can get it easy, but we have to deal with corporate translations and recycled, formulaic storylines. Yah there are more fans every day, but where we hoped in the 80s and 90s that that would lead to better quality anime circulation, it has instead lead to rampant anime fadism that in turn has lead to lower and lower mass produced trash being released, and legal action against people who try to distribute the worthwhile anime and fansubbers.

I was an art student who was persecuted for incorporated anime stylisation into my art, being denied scholorships and accused of being unpatriotic. Now, a decade later, I'm called a poser and a weeaboo.

I can't wait for the anime fad to end...