January 1990 Pt1.

Moving forward in to the 90's with the knowledge of a Video programme that would be a part of the British Science Fiction Convention (EastCon 90) taking place over the weekend of the 14^th. of April, and the hopes of meeting like-minded people for the first time, gave me the motivation to find more information and make new contacts regarding Japanese popular culture.

[Note: In Post 6. I touched upon the importance of the British FanZine MekTek.

MekTek ]

The art of polite letter writing, whether a letter was handwritten or typed (on a manual typewriter no less!) people did embellish the envelopes, make their own letter-headed paper, and had little pieces of artwork to accompany their signature, this all added to the Pen-Pals network a sense of community however far apart we all where. Having the patience for a reply (that would take weeks in some cases, as International mail can take its time), add to this that you may not be the only person writing to them that week, the time scale for communicating back and fourth was unlike today’s electronic mail and messaging services for speed of delivery!

[Note: In Post 25. I start to hint at the importance of the September (1989) issue of Appleseed Book 3 part 2, as the gateway to the American Anime Fandom, and a means to contact Pen-Pals in the Uk. American Anime Fandom, started to find more details here EDC & Anime Hasshin.]

So the the two main American Anime Fan clubs I contacted where 'Anime Hasshin' and the E.D.C., and may I add that I was not the only one who had seen the listings in the issue of the Appleseed Comic-book, and that many American Fan clubs had contacts and members lists to put people in touch with one another, that was all part of the family of the Anime Fandom in those days. As you can see from these flyer’s Anime characters, Science Fiction and Comedies where popular icons of the day!

 I hope you can name all the Anime characters?!