The Anime Nostalgia Facility.
Join me on my Nostalgic journey of the Anime Fandom in the UK from mid 1980's to the late 1990's, in celebration of the pioneers.
After years of hoarding boxes of Anime magazines, Japanese comic books, Anime convention ephemera, personal correspondence, VHS Video tapes, fanzines, and Anime Club details.
I would like to add to the World Wide Web's records this account of a time before e-mails and websites were popular, and how a Fandom grew.
[My intention is to get across the
accurate facts of how different 80's & 90;s Fandom is to the
ultra modern Internet generation, that have it all that their
fingertips, what takes seconds, minutes, and a few hours, took days,
weeks and years for the postal generation!]
I would like to dedicate this Blog to
two pioneers that heavily influenced my fascination with Japanese
popular culture – Toren Smith (April 12, 1960 to March 4, 2013) and
Carl Macek (September 21, 1951 to April 17, 2010). Your choices
shaped a whole generation, even outside of the US in falling in love
with the pictorial image and animated visuals from Japan.
[The
start of the UK Anime Fandom was a collection of Pen-Pals – That's
right people wrote letters to each other on paper and sent them in
envelopes via the post, and it took days to get to the other person
and you had to wait days or weeks for a reply (as long as you
included a SSAE). There was NO Instant Messaging, or texting and
e-mail was practically unheard of.]
Anime Day (March 7 & 8,1992)
"Anime Day - 0092 Con in the pocket"
(Anime Day No. 2)
Happy 25th. Birthday
Flyer found by S. Solomon.
Two entries can be found; One for the Fan Club 'ANIME KYO UK' and one for its Publication 'A.K.N.' (Anime Kyo News) @ fandata.com
[NOTES: For 1980's and 1990's early Anime fandom, that was from a paper-age before the popularity of the World Wide Web (Internet), The Fandom Directory helped so many find like-minded enthusiasts!]
2016 Marks 25 years of supporting Anime Conventions in the uk.
Well done Sheffield Space Centre.
Anime Day 1991 (Anime Day No. 1)
Anime Day (March 7 & 8,1992)
"Anime Day - 0092 Con in the pocket"
(Anime Day No. 2)
Happy 25th. Birthday
Flyer found by S. Solomon.
Ads from 1991 and 1992
Sheffield Space Centre, shouting to the United Kingdom that "The Japanese Invasion" is here!! in 1989.
Advertisment in 'Speakeasy' #103 October 1989.
Well done to Dave Bromehead, Rick Cowling, and the Lads of the Space Centre, for promoting Anime & Manga in the UK.
I've done the RSS thing to this, and no I haven't forgotten about the photographs I've promised you.
ReplyDeleteLooking good, cant wait to see this site develop.
ReplyDeleteAh, the good old days of 5th gen very copies with Chinese subtitles. Looking forward to seeing this develop.
ReplyDeleteHello Tsunami,
DeleteThank you all for taking the time to post your thoughts about my personal trip down memory lane, a mostly forgotten time of exploration and discovery,
I hope the blog has been a bit of nostalgia for you, thinkingof those snowy recordings of the good old days!
It was way back in 2007 when I first thought that someone should chronicle those early days of the late 80's and early 90's UK Anime & Manga Fandom. After a year or two of procrastination, ok, ok, it was 2013 when I settled on a Blog instead of a website, it was high time that I organise my collection of fan letters and correspondence from Anime Pen-Pals, those early translated Manga that I still had, and boxes of all the paperwork that UK and US Anime distributors had sent me, and what paperwork I still had from the days that I ran my Fan club 'Anime Kyo UK'.
Even after these 18 months or so of cataloguing and blogging I estimate that it will take 4 years to post what I have, so please drop in from time to time to my little museum of the time the Anime Fandom forgot.
If you all could spread the word or offer encouragement, to keep me going that would make my day.
Dredging my memory banks, I recall watching really bad (video) quality anime on third or fourth gen tapes with subtitles in Cantonese. Sometimes if you were lucky, the tapes would come with translation sheets, just A4 sheets of paper with the translations on, and you had to try and read along with the video.
ReplyDeleteAs for convention memories, they were always fun times, the cons were more relaxed and friendly than the more modern cons (the possible exception being Minamicon which has stayed true to it’s roots). Time was often spent sitting in the hotel foyer, chatting with people. These days the hotel foyer is a great place to see cosplayers.
There was the time that Sheffield space centre forgot that the dealer's room opened early and I was left holding the fort for at least half an hour, looking after their stall.
Then there was the all nighter at one of the Sheffield cons where they showed live action Kekko Kammen. No subs, so we made our own lines up. Near facial paralysis from laughing too much followed.
There was the con where fandom struck back, the last of the Shinnenkai cons. From my point of view, as a gopher, things were not going well. Half the time we couldn't find con committee members when they were needed. Turns out, several of them had gone into central London to go shopping with the GOH (Chisa Yokoyama, seiyū for Sasami in Tenchi Muyo). The queue for the concert was immense as no-one thought that every single person at the con would want to go to it! Once the concert got started, we were prevented from taking photos of the star and it ended after three or four songs. When it came to the gophers party at the end of the convention, it simply never happened. The next year's con never took place as virtually no-one booked for it.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to the first Minamicon (I was at the other end of the country and had no idea it existed). I did go to the 2nd one, it was blisteringly hot (the last time Minami was held during the summer) and the hotel air con broke down. I remember ordering pizza from the hotel and not being able to face eating it, it was just too hot!
There was a huge sense of camaraderie in the fandom in those days, the feeling that we were exploring something new and very different.
Do you have any photos or videos from the early cons you went to? I'm interested in seeing what early UK anime cons were like compared to how they are today.
DeleteHello Brad, Yes Photos do exist, I think very few people would have VHS or Cam footage of the early 90's Cons, as equipment was big and expensive. chronologically as i am doing one month at a time, uploads will take time..!
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ReplyDeleteI too will echo that "There was a huge sense of camaraderie in the fandom in those days,"
DeleteI'm guessing Anime Day 1991 is the first ever anime convention in the UK? It's not even listed on animecons.com, only the 1992 one is listed on there. Wish I could find some photos or video footage from these early cons in the UK. I'd like to compare the small numbers of people at them to the massive conventions that take place today.
ReplyDeleteHi, Yes Anime day was the first UK Convention, and I only have a few photographs, and will upload within a years time or sooner), it was just a few 100 people mostly Anime Pen-pals when it was so NEW, Manga, Japanimation (Anime), oh and Robot kits too!
DeleteCarlo,
ReplyDeleteThis blog is very interesting, although I have left it too long before commenting! The first anime con I went to was an Anime Day in Sheffield, but I can't remember the year (probably '94) - it must have been the Rutland hotel, although looking at it now on Google street view it doesn't seem quite the way I recall it... I do remember the room being like an oven because the heating was stuck on, or something.
I don't have much left from ye olde days, although I have a box full of Minami con stuff!
P L
Hi Phillip, No not at all, as I've not uploaded for months (as I am still cataloging and collecting). Ah the Macross Celebration in 1994 the last Anime Day (4), by that time Anime was cumming out on VHS in the uk. What year did Southampton start with Minami?
ReplyDeleteCarlo,
ReplyDeleteSorry for not replying sooner, I think the first Southampton Minami was 96 or 95 - I will have to check. The first Minami was in Portsmouth (or near it!).
PL
Update on that, Carlo - after asking "Those in the Know" I got 1997 as the year of the first Southampton Minami.
ReplyDeletePL
1997 is past my era... Thanks for the update.
DeleteI just wanted to thank you for everything you've done to preserve the spirit of the early western anime fandom scene. I was a little too young to experience it fully, but it's a period I'm absolutely fascinated by, and to be able to browse magazine scans and zines from that era is really awesome. Thank you for all your work here, it is appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThank you KiddMarine, It was an era of Magazines and Fanzine, and your local Comic-book shop\store was a very important Hub (in my Opinion). Hopefully in the years to come, people can take it all in, and come up with a picture of what it was like. :-)
DeleteWow, I was at anime day 1 and 2, that was a long time ago... I remember watching Akira for the first time there and a treasure memory where a guy ducked to avoid getting in the way of the projector and tripped and bashed his head on the door :)
ReplyDeleteFirst showing of anime at a major con in the UK was (I believe) at the World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton in 1987. The con chair denied us the use of the big screen TV so a few of us huddled around a 5" portable TV and VCR brought by Mark Merlino. I have a picture from then, which sadly exists as only a photostat as the original pic and film is lost. But both Helen McCarthy and Steve Kyte are in it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for adding that bit of Anime History. Did you catch the article in NEO Magazine last March (2021)?
DeleteCarlo,
ReplyDeleteI was one of those kids who got VHS tapes from you back at the beginning... Appleseed, Akira and Laputa first. Then many more.
Every time a new tape came from you in the mail, it felt like Christmas!
This was 1990. No one that I knew back then knew anything about it (nor cared), but I was hooked the moment I saw Laputa on television one Saturday morning. I asked around. The guy who ran Console Ma'zine (wish I could remember his name - I did two fanzine covers for him) pointed me in your direction.
It's 31 years later, and I've been living in Tokyo for the last 20 years. Regrettably, my work has nothing to do with anime or manga, but the fact that your passion for anime, solid recommendations and kindness opened the world of anime up to me is responsible, at least in some part, for the path that brought me here.
Thanks for helping a kid out back then.
Wishing you all the success and happiness in the world, man.
Very best regards,
Steve Parker
Hi Steve, That guy who ran "Console Ma'zine" was Onn Lee. ( http://anime-nostalgia-facility.blogspot.com/2018/04/july-1990-pt6-console-mazine.html )
DeleteI have 2 more Anime friends from the 90's living in japan, so glad you made it there. As well as an Anime from the mid 2000's that I know.
I may have some old letters, and Questionnaires, I will have a look. Unfortunately Updates for this Blog have been "On Pause" due to a Terminal Cancer - other endeavours are at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc7-jeo038NYEAXwP9gFGiQ/videos
Hi Carlo, are you still active here? I'd like to talk to you about some old Anime items. For one, there was an issue 0 of Protoculture Addicts. Any chance you have a copy or a pic of the cover?
ReplyDeleteIt makes me wonder as a mid-upper 40 year old, what to do with the countless amounts of Anime/Manga related paraphernalia. I started to throw away some older Newtype magazines I had, but then paused and wondered if I should at least make scans of them before I threw them out. There doesn't seem to be too much interest in older magazines and the like but I feel terrible just throwing them away.
ReplyDeletePlease scan, or photograph them, as 80's and 90's printed matter; magazines and their like, have smaller archives and will be lost to the youtube generation..., plus you could try and e-bay them too!!?
DeleteI'd be tempted to take them if I could find the room...
DeleteI could use a bunch of NewTypes for the project. So far I have completed Animage up to 2005, Animedia up to 2000, Most of AnimeC, MyAnime, TheAnime, Fanroad, and OUT. Working on NewType and Anime-V. Approaching 6TB of scans so far.
DeleteThat's the thing, I've been doing just that. To date, I have done all of Animage magazines from v001 to 330. Most of the MyAnime mags, most of the AnimeC mags, a large chunk of Fanroads, etc. I'm hoping to find others doing the same sort of preservation so we can coordinate efforts.
ReplyDeleteHi Carlo! I am a film maker and would be really interested in contacting you to talk about your experiences in the UK scene. Could you email me? I am matkillip at gmail.com
ReplyDeleteyou can see my work at matthewkillip dot com
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