For my second guest post here at Austin Otaku I wanted to reflect on anime fandom and how it has changed over the years. My interest in anime and manga began in 1985, when I was in grade school in the San Francisco Bay Area. The past 25 years have brought many changes in the hobby and its interesting to compare the highlights of the hobby’s beginning in the U.S. with its current state. I’ve settled on three highlights from each era to share. If you can think of any to add please let us know in the comments below.
1985
Easy to Make New Friends
In 1985 anime fans were few in number, and we knew it. At gatherings and specialty stores it was easy to strike up a conversation with a fellow anime fan and make new friends. Gatherings were small and you saw the same faces every time, so it wasn’t hard to get to know people. It was difficult to obtain anime and manga so we did what we could to help each other copy laser discs and find merchandise. Oftentimes it felt more like a club than a hobby.
An Active Hobby
When this hobby began in the U.S. you had to be a motivated person to seek out other fans. That same motivation kept us busy. Everyone was involved in some kind of activity like running an anime club, working on a fanzine, bringing new stuff from Japan, etc. At the age of 12, I was interrogating my Chinese friends to learn the location of every Asian store that carried anime products and then reporting my findings to fellow fans at the anime viewing parties.
Cons were Awesome
The conventions of the hobby’s early days were awesome. The fan activity I mentioned above would reach its peak at con time. The walls of the convention halls were covered with fan club announcements, requests for help finding certain items and humorous posters people made. I still have the flyer advertising the rehabilitation center for Japanese idol singers. The viewing rooms at the con showed the latest anime fresh off the plane from Japan. A few booths sold merchandise, but most were manned by fan clubs giving out fanzines or recruiting people for new projects. The energy level was always high. It was the place to go to see new things starting.
In the mid 80s City Hunter was the show to watch.
2010
Translations
As fun as the gatherings were in the early days of the hobby, watching anime with no dubbing and no subtitles was a fact of life. We were lucky when someone in the room could give us brief updates to help us understand what we were watching. Our manga was in Japanese only and many of us got frustrated trying to learn kanji characters. Now we can enjoy anime and manga in our own language. Whether it’s professionals translating it for us or fan groups online, we don’t have to scratch our heads when the heroine runs crying from the room or the hero makes a bold speech.
Shopping
Shopping for our favorite goodies is now light years ahead of the early days of fandom. Vendors at conventions, local stores and Web sites are well-stocked with everything we’re looking for. Even fans like myself who want rare items can request them from English speakers living in Tokyo who hunt them down and then ship them to your door. In the 90′s, I travelled to Tokyo with friends and spent days hunting down the books I wanted. Now I just send a few e-mails and choose the best price.
Better Access
At the anime gatherings 25 years ago there were many anime and manga titles I heard about but just couldn’t get. Now there are few titles that are out of reach. Whether you’re buying (or renting) DVDs or downloading files, you are just about guaranteed to get your hands on any title you want. What played on television in Tokyo last week is just as accessible as the fan favorites of the late 70′s.
Last year K-ON! was the show to watch.
So which time was the better time to be an anime fan? There is no better time! It’s always a great time to be a part of this hobby. In the years ahead, fandom will go through many more changes. I look forward to every one.
In closing, let me encourage you to combine the best of both eras to make your hobby more enjoyable. Don’t let yourself be convinced that the item you’re looking for is out of reach. Also, don’t sit back and be an armchair fan. Be active. Start a blog. Join a club. Find an anime convention to attend – and don’t just attend the con. Make something happen there!
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I got into anime at about the same time. Unfortunately in my home town we didn’t have any specialty place that sold anime. Only knew of a couple people that were into it. Cons were several hours away and couldn’t get the parents to send me. The local Blockbuster was the only place to get anime. To say that their selection was “sad” is an understatement. Since moving to Austin, its been a completely different story. Made so many friends through the Austin Anime Meetup group. Thanks to them I’m finding all kinds of anime, and I can’t find enough time to watch it all
. Have to say I’m enjoying 2010 a little more then 1985 
What was it like being an anime fan while in grade school?
It was fun. I was the youngest guy at the anime club meetings but people were nice. I couldn’t talk about my hobby at school, though. Back then, no one had any idea what I was talking about.
Luckily I grew up in a college town that was very arts orientated, and every month one of the campus theater’s held an event called “Animania” The event was free and open to all ages. For many years from the age of 9-18 I used to go there and see all kinds of awesome movies and shows that I would have never really had the chance to see unless I’d lived in Japan( This was before the internet was as prominent as it is today)
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