A lot of stuff has happened in the last month and a half. As I've sat here in this chair trying to figure out what to talk about for my editorial this month, my mind has drawn up a blank. With the overabundance of work at my real job in the multimedia field and all the external demands on my time, ideas have a tendency to run dry. So now I have to find a way to fill this void that's been staring me in the face for the last 3 weeks...
Despite this blank in my idea bank, things are happening. Things that I never thought would be going on. At least not at this point in time. As you'll see through this issue, some big stuff is coming down the pipe for the world of anime. We have some major anime motion picture releases on the horizon with the advent of Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea and Spriggan. We have some limited exposure motion picture releases with Perfect Blue, Mononoke Hime, and Blackjack the Movie. We have probably the biggest, most anticipated announcement in the recent history of anime, the acquisition of the Evangelion movies by Manga Entertainment. We have more series coming out in the next 12 months than have ever been released at any other time in domestic anime history. It's exactly what we all have been asking for. Are we ready for it? Even if we're not, it's coming. We have things coming that people have been begging for, like a subtitled version of the original Macross. If you're an anime lover, the next year will be a good one.
It's interesting to look back to where I started to seriously get into anime and manga. I had grown up with anime on TV, but my real start into the world of anime was back in 1993. We had just gotten the Sci-Fi Channel on cable. I was overjoyed. Finally get to watch some sci-fi any time I want. Then, SFC had a little weekend special called "Animation Marathon: Anime '94". They were showing stuff that I never knew existed. Over that weekend, I was exposed to the likes of the Dominion Tank Police and their unique style of interrogation. I saw the 80s follow-up to Space Battleship Yamato, Odin. There was the classic anime parody-of-parodies, Project A-ko. Then to round out the unruly bunch was a little-known theatrical release called The Venus Wars. I sat and watched intently over that weekend as I was reintroduced to something that I had all but forgotten. Anime did still exist. I had just not looked up from "normal" life to see what I was missing. Now it's five years later and I'm still running behind playing catch-up. Yes, I got to Evangelion later than the rest of the world. I'm just now discovering things like Fushigi Yuugi and Rurouni Kenshin. Card Captor Sakura will be in U.S. TV syndication before I'll get a chance to see the original. (I have some of the Japanese episodes of CCS, by the way. I just haven't had the time to watch them. Yes, I know. Bad Editor.) There's so much out there, and there's even more coming. Despite the fact that I've had a good chunk of the anime world pass me by, there's no reason for me to worry. There's plenty ahead.
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Let's get ready.
Till next time,
Timothy Georgi
Editor In Chief |
Oh yeah, one other thing that happened this last month. Our first week open, @anime! was honored with the Anime Web Turnpike Site of the Week award. I'd like to thank the guys at the 'Pike for selecting us and for the @a! staff for the great effort they put in for that first issue. I hope that we can live up to the honor.
Arigato!