Bonus – Interview With the "Old Timers of Anime," Otakon 2009

After two and a half months we finally got it together and have edited some of our Otakon audio! Here’s our interview with the Philadelphia Animation Society’s “Old Timers of Anime,” conducted Saturday, July 18 at Otakon 2009. Do go back and listen to our 2008 interview with them if you haven’t already done so.

From left to right: Kevin, Bill, Sidney

Show #83 of AWO still isn’t recorded yet. But our AWA 2009 con report is, and tomorrow we’re recording Show #84. Maybe 84 will just become 83. Who knows?

Promo #2 was derived from our 2008 interview. Promo #3 will be coming from this one. You’ll probably know it when you hear it.

31 Replies to “Bonus – Interview With the "Old Timers of Anime," Otakon 2009”

  1. Quick thought: the Old Timers generation was as addicted / dependent on television as the current generation is to the Internet. The home video era, which this '60s-'70s generation was quick to adapt to, was a transitional phase in which consumers began to directly control the flow of content and information. Conclusion: the terms of fandom are defined the by method of delivery.

  2. Hell yeah when you first mention you guys got to interview these fine gentlemen again I've been anxiously waiting to listen.

    Last year's interview was so awesome glad we get to hear them again.

    Thanks for the hard work and effort

  3. It was interesting to hear on one hand but then when asked what their favorite opening are, none of them were from the current generation. It's hard for me to understand people who want to stay in only one generation of animation as an interest.

    Also every time you say fabulous prizes, why am I thinking something Jojo's Bizarre Adventure related.

  4. You are an absolute moron, you know that right?

    Go listen to the first interview, now, and try your best to stop being such a fool.

  5. As a member of the previous generation, I can tell you that all of my faves come from there as well. I find that nearly all post-Eva anime fails to grab me unless it is somehow descended from something I discovered earlier. And you know what? I think it's exactly the same for everyone regardless of when they got in. Your early faves affect EVERYTHING.

  6. Everyone needs to see the Toho 1964 live-action Atragon for the scene where the Mu Empire stomps a giant mudhole in downtown Tokyo. The old timers are right: this scene is everything that Japan did / can do right.

    -PM

  7. I am a Philadelphia dweller, and would love to attend one of these meetings. Anyone know how to get into contact with the Philadelphia animation society?

  8. I think I have to second Tim Eldred on this one. I'm still most fond of the stuff that came out in the late 80s/early 90s cause that's what was available when i got into these crazy japtoons. for me, and i would bet a lot of others, anime fandom is at least partly reliant on nostalgia.

  9. Tim: Nah, I got faves in the 90s, and think some of the 80s stuff was overrated. [For example, St. Seiya looks like shit, even by that decade's standards.] And while the bubble in Japan burst a long time ago, I actually see more emphasis on different styles and ideas in today's anime than I would 20 years ago. Possibly because the animation studios staff don't primarily consist primarily of sausage fests. Though I still stand by my argument that the scripts need work. But then Oshii's been doing that kind of thing for decades and his recent output is lazy as hell. I think the real problem with the contemporary stuff is its over-reliance on otakus, emos, and Hot Topic-esque teens.

  10. Anonymous AKA Daniel Zelter: I think the real problem is your over-reliance on your mom. Is it true you can't get a job and just troll the Internet all day? It's a wonderful life!

  11. I like how the old timers mentioned Heavy Metal L-Gaim and I'm glad that some fansubbers are doing that show, but come on, the 80's giant robot repertoire can't be complete without Xabungle! So, fansubbers, GET ON IT! That show is just too good!

  12. I for one think it's past time for the anonymous option to be turned off here. Carl and others, you CAN use the name/URL one, you don't even have to have a URL, really, you can do it.

    (altho I suspect I understand why Carl uses the anon. option, there's no excuse for everyone else.)

    I keep meaning to write something about '80s anime and how it was just overfull with exciting and fun and interesting OP animation and themes. Sunrise in particular really had it down pat.

  13. Even though I could swear I did it, upon review of my Otakon 2009 pictures I do not have a picture of the flyer for the Philadelphia Animation Society so I can't tell you how to attend their meetings. Maybe Gerald or Clarissa took the photo.

    One of the idiosyncrasies of the Blogger software is that you cannot disable the "Anonymous" option without also disabling the "Name/URL" option. The tentative plan for the past month or so, ever since we got the new web hosting, was to move away from Blogger entirely and switch over to WordPress. It forces you to at least write something in those fields, while also letting you post Livejournal-style nested comments. In addition, I can physically edit or alter other people's posts instead of deleting them outright as I'm forced to do now. Oh, and I can flat-out ban people too on that, which I'll need since their anti-spam measures aren't quite as robust as Google's.

    The initial basic setup of this was very fast; I was able to do it in under an hour like, a month ago. The built-in tools let me import all the old posts and comments (sans avatars), no problem. Here's a test mock-up to give a basic idea of how it'll look:

    http://daryl.awopodcast.com/test/

    Comments are currently disabled. The final blog URL will be https://www.awopodcast.com, which http://www.animeworldorder.com will redirect to instead of here after all's said and done. Actually, I'll leave this latest post open on the test setup just so you can see how it'd look.

    What I can't easily replicate–and this may be a little too "inside baseball" if you've not used blogging software before–was all the layout changes and widgets. Despite changing the CSS stylesheet values, I can't alter the background and text colors on this thing; presumably they're being overridden somewhere else in the code. The blogroll is missing because I want one like the one on this site now: one that lists a blog title (which I can alter) and the title of their most recent post, that sorts itself by most recent post. Basically, I don't want to make that switch until I got more or less everything I got now working and looking the way I want it on the other site.

    Custom WordPress installs are versatile because they permit you to add plugins, but there are thousands of plugins. If functionality is missing from the default WordPress install that's present in typical Blogspot installations of Blogger, there's certainly a corresponding WordPress plugin. But you have to FIND it. For instance, there may be 100 plugins for blogrolls but only a few that function the way I want them to.

    There are currently two full episodes of AWO recorded, both featuring special guests that have never before been on the podcast. None of them is the episode we said we were going to do at the end of Show 82. EXPCon is in a week and we've all got panels to do, but hopefully that shouldn't get in the way of too much.

  14. "…

    You are an absolute moron, you know that right?

    Go listen to the first interview, now, and try your best to stop being such a fool."

    That guy is the same idiot who frequents the Collection DX podcast comment section. Nothing he says is makes any sense.

  15. These guys would be a hoot to go have a drink with.

    They always pump me up.

    Instead of being elitist and aloft like many of us in fandom tend to get these guys seem excited and open and interested in things.

  16. Good stuff, these guys always bring up something I forgot about. So much older material that is worthy of watching, glad to hear such older titles mentioned.

  17. The Nastee Hott Chocolate Mann said…
    Quick thought: the Old Timers generation was as addicted / dependent on television as the current generation is to the Internet. The home video era, which this '60s-'70s generation was quick to adapt to, was a transitional phase in which consumers began to directly control the flow of content and information. Conclusion: the terms of fandom are defined the by method of delivery.

    BINGO!

    I think that one show the guys was trying to remember the English title to "X-Bomber" was called "Star Fleet". I actually found a tape of episodes to that from a Family Video location near me years back (and copied since I didn't think I'd see that again).

    Usavich is a pretty interesting series of shorts out there. It's been around for quite a while, not sure if there's been more made past the first three seasons.

    Also saw Penguin Memories too, don't have more to say than that!

  18. The comment about 'Starzans' caught my ear. (It's not actually pronounced 'Starzan S' it just looks that way because the 'S' is in English. It's one of the funniest/wierdest Tatsunoko shows of the 80s, loaded with mash-ups. Chief among them is Star Wars and Tarzan, which is where the name comes from. It was also SD before SD was "cool." Unfortunately it never got a commercial release, so now it only exists in scattered private collections. Some episodes may never resurface. But it deserves to be seen by all.

    PS: My opinion? If you stand by whatever comments you post, you shouldn't be hiding behind an 'Anonymous' tag.

  19. vivajinnai said…
    I enjoyed listening to them. You can learn a lot from these old skool Anime fans. Respect.

    Today's fandom needs that most of all!

    Hopefully you'll guys will meet up with the Old Timers next year if possible, and hopefully we'll get some more perspectives to view too!

  20. Although barely on topic, I just wanted to say that there are in fact three live action Asterix films: Asterix at the Olympics being the most recent. French audiences were actually rather hostile towards that and the first one. The second film, Asterix meets Cleopatra, on the other hand was very warmly received in France, mainly due to its clever use of French puns that anyone who doesn't speak French, wouldn't understand anyway. The latest animated film, Asterix and the Vikings was rather cool too!

    I certainly don't think the old timers are stuck in the older generation. They actually seemed to be a lot more positive about the the newer stuff than most of us posting in this comments section. Perhaps because none of them had seen Trinity Blood in its entirety. I dare say I'd pick Wing Commander: The Movie, over Trinity Blood were I stuck on a desert island.

  21. Dane Scaysbrook said…
    Although barely on topic, I just wanted to say that there are in fact three live action Asterix films: Asterix at the Olympics being the most recent.

    I remember bothering to pick up a Quebec DVD copy of the first film many years ago just to see how they did on it and thought the first film had some great comedic action.

    French audiences were actually rather hostile towards that and the first one. The second film, Asterix meets Cleopatra, on the other hand was very warmly received in France, mainly due to its clever use of French puns that anyone who doesn't speak French, wouldn't understand anyway.

    That would not surprise me. I guess it wasn't Asterix until the writing got up to speed.

    The latest animated film, Asterix and the Vikings was rather cool too!

    Still have to see it.

    I certainly don't think the old timers are stuck in the older generation. They actually seemed to be a lot more positive about the the newer stuff than most of us posting in this comments section. Perhaps because none of them had seen Trinity Blood in its entirety. I dare say I'd pick Wing Commander: The Movie, over Trinity Blood were I stuck on a desert island.

    I do get that feeling too, they were so positive on a lot of newer stuff I wouldn't care to watch myself.

  22. There are times when I feel like an old geezer anime fan, but it helps hearing the stories of the generation before mine. It's weird to hear people continue to speak so fondly about children's cartoons at a grandparent's age. There's just something about cartoons–nostalgia or recognition of the art?–that just captures us; keeping that inner-child alive.

  23. I was wondering if they have a website or email because I would like to ask them some question about obscure 90's cartoons.

    For example, I am trying to find this name of a live action/CGI show where teens become cars to fight vampire cars that bite other cars' gas tank for oil. There mentor was a hippie that used a tire iron as a cross…

    Great episode.

  24. Save the Poppers: That show was called VANPIRES, no shit. I have one episoide on VHS I taped when I was a teenager for some reason. It is TERRIBLE.

  25. I love Spectacular Spider-Man. In my opinion this is the best animated spider-man by a mile. I would have liked to have gotten to hear the different opinions on it. It was very interesting to hear how "old timers" feel about today's shows, and to listen to them talk about the tv shows they watched when they were kids.

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