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[InsaneDavid]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

I do hope you are all well and following shelter-in-place ordinances if they are in effect where you reside.  We are continuing preparations for the gathering and our panel, however with rumblings that the California shelter-in-place ordinance will last between 8-12 weeks, we do believe that FanimeCon 2020 will be postponed until 2021.  That's fine though, as we'll be there on the other side of this to continue our annual FanimeCon events. 

Nothing is certain until an official announcement is made but at this time it's pretty much inevitable.  Once an official announcement is made, we will be sure to update the relevant initial threads for the convention programming we host.

Continuing with a weekly anime OP or ED, I thought we could all use a modern classic most of us are familiar with.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Cowboy Bebop (1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRI_8PUXx2A

[The Sea-Faring Otaku]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

I do hope you are all well and following shelter-in-place ordinances if they are in effect where you reside.  We are continuing preparations for the gathering and our panel, however with rumblings that the California shelter-in-place ordinance will last between 8-12 weeks, we do believe that FanimeCon 2020 will be postponed until 2021.  That's fine though, as we'll be there on the other side of this to continue our annual FanimeCon events. 

Nothing is certain until an official announcement is made but at this time it's pretty much inevitable.  Once an official announcement is made, we will be sure to update the relevant initial threads for the convention programming we host.

Continuing with a weekly anime OP or ED, I thought we could all use a modern classic most of us are familiar with.

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Cowboy Bebop (1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRI_8PUXx2A

Here’s hoping! If things fall through, I’m planning on trying to post some updated cosplay photos the day of the meetup. If we can’t do it in person, we can do it virtual, right?

[InsaneDavid]

Here’s hoping! If things fall through, I’m planning on trying to post some updated cosplay photos the day of the meetup. If we can’t do it in person, we can do it virtual, right?

That's cool!  I'm thinking of running through the 2018 and 2019 versions of my Vintage Anime - Name That Year panel and posting them on YouTube if Fanime 2020 ends up being postponed until 2021 (where the planned 2020 version would be run) as a bit of a consolation.

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Adjusting to the current normal?  Things around here have started to level out a bit - as more follow the requested precautions, grocery stores begin to get their stock levels back to something resembling a standard, and each day rolls on.  I've been getting more and more in the cosplay mood as even if postponement until 2021 is more than likely over the horizon, as even those far-off dates are growing closer every day.

This Friday's weekly old school anime OP is from a reasonably obscure series that I love.  The film version - SF New Century Lensman (which came before the series) was localized and released simply as "Lensman" by Streamline Pictures, and actually aired as one of the three original anime films on the Sci-Fi Channel under their "Adventures in Japanese Animation" film showcase.  The series has been slowly undergoing high quality fansubbing and it can be found with a simple web search.  While it has very little to do with the Lensman books (which themselves influenced pretty much all modern space operas), it's still a lot of fun and has some very unique ship designs.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Galactic Patrol Lensman (1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBod6EKQaok

[InsaneDavid]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

I do hope you are all safe, all well, and are all taking precautions where possible and necessary.  With the in-person Bay Area school year recently scuttled, I believe the Fanime 2020 cancellation notice is just around the corner.  That doesn't matter for us though, as we're in this for the long haul.  Here's a great opening for today of a really wonderful series I'm in the process of watching. (the Blu-ray is really cheap if you're curious)

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC-ZOme1UEA

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

As FanimeCon 2020 has been postponed until 2021, we're going to go ahead and roll the gathering over to 2021 as we predicted would happen a couple weeks ago.  Nothing has changed for the gathering, other than the date.  For this week's old school anime OP, I thought I would go with one that exudes positive energy.  It's also my favorite anime OP, from one of my absolute favorite anime series.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Mobile Police Patlabor - Early Days (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMpI_bc3LrI

[The Sea-Faring Otaku]

Good evening old schoolers!

As FanimeCon 2020 has been postponed until 2021, we're going to go ahead and roll the gathering over to 2021 as we predicted would happen a couple weeks ago.  Nothing has changed for the gathering, other than the date.  For this week's old school anime OP, I thought I would go with one that exudes positive energy.  It's also my favorite anime OP, from one of my absolute favorite anime series.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Mobile Police Patlabor - Early Days (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMpI_bc3LrI

Can’t wait to see y’all in 2021!

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

This week's old school anime OP is one of slickest ever made and a series that was incredibly out of print until very recently.  2020 marks the OVA's 25th anniversary!

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Gunsmith Cats (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7HPyUcy37I
*** 25th Anime Anniversary ***

[Angelx624]

Sad that we won't be having Fanime this year, the wait's gonna be long but we'll make it!

[InsaneDavid]

Sad that we won't be having Fanime this year, the wait's gonna be long but we'll make it!

Absolutely!

[InsaneDavid]

Good very late evening / morning old schoolers!

Had a bunch of connection downtime today so this post is a bit late, but here as always.  So May has begun, the first May for many of us that won't feature a FanimeCon.  Shelter in place has been extended to May 31st, which I am sure doesn't surprise anyone currently.  This week's old school anime OP is an adaptation of a massively influential work by Go Nagai, that continues to be popular to this day.  I honestly prefer the anime adaptation over the original work - but I know I'm in the minority.

Celebrating An Era - 1970's! Devilman (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQF_dw2eivM

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

How about an old one this week, an old property that is still well-known and going strong.  Not bad for a manga series that began in 1962!

Celebrating An Era - 1960's!  Osomatsu-kun (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGjzVewfIAU

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

Going with another Gundam series for this week as I've actually been working on some Gunpla during shelter in place.  I hadn't touched one in almost twenty years but it has been entertaining so far.  I really only like very specific kits, one of which is in this opening sequence!

Love it or hate it, Gundam Wing is without a doubt the most important Gundam series in the west.  When it first aired on American television it almost instantly made Gundam mainstream and along with it Gundam kits began to show up at virtually every big box store.  On the surface Gundam Wing isn't the best series - it's character development is kinda weird, it was more or less made to attract a female audience with its pretty-boy cast and political rise of its young female lead, and the longer it runs the more its narrative falls apart.  It's not bad, it's just strange for a Gundam property.  There are way better Gundam series to check out, both if you're looking for crazy mech action or more somber and adult stories.

.....that said, Heavyarms is my all time favorite Gundam and its pilot, Trowa Barton, is my favorite Gundam character.  It's such a unique take on the mecha of the series, relying on massive conventional firepower rather than fancy gimmicks or fanciful weaponry.  It's a bit like a scopedog from VOTOMS equipped with the missile pods of a valkyrie from Macross.  Then of course the massive gun on its left arm, which is combined with a defensive shield.  I also really, really like the Tallgeese from Gundam Wing as well.  ...I guess there's a lot I like in a series that I really don't care for.

It's also celebrating its 25th anniversary this year!! (crazy)

Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY1IH4D1LNQ

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

This is by far the strangest gathering update I've written in the five years since inheriting the Old School gathering.  Today would have been Day Zero for FanimeCon 2020, with many of us already on site and heading over to Day Zero swap meet.  I can remember at this time on Day Zero in 2019 I was finishing up dinner downtown with my wife (who is also the gathering co-host) and roughing out some video room plans for the weekend and discussing photography setups for the gathering.

Occasionally I get a bit of the post-con depression but I think this year we're all going to have a bit of pre-con depression.  I can't express how much I miss being at Fanime, hosting this gathering, and seeing all of you.  We have so many cosplayers who attend the gathering consecutively year after year - which just amazes me!  The way I look at it right now is every day that passes is another day closer to the 2021 convention.  That's a great thing - that a little further over the horizon we'll be able to have this convention, this gathering, and I assure you it will be a blast.

Although I will not be hosting any online events this weekend (cosplay prep time was traded for making non-medical face masks), if anyone is hosting any old school anime related events or panels online - please let me know and I will promote them here over the weekend.  With the deferment to 2021 I haven't been promoting the gathering as much as I usually do, but I will do what I can to shine a bit more attention on events that attendees may be hosting.

How I'm going to contribute to this "Fanime at home" programming that a few are running with, is provide an old school anime video link that is NOT an OP or ED but something you may enjoy that won't take much of your time.  I'm going to post one today, and then Friday - Monday.

Please stay positive, please stay safe, and please remember that when FanimeCon 2021 rolls around you'll see me standing at the top of the Gatherings G3 stairs on Fanime Friday with my megaphone in hand.

Today's special video is a couple of music videos from Project A-ko, a film and OVA series that was crucial to getting me into anime during the second western anime boom in the early 90's.  Nostalgia is a big part of a lot of the anime from this time but the first Project A-ko movie is really freaking entertaining all on its own.  The two songs featured in this video, Dance Away and Follow Your Dream, not only instantly send me back to my early anime days, they're also perfect for what we're currently going though.

- Special Virtual Old School Celebration -
Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Project A-ko (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdX6U5OOoag

[InsaneDavid]

Good morning old schoolers!

So here we are, the clock has continued forward, and we are at the day that would have been.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't saddened today but I'm glad to be healthy, to still be working, and have things still good enough where I can feel bad about an anime convention being postponed.

Again - anyone who may be hosting some kind of online or virtual old school anime / retro event today, please let me know!

Continuing with the special weekend of videos to share, this one is an official music video that features a song - Full Moon Light - that instantly sends me back to the mid 1990's.  Hearing it totally makes me feel like I'm in high school again, it's the weirdest thing.  There was a time that Devil Hunter Yohko was a core series that virtually every anime fan had seen or at least knew about.  It was the first title that ADV distributed, making it one of the most important anime series to the introduction and growth of anime in the west during the 90's boom.  It blows my mind to think that it's currently a lost property in desperate need of rescue and re-release.

This video is from the fourth OVA (Devil Hunter Yohko 4-Ever), itself a collection of music videos - essentially AMVs before there were AMVs.  Apologies for the video quality and non-English subs.

- Special Virtual Old School Celebration -
Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Devil Hunter Yohko (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24jDOctBdXc

[InsaneDavid]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

How're you all holding up over this non-convention weekend?  I was planning on recording some virtual panels but it really doesn't work out with my setup as they're so heavily based on audience participation.  On the bright side, we do have a bit of a heat wave coming up here in Fanime's backyard so at least we're avoiding that - have to look for the positives.

For today I have a few special videos to share, two advertisements and the television version of one of my favorite OVA films.

First off is the Columbia House anime video club and their Akira commercial, something that was on heavy rotation on 90's cable television.  If you haven't seen Akira (or haven't seen it in awhile) it's the perfect time to give it a watch as it surprisingly lines up with the world we're living in right now - right down to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  It's currently available on many streaming services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIfu-FsxG00

Second is an old Sci-Fi Channel promo for "Adventures in Japanese Animation" which was the American television premier of Robot Carnival, Lensman, and Vampire Hunter D.  This was the first showcase of anime films on the network and what would be come their annual "Festival of Anime" in the summers and later "Saturday Anime."  Of these films, Robot Carnival and Vampire Hunter D are currently licensed and available from your favorite anime distributor.  As for Lensman (which is the Galactic Patrol Lensman film), due to a number of factors it's in a licensing hell it will never get out of, although if you search online the entire film has been restored with the English dub track and English fansubs and can be found - including the series that later spun off from it.  These are all great films, with Robot Carnival being my favorite of the three.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvF5Mw8iR7A

And finally, something a little different.  This OVA is available from Discotek Media right now on DVD in its original four episode format, both the dub and previously unavailable sub - go buy it if you're even remotely interested!  Please support the physical media anime industry!  The version included below is a VHS recording of 8 Man After as it once aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, television edits, commercials, promos and all.  It is being presented here only for nostalgia and because it's one of the most old school con-at-home type things I can think of.  The original 1963 8 Man series was hugely influential to anime history - arguably being the first anime series to incorporate dynamic camera movement, realistic character designs, and possibly the first use of speed lines.  He's also Japan's first cyborg superhero! (energy cigarettes not included)

- Special Virtual Old School Celebration -
Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  8 Man After (1993)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzpVJUIgpSk

[InsaneDavid]

Good afternoon old schoolers!

Continuing with this weekend's special posts, here's a half hour compilation vintage Japanese Sailor Moon product commercials.  I want to also mention that the Sailor Moon Super Famicom RPG (of which a commercial is shown in this video), Sailor Moon Another Story, has recently been fan re-translated and is absolutely worth taking a look at as it features an excellent post-Sailor Moon S story.  As for the commercials in the compilation - everything from video games to fish sausage... and a strange amount of sliding puzzles.  Were those really that popular for licensed properties?

- Special Virtual Old School Celebration -
Celebrating An Era - 1990's!  Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (1992)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8rV3i71C8c

[InsaneDavid]

Good morning old schoolers!

Any other Monday of Fanime I'd more than likely be sitting in a video room, finishing my coffee and stretching out before doing another run through the halls right about now.  Convention Monday's have always been a bit low-key, usually either not cosplaying or wearing something that is reasonably less involved.  Heck, the past two years wearing an Ultraseven festival mask has been the extent of my Monday cosplay.

As we close out this convention weekend that wasn't, I'm going to pull back to an OP / ED with a specific ending.  Hundred Beast King Golion is most famously known as the original source of Lion Force Voltron (AKA Voltron III), which has continued to take on a life of its own outside of Japan.  The original anime series is still where it's at though, with a good balance of drama and humor, story and action.  I also can't think of another combiner super robot series where what is seen in the anime actually goes together the same way with the toys and figures.  This is the ending theme, and the key here is the repeated line at the end which translates to, "We five will go down the same road."  I hope that road leads all of us to FanimeCon 2021.

Regular Friday OP/ED posts will resume this Friday, right up until the 2021 convention!

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Hundred Beast King Golion (1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zfp1uleAQs [ENDING]

[InsaneDavid]

Good evening old schoolers!

So now the clock begins ticking as we advance toward FanimeCon 2021.  In fact the date of the gathering for next year is now one day less than one full year away!  For today's OP, I though I would dust off one relevant to a piece of video game hardware that just began shipping worldwide, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini.  For whatever reason the game NEC bundled with the console during its original North American release was Keith Courage in Alpha Zones - a rather strange localization of a Japanese game based on an anime property.  That property was Mashin Hero Wataru, and that's the OP for today.  While the game isn't bad, it is rather underwhelming and certainly not a title to introduce a new generation of video game hardware with.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Mashin Hero Wataru (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimWq6_oUcc

[InsaneDavid]

Good morning old schoolers!

To say a lot has transpired since last week's post would be an understatement.  I sincerely hope you are all safe and that you are taking care of one another.  Please make a positive impact on yourself and your surroundings - and help others to do the same.

For today's OP I decided to go with one that I have always really liked.  While Dairugger isn't a series I'm super in to, it does feature possibly my favorite super robot OP and theme song (Youth of the Galaxy).  I can't think of another super robot series with such a large cast.  The series was localized as Vehicle Voltron (Voltron I), with the usual World Events Productions changes and edits in the mid 1980's.  As with WEP's attempt at a Golion DVD release, the subtitled version of Dairugger was of mixed quality and quickly went out of print.  It fetches crazy money now and is honestly not worth the cost for what you're getting.  However... the link to the OP for this week is an official one from Bandai, and if you look at that YouTube account you'll see they are offering the entire series with English subtitles!  Well worth checking out, at least a couple episodes.

Celebrating An Era - 1980's!  Armored Squadron Dairugger XV (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4UBY2W1GRI