Favourite(s) anime and why? What attracts you personally to this anime, and why do you think it is popular in the UK.
Haibane Renmei (MVM) PAranoia Agent (MVM) Serial Experiments Lain (MVM) Read or Die (Manga)
All of the above sit well in my favourites list. The first three generally for being very different from the usual mold, something which MVM have generally done very well at promoting. While Lain has the techy angle, I'm not so sure Paranoia and Haibane have anything specifically appealing to brits, especially Haibane which has basically no action to speak of. However all three are experimental which works well and has appealed to quite a few people. Read or Die is at the other end of the spectrum very action packed, basically taking a western style (superheroes) and puts a very different spin on it, and adds some very likable characters. As for me, I got into anime because it caters for adults as well as children (and have always liked animation) so I like to watch anime with strong stories or strong concepts, all of which these possess.
Where do you get your anime?
In the past, MVC was my main outlet, the Exeter store having the best selection. Virgin was poor and HMV was not great either. However with the closure of MVC a few years back, and Virgin turning into Zaavi (and losing most of their meagre collection in the process) HMV is the only local outlet and is pretty poor in selection and extremely poor in price. Hence in the past two years Amazon.co.uk and Play.com have taken my business almost in its entirety.
If you watch anime that isn’t available to buy in the UK, how do you get hold of it?
I consider myself to be a big supporter of the UK anime industry. At the last count I had 15 series' and over 200 dvds in total since I first got a dvd player back in 2002 - don't ask how much that costs, I don't want to think about it! However equally a huge amount of anime is not released over here, and I believe I am well within my rights to watch fansubs as a last option. Note however I prefer to watch dubs, and have replaced series I once downloaded with the dvds just to get the dubs)
I know there is a lot of controversy about fansubs (sounding like a wikipedia article) but I believe this is legitimate. I want a product, someone sells it to me, if they refuse to sell it, well, that is their fault. I certainly want dubs, but that is not my problem unfortunately. Even so many anime I desperately want to see are either out of print or have never been fansubbed either (Orguss the series perhaps my most sought after anime) so it is a continual struggle.
What attracts you to anime in general? Is it the animation style, the culture, or the narratives, or anything else?
A little bit of everything generally. Most of all, I like anime because of the reason I liked cartoons when I was young - there are no limits in animation. As someone always into sci fi and fantasy, even now you still see problems with visuals. Perhaps that will be overcome in time in films, but there are other reasons I like anime. One is the freedom of storytelling. In the past 5 years I have basically stopped watching TV and rarely watch new films. I hold the opinion that a decent story cannot be told in 90 minutes, or even two hours. A decent story takes MANY hours to tell. On Tv here even, the old tradition of 3 hour or longer serials has basically died out completely, to be replaced with americanised 'monster of the week' storytelling which I find now more than shallow. However while Anime may well have its fair share of Monter of the week moments, it equally has retained serialised storytelling in some TV series and in OVAs. The epic stories available in anime are virtually unknown in western films and television these days. Their loss, Japan's gain.
Equally the way Anime works, catering for every age group and demographic is something completely lacking with western animation, and appeals to me as much, there is litterally an anime for everyone.
What do you think the market for anime is in this country?
The market is open and available - as I believe the Animatrix showed, but unfortunately there are barriers. True there are many fans, but the main barrier is TV, or rather the lack of it. A few terrestrial, and a collection of digital channels have shown anime over the past decade and more. However only two have stuck at it for any length of time - the Sci fi channel back in the late 90s and early 00s, and the old Fox Kids channel (Now jetix) which at one point in 2001-2003 showed well over 50% anime during the middle of the day hours (From memory, Flint the Time Detective, Monster Rancher, Digimon, Sailor Moon, and perhaps most notable, Escaflowne) However since then, Sci Fi gave up, despite giving me many hours of enjoyment and Fox Kids collapsed into the generic Jetix. Other digital channels have come and gone - CNX, Propeller, Anime Central, Rapture - but still we have no anime channels or even shows of note now. If anything the TV situation is far worse now than in 2002, which is a sad thought indeed. But Anime still lives here, it just needs a little more support to get on its feet.
How did you first get into anime?
I first got into Anime back in 1998 or so, when my brother (Who I later found out was amongst the 'first wave' of british anime fans that emerged with Akira) suggested I look out for 'Fist of the North Star' Intragued, I remembered that video from our local video shop. I went over, and noticed a collection of about 20 or so Anime videos, all Manga Video titles. I rented Fist of the North Star (I was 14 at the time, so that was lucky!) and watched it. Well, if nothing else I could say I had never seen so much blood in my life! However it wasn't quite my thing, being short and lacking a story, but it had awakened my interest. I went back and rented Vampire Hunter D, and that was the Anime that made me 'see the light' it became the first Anime I bought and a lot more followed quickly on video when I could find them - which at that point was not very often.
It stayed a minor hobby until 2000, when we got sky TV and I found the Sci Fi channel saturday midnight block of Anime. It was immence, 3 to 4 hours of Anime a week! I watched that every weekend for nearly 3 years. It introduced me to Ghost in the Shell, Wings of Honeasime, Orguss 02, and late in its run, my first three Anime series, Martian Successor Nadesico, Blue Gender and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Nadesico was my fave by a massive margin simply as I had not seen much comedy Anime at that point. Blue gender was good as well, but to this day Evangelion has remained in my mind a mediocre monster of the week anime with an appalling ending (And a year or so later when I found out the love afair many fans had with that show, with many calling it 'BEST EVA' I was shocked and still am not convinced.)
At that time, late 2001, 2002, Fox kids was showing its best period. I watched all 3 digimon series (I was 17, but felt it was certainly quite good) and Escaflowne was a particular favourite, and still is.
Also in 2002 I got a DVD player and then a computer with a DVD drive. The first Anime I bought was Nadesico, quickly followed by some of my old favourites, but I quickly explored further, into comedies like Excel Saga, and further. My tastes have changed a little, I am 24 now, and have moved more firmly against monster of the week shows, and more towards those with complex stories and humour, but if it is fun and keeps in character with its story, it has a fair chance of being liked by me.
Hope that helps!
