"Fierce Legend of American Otaku People"

The time has come to announce my next big writing project for the New Year and the follow up to my 2006 Japan-only book OTAKU IN USA. Mark your calendar for winter’07-spring’08, because this is the tentative publishing date in Japan for:

AMERICAN OTAKU PEOPLE RETSUDEN
「アメリカン・オタク・ピープル列伝」
("Fierce Legend of American Otaku People")

OTAKU IN USA covered 50 years worth of Japanese pop cultural history in America. This book aims to zero in on the lives and lifestyles of Americans that helped turn a handful of foreign cartoons and comic books into today’s invasion of anime and manga. Spliced between interviews and profiles of fans and professionals will be dialogues between co-author Matt Alt and myself about how Japanese pop culture (ala anime, manga, music, film, what have you) has changed countless lives in the USA, including our own, for the better and for the worse.

There’s already a short list of folks we plan on contacting for interviews and such, but WE NEED MORE PEOPLE. Consider this a casting call for any fan or pro who thinks they deserve truly Legendary Otaku Status.

It could be because you have a Naruto tattoo, legally changed your named to “Eva Unit 01,” or simply because you live in a room filled with approximately one million wall scrolls and plushies. This is solid gold. By contrast, just liking Japanese pop culture or being a part-time cosplayer isn’t enough. Your whole lifestyle has to have been irrevocably and dramatically altered in some way. On the other end of the spectrum, we are also looking for professionals, academics, heads of state, and really together people for whom anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture have provided an inspiration. Men, women, adults and children of all races and creeds are encouraged to reply (the only stipulation is that you have to be an American citizen). Either way, the more dramatic your tale of otakudom is, the better!

If you think you have what it takes to impress increasingly jaded Japanese people, or would like to recommend someone who does, by all means send an email to [email protected]. In return, you'll get a free copy of the book and a chance at noterirty and infamy in Japan. And if you’d also like to spread this casting call to other message boards, blogs, and websites, by all means don’t delay, do it today.

Comments

[dave merrill]

ME! I WANT IN BOOK! I START ANIME CLUB IN 1985! PHOTO IN ANIMAGE WITH GIRLY LONG HAIR! START ANIME CON BEFORE IT WAS COOL! WAS IN OTAKU UNITE MOVIE DRUNK INSULTING STAR TREK! AM STILL AMERICAN CITIZEN EVEN THOUGH WALLET FILLED WITH "STEPHEN HARPER FUN BUX"!

[doug]

Aww, man. Why do all these awesome books have to be Japan only?

I mean I understand the realities of the market and all that stuff, and that it's written for a Japanese market, thus making it unsuitable for American publications, etc, etc, but that doesn't me I don't want to read it.

Good luck with the book, though!

[hillsy]

I second Cap'n Dave. A vote also goes to Uncle Carl (Horn). Hmmm...seems like Otaku Unite redux...

[Steve Harrison]

In addition to Tim Eldred and Ardith Carlton (reachable right there in Japan at Hobbylink Japan) (and I assume both are already on 'the list'), a not so obvious one would be Meri Davis (ex Hazelwood, ex Wakefield, her maiden name escapes me at the moment), the creator and chair of Project: A-kon in Dallas.

Creating a con is hard enough, keeping it running for 18 years is hell on Earth, throwing OTHER events in addition to is insane. Some might argue that A-Kon isn't so much an anime con anymore, but ya know, it's still running, and it still shows anime, so I think that counts for something.

[Fanboy]

Yeah but Michael Pinto was publishing anime fanzines way before Ardith Carlton or Steve Harrison came on the scene. Although it was impressive that 'Space Fanzine Yamato' did feature professional typesetting and cute centerfold...

[Steve Harrison]

Well, I wasn't suggesting Ardith because of Space Fanzine, but because per the post, she's a fan who made good...co-authorship of Robotech Art 1,the articles she's had published in a comic mag or two, her current job at HLJ...turned her otakuhood into work and stuff, ya know?

[Danielle Tokunaga]

Is any of the people you are interviewing in the states from Anime Expo? I would also suggest talking to Laurine White. Probally Trish and Toshi as well for the late 80-90's stuff.

[Daniel Zelter]

I implore you to look no further than I, Daniel Zelter. I've been known to do "baka otaku" things like; use an Oriental moniker on forums such as Gatsu or Yang Wang, I once performed the exhausting task of marathoning four episodes of Puni Poni Princess (only taking a scant 20 minute break inbetween each episode)in a row, I've been known to get a little wild and down an entire order of California rolls (yikes!), I once stood a mere 10 feet away from Japanese cinema master Zhang Yimou (shockingly handsome), I have remained "pure" (as mother would say) for the last 28 years, and I was the first on my block to read TokyoPop's entire Ameri-manga library.

I can be contacted at [email protected] (I sweat and get the shakes while on the phone, so please do not request to speak directly to me), or you could always drop me a line at the In & Out Burger on Sunset. Domo Arigato!

[Patrick Macias]

Sorry Charlie. There's only room enough for one Daniel in the book.

Daniel "Ruggles" Tanner III, that is!
http://www.otakubooty-wiki.com/index.php?title=Danny_Tanner

[Carl Horn]

"Look at my nightstand, and pick the paperback up
Nostradamus, I'm readin' chapter after chapter
Predictions of the end of the world, and after."
--Scarface, "In My Time"

[Patrick Macias]

Hey Carl,

33 1/3 Books is currently looking for proposals. I think you are a shoo-in to write the one for the Geto Boys self-titled album, bein' from Texas and all. However, I would like dibs on Bushwick's "Phantom of the Rapera."

http://33third.blogspot.com/2007/01/time-of-season.html

[Carl Horn]

It's all starting to get a little fuzzy, but I should say that my family and I are from the LBC, although I did live in Texas for over eight years and consider it to be my second state.

[hillsy]

Carl's paranoid, sleepin' with his finga on the trigga....

[Carl Horn]

I would like to see ADV Films adopt as their official slogan, "Look on your motherfucking map and find Texas/And see where Houston at."

[Danielle Tokunaga]

Hey Mr. Zelter,

Do you have stairs in your house?

Patrick, will you be able to do a panel at fanimecon 2007?

[Mike Toole]

Danielle: That's a good question. I sometimes wonder how many readers of this blog are protected myself.

I'm definitely egotistical enough to nominate myself for this project, but rational enough to know that I'm just not that interesting to write about. I nominate Daryl Surat!

[tran nga]

I think I can say my life's changed for the worst when I came into contact with anime/manga, but I'm not from the US ;D

ps. I cannot wait until I can put my grubby hands on a copy of Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno.

[dave merrill]

"Yeah but Michael Pinto was publishing anime fanzines way before Ardith Carlton or Steve Harrison came on the scene."

Yeah, but what has Mike Pinto done for us lately? By the time I got on the scene it was "Well, there used to be this Star Blazers club in New York..." Hell, I had to join the Earth Defense Command to get my fix. You got any idea how humiliating it is to tell people the name of your anime club is the "Earth Defense Command"?

[Carl Horn]

Try "Cartoon/Fantasy Organization," and don't forget the slash, or face an editorial in SHOP TALK. What's mind-blowing about that name is that if you asked anime fans today to come up with a good name for a club--or one that sounded like its main order of business was Japanese animation--they would have never come up with it in a million years.

[Steve Harrison]

I think the 'fantasy' part of C/FO was the furries.

Yeah, the EDC was kinda goofy, and I accept my share of the blame for helping Derek with some of it, but hey, I was just trying to help...because sure as heck I wasn't gonna start a club, no way no how (records of the mayfly life of C/FO West Michigan notwithstanding..shhh...)

[Steve Harrison]

I have had an epiphany. Jerry Fellows was Ishiguro, Ardith was Matsumoto, and I...was Nishizaki.

Holy fuck. my mind is blown.

[Laurine White]

I third Cap'n Dave. Does the "short list" include Fred Patton, Matt Greenfield, Robert Woodhead, Toren Smith? I just send out an email about this American Otaku Legends to some people whom I think are legends, or who may pass it on to someone they consider to be legends.

Is Daniel Zelter serious, or was he joking? Anyone who considers Zhang Yimou to be a "Japanese cinema master" is either kidding, or has serious problems with his understanding of Japanese culture.

[Steve Harrison]

Add Laurine to the list, guys. :)

Hey, someone needs to contact/interview Steve Perle (pearl?) PDQ...he's had some bad bad health issues recently and...well. From what I've read and what I know of such things, sooner is better than later, dig?

[Nahu]

Reported as requested, Genreral. Godspeed!

[Andre]

http://divalea.livejournal.com What about Lea Hernandez? Longtime manga retouch artist, one of the earliest [possibly first] artists to create a digest sized b+w manga style graphic novel with her Texas Steampunk books, and a former Gainax USA vice-president.

Also, Jan Scott Frazier.

I'm Canadian, so I don't think I'd count, plus I've only been into anime for..... 8 years now? I feel too newbie [despite the scary anime and manga collections]

[Andre]

Oh, and Colleen Doran, who while she was in her early Pro-days, contributed to Patalliro Saiyuki fanzines in the US.
http://adistantsoil.com/blog/?p=881 She's mostly know for her comics work, but she's a long time otaku. Then there's her how to draw Shojo book.....

[Marielle]

I don't suppose the fact that I have practice tomorrow for my club's presentation of the Haruhi dance makes me crazy, does it? :)

None of you have any idea who Haruhi is anyway...

I'll let my considerably more obsessive friends from cjas.org know.

[Brent Allison]

I am writing my doctoral dissertation on the pedagogical processes that take place in North American anime fandom. More specifically, what and how are anime fans learning about Japanese culture within intersecting fandom and macrosocial contexts? You can have a look at my curricula/vitae and past essays to see if I'm of interest to include in your book. Good luck in your task, in any case!

[Carl Horn]

>None of you have any idea who Haruhi is anyway...

It all starts to get a little hazy for us after BRAIGER.

[Daryl Surat]

I think anyone contained within this video would make a worthy candidate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3MXi0aMfA

Though knowing Patrick's insatiable need to perpetuate the idea of "social outcast in America = superstar in Japan" in order to guarantee the proliferation of DeviantArt/Keenspace webcomics as well as "OEL," I think this gentleman is more to his liking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkX5rWxk7MI

Contact information available upon request.

[Becca]

Heck yes Cap'n Dave, Carl Horn and Jan Scott Frazier!