Those were the days
Aug. 10th, 2007 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustOne month from today, it will be the 10th anniversary of the founding of AnimeUNSW.
Its official name is the Anime and Manga Society of the University of New South Wales, but nobody calls it that. To me personally, it will always be 'the club'. It was a big part of my life for a long time - through it, I made some wonderful friends, and had some amazing experiences, and of course watched lots of anime, which I was hugely passionate about.
Back then, the only other anime clubs in Sydney were JAUWS and SAS - the one based out west, and the other a small group of friends. The next closest club was down in Wollongong. SUAnime, Anime@UTS, AnimeMQ - none of these clubs yet existed. So AnimeUNSW became the main social hub for anime fans in metropolitan Sydney, its Friday night screenings regularly drawing not only uni students but high schoolers and fulltime workers - all come together to share their love of Japanese animation.
It was a whole other world back then. A time before Madman, before Tokyopop, before broadband, before P2P, before digisubs, before even DVDs. Anime was expensive and hard to get. Australian releases were few, the majority action titles, aimed at a teenage male audience, and dubbed with heavy American accents. Most of the good stuff had to be ordered from the US, which had a wider selection available.
A VHS tape with two episodes cost $30 for the dub and $45 for the sub - the price difference being one of the reasons for the constant dub versus sub wars, before DVDs came along and made the arguments obsolete. Manga did not fare much better. A single volume would set you back $30, and the range was also limited - I remember how exciting it was when Viz first released three volumes of shoujo manga.
Fansubbing was costly and complicated, requiring investment in several pieces of equipment. Fansub distros made VHS copies, done VCR to VCR in real time, and sent out by post. Tape quality degraded with each generation - the difference between first gen and fifth gen was huge. No one was doing scanlations yet, only scripts you were meant to read with the untranslated manga in your hand.
Time was when I knew everything available in English, official and fansubbed, and had watched a good proportion of them. Most anime fans were familiar with the same core titles - an unofficial canon featuring the likes of Akira and Ranma 1/2 and Evangelion.
Now it's impossible to follow everything. Thousands of licensed titles in all genres are widely available. Bookshops and video stores and libraries are filled with anime and manga. High quality downloads of entire series are accessible with the click of a mouse. In many ways, it is the world we dreamed of back then.
Ten years is a long time. Many of us who were involved with the club in those early days have moved on. But a new generation of fans carries the torch - and ten years from now it will be a whole new world again.
Its official name is the Anime and Manga Society of the University of New South Wales, but nobody calls it that. To me personally, it will always be 'the club'. It was a big part of my life for a long time - through it, I made some wonderful friends, and had some amazing experiences, and of course watched lots of anime, which I was hugely passionate about.
Back then, the only other anime clubs in Sydney were JAUWS and SAS - the one based out west, and the other a small group of friends. The next closest club was down in Wollongong. SUAnime, Anime@UTS, AnimeMQ - none of these clubs yet existed. So AnimeUNSW became the main social hub for anime fans in metropolitan Sydney, its Friday night screenings regularly drawing not only uni students but high schoolers and fulltime workers - all come together to share their love of Japanese animation.
It was a whole other world back then. A time before Madman, before Tokyopop, before broadband, before P2P, before digisubs, before even DVDs. Anime was expensive and hard to get. Australian releases were few, the majority action titles, aimed at a teenage male audience, and dubbed with heavy American accents. Most of the good stuff had to be ordered from the US, which had a wider selection available.
A VHS tape with two episodes cost $30 for the dub and $45 for the sub - the price difference being one of the reasons for the constant dub versus sub wars, before DVDs came along and made the arguments obsolete. Manga did not fare much better. A single volume would set you back $30, and the range was also limited - I remember how exciting it was when Viz first released three volumes of shoujo manga.
Fansubbing was costly and complicated, requiring investment in several pieces of equipment. Fansub distros made VHS copies, done VCR to VCR in real time, and sent out by post. Tape quality degraded with each generation - the difference between first gen and fifth gen was huge. No one was doing scanlations yet, only scripts you were meant to read with the untranslated manga in your hand.
Time was when I knew everything available in English, official and fansubbed, and had watched a good proportion of them. Most anime fans were familiar with the same core titles - an unofficial canon featuring the likes of Akira and Ranma 1/2 and Evangelion.
Now it's impossible to follow everything. Thousands of licensed titles in all genres are widely available. Bookshops and video stores and libraries are filled with anime and manga. High quality downloads of entire series are accessible with the click of a mouse. In many ways, it is the world we dreamed of back then.
Ten years is a long time. Many of us who were involved with the club in those early days have moved on. But a new generation of fans carries the torch - and ten years from now it will be a whole new world again.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-10 06:34 pm (UTC)I'd say the spirit of the club is still alive and well, even if it's old body has somewhat mutated.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 04:59 pm (UTC)I'm still amazed that three guys with an inspiration started something that is still going strong ten years on and has touched so many people. It's not a bad legacy at all.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-11 02:51 am (UTC)It does make me feel justified in spending all that time with the club though!
no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 05:25 pm (UTC)I think it did feel more special in the old days - there was a sense of reward at having gone through the effort of acquiring something rare, and a feeling that we were getting a glimpse of another world.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-11 04:10 pm (UTC)I still remember the first time I went to a screening. A certain someone with a Ranma-pigtail called me from the front saying that my parents were there to pick me up @_@
It's interesting to see how much things have "progressed". But the most important part for me is all the friendships I've forged through the club :3
One of these days, I'll figure out what to ask everyone. Then I'll make that XD Anthology! XD
no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 05:28 pm (UTC)I'm still eagerly awaiting that anthology! Don't let it be the 20th anniversary before it comes out! XD
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 03:44 am (UTC)Those were the days...
no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 10:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 09:17 am (UTC)We came in at exactly the right time, didn't we? Late enough that there was sufficient material available - but it still took significant effort and teamwork to acquire, so we could never take it for granted. I don't think we could have been nearly as passionate about it as we were if we were even a few years earlier or later, and the club shone because of it.
There isn't much that I'd trade that experience for. Thanks again, all of you.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 01:59 pm (UTC)