Steve Whitcher's article in Animejin #7 prompted me to similar musings. I have been involved with anime since 1990, and can remember hunting around for some way to get hold of some of this strange stuff. The position has gradually but inexorably shifted, so that one now has the feeling of slowly drowning in anime. I get most of the UK releases as preview copies, and, in case you weren't counting, the post-Akira UK releases now exceed 120 tapes. (I do a lot of anime reviewing; if you haven't seen my name it's because I prefer to preach to the unconverted). Then there are all the similarly numerous US releases, before one even mentions the fan tapes.
It is no longer possible to keep abreast of all the anime coming our way (if it ever was). From being glad to obtain and watch anything my stance has shifted to a point where I know that there is some anime I don't much like, and a few things I'd really like to have on tape. As for the rest, I wouldn't mind seeing it now and then, but I'm not that bothered.
As for new anime, most of it I'd like to see out of curiosity but I'm not that desperate to see more of the same kind of stuff. New Dominion? New Dirty Pair Flash? Nuku-Nuku #6? Sit me in front of it and I'll watch it, probably enjoy it, but don't expect me to go out of my way or spend valuable time chasing after copies.
It's noteworthy too that the last UK anime con just dealt with new stuff rather than attempting a complete coverage of old and new. I do wonder at those people who go to cons and 'never go in the viewing rooms'. Perhaps they have very active local circles? Or very busy mailboxes? I find cons the best way of keeping abreast of new anime and checking out what might be worth collecting. There is still no substitute for seeing the material oneself!
The whole tape-collecting thing is born out of necessity rather than otherwise. Ideally, I'd watch anime on TV or cable, borrow it, or rent it (though I must admit I've never rented a video tape in my life) or watch it at anime conventions and only obtain tapes of the items I really wanted to repeat view. On average I watch a tape about three times.
Like Steve, I'm becoming more interested in the obscurer items that are never likely to be released here. I would rather collect anime that doesn't conform to the narrow tastes of the average anime fan. Too much of it is all too clearly made for an adolescent audience which likes fast-paced undemanding amusement pepped up with a bit of titillation and violence. (So you're offended? I'm 46 and have a university degree. What do you expect me to like? You watch your anime & I'll watch mine.)
Indications are that there is a significant amount of more sophisticated and adult anime in Japan in addition to Tombstone of the Fireflies, Omohide Poroporo, I Can Hear the Ocean and The Sensualist. While obviously commercial material like Plastic Little whizzes straight to a UK anime con and the order-books of a British distributor, the discovery of other interesting anime is very patchy. Look It's Back to Front (Ushiro No Shomen Da Are - a video so obscure I have to rely on my own translation of the title) is as good as any other 'quality' anime I've seen. It's about a typical Japanese family before and during World War II. Not, evidently, a popular topic with the baseball cap fraternity. I should have thought that the stylish Be-bop High School would be a fan hit, but it seems to be completely unknown. There is also a serious adaptation of the classic Tale of Genji, as well as an adaptation of the weird Genji manga. The former, admittedly, is rather sleep-inducing.
Any effort I make to collect anime will be to get the more mature and interesting items rather than the marketable stuff which is likely to turn up in the UK or in convention viewing rooms sooner or later anyway. (Anime con organisers, who have to pay their bills, are not immune from popular demand and commercial pressure.) The problem is to identify the good stuff in advance of viewing it.
I feel that rather too much is made in British fan publications of the notion that as we all like anime, we are all interested in the same kind of things. There are signs of a greater breadth of interest in the USA, with some arcane NET forums, and active translation groups working on obscure videos. Partly, this is because of the way the scene has developed here with an emphasis on a young-adult market, and because many fans DO like the same kind of thing. But look abroad, and ask how many of you want to be identified with 13-year old fans of Dragonball Z? I have no incentive to explore British fanzines when they all seem to consist of Manga Video reviews. A fanzine, surely, is not subjected to the same pressures as Anime UK Magazine to cover a broad spectrum. So where is the shojo fanzine? The subtitled fan tape fanzine? The art anime fanzine? The manga review fanzine? The Miyazaki fanzine? The 'soft' anime fanzine? The blank cover tentacle fanzine? I await ripostes from wounded editors.
It's clear that the commercial market in dubbed anime was not really what most fans wanted. (Though it strikes me that most fans like the same kind of videos that Manga Video issues, but with subtitles). All I can say is, how much is this anything for us to concern ourselves with? Any more than we are concerned with the meretricious American movies flooding British cinemas and video shops?
The signs are that the UK 'Manga' industry is growing too big for fan voices to be heard. The most immediate effect is that, once a dubbed video is licensed here, there is a disincentive to search out the Japanese-language or subtitled edition, and often no longer any cheap and legal way for anyone who doesn't like dubs to get an alternative version. Yet it is no more difficult than before to achieve the smug satisfaction of having great anime that hardly anyone else in the UK has seen or heard about. Isn't this part of being a fan?