My memory vaguely recalls many years back when I was a geekling of 5 or 6 visiting my dad in Lexington and seeing my first anime on Boston daytime TV.

It ran with a storyline of a doomed Earth with episode countdown and featured as it’s centerpiece an aircraft carrier or some other naval ship of the line in space — which I knew from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica to be utter bullshit (even if I didn’t know that exact phrasing). Water not for space; water for ocean, dum-dum head! (Yes, I’ve been using semi-colons from a young age)

Had they left in the fanservice of the original a life long anime-addict would’ve been born. I wonder perversely how many boys creamed first to what were supposed to be just kids cartoons (given the devotion/addiction of some for Anime, ALOT)

Years after that as a pre-teen I saw Robotech for the first time and was formally introduced to Anime. The adult themes, sweet-as-shit transformable jets and FUCK’IN graphic illustration of death in war set it apart, above, and beyond the cartoons it shared timeslots with. Unlike G.I. Joe’s last minute bailouts — even for Cobra pilots — this series showed ANYONE could buy it in war.

When Roy Focker, ultra-cool Skull squadron commander ace whom played guitar and had a Black girlfriend, died on a date trying to get some last booty; a kid was sold!

Fast forward to last weekend. I was discussing the StarBlazer Adventures RPG in development, based on an English heavy metal sci-fi comic book of the 70‘s. I goggled StarBlazer for some background and guess what turned up? OLD-ASS Star Blazers (aka Space Battleship Yamato in Japan), that first anime I saw nearly thirty years ago!

I’ve been watching the old episodes I can on the net, now through the eyes of a seasoned geek, and find them to be pretty cool. It’s more action compared to Robotech — which is damn near an All My Children in space, not that I watch All My Children … REALLY — yet a sci-fi saga nonetheless. There were three seasons and several movies for it and I’m tempted to assimilate them all (their narrative distinctiveness WILL be added to my own). There’s even talk of a new series.

Recent discussion on the forums regarding literature classics coinciding with this discovery of an Anime classic is fortunate and promises new portals into creativity. Although my growing Must Read list may have a new competitor … damn it! … NOT ENOUGH TIME! *Head explodes*

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