Anime in America

They say love can’t bloom on the battlefield but does that apply to anime? In the finale of Anime in America we catch up on where anime is now, streaming’s impact on the anime industry, and answers life's biggest questions: What IS anime?

Guests: Kun Gao, Grace Opigo

Remember how many failed attempts there were to get Dragon Ball onto TV? Yeah, neither did I but here we are. We also take a dive into what most millennials credit as their first taste of anime with Toonami.

Guests: Jason Demarco, Roland Kelts 

Who would have guessed it was tough getting any store to pick up AKIRA or the arduous road to get a single Ghibli film to the states for it to be the only anime film to eventually win an Oscar.

Guests: Jerry Beck

If you’re tired of every movie being based on a comic book in the states….boy do I have bad news for you. Manga (Japanese comics) is a major part of the anime industry in Japan...but they’ve had and continue to have a hard time in America.

Guests: Rachel Thorne, and Nick Rowe

Your average American has a very specific view of Anime and most of the time they think it’s tentacles and anime babes but we’re here to set the record straight. Also, It’s called Hentai and it’s ART.

Things have changed since the recording of our convention episode so we’re bringing you a special bonus episode to talk about the new convention landscape in a Covid world.

From humble beginnings, conventions were 5 people in a room huddled around a VCR and a tube television. Now they’re attended by hundreds of thousands of people and take an army to put on. Also, the world of being a professional cosplayer. What a world!

Localization is a messy world, especially in the 80s’, but that doesn’t stop Harmony Gold (a company, not a person) from mashing up a few shows to create the first big anime, Robotech. Also, you’ll never believe how former Italian prime minister and known criminal Silvio Berlusconi is involved!

Before you could go online to watch literally any and every anime you had to send a letter, a check, and wait a few months for a VHS of maybe 4 episodes. Also, doing that was a crime.

Chronicling the rise of anime and its journey from Japan to Saturday-morning cartoons in America. Western fans have since swarmed to anime...but not without some drama and bloodshed. Anime in America is hosted by Yedoye Travis.