04-19-2004, 09:46 PM
Quote:Its Robotech he rented it at a blockbuster. If it wasn't for Carl Macek it would have been many years before anime hit here in America. I didn't have the luxury of growing up in Japan, so what I did watch was Robotech, and it was damn good.
Many of us at the time thought the same thing, believe me. At the time, we didn't even know that it was an edited version of the Japanese original. Up until the mid-1990s, most Japanese animation in the US were cheap kiddie shows or theatrical kiddie matinees -- something the US distributors can get real cheap without losing their shirt. Roboteck wasn't the only show to fall in this category -- Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets and the original Astro Boy were released and adapted on the cheap in the US.
But, when the mid-1990s came, many people realise that anime isn't just for kids anymore, and since then, it has become a moneymaker for those involved in the business, like ADV and Central Park Media, who both had their foot in the door when anime started getting hot.