Orihara_Kaoru
08-19-2007, 04:19 PM
Gah! Posted in wrong forum! Could a mod please move this to General Anime? Thx.
I just spent the better part of the afternoon getting rid of about half of my old VHS fansub collection that I started in the mid-90s. For some reason, I've been reluctant to get rid of them for years - whether it be the memories associated with them or the money I spent on them (fansubs didn't used to be free!).
For those who came to anime more recently, I'll give you a brief history of the VHS fansub. It started around the late 80s when anime fandom was tiny. Fans in the West would either get broadcast tapes, Japanese commercial VHS, or LDs to work from. Creating fansubs were sort of a labour of love. You could either "buy" the tapes from the fansubber him/herself or through distributors (scrupulous people only charged for the cost of the tape plus shipping, but there were those trying to make a quick buck). Tape trades were also really popular.
This was an age long before digital distribution was even thought of. For one thing, most people only had dial-up and couldn't download a large picture let alone an anime episode. It was also before many of our current R1 companies came into existence or started licensing things on a regular basis (there was, like, Ranma and MD Geist. That was pretty much it).
I actually was a distributor (http://www.touyaxyukito.com/bideo2.htm) for about four years (later part of high school and a little into university). I can't even count how many orders I used to fill... I used to get letters almost everyday with money orders from around the world (it was a very low-tech endeavour). But it used to make me feel so good, knowing that I was allowing someone to see the end of Sailormoon in Japanese or introducing them to a classic like Rurouni Kenshin (omg, remember those awful Hecto fansubs?).
I came into this world like many other people: to see the rest of Sailormoon not broadcast on TV (in 1995 only the first 1.5 seasons were dubbed). I branched out from there and eventually acquired a collection of around 400 tapes (with approximately 4 eps each). Not all of these were fansubbed; distributors often had raw episodes on offer as well.
I guess what really motivated my clean-out was the need to use the cabinets and shelves for other things. So I thought I might as well toss the tapes that I own on DVD - either R1 or R2. So out went Tonde Boorin; my 1st gen Tomodachi (best fansubber ever) Marmalade Boy, Fushigi Yuugi, and Nurse Angel Ririka SOS tapes (no fear, I have R2 Ririka), the aforementioned Hecto/Shinsen Gumi Rurouni Kenshin tapes, and so many more. I threw out around 200 tapes today, which sort of horrified me. Mostly because, estimating around $5 a tape, that means $1000 just went in the trash. Yikes.
Almost as important is what stayed. I couldn't part with Hime-chan, Rose of Versailles (even though I have this on R2), Romeo's Blue Skies, Oniisama e (also have on R2, but Techno Girls did such a stealer job), and a few others that haven't seen the light of day in R1, and probably never will (Creamy Mami).
I have to stress that this is just two cabinets. I have two *other* cabinets that I haven't even touched yet. I kind of forget what's even there. But I know for sure that I probably won't be able to part with my VKLL (1st gen!) Sailormoon fansubs. They came in these lovely white clamshell cases with a picture of the corresponding LD on the cover. So pretty.
So doing all this really got me curious about other posters on AoD. I know there must be a few others out there that remember the old days. It wasn't *that* long ago. Did you collect VHS fansubs? Do you still have them? Have you trashed them as you replaced them on DVD? Did you used to distro? Did we ever trade tapes (it wouldn't surprise me)? Do you have any fansubs that you've hung on to for nostalgic reasons? Or would you just like to wax nostalgic about Arctic Animation? :P
I just spent the better part of the afternoon getting rid of about half of my old VHS fansub collection that I started in the mid-90s. For some reason, I've been reluctant to get rid of them for years - whether it be the memories associated with them or the money I spent on them (fansubs didn't used to be free!).
For those who came to anime more recently, I'll give you a brief history of the VHS fansub. It started around the late 80s when anime fandom was tiny. Fans in the West would either get broadcast tapes, Japanese commercial VHS, or LDs to work from. Creating fansubs were sort of a labour of love. You could either "buy" the tapes from the fansubber him/herself or through distributors (scrupulous people only charged for the cost of the tape plus shipping, but there were those trying to make a quick buck). Tape trades were also really popular.
This was an age long before digital distribution was even thought of. For one thing, most people only had dial-up and couldn't download a large picture let alone an anime episode. It was also before many of our current R1 companies came into existence or started licensing things on a regular basis (there was, like, Ranma and MD Geist. That was pretty much it).
I actually was a distributor (http://www.touyaxyukito.com/bideo2.htm) for about four years (later part of high school and a little into university). I can't even count how many orders I used to fill... I used to get letters almost everyday with money orders from around the world (it was a very low-tech endeavour). But it used to make me feel so good, knowing that I was allowing someone to see the end of Sailormoon in Japanese or introducing them to a classic like Rurouni Kenshin (omg, remember those awful Hecto fansubs?).
I came into this world like many other people: to see the rest of Sailormoon not broadcast on TV (in 1995 only the first 1.5 seasons were dubbed). I branched out from there and eventually acquired a collection of around 400 tapes (with approximately 4 eps each). Not all of these were fansubbed; distributors often had raw episodes on offer as well.
I guess what really motivated my clean-out was the need to use the cabinets and shelves for other things. So I thought I might as well toss the tapes that I own on DVD - either R1 or R2. So out went Tonde Boorin; my 1st gen Tomodachi (best fansubber ever) Marmalade Boy, Fushigi Yuugi, and Nurse Angel Ririka SOS tapes (no fear, I have R2 Ririka), the aforementioned Hecto/Shinsen Gumi Rurouni Kenshin tapes, and so many more. I threw out around 200 tapes today, which sort of horrified me. Mostly because, estimating around $5 a tape, that means $1000 just went in the trash. Yikes.
Almost as important is what stayed. I couldn't part with Hime-chan, Rose of Versailles (even though I have this on R2), Romeo's Blue Skies, Oniisama e (also have on R2, but Techno Girls did such a stealer job), and a few others that haven't seen the light of day in R1, and probably never will (Creamy Mami).
I have to stress that this is just two cabinets. I have two *other* cabinets that I haven't even touched yet. I kind of forget what's even there. But I know for sure that I probably won't be able to part with my VKLL (1st gen!) Sailormoon fansubs. They came in these lovely white clamshell cases with a picture of the corresponding LD on the cover. So pretty.
So doing all this really got me curious about other posters on AoD. I know there must be a few others out there that remember the old days. It wasn't *that* long ago. Did you collect VHS fansubs? Do you still have them? Have you trashed them as you replaced them on DVD? Did you used to distro? Did we ever trade tapes (it wouldn't surprise me)? Do you have any fansubs that you've hung on to for nostalgic reasons? Or would you just like to wax nostalgic about Arctic Animation? :P