For many anime fans, internet streaming has been a thing for their entire time as a fan. However, before the age of high speed internet, anime had to be consumed quite differently outside of Japan. Take a trip through time with this article to learn about the history of early anime in North America and the avid fans that worked hours and hours to help build the fandom into what it is today.
Teaser from the article:
With the advent of streaming services, we are currently living through an era of unprecedented access to anime. Some shows are simultaneously released online with subtitles, and even a select number with English dubs, as they air in Japan.
Despite this, there are still those participating in the good old-fashioned piracy that helped create the anime fandom as it is today in North America, doing so surprisingly enough in some of the exact same ways they were over forty years ago. So why was this kind of piracy done in the first place, why was it necessary, and why is a dedicated group of anime fans doing work to preserve it with anime more easy to access than ever before?
I never took advantage of VHS Tape Traders like is discussed for part of this article. Instead, I would often pick up tapes at a con of some kind (or have a friend pick them up). Oftentimes, I had no knowledge of the shows/movies and simply relied on boxart (if it existed) or whatever knowledge the seller had about the series to inform buying decisions. It’s so different than today, the age of information, where a synopsis/summary/ratings/etc. are just a quick search away.
Also wanted to shout out that this author is on lemmy, so thanks @LiteralGrill@ani.social for a trip through time.