Her name is infamous; the mere mention of it conjures visions of moon lit battles for the survival of our planet- she is the one, Sailor Moon!
Oh yes, like so many children of the 90’s I was sucked in by the action packed adventures of Serena, the lights, colors and sound attracted me like the young impressionable child I was. At 5 years old I was no match for the appeal that was Sailor Moon. She had a seemingly normal life on the outside, but secretly she was saving the planet from the greatest evil ever known. Somehow I connected that to my own life, at 5 I found myself suddenly Fatherless, moving, and very soon starting school. Her problems made mine seem small, and that’s just what I needed.
Sailor Moon has remained a staple in my life; I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on stuff, shirts, trading cards, wands, and jewelry. I wanted to be a sailor scout and I’m unashamed to say I still sometimes want to be one.
Then came cable Television, oh yes. Remember Toonami? Okay, I saw the very first show, way back in 97, yeah. Back when Toonami was ‘run’ by Space Ghost. Oh what good times, and I was very upset when they brought TOM in to replace Space Ghost. But Toonami was my first look into a world I hadn’t known, I remember the first time I saw Out Law Star. I wanted to be that guy so bad!
I saw the last Toonami showing as well, I cried- yes I know that’s lame. But if it hadn’t been for that program block I would never have gotten into anime. Yu Yu Hakusho, Cyborg 009, Rurouni Kenshin, Gundam, and Naruto; just a few shows that have forever changed my life thanks to Toonami.
Later years would bring Inuyasha, Blood+, and the like, all thanks to Adult Swim.
Now looking back I ponder on what I would be like today without those shows. What if my Mother had made good on all her treats to take away T.V.? Certainly I would have fit in better at school, where no one else was watching these shows. But in the long run I would have missed out on joining the high school anime club where I met my best friends and never found out about yaoi.
Over the years my tast for anime has refined, I prefer older anime, like the ones I grew up with. I’m not into the shiny Shonen crap so many are; only yaoi should have gay looking fem boys running around all DESUDESU. If it’s not yaoi I don’t want my men to be all shiny and sparkly, Bakugan looks like a pedo’s play land with all those shiny little boys, a Shota-balooza.
So when did I become an Otaku? A long time ago, back in 97. I joined TheO when we got our first comp back in… It’s been so long I can’t remember when it was… But I wasn’t Kitsune24, I was Rebekah, I was in 6th grade… so back in the late 90’s or early 2000’s. So I’ve been around for a while, I remember when Seifer sama was posting on a regular bases.
So know you know, the story of how I became an Otaku.