I happened to notice that today marks the 25th anniversary of the Japanese release of the 1998 American Godzilla film. This means that today is my 25th anniversary as an anime blogger. Please keep reading to see how the Godzilla 1998 film helped turn me to blogging about anime and Japan!
25 Years of Anime Blogging? How Godzilla 1998 Made Me An Anime Blogger!
I started J-List in October of 1996, against the better judgment of Mrs. J-List. She was sure my idea of creating an online shop selling anime figures, sexy magazines and other products to customers worldwide would lead to a bad end. After a couple years of my refusing to go out of business, she rolled up her sleeves, became our CEO, incorporated the company, and whipped me and the other staff into shape.
In those pre-Netflix days, we drove to the next city nearby to see films late at night to take a break from the stresses of running a busy company and raising our two kids. One night I mentioned to my wife that the US Godzilla film had just opened and asked her if she’d like to see the movie.
How Was the Godzilla 1998 Movie?
The movie was…interesting. While most fans had reacted negatively to the film, it was a lot of fun at the time, extending the excitement of Jurassic Park into a more traditional monster movie in the familiar setting of New York. Rather than a supernaturally powerful creature impervious to human weapons, the monster from Godzilla 1998 was fast and dextrous, dodging missiles rather than letting them hit his body. Oh. And he had about 10,000 baby Godzillas because CGI is cheap, apparently.
Little did I know that the American Godzilla 1998 film would give my life a purpose I didn’t imagine was possible then. Because when I came home from watching the film, I then fired off an email to the (then nascent) J-List mailing list, talking about the differences between the American Godzilla film and the more traditional films from Japan. The response I got from our customers made me realize I had a more important mission than just selling anime figures and naughty products from Japan.
How did Netflix kill a promising Godzilla anime? Blog post for you here!
Thanks to that experience, I realized that my true calling in life was to build a bridge between Japan and the rest of the world to make it easier for fans to better understand Japan. This mission has helped make writing posts for J-List fun every day.
Thanks for reading this blog post about the early days of J-List and the Godzilla 1998 film. What did you think of the film, if you’ve seen it?
Also, be sure to follow J-List on these platforms!
- Twitter, where Peter posts anime booba for you
- Facebook, where we share memes and discuss anime
- Instagram, for fans who want to keep up with J-List products in your Insta timeline
- Discord, if you want to chat with other J-List customers of culture
- Finally, check out J-List’s new short video blogs on YouTube or TikTok!
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