The other day my son and I were watching an NHK documentary on penguins and elephant seals living on King George’s Island, near the South Pole. We were interested in the show because of the beautiful and mysterious creatures they were showing us, but also because the narrator was Tohru Furuya, perhaps the most famous anime voice actor in Japan today, who provided the voices of Amuro Ray from the Mobile Suit Gundam universe, Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon, Kyosuke from Orange Road, and about a bazillion other roles over the years. My son and I (who like Gundam way too much) made a great game of spitting out Gundam-esque lines and laughing as “Amuro” replied with fascinating information on the mating rituals of the wildlife on the island. In many ways, anime is everywhere in Japan, and there’s no a person under the age of 45 here that can’t wax a little nostalgic about some anime they watched as a youngling, even if they’re not an active otaku today. That’s part of the fun of being an anime fan — it means there’s the potential for an unexpected connection with any Japanese person you meet, even when you least expect it.
By the way, if you’re a Gundam fan, hunt down the Zeta Gundam compilation movies. They’re quite cool, since you can watch the entire Zeta Gundam series (truly the Empire Strikes Bath of the Gundamverse) in a short time. The altered character designs are hard to get used to, though. Cool, but switching back and forth is a little funky.
