Ten Anime Films that Shaped My Fanhood :: Part 2

Like so many others, one particular anime classic was a huge influence on my fanhood. I mean, who can forget nihilistic the motorcycle punks, the frightening look into the future of humanity, the dusty artwork, the killer soundtrack, the fast-paced action. That’s right…

#o9 :: Akira
#o9 :: Venus Wars

Yeah, okay, so, maybe those images bring to mind a slightly more popular film, but I’m still on a trip down memory lane and before there was Tetsuo, there was Hiro Seno, hotshot leader of the Killer Commandos. Well, by before, I mean a year after in a crappy attempt to ride some of the Akira coat-tails, but lets not split hairs. I didn’t know that at the time.

Venus Wars, Akira, Demon City Shinjuku and a host of Project A-Ko flicks made up much of the Sci-Fi channels Saturday Anime rotation and after my adventures into the world of Iria, I was hot to get my hands on anything anime related I could. And, while Akira was a little over my head at the time, and Demon City Shinjuku was… retarded, even for a 13 year old, The Venus Wars was about where I was at, and somewhere in that aforementioned box of VHS tapes at my mom’s house is a TV dubbed copy of that movie that’s nearly warn to death.

Venus Wars isn't exactly an emotional tour de force, in fact, it's mostly just action pulp, but there isn't much that you can't enjoy about rollerball-like motorcycle violence, space-wars, and sassy Japanese James Dean hero-boys. Now, I'd like to say that this had some sort of deep impact on me, but, really it makes the list because of when I stumbled upon it at the right time and it opened me up to anime on American TV.

It doesn’t come with the same charming story about my friends pressuring me into watching nudie cartoons, but by this point I was already on the anime bandwagon and using my blazing fast 14k connection to check out all the anime info Geocities had to offer. It does come with lots of fun memories of my sitting at my dad's house watching on Saturday mornings drinking Dr. Pepper and eating ham & cheese hot pockets.