Our Foreign Counterpart Anime Fans

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Our Foreign Counterparts

We weren't the only one absolutely starved for anime. Those of us in countries outside of the US were also needy enough to need English translations from the American and Canadian fan counterparts. I tended to be surprised at how many people from other countries wanted anime in ENGLISH. I didn't realize that English is a second language in most of the world. That one aspect helped this work go so far. I used to keep a piece of paper on the wall and every time a new country sent a letter, I wrote down the country. Here is that list.

1. England

2. France

3. Germany

4. Canada

5. Japan

6. Peru

7. Australia

8. Norway

9. Scotland

10. Wales

11. Puerto Rico

12. Belgium

13. Finland

14. The Netherlands

15. South Africa

16. Indonesia

17. The Phillipines

18. Austria

19. Brazil

20. Sweden

21. Kuwait

22. Italy

23. Denmark

24. Mexico

25. Uruguay

26. Spain

27. Israel

28. Poland

Brazil

"Your subtitled work on FY became very popular here in Brazil... (and we are a big country...over 180 million ppl). I already told you that I'm the president of a new (well...we have just 3 here...) anime club...it's called BAC - Brasil Anime Clube... when I saw FY show... (where we show animes on a gigantic 130" projector) over 80 ppl watched it... I was "obligated" to show 3 entire volumes in one day... :)

After the show...the members must write down their impressions about the show...questions like: How was the anime? How was the subtitling? (for fansubbed animes)...well... over 90% of the ppl have given the maximum score...10... and their comments: "pure art"; "excellent..."; "fantastic subtitling." The ppl loved FY...and loved your work..."

Antonius

Spain

I have a few news that you would like ^_^

First, Marmalade boy is going to be published in Spain by Planeta de Agostini (October), and I am the translator ^_^ It is going to be aired in TV perhaps next week, and I am also one of the translators.

And the last new, is that a group of friends created a group to organize events, help the manga fans, etc, called... Tomodachi ^_^ (I am the
treasurer)

Well, I hope you like these news.

See you,

Alessandra Moura

Peru

"The guys here from the club were talking about you today, and soon Rafael will be sending you a surprise including a picture with some of us, lamentably I'm not there "cause some of us were working hard for the TV program that day.

We've got a special bluc for the readers of the SUGOI magazine and by now we've got more than 1,000 members! and we are gathering in a school coliseum one Sunday a month.

I think despite some of the problems, we are doing quite well here, it would be terrific if we can help spread anime fever all over South America! WOW!"

Tonio

Australia

"Keep up the great work! And wow... Princess Army Manga video was awesome! That must of been a project and a half! The music was also great."

Jeff (Australia)

Brazil

"A Japanese friend of mine (he works as translator at the Japan Embassy) borrowed my FY tapes...and he was amazed too... he told me that you chose the right words for everything...and the info at the end of some eps are excellent...he told me to give you congratulations...^_^"

Antonius

Germany

"I would really appreciate that. Aachen is a city with 250,000 residents, 40,000 students and not one anime club. Even video libraries do not offer much anime. Is that scary?

German dubbed anime is pretty scarce. I doubt there is any series available on commercial video as German dub. Only some movies like GitS or Akira. The rest is subtitled in German (badly, in most cases). Subtitled anime has never been shown in TV, either.

Took a look at the list. Sailor Moon is pretty good. But the rest is kind of off the wall.

Forgot to mention Cat's Eye. Was running a while ago, but pretty mediocre, too. No plot development in dozens of episodes."

Sandy

Spain

" I am Chiisai from Spain and I'm going to watch all Fushigi Yuugi and Marmalade Boy that you and Papasan sent me. I am so happy. Thanks a lot for your work in both series, I hope you enjoy them."

I am going to send you my new magazine, Yamatai number 5 and some Neko, the best magazine of Spain".

Kuwait

"Whoa! Don't be THAT surprised! It's true that anime is somewhat unpopular here, but it's definitely not nonexistent. Actually, a lot of people are acquainted with it, but the true fanatics such as myself are a minority.

During the eighties and early nineties, one anime TV series (Captain Tsubasa, ever heard of it?) got to be HUGELY popular in not only Kuwait but other gulf countries too. It was dubbed in Arabic in Saudi Arabia and distributed all over the gulf. But still, that didn't do anime much good. Reason? When people here watch an anime TV series, they aren't watching "Japanese Animation", they're just watching another "cartoon". So as far as Captain Tsubasa went, it was only known as a fun "cartoon", not a great "anime" series.

But still, there are a few exceptions such as myself. I had my first anime experience in Switzerland when I was seven years old. We were there for the holidays, and I switched on the TV of course, and there was the coolest TV series ever made. Saint Seiya, with all the mythical fighters of the Zodiac and all the magic of the stars about them."

Khalid

Israel

Hi Karen!
"When I was about 5-6 years old, Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman was on television here, and it was my favourite series, and I still have some tapes of it which I recorded."

"Also, I've been a long time fan of the films of that director who committed suicide recently who did Tampopo and Mimbo ("the gentle art of Japanese extortion) and The Taxing Lady and The Funeral. But I only really became an anime fan when I was in England for a week on holiday in 1995 and by chance, I saw an advertisement for a Manga Video animation festival in Brixton, London, which I decided to go to just for fun to see what it was [I was hoping that they would screen Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman, which was the only anime that I knew of, which I had loved as a small child]. Anyway, they had Akira on there, dubbed in English, which I didn't like very much, on a double bill wit AD Police 1-3, which I liked enough to check out a few other animes (Junk Boy, Macross Plus part 4, and the Lensman)."

"Actually, I wasn't crazy about any of them (although Junk Boy was very funny!), but I liked them enough to join an English fan club which sent a quarterly anime bulletin to its members. I was a member of that fan club for about a year, during which I mail-ordered a number of animes through the club."

"Then I got an invitation through them to an anime convention in London in January this year, so I planned a winter break holiday around it and went. It was really excellent, and I saw loads on anime (subbed), and it was then that I became a real 'anime no otaku'."

"Anime really is very difficult to get hold of in Israel. There is only one shop in Jerusalem which stocks any (and I've searched around quite a lot, unsuccessfully for another), and it only had Streetfighter II and Ghost in the Shell, both dubbed. I don't really like dubbing at all, because, first of all, it's always badly done, and secondly, since I do know some Japanese, in a subtitled video I can pick up all of the'meshiagaru' as opposed to 'taberu', and the 'o-denwa o o-kake ni narimasu ka' as opposed to the 'denwa o kakette kudasai' or whatever, which could never really be translated (not to mention the whole -san, -sama, -chan, -kun, -shi thing which just disappears in most dubbings)."

"The only people I know in Israel who are anime fans (and I do know a few) are immigrants from the US or Europe. There are hardly any Japanese people in Israel (and almost all of the ones there are are tourists who stay in organized groups who I never really see), and Japanese is not offered as a language in any school that I know of here. I have been learning Japanese on my own from textbooks and subtitled animes because I am a bit of a Japanophile and I hope to go to Japan at some point to work there (I am the head of a programme of mutual support groups for children of divorce, and I'm hoping to maybe start a similar program at some point in Japan with the help of some people I know in Tokai University). I've never been yet, but I really look forward to it."

"Subtitled anime really is a great way to improve my Japanese since I can listen to the pronunciation of something interesting, and try to mimic it, and I can pick up some words from context and look others up in a dictionary. Of course, the internet is a great help (that's how I found Tomodachi anime, for example. My grandfather, Prof. Gerald Caplan, got an internet account last year, and since then I've been able to use it for all kinds of stuff including finding more out about interesting anime."

"Anyway, thank you very much for asking. If there's anything else at all that you want to know, please do not hesitate to e-mail me to ask me. I'm always interested in communicating with anime fans since I don't get to do that much where I live."

Daniel

Australia

I have watched Tomodachi fan-subs for a few years now, and i thought it was time that I dropped you a note to say how much I (and my friend) enjoy them, and what an absolutely incredible job that you are doing with them. Apart from choosing fantastic titles to sub, you're translations are an absolute credit to you, you're timing is spot on and you can clearly see the love that you've put in to making every single one of the efforts. And on top of all this - you do it all in your spare time, and for no profit at all. Honto ni sugoi desu ne!!

I can without a doubt say that you are an inspiration for anime fans all across Australia, and no doubt across the world.

I have just finished watching the last episode of MB the other day, and the job that you and your friends have done on this series is an absolute amazement!

FY was also a great series, as was Ririka - and I'm looking forward to watching the rest of Hime-chan!

What I have watched of I'll Make A Habit Of IT so far has been hilarious!!! This anime is sooooo Funny! Each episode just seems to get funnier and even more wacky!!! I have never seen an anime quite like it! I think it is so funny, in fact, that I am even going to screen it regularly at the Canberra Anime Society".

Anyway - my point is, thank you for the fantastic job you are doing with Tomodachi Anime, and remember that people enjoy and appreciate it all over the world.

Colin

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HOME PAGE General Site Directory
The Original Marmalade Boy Guide
The 1999 Additional Directories
The 2002 Directories Vintage Tomodachi-A Partial History of Anime
You're in the 2002 Additional Area. To return to the links for this section, click here.