I don’t think a lot of younger Tumblr users understand what life during the anime boom was like in 1999-2007. How accessible anime was at the time. It was fucking everywhere. It wasn’t even a niche, literally everyone was into it.
Like, Cartoon Network showed stuff like YuYu Hakusho, .hack//sign, Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, and Rurouni Kenshin every weekday after school on their Toonami block.
I remember rushing home after school in second grade to watch Rurouni Kenshin. That was 7 year old me’s favorite show.
You think Pokemon is popular now? HA! In the late 90′s, it was every parent’s worst nightmare. It was on the cover of Time Magazine for fucks’s sake. EVERY kid was obsessed with it. No exceptions. At least, until Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh came around…
You could wake up on Saturday mornings and watch highly Americanized butchered versions of Shaman King, Tokyo Mew Mew (”Mew Mew Power”), and most infamously, One Piece thanks to 4kids.
An anime getting an extremely butchered Americanized dub was a very real, legitimate threat that could happen to any show.
Staying up late enough to watch Inuyasha was considered a rite of passage.
Teenage girls flocked to Barnes and Noble to read entire volumes of Fruits Basket and Fushigi Yuugi in the store without paying for them.
All of the kids cartoons tried to cash in on the craze. I’m sure everyone remembers Avatar and Teen Titans, but trust me when I say that you DON’T want to remember Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi and Kappa Mikey.
Hayao Miyazaki won an Academy Award.
Final Fantasy VII was considered the greatest video game ever made.
Some people still called it “Japanimation”.
So many fucking magazines. Off the top of my head: Animerica, Shonen Jump, Shojo Beat, Newtype USA (the best one by far), Anime Insider, Beckett Anime, and Beckett Anime For Girls (The most cringeworthy one. Of course I had every issue!)
Anime was freaking everywhere. The entire country was in its weeb phase. Some people on this website are too young to even remember this.
Religious vampires trying to find ways to balance their ideologies with their needs
Sirens learning sign language so they can communicate without enchanting anyone
Disabled fairies who can’t fly pushing for accessibility
Spirits helping save people from fires and other natural disasters because they can access areas too dangerous for the living
Dragons becoming foster parents and providing super safe homes for “hordes” of children until they grow up
Female werewolves with facial hair and body hair not letting anyone make them feel bad about it
Fae snatching children from abusive homes and raising them in safety while the changeling wreaks havoc
Liberated genies using their power to fight for human rights
Witchy cooking shows where witches try to make specific potions or find creative magical solutions to problems
Psychic psychologists and medical doctors who are able to figure out exactly how to help even if their patient is non-verbal, young, or afraid of being honest because they’re with an abuser
Psychic teachers knowing just what to do to help students with learning disabilities
Yes please.
I just slammed the reblog button so hard my phone broke.
Sandra Soapbox Cosplay 