That Time Tokyopop Made A Weeaboo Reality Show

[@rubyy.7374]

I love how to this day people pretend like Hetalia never existed.

[@notthis9586]

What never existed? Idk what incredibly embarrassing chapter in my anime fandom history, that one should never bring up-ever, you're referring to :)

[@Tuvella1]

you won the internet with this comment

[@H.J.Fleischmann]

Wait, so this is a thing? I kind of forgot about it, but I did not realise people pretended it did not exist. How come?

[@poumyy]

I still own the first volume of it, forever staying on my shelf as a part of history lol

[@ursoanonimo8398]

God damn it. I had a classmate who was a fan of Hetalia.

[@restinte]

i'm absolutely obsessed with the name "the otaku six" because it sounds exactly like what you and your friends would name your kik groupchat in 7th grade

[@Jane-oz7pp]

Just keeps making me think of The Oracion Seis from Fairy Tail lmao

[@jeremyabbott4537]

@@Jane-oz7pp I keep thinking of the Sinister Six from Spider-Man lol

[@camerondailey2627]

I have been desperately trying to find the team name she censored and I can't find it anywhere lol

[@dravem]

@@camerondailey2627 It's Mangaloids

[@ethanladwig4292]

@cameron an obsolete racial grouping of various peoples indigenous to large parts of Asia, the Americas, and some regions in Europe and Oceania. The term is derived from a now-disproven theory of biological race. -- from wikipedia so you can find what its called but i aint gon say it here just cuz

[@blueklick8567]

Can’t imagine a worse fate than visiting a Mormon temple, let alone in cosplay

[@etheric_dissonance]

and they weren't just visiting _a_ temple... they were visiting _THE_ temple lol.

[@TristanB4]

I went, not in cosplay, it is very weird and weirdly high production value. Think "light up biblical times interactive map" and "galactic supersize jesus dome." It was also a little uncomfortable

[@blueklick8567]

@@TristanB4 yeah that shits always struck me as weird

[@finngswan3732]

Same.

[@jasonhunter2819]

an Evangelical megachurch. At least the Mormons will be polite.

[@ohnostalgia]

the hetalia clip at 3:29 legitimately made me jump out of my seat in panic and terror as if a sleeper agent was being activated by the word pasta

[@ohnostalgia]

it wasn't even like a painful memory awakening thing I literally have Hetalia DVDs coming in the mail right now. I think it just doesn't count as an anime in my head for some reason (???) so it coming up in this video scared the shit out of me

[@dportnov]

I also relate to this. I forget how much of a thing Hetalia was at the time until someone mentions it and then all the memories come flooding back in. That and Naruto were what my high school anime club was really into. Some Black Butler too.

[@mayayamato7351]

any time hetalia is brought up ever I Remember and like regress into taking time to listen to all the various marukaite chikyuu versions that they made like when i was big into it like god... a decade ago holy shit

[@dusk4410]

This made me remember those huge flagpoles being banned at my local anime cons. Thanks America

[@тоска-р1о]

i had the exact same reaction. literally needs a jumpscare warning i immediately paused the video and stared at a blank wall for 5 minutes after that. i dont even dislike hetalia, it just gives me such flashbacks now

[@jettfuelfitness]

I saw some teenagers cosplaying my hero academia characters at my local mall the other day. It makes me happy seeing kids able to just go out and rep their interest in something that was lame when I was younger. I wanted to go tell them I thought they were cool, but the whole scenario also made me realise how I’m definitively *not* a teenager anymore and they might not have appreciated some eyebag night-shift-working ass mid-twenties guy telling them how cool he thinks they are.

[@ZombieTreder]

The number of elementary school kids I saw with either Naruto or Demon Slayer costumes at my kid's trunk or treat this year was legitimately both staggering and heartwarming. It's crazy to think about how embarrassed I was to talk about anything anime related outside of my immediate friend group back when I was in highschool during the early aughts compared to how widely embraced weeb culture is as a whole these days!

[@samt3412]

@@ZombieTreder I nearly did a double take today when some guys behind me in the lunch line asked me if I was caught up on Chainsaw Man (the manga, to be exact). Even if CSM is a "mainstream" manga, the fact that some random dudes that aren't in the same friend group as me are just talking about it casually made me realize how much bigger anime is post-COVID.

[@AntiVentus]

Think you shouldve gone for it honestly. I remember being a kid and wanting people to notice or compliment and it wouldve made the world to me if an adult validated those feelings. Although it might still be wierd if you ran towards a child to them they look good. Pick your battles.

[@yur1831]

@@AntiVentus exactly, pick your battles, that goes for pretty much everything in life, not only people

[@Nawer_Rapter]

Had the exact same situation like 20 hours ago, with a kid, teenager or something dressed as a character from Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. I hope they find cool people around their age who do like that kind of stuff.

[@brandonbernard1570]

35:00 Just imagining some Japanese guy walking into some 200 year old southern Baptist church and telling the pastor about a Family Guy episode it reminds him of.

[@Gloomdrake]

We need this

[@SamuelSEdme]

I'd pay to see a reaction to that. 😂

[@TurtleSauceGaming]

I mean, I'd pay to see that, but I don't have people like this lining up out the door to tell me how my house looks just like the one they saw on some cartoon.

[@not_a_can]

I was physically cringing at the part where you talked about them asking traditional japanese places about anime

[@scarletpajama1021]

Ikr like I love anime but my ass would NEVER

[@elipticalecliptic481]

@Penguin Economics I'm gonna call some mausoleum in Britain and ask them about that one Sherlock show

[@danteshollowedgrounds]

Yes, feel the embarrassment within you

[@mushgar]

pre-2010s anime culture really is something you could make the most insane bingo sheet out of

[@mewhentheumuhtheuh]

What would some of the subjects of said bingo be?

[@CarelessFoolFallsFlat]

The words "Tokyopop" and "reality show" filled me with fucking dread, but I wasn't going to miss out on a hazel video…and honestly, that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Mostly kinda sweet, really.

[@zenogias01]

Honestly, if you get through a Hazel video without feeling a deep sense of empathetic warmth for the subject you're dead inside.

[@vwts]

I’m even sad that the rock band hotel and ninja restaurant are dead, I’d absolutely hit those

[@VeeHoffman]

I'm really glad I make it a habit to rewatch your videos several times, because "Tommy Tallarico jumpscare!" is MUCH funnier now that I've seen the latest hbomb video.

[@1e33n7]

Cannot reiterate this sentiment enough haha cheers, m8!

[@JaamKidd69]

Same expirience here! A+ on hazels part

[@glassshark9522]

I'm student teaching right now and one of the biggest double-takes I always have (in a good way) is just how absolutely normal and accepted liking anime is. Some of my high school students showed up to classes in costume today (Halloween) and it was absolutely surreal to have one of my super sporty, jocular kids just compliment a girl for her Demon Slayer cosplay openly, across the room, like it's nothing. plus it feels like 60% of my kids have at least one naruto/mha/demon slayer hoodie. kids today have it good but I wouldn't have it any other way.

[@iamjustkiwi]

Thank god. Our generation was cringed at so these teenagers can walk around much less cringed at!

[@VulpesHilarianus]

@@iamjustkiwi The stigma's still around, but it's still stuck to those who are our age. I think a lot of us just got used to it being underground culture and never got comfortable with it being publicly displayed. Hence the prevalence on the internet but not on the street for so long.

[@xscapistlj3891]

I'm in my 20s and teaching middle school has now given me that outlook too. Very interesting and reflective of how pop culture has evolved.

[@spazztastic8035]

I was in highschool/middle school RIGHT in-between when anime was weird and suddenly became normal/mainstream and it was surreal

[@cthulha_north]

i think from the multiple raves i go to theres always a group of people in akatsuki robe. anime has been engraved in rave culture to the point that BTSM has artwork of them in akatsuki robes but the clouds were switched to their logos.

[@onetitwndr]

"Chainsaw Guy and Toilet Lad" gave me a great chuckle

[@RedMageUltra]

That whole first five-and-a-half minutes about the changing times of anime/manga mainstream availability was a huge “mid-to-late twenties weeb” mood

[@zenogias01]

Imagine the transition for those of us who were watching _before_ Toonami, back when anime was something shown on your local cable, or with a friend who knew a guy who had a hook-up with the fansub community, or the first dubs of DBZ and Sailor Moon. God, I still get occasionally weirded out (in a good way) that I can just, ya know, watch series from my coming of age on my cell phone. You kids were lucky (and I'm jealous :) ).

[@gabrialcanada6764]

Man I still miss Borders. 😪

[@june306]

Hazel is one of the coziest contents creators on this entire site. Every time I watch a video I feel a warm comfort I’ve rarely felt. Thanks for doing what you do

[@rutabaga_rutabaga]

This show reminds me of that Syfy cosplay reality series that tried to create fake drama between two cosplayers. It felt like a fever dream looking back.

[@jubilee7094]

I remember being in late middle school/ early high school and excitedly recording that show on my dvr when it was being aired, Heroes of Cosplay I think it was called? I was just getting into cosplaying myself so it was cool to me at the time lol, maybe now it's another show that would be fun to laugh at in a discord call with some friends.

[@ruliak]

Yes omg i loved the show as a kid and felt so stupid when it was revealed by holly and jessica to basically be all fake.

[@chameleonhrt]

That was a fun show to watch back in the day. It did feel a bit fake at times to up the drama, but it was still enjoyable.

[@PredictableEnigma]

I remember liking watching that with my mom right up until the fake drama was introduced

[@Tomyotan]

Heroes of cosplay is hilarious as someone who was 21 and was in the cosplay community for a number of years at that point. The show was notorious for trying to push a narrative and bringing down the experience of the cons they shot at.

[@Jadesmorot]

As a mixed (half black half white) anime fan it made me tear up seeing Dre in the show. It was such a weird time to be a black or mixed black nerd in the 2000s

[@eminempreg]

YOU GET IT, like I cant fully explain it, but it was this weird crossover of you being into something that the general public already hardly knows about, on top of your own family/culture kinda viewing you as weird, or at the worst 'trying to be white' Honestly, I'm shocked we didnt absolutely latch on to that one black guy from soul eater when he came out. That dude literally looks like how every black otaku from teh 2000s wanted to be

[@Jadesmorot]

@@eminempreg And like every new grounds cartoon was like racist towards you in the opposite direction it was racist towards Asian people and it was suuuch a mess! I grew up in Sweden and all my friends were white so I couldn’t really put anything into words Oouf edit: omg yes that soul eater design was so perfect, it was that and then if you were a little hipster in the 2010s you looked like Wyatt from 6teen

[@eminempreg]

@@Jadesmorot plsss omg I loved 6teen!!!

[@Jadesmorot]

@@eminempreg 😭❤️ me too!

[@danteshollowedgrounds]

Heh, being a anime fan in general for me I feel just wasn't right or easy back then and it feel like that even now still dealing with some kind of trials & tribulations through these other people saying it's this or that when I had thought that oh "it's more popular today now" with today's newer generation or whatever but no as time had passed given off by bad examples of idiotic people from certain groups or fandoms, all I can say is that it's been like some "trend" over time and now of course you don't have to care about it, it's just the oppressed feeling about liking anime has not left (IMO) besides it not being a main thing in Japan of course.

[@alchemistghost8329]

It genuinely feels surreal sometimes walking into target and Walmart and finding anime figures and manga, when I was a preteen I could find the more well known anime series on DVD there, that's how I obtained Cowboy Bebop, but that was it and manga was practically impossible to imagine. The first manga I ever owned I bought second hand from a used bookstore where I just tried to get ahold of whatever I could

[@Sonicfalcon16]

yeah I would need to find stores that specialized in anime merch and now its just in public stores

[@Silvermoon424]

SO true, you said it perfectly!! I got into anime/manga in my early teens around 2008, and while large chain bookstores did have a manga section it was pretty much impossible to find anime/manga stuff in other "regular" stores. I also remember having to explain what it was to the adults in my life, lol. Now anime/manga is so popular and mainstream that you can find it all over the place, and basically everyone has at least a vague idea of what it is. Honestly, it makes me pretty happy.

[@samt3412]

The wildest thing was walking out of the Men In Black ride at Universal Studios Orlando and being greeted by a random volume of JJK on the shelves next to a random volume of MHA. That alone made me realize that we've fully made it into normal culture.

[@cropcirclecreeper3396]

seriously I live out in the sticks and there's hunterxhunter and naruto shirts at our dinky walmart

[@strayiggytv]

When I was a kid Suncoast and fye were the only retail options and it was like $60 for a DVD with 3 episodes lol

[@Ellieescent]

I worked at a comic shop from 2010-2015ish, and the owner completely got rid of his manga stock and made fun of customers who special ordered it. He went out of business shortly after, and to this day, I laugh whenever I walk into a Newbury Comics or Barnes and Nobel and see how big their manga collections are now.

[@shizachan8421]

How did the guy feel about America Chavez?

[@ZIZZOBLIZZ]

what miserable jerk that owner was lol

[@adrielleakuryo]

And when the world needed her most, she returned.

[@mamori2019]

This just unlocked some painful, but beautiful memories that I had buried for years now. 1. I filmed the small manga section at the local book store and put an over-dramatic emotional interlude over it 2. Had my mother record me introducing my little manga collection with a camcorder 3. Created a Top 5 list of my favorite anime of that time (that I can still recite today) 4. Cobbled all of the above scenes together on my PC while stationed on an ironing board 5. Screened the whole film to my ENTIRE middle school to all teachers, kids and their parents 6. This was the prelude to my Hetalia phase

[@mamori2019]

My Top 5 Anime List from when I was 12: 5. Non Non Biyori 4. Detective Conan 3. Elfenlied 2. Another 1. Death Note

[@rinnest]

@@mamori2019 the most 12 years old 12-year-old top 5 anime ever

[@allieliliaflower]

ur so powerful for that

[@thewingedporpoise]

that #6 is honestly a relief since it gives perspective that you definitely didn't talk about Hetalia to your entire middle school

[@hellbreakfast1590]

I kind of started tearing up at the mention of just doing art for fun because you like it. I do it for a job, and I enjoy my job- it lets me create things that make people happy. But sometimes I miss the pleasure of just drawing without a single speck of pressure. Creating for fun, not worried about if it looks pro, or stressing if I'm wasting time that could be spent making money.

[@Jane-oz7pp]

I really miss 2009-2012 when I accidentally fell headfirst into a group of the most wonderful weebs I've ever met (some of them have since shown up in cringe compilations, so you know we were hardcore weebs). I miss that sense of shared culture and the amount of really good anime we had being released around then. RIP 90s-2000s Otaku culture.

[@friendlyninja5048]

OMG, saaame~! Same time period as well. Kept up right until we graduated from high school. I'm still friends with some of them on social media, but we haven't really spoken since then

[@TheMediaKnights]

For those wondering what the team name was, just put together the words Manga and Loid in your head

[@MetroidMann]

Thank you, this was driving me crazy

[@lysander3262]

Thank you, I also didn't get it. That's actually so stupidly unaware it almost comes full circle. But, I'm not in the demographic that would be slurred by the original word. So I'm not who should say what should and should not be blurred.

[@elipticalecliptic481]

eurgh fuck how did they not know

[@1e33n7]

I must be a huuuuuuuuge dunce cap cause I still haven’t put two & two together…

[@duskdancer7577]

@@1e33n7 try joining the words together and putting them into google if the mystery is eating away at you

[@ichigomomomiya2003]

I sure miss the "found family" feeling you'd have meeting another anime fan in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The anime fandom had always felt very accepting to anyone who liked otaku culture during that time.

[@cannolidaddy]

Hazel shows in my notifications and I click no questions asked. Wooooo!

[@necrogoblicon8946]

so true!

[@LieseFury]

I lived in an absolute nowhere town and I was so lucky my school had an anime club. We watched stuff like Baccano, Samurai Champloo, the Animatrix, and Transformers the Movie. Good times and a needed respite from the bullying.

[@dportnov]

Your club had good taste, that's for sure.

[@sopranophantomista]

I won't lie, hearing you say that you were 2 when Pokémon came over to the West made my hair grey 3x as fast. 🤣 I was 8 or 9 when it originally aired, and it's like, "Oh yeah, I'm usually older than most of the content creators I watch at this point."

[@TokusZaBlunto]

the 2008 recession definitely played a role in why manga and physical anime ales where dwindling, but another factor was that people who were into the stuff began to get it free online with stuff like fansubs and sites like onemanga, the hobby changed from being dominated by treasure hunting for physical media to being able to read or watch just about anything you wanted

[@yunogasai1338]

One manga was my favorite. I used to use it every day in late middle school, early high school. It helped shape my love of manga from 2007-2009 or so. Especially since my family had no idea how to help me get manga besides the lucky finds at wal mart or a book fair. Borders was a good time though, for the couple years I got to get heaps of manga from it.

[@_alarmclock]

game shows like these are the unsung heroes of 2000’s culture

[@etenby699]

I kind of prefer that weird "dark age" of anime rather than our "Isekai-self-aware-post-everything-otakusonly-fanservice" era. There at least are still some good shows.

[@Mortablunt]

It was a dork age, and for many nerds, a dark age. Where you had to hide, because the bullying was real and merciless. Still, I find myself prefering older anime in general, I can't stand how it's all so cynically made by otaku for otaku, with characters cosntantly meme screaming, pushing bad 4th wall breaks, and super cynical waifu merchandising bait infesting everything. If you weren't an otaku already, trying to get into I'd say 2016 and later anime is actively difficult to get into, it's not only a new kind of entertainment, but it's built to cater to a hardcore audience already.

[@kostajovanovic3711]

​@@Mortabluntoh, I feel this, even with expectations

[@apuppetandacookie8200]

I agree, especially for slice of life. I miss the more dorky and silly side for slice of life anime. Now it's just mostly fan service and what makes good waifu material, I'm not saying all slice of life anime is like this but it's definitely a noticeable shift.

[@etenby699]

@@Mortablunt Only got a notification today. But back in High School, I was mostly made fun of for liking anime/Sanic. It was more of a "lmao you and your silly anime Sanic" more than anything else. But yeah, at least, we nowadays have more mainstream stuff like Spy X Family or even Beastars to compensate for the fifteenth Isekai coming out next week.

[@Splitter4416]

The discussion about the tonedeafness of 2000s American anime fandom is spot on. There was a definite sense you had to consume everything you could find and tie everything Japanese back to anime, rather than treat it like any other medium.

[@chase2944]

god, I remember seeing this awful bus at Otakon and they were handing out the sampler of Hetalia/Neko Ramen (that I still have in storage somewhere) and just cringing at their reality show pitch. I remember hearing it was a nightmare, too. I feel bad for the Otaku 6 and, tbh, everyone who worked with Stu and Tokyopop in general. It does bring back some fond memories though from back in the day But man, kids have it so much easier nowadays and I'm happy for them for that. It's always surprising to me to see so much more manga and anime now in normal not-book stores or specialty stores after going through the bubble being burst due to the Tokyopop/Boarders partnership and the recession and what have you

[@hhhazel]

GET YOUR "touched, or been touched by" TAPES HERE: twinklepark.bandcamp.com/album/touched-or-been-touched-by-2 EDIT: these sold out way faster than i expected (i am extremely flattered, thank you all so much), so i'm planning to get a second run into production for sometime early 2023. i'd like to keep making these for as long as people are interested, because i don't like the idea of them becoming some kind of limited-availability commodity or anything. more details on that in the future though.

[@ElPaletero]

Thank you lady

[@tenebrousoul9368]

Too late, ma'am. Edit: after listening to it, I can only say: this is the best album I've ever had that I didn't know I needed. The only one, really. Bravo and I cannot wait for more! Leashed is so beautifully stirring.

[@Apple_Beshy]

That girl in white become the manager of the no.1 podcast in the world. 27:28. Meilyne of trashtaste

[@panchisoto22]

Saw this too late to get your tape, but now I NEED to own one! Physical media releases by you are exactly what I need.

[@Code7Unltd]

At least the FLAC can be downloaded there, not that it matters since I don't have too many working tape mechanisms. I may stuff it onto one of my cards for my hi-res audio player.

[@cloudsonthehorizon8897]

Absolute banger video as always. The opening about anime/manga briefly dying out in the early 2010s, only to be revived, this time in mainstream popularity, by the mid 10s is some insightful stuff. Especially as someone who was first getting into otaku stuff during that nebulous time period, before anime/manga entered mainstream popularity but after the height of it's "popularity within a niche," so to speak.

[@camillevalencia9443]

God the mentioning of anime to Japanese people hits me on a spiritual level. My mom is Facebook friends with a lady from Japan and my mom was like “Oh my kid likes anime by the way! They’re a BIG anime fan! Do you like it?” a few months into knowing her without me knowing. I’m glad it amused her friend and they were also an anime fan but omg was it so embarrassing.

[@shoxy-the-pinecone6113]

10 years ago my older brother told me about gundam for the first time and about how ‘japanese cartoons totally aren’t for kids man’ i remember being so amazed last night i was answering the door for trick or treaters, wearing my soul evans cosplay because it’s really comfortable and the most halloweeny of all my cosplays, not expecting to be recognised and a little kid probably around 6 knocked on my door while trick or treating, dressed as nezuko. her mom was with her, she told me how cool she thought my cosplay was. i clicked this expecting just to laugh at some cringe reality show but this helped me reconcile a lot of thoughts. by all accounts i’m still a part of the mha funko pop generation but i remember buying one of those cheap full metal alchemist pocket watches and thinking it was the coolest shit ever. it all just feels so soon, but i’m so excited that people are learning about and loving the thinking i once felt alone in enjoying

[@MsSumoon]

Coming from Brazil and living in a city (São Paulo) that always had an event or 2 during the year when I was a baby weeb I kind of felt like the odds one out. I was excluded from the Otaku group of my school, they weren't that much of the accepting folk, even though we shared the same interest, went to the same conventions and watched the same anime, they never liked me, now they pretend I was part of the group, but I avoid them, and I don't go to cons anymore because 1- they are way too expensive, 2- they are way too full that you can't even walk around properly. Tokypop tried to break into the Brazilian market, but they couldn't compete with JBC and Panini, 2 giants that pretty much control the market around here. They still launch manga around here, but not large titles, mostly Boy Love stuff(don't ask me why). But I do kind of feel conflicted about seeing anime being so mainstream now, like-dude I was bullied by the same people who are now saying they love watching the shows that I scattered around the internet and bought bootleg DVDs just to watch. Sure, it's nice to find anime t-shirts on mainstream stores now, but at the same time, it's odd. That also goes for comics. But Brazilian weeb culture is very different from the USA, for one-where I live the Japanese colony is the largest outside of Japan, so the Japanese culture is kind of everywhere, I'm a black belt in Akido, both my parents are also black belts, my father teaches Aikido for almost 30 years ,and we are not even from Japanese descent. We have a very large neighborhood that is basically a little Japan, of course I'm speaking for myself here, I'm completely aware that people from other states do kind of have the hardest. But I do believe that Brazilian weebs from the early 2010s were never able to be this open like the USA weebs. Another thing that I find fascinating is how Latin America in general rarely had censorship in our anime that aired on TV, so we also consumed it differently as well, like in my Sailor Moon they kept almost all the Americanized names for the main characters but didn't censor anything, I grew up with Haruna and Michiru being a couple, I grew up with the Sailor Stars. Many things from the Brazilian dubs, mostly what they changed was slang and some names to not sound bad at Portuguese, but our Saint Seiya and DBZ had all the blood and gore intact. IDK, I love watching your videos because it gives me a new perspective of other countries Anime Fandoms. And yes I was that weeb that tried to not be a weeb when I went to college that was in the early 2010s and only after college I was able to be more open again.

[@PauloSilva-ep9ox]

Aeeee BR na área ... !!!

[@SamuelSEdme]

I like getting learn about these international perspectives about okatu culture. Most of what I hear about it is limited to Western exposure.

[@kostajovanovic3711]

Were you around when they aired Genocyber completely unedited?

[@dorianhinkle5595]

Thank you for giving me flashbacks to my college days, this was a big "wtf is this" watch with my friends at the time.

[@PeteEllison]

This is excellent! From around 2007-2014 I DJ'd at tons of anime convention raves around the states, and I had completely forgotten this show existed. I watched this video with baited breath, low key trying to remember if I had some connection to this show and had forgotten about it (I actually produced a few songs for Reni, the bunny ear wearing performer in the library at 8:48). I really enjoyed your commentary, and this vid feels like a loving tribute to all the things I loved about this era of otaku culture. Namely that there was a vibe that anime was 'about to blow up', and how anybody doing anything creatively adjacent could participate somehow. There was a real sense of community, and an earnestness that you've captured perfectly here. What a sweet little time capsule. Thank you!

[@SallyBerry9]

I’m so so so happy that anime and manga is well accepted now. When I got into anime (I was 12… in 2007…) it was seen as so strange and weird that I was told to my face by an art tutor that anime wasn’t art as he ripped pages from my sketchbook. I stopped collecting and watching when I was 16 because social pressure after being so heavily bullied I doing it hard to even talk. Early last year I realised I was still suppressing my likes and dislikes and slowly I’ve got back into anime and manga and god, even though this year has been horrible, I’ve never been happier in myself because I’m finally able to embrace something that I buried. And now no one has to go through what I did. I can’t wait to see what comes from those fans

[@CrappyBlue]

WHWT THE FUCK I WATCHED THIS AFTER THE NEW HBOMB VIDEO SO THE TOMMY TALLARICO JUMPSCARE ACTUALLY JUMPSCARED ME

[@hellspawn32x66]

It's going to be a really stressful week. A new hazel video is such a blessing 🙏

[@dustinchilds4239]

I'm an English teacher, and I think it's worth pointing out the amazing quality that your video essays always have. You're one of the few subscriptions I keep in my sub-box because I actually like knowing when you upload. Thank you for the amazing content !

[@bettschwere]

the shift of anime becoming mainstream in america is absolutely one of the most surreal things i've ever experienced. and i think it has something to do with corporations discovering how profitable commodification of alternative/underground subultures is, and the subsequent mainstreaming of everything once considered nerdy that we've been seeing in the last decade. especially because the exact same thing has happened with kpop. (except on an even more drastic scale. kpop went on the same journey anime went on from the 1980s to the 2020s in the span of less than a decade, it's actually an interesting case study to compare the two. watching it happen as a fan of both since i was a kid was wild.) circa 2010 when i first became a fan the idea of a kpop group or idol going on tour in america was laughable even for absolute cultural juggernauts like snsd or shinee, but nowadays even the most underground groups go on u.s. tours with stops in like seven cities. if you wanted an album you could expect to pay $70-$100 to get one imported, and now i could walk into walmart and pick up a kpop cd. (provided its a bts or blackpink album, at least, america has yet to accept anything more than those two.) it may also be a sign of america becoming more willing to accept foreign pop culture, something the country has historically been unwilling to do even when it's commonplace in the rest of the world. it's just fascinating and kind of scary how much pop culture changed over the course of the 2010s. or maybe it always has and i'm only now noticing due to growing up. either way, i blame the internet, lmao.

[@genepozniak]

Once black and white manga because animated color, it became profitable!

[@dvillines26]

it's hyper-accelerating because English pop culture has been really bad the last couple of years. I feel like since Endgame and the end of Game of Thrones, along with Netflix starting to really lose market share to other streaming platforms, the monoculture is well and truly dead, and in particular anime and manga are serving needs that aren't being well-served by Western media. Western media just isn't producing anything that measures up to the hypest moments of shounen action, or anything as sincere and healing as a good iyashikei or romcom.

[@fableagain]

Meera went on to be one of the directors on the live action Little Mermaid movie, if IMDB is to be believed. Good for her!

[@ArchaeologyTube]

I love this sort of content so much. I’ve actually never been a huge anime guy and know nothing about otaku culture in any period, so it was so fascinating to see all of this historically contextualized and discussed with such kindness and love. I’ve said it before and it’s true here again, Hazel - you’ve got historian chops. Serious ones.

[@ThexDynastxQueen]

29:13 So eerie, I was just talking about how proudly unhinged FMA 2003 shippers were with their cancelable actions 😅 34:05 WHOA! His mother must be very proud. Great video. Ending with Talent For Love also feels kinda fitting for how much dedication everyone showed during such a shoddy production. It also brings back a lot of fond memories I had as a kid like watching Tenchi Muyo on Toonami with my mom or the 1st wall scroll she bought me at a bootleg anime store. A lot of my happiest moments are tied to her and anime, she was the 1st person to be my community. So I'm glad more kids can more easily enjoy anime and find friends now as having a support system truly is priceless.

[@Takoto]

Even though it's a potentially awkward time capsule, I definitely have to give this a watch. I know it's a bit "rose-tinted glasses", but I have a lot of nostalgia and fond memories for the 2000s anime fandom culture, and was one of those teenagers who loved anime, but lived in a place where there was pretty much no way to physically interact with the wider anime community outside of a single comic shop in town that imported manga, and a twice-yearly con an hour away in London. Also just seeing a lot of the shots from cons of the time gives me a ton of nostalgia as well aaa

[@friendlyninja5048]

Immediate hot take: I sort of echo a lot of hazel's closing thoughts on the show. The honest energy the show radiates is really refreshing. Even when it stumbles, it's easy to tell an effort was made. The dedication to tying everything to the premise, while misguided, is also admirable in its own way. It feels like a very earnest show, for better or worse. I feel like America's Greatest Otaku is a snapshot of a bygone era. One where anime was just starting to become less of a niche interest, but wasn't quite there yet. I believe this may have been what hazel was getting at as well when mentioning the show seeming purpose-built to age, along with the dichotomy between the late 2000s and the early 2010s. Things were changing fast. For reference, I was about four years old when Pokémon began airing in the States. I feel like our generation was the last of the "old-school" anime and manga fans. The last to experience the "Wild West" era of the fandom, where you watched or read anything you could get your hands on. I love the accessibility and mainstream nature of the hobby nowadays, but (at the risk of sounding boomer-y) there's a certain charm to the way things were. We just had to enjoy the ride, because it wouldn't last -- and what a wild ride it was! America's Greatest Otaku feels like the capstone of that era. Well, that came out a lot more sentimental than I intended. Anyway, thanks for the video, hazel! P.S.: Love the Harvest Moon music!

[@juju-yr3ic]

i was rewatching your last video thinking "man, i miss hazel so much" and at the same time the notification appeared n_n ily

[@kewlkat6264]

I find the growing popularity of anime/manga very surreal. I remember the only manga that I could find at my local library was the first volume for Tokyo Mew Mew and was excited when my sister bought the first volume of To-Heart through a Scholastic Book Fair. When I first saw Target's manga section, I was in awe from how different things are nowadays. It was also a bizarre moment when the varsity football player asked me if he would get made fun of for wearing an ultra-instinct Goku shirt.

[@__shortforlizard]

I would have been 17 when this show came out. It hurts to watch because I lived it, man. At 48:44 right when she was talking about about being a weeb in a rural area, it cut to a Fay D Flourite cosplay (my blorbo) right when I grew up in rural Australia. Way to cut to the core of me T.T

[@sam3851]

Having grown up in the "pokemon-and-bakugan or bust" era, it feels surreal whenever I remember weeb stuff is mainstream now. The emotions I felt talking about Demon Slayer recently to the same kids who called me weird for liking Bleach as a kid were indescribable

[@leetri]

I don't really watch anime nor read manga, but these videos are so comforting and incredibly well researched I love them nonetheless. It's always interesting to learn more about something you're not a part of yourself, and your presentation is like a cozy blanket. Sadly anime/manga is still seen as a thing for weirdos here. I live in a tiny town in the middle of the woods, and anytime someone finds out I draw in more anime-inspired styles I always get those super awkward "oh, so you draw those animes and stuff?" questions. It's more accepted amongst the zoomers, but to us millennials and above it's still like living in the 90's in the worst ways.

[@Unquestionable]

Feeling real old with that intro going over the evolution of anime culture. I fall into that range of having finished high school in 2002 meaning I had a childhood filled with half remembered memories of semi obscure VHS rentals and late night showings of anime that is either fondly recalled or absolutely forgotten. Was able to be part of the entire fringe culture right before it blew up getting the best and worst of both worlds. Much as I have nostalgia for it these days the scene is a lot more enjoyable for the most part with even the most casual fans are able to indulge in the hobby as deeply or shallow as they please.

[@SerifSansSerif]

There's bits I miss and don't. There was a lot of cringe to it. We were basically on the same level as old school star trek fans, but the close knit community was nice. I also miss the fact that it wasn't a corporate money grabbing scheme. I mean we had less titles, but more passion projects and artsy titles, and it felt like the animation studios just had more room to breathe... The distribution in the US also were more under the radar, more like fans who decided to be legit in distribution and did it more as a passion projects itself. As such we got some true trash like MD Geist, but the Ghost stories dub which.....just wouldn't happen for a distributor today. You can say you might get that from a KZbinr shit posting and be right, but not a distributor. There's also aspects I miss that have nothing to do with anime itself, but affected consumption.... Like the internet and streaming. I miss the viewing parties (we all watch on our computers alone these days rather than huddled around a projector screen at a con or around a shared TV in a college dorm), and there's less time to ruminate and let our imaginations run wild between episodes or even discs because it's all simulcast and based on a manga that already released... I like the merch, but it's a lot more focused on the series of the season rather than having that time to let things develop as well. Weirdly, I don't think we're as "diversified" in our fandom as Hazel thinks, and we might have been before. It's definitely more anime of the season rather than being fans of the Macross franchise vs. the Gundam franchise. You had fans that were Gundam for life. (You still do, but they are very rare.) CLAMP had its own following. I used to be the type that would go gung ho for anything they produced. The closest similar modern fandom I can think of probably still the big four, and bleach, Naruto, one piece, and Dragonball are really more or less older fandoms that have survived. Even Ghost In The Shell had a fandom that would sustain the franchise for decades, but has since died out. I don't see much replacing it except for the general "I like anime" fandom.

[@bspep3]

I can remember having to wait to get manga when my mom visited the nearest little Japanese market near us which was 3 hours away. All the manga was in the original Japanese and I'd buy them just to look at the drawings. The same store had a couple subbed VHS of random anime. Can also remember getting fan subbed VHS of the most random anime from my friend's older brother. So thankful for the current availability of anime/manga.

[@carlcarlington7317]

I honestly have this weird nostalgia for anime and manga being more obscure in the 2000’s. Like the fact that I had to go on some obscure websites to find online to watch anime added to that childish feeling of “I’m not supposed to be watching this.” That Anime like death note, black butler, hellsing, bleach, and soul eater had

[@hambaby931]

me and my friends watched this in a couple group calls about a year ago and i'm so happy you recognized shireen as being the goat she is, we all loved the winner too but shireen was just the best and i hope she's doing well now i definitely went into the show expecting to just laugh about it and maybe cringe at some of the tokyopop stuff and while there were embarrassing moments i found myself very charmed by how earnest everyone was. there's no irony poisoning that you see among a lot of people who like anime today

[@MrStath1986]

As a 36 year old the ebb and flow of manga availability in my local comic and book store has always been interesting to follow; up to about 2011 my local Forbidden Planet had more manga than they did comics, and then all of a sudden it just dropped off; it's recovered somewhat now but you can tell what series are 'big', like MHA, JJK or Jojo. It's really evident that the 2011-2013 blip period was Tokyopop shitting the bed, and then eventually it came to be filled by predominantly Viz and Kodansha.

[@eminempreg]

my local and high school library had that same issue. I got in during the dead period, and little fledging otaku me would go to the town library so excited to read anything anime related and all we had was Fruits Basket, i think up to volume 8, 12 volumes of naruto, a few other random kids manga/manhwa, and then some manga inspired american comics. My highschools was even worse, i think we had Akira, and one issue of naruto, and then it was padded out with regular comics. I graduated and moved just before anime finally became mainstream, but sometimes i do wonder if either place started collecting more manga now that everyone and their mom likes anime now.

[@amazingstudios7889]

Needed this vid after a rough day, really comforting to hear about something I haven’t experienced explained this passionately.

[@murder101storytime]

Holy shit, that Nook! My parents got me one like a year after I graduated in 2010 and I loved the hell out of that thing. it actually still works well but just a couple years ago I felt like I needed to get on board with Kindle so I could have access to a store. Either way I loved that thing.

[@lordofcroutons8051]

Man when you mentioned the air quality due to the fires... It really reminded me how nice it's been the past couple weeks 😭

[@MixedBerryTea]

"You got geek'd" is one of the worst things anyone could say to me

[@Koruvax]

Doing VHS copies, trying to keep the fidelity up, and then handing them off to other friends because you just so fucking loved that series. I miss it and I don't because so many more people can now take part in the hobby!

[@battyangel]

Aww seeing all those fan arts and rough manga comics created in clubs/conventions reminds me how I got into drawing as a preteen. I had been so bummed that my drawings didn't look good enough beforehand, but when I first came across CLAMP's RG Veda at that age - I was introduced to the chibi style and felt like that was an easier style to imitate and really got into drawing from there. Constantly drawing my own comics and fan arts of the various things I liked (even doing bad 'manga' versions of TV shows I was a fan of at the time like Red Dwarf and Doctor Who); I eventually got into the habit of drawing and was able to improve over time. I'm never going to be a great artist, but its still a fun I hobby I get to do in my spare time and it was because of coming across tokyopop manga at my local library. Great video!

[@manjiimortal]

I remember visiting Tokyopop's website back in the mid-to-late 00's, and just feeling flabbergasted at the sheer amount of manga they had published and for sale. The fact their publishing wing went down in a rather surprising manner (for me at least), was a bit of a shock. This is a really weird side project they did, but considering they were also the company that licensed and released DVDs for the Japanese Hardcore Wrestling Promotion FMW (with some... questionable commentary), this doesn't surprise me that much (I mean, they even flew some FMW wrestlers in for E3 2001, so they could work a match at the convention, promoting their DVD line).

[@reinsroom6711]

I binged this series the other day after recognizing one of my friends at 32:50 ! The fact I've known them for years and they never told me about this show is super telling. They stated they weren't super proud of the way everything came out and said the reality show people (who i imagine she meant not the Otaku 6) were pretty rude and insensitive. They also claimed after years of reflection that the most awkward bits they could edit together were chosen for the final cut of her segment most likely to really sell how weird they were. We let her know we were all watching the series in good spirits, rooting for her, and viewed with a sympathetic insight, but it's clear her time on the show is something she didn't think positive of due to the whole experience. Despite this, they've come to terms that it's a narrative out of their control, which is the best you can really do in that situation. Just thought I'd share. Thanks for the video, Hazel!

[@valkayink]

I legit forgot this web show existed, I watched maybe a few clips way back when, but never the whole thing. It's fascinating seeing more footage. It seems like a safety and logistics nightmare. Interesting that this came out at a time when a lot of reality tv was out, it feels like they were going for that feel. I do like seeing all of the cosplay and fan art, it's lovely how being a fan doesn't essentially change over the years. There is something nice about seeing now closed areas are documented. It's why I like seeing, Anime con vlogs and hauls. Gosh I constantly forget I have a decade of age on a lot of fellow anime youtubers, but we sure did go through the same waves of anime/manga availability. (I remember having to convince my dad to drive me to a different town's comic book shop for the new jungle set pokemon card packs, and the manga I wanted to pick up) It's interesting to look back on how it's all grown. Yeah I agree, it's hard to film out and about, but I do love the shots you choose. Very nice video Hazel : )

[@carlosfromearth]

I haven’t gone to an anime convention since 2018 and when the pandemic hit, it was virtually impossible. But videos like these always remind me why I love going: The unapologetic love of an interest. Just, everyone being so earnest about their work and the positive vibes that come from it. Good stuff. ❤

[@mc.gemstone]

Now this a treat for Halloween. Love diving into obscure anime stuff from the past.

[@Missmisery42]

i watched this after watching hbomberguy's roblox oof video so that tommy tallarico cameo was like an actual jumpscare

[@roniarose6503]

SAME! I watched the first time and was like “what?” But when i came back i was just like “oh i get it now” lmao

[@WhyIsYoutubeSoTerrible]

I went to college with one of the Otaku 6! This actually helped her a get a job in the games industry

[@espeon871]

if its diana im so happy for her even if she wasnt im still happy for her but esp cuz if diana cuz she was hardest hit

[@WhyIsYoutubeSoTerrible]

@@espeon871 lol it was

[@thevoid11212]

Ironically enough, I went to college with Dre! What you see is what she got😅

[@blebonick7088]

omg new hazel vid to eat onion rings to. this is the best day

[@jeannecaelum5167]

This was such a wonderful, cozy video, I felt set back straight to my deepest core Otaku memories. It is strange, now looking back, that Mangas are so much more accessible to buy now in the, for me still “strangest” places. I look very much forward to your next video!

[@skippythewonderchicken7511]

I was listening to an audiobook and playing mahjong so zoned out I was in another universe, but this videos titled dragged me right the fuck out of it.

[@melonenstrauch1306]

Damn I literally laughed out loud when hazel hit us with the evergrace shop theme at 11:08

[@dportnov]

I loved this! Watching this video was like mainlining nostalgia, but in a healthy way. It really sent me back to the time when I just excited about anime in general and had the time to binge entire seasons in a day. 2010-2014 was definitely the high point of my anime fandom.

[@SirJamestown]

To answer your rhetorical question from the start of the video, Target started selling manga last year I believe. We also sell some Bandai model kits, but the selection is pretty sparse. I think the only new ones we've gotten in the last 4-ish months were a Naruto Uzumaki Figure-rise Standard kit and the Boba Fett (Mandalorian Ver.) and Grogu kits from their Star Wars line. The model kit selection might depend on the store though.

[@Dokkiish]

omggg I think I know exactly where that flautist got her You from Higurashi sheet music from. I recognize the sound since I downloaded it from Ichigo Sheets to play myself when I was maybe 14??? I remember heavily searching the internet for anime and game music all the time as a teen, and I even played some OST's for my flute recitals. I think my most iconic one was when I made my best friend duet me with their violin so we could play Happy's theme song from Fairy Tail. :3 I feel like I always got lots of compliments and applause for playing OST music from people who had no idea where it was from because lots of game and anime music is genuinely real good!

[@ssaritachann]

the first minute of this video SENT ME i always love telling newer otaku about how far anime has come in terms of exposure and access... MAD RESPECT TO THE SUB VHS TRADERS, they single handedly changed the market in the west. I'm part of the same generation as you tho, it was so fun!

[@ohworm3c413]

Haven't even finished the video yet but I had a HEART ATTACK when you showed Peach Fuzz. That was the only manga series my third grade teacher had on her shelves and I would read it over and over again... It really is so crazy how widespread anime and manga is now

[@tealsather]

I remember going to Ninja New York with my family when I was 13. Apparently one of the draws was that the waiters would entertain guests with Ninja Magic, which ended up being like five minutes of a ball disappearing and reappearing.

[@wusstunes]

Make America's Greatest Otaku Again This is so well written. "I felt like a cat getting pet the wrong way" is a beautiful sentence.

[@VyNyLoKo6]

dude, hazel i'm so happy i somehow found your videos, thank you for digging through the depths of internet to find these crazy stories, i love your narrative

[@johncliffalvarez6513]

I swear, you are the personification of my nostalgia for anime and the articulation of the emotions and thoughts that come with it. I love your work and love that this channel exists.

[@joeytabora1052]

Your music choices in your videos are top tier

[@TheloniusMUnk-DrUnkPhD-]

Would definitely watch a reboot with hazel hosting. The wrap up at the end of this and all videos just solidify her as a presenter. Great video! Looking forward to more!

[@kc_oner]

Completely unrelated, but I really like your username 😂

[@TheloniusMUnk-DrUnkPhD-]

@@kc_oner Thanks! It’s my pseudonym for my handle Dr. Unk PhD. 😉😊

[@pineapplepearjuice6717]

Man o man, me being a member of the so called "Gen Z" wich by this point has normalized liking anime hearing how people gathered back in the day just to find people who share a common interest always feels kinda romantic. A part of me wishes to see how things were back then and these types of videos are always pretty entertaining to watch. Good vid as always Hazel!

[@ActuallyAnanya]

This is gonna sound really fucking dumb that I'm saying this about a reality show that had so little of an audience and hardly any impact whatsoever, but I'm so glad to see that Meera is there as a South Asian member of the Otaku Six? We're a demographic of the anime fandom that are so underrepresented in mainstream media about anime fandom so idk, it makes me happy to even see her there. Aside from heavily-localised TV anime for children like Pokemon, my first exposure to anime was during my summer vacations when I used to go stay with my grandparents back in India. This was when I was around 10 and in the UK where I live this is the time I was watching Disney Channel shows from the US, but in India they had their own versions of the same shows on Disney Channel that I wasn't particularly interested in. So to find something that wasn't the kind of cartoons I felt I had grown out of but wasn't programming made for adults either, I settled on this channel called Animax Asia. This was an anime channel (which also occasionally broadcast Korean variety shows for some reason) and it's the reason I am into anime almost 15 years later (so indirectly also the reason I have all my closest friends today). There was absolutely no scrubbing of Japanese culture from these anime - some of them even were broadcast in sub. I didn't get to actually watch any of the series on Animax in full, as I would only be in India for 2 months at most, and with TV syndication I'd end up watching episodes in random order, but along with famous titles (Inuyasha, xxxHolic, Shakugan no Shana) I also ended up seeing some fairly obscure series, I'm talking 10k users on MAL at most (Living for the Day After Tomorrow and Red Garden in particular stand out in my memory). They really showed all genres, and that helped broaden my palate at a young age - one of the first anime I ever saw was josei (Nodame Cantabile, even better on a rewatch as an adult). And it was wanting to find out what happened next in Kaichou wa Maid-sama!, a show (in sub) which I never got to see all of on TV, which led me to actually start using the internet to find anime online even after I came back to the UK. Then it was finding creators like JesuOtaku (who was actually probably my gateway into Channel Awesome content, for better or for worse) who helped me find new series to watch, and the rest was history. Most of my friends had more conventional ways into anime fandom, usually through gaming (which I do but not as intensely as them) or in the case of my British Vietnamese friends in that SEA countries which they still had ties to started to import anime etc. at an earlier and much faster pace than the West. I think it was even harder to get into anime (and Japanese culture in general) in the late 2000s in the UK than it was in the US, because we didn't have Toonami or Adult Swim when you guys did to build that foundation of knowledge, we were really starting from scratch. Even today, there aren't really any major solely anime conventions in the UK, even after it's gotten so much bigger here. And yet me and my friends made it. Across us we've watched a lot of popular series of course, but we've also been able to bond over some pretty niche shit (I have at least 2 friends who are basically Kamen Rider encyclopaedias at this point), and it kind of makes me sad that a lot of people getting into anime through the internet now are gonna be funneled straight towards the popular currently airing shows and not hear about much else. Like Animax Asia - it stopped broadcasting in India years ago. There's been a boom in India of people getting into anime (including my younger cousin lol) but it's always like, the same 5 shounen series, and that makes me kinda sad. I'm glad videos like yours exist Hazel, so that at least a little spotlight can be shone on the shows that many new fans are almost conditioned into overlooking. Sorry for the essay, I couldn't help myself. Anime fucking rules.

[@kjriwoutube]

Do you also remember the rest of D2 vixen and Arkada

[@YukiIjuin]

Hazel, your playlist for this video is absolutely godlike even compared to previous videos. Thoroughly enjoyed the pangs of nostalgia throughout on every track change.

[@ksen1011]

Target was were I got my first manga...which was Fruits Basket 😌👌 so they've been there for a while but only just started heavily restocking it as it's become "trendy" again.

[@jvever4904]

This show is definitely a time capsule. And really shows off how barren certain places are of anime and manga content that I lived through as a preteen and teenager.

[@glasssawsslipperstraws7410]

I didnt REALLY get into anime until like 2016 with Jojo but i really regret not getting into it sooner because these like 2000s-2010 anime culture things are so fucking funny

[@ZombieJeff]

Not only did this video make my body feel like it's aged rapidly, but the fact that I recognize some of the places they went is... oof a lot. Physically and emotionally exhausting. Great video, thanks so much for posting it.

[@genepozniak]

I first saw manga on shelves in a used comic book store when I was 13 (I'm now 70). At first I was blown AWAY by what promised to be novel-length comic books. So you can imagine how crushed my friends and I were to find novel-length black and white comic books! I don't recall any specific titles or stories, but they were not even Young Adult sci fi novels with a few illustrative sophisticated drawings every chapter or so. We American kids certainly read unillustrated novels, both sci fi and adventure, but comic books stimulated a very different and equally important part of our brains--more akin to Play-fighting. Perhaps because American kids had the money to spring for color comics we were just spoiled, and B&W comics could not suspend our disbelief the way we were used to. What finally won us over was color animation. 🙂🤑

[@raphaelrodriguez1856]

The fact you used Evergrace music while talking about early anime culture is blowing my mind with so much nostalgia!!!! WOW!!

[@Stiborge]

Me and my friend watched this right after it had finished airing. We spent a lot of time watching random garbage, this was pre-discord. I think we were still in or just out of highschool. Admittedly, we watched it as a sort of "brace for cringe" type of thing but ended up thinking some of the places they went looked pretty cool and were rooting for the dude that ended up winning it. It was just kind of a shock to us that it even existed back then.

[@skunkpelz]

I've been listening to touched or been touched by for a while now just to find out after once again binging your cozy ass videos that YOU were behind it!!

[@Ezakur]

As always: Hazel. Does. Not. Miss. What a great video

[@Golemkind]

This was such a neat time capsule to look into-it makes me really curious to see what you’d think of and be able to dig up for something like World of Anime (it was a public broadcast show from back in the 90’s). Thank you for sharing another niche piece of media as always :)