Video Backlog: "Otaku Unite!"

Publisher: Central Park Media (USA)
Format: Region Free DVD, NTSC, English Dialogue
Length: 70 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: Documentary on anime. See below.

Mini Review: With the popularity of anime on a steep incline from the mid 1990's onwards, then with a huge explosion of popularity in the early 2000’s, it was inevitable that someone somewhere was going to make a documentary about it. Actually there's been quite a few made, mostly coming from the US. But for some reason very few seem to have made it to home video (or even TV broadcast for that matter). The only one which seems to have cut through with any kind of proper commercial release is “Otaku Unite!”.

Made by first time director Eric Bresler, this well made documentary follows the development of anime fandom from the very early days of the late 1970’s to the period 2001 to 2003 when the bulk of this documentary was filmed. There’s tons of great stuff here; archival footage from AnimeCon '91 and Anime Expo ‘92, the marriage of Robert and Emily Dejesus at the Anime Central convention in 2001 and Steve Bennet. Now Steve is the guy who ran the now defunct manga publishing house Iron Cat. Steve proudly shows off his Polaroid collection of waitresses from his visits to various Hooters restaurants. Ah, so tasteful.

The doco begins with couple of sequences introducing the concepts of “anime” and “otaku” via a number fan and industry sound bites. Then we get into the most interesting part; the history of anime fandom in the US. Everyone who was ever important in the industry is interviewed here including Peter Fernandez, Corinne Orr (both voices actors who worked on “Speed Racer”, “Ultraman” and other 1960’s English adaptations), Scott Frazier (animator extraordinaire), Trish Ledoux (editor of Animercia), Carl Macek (of Robotech fame), Helen McCarthy (editor of Anime UK/FX), Fred Patten, Frederik L. Schodt (author of “Manga, Manga, Manga”) and Robert Woodhead (AnimEigo founder). Bizarrely even porn star Asia Carrera manages to get her head in for a sound bite. She was one of many porn stars who provided their voices in several Nutech hentai releases. Remember that daft idea? No wonder it sunk like a stone and vanished without trace. Isn’t hentai crap enough already without making it worse with overpaid, badly acting porn stars?

After that the documentary turns its focus on a fan named John Cook or DJ Johnny Otaku as he likes to call himself. He has an anime themed show on his local community radio stations, wants to become a voice actor and enters the highly competitive and rather political world of cosplay. Although this could have become rather exploitative as John is rather nerdy to say the least, thankfully Bresler doesn't take this path. Despite the horrible cover CPM gave this documentary, it's not some cheap laugh at anime and its fans. The film treats its subjects with respect and intelligence as well as giving an audience not familiar with anime fandom a chance to understand it. The film also looks at specific fan groups such as the dance/cosplay Sailor Jamboree and a Yaoi convention, then it’s back to the trials and tribulations of John Cook for the finale. The documentary is coupled with a short called "Danger Can Happen" which is about “Kaiju Big Battel (sic)”, a group which puts on performances which are like a combination of Godzilla films, wrestling and street theatre. While this short is quite good, I wish CPM would have added it as an extra and not just slapped it on at the start of the main feature.

There are a numbers of problems with the documentary. Apart from the misplaced Kaiju Big Battel segment (which has nothing to do with anime at all really), it does seem scattershot at times and a bit unfocused. There’s also the constant focus on conventions. While this is where most of Bresler’s footage and interviews were shot, he seems to have glossed over anime clubs. I mean they are mentioned, but why is there no footage of modern day anime clubs and interviews with their members? I originally a got a hold of a copy of the documentary from Bresler himself for a convention I was helping run back in 2004. While I really enjoyed the film then, I was less enthused about this time around. This is mostly to do with me I think. In the intervening years, I’ve come to despise whole chunks of fandom. In the doco, I see elements I really love and elements I really despise. Also as the documentary was made as anime was riding the peak of its commercial popularity in the US, so it’s quite funny to see industry heads boasting of anime releasing totalling 60 to 80 titles per month. Boy, they certainly don’t those figures anymore, maybe a quarter or less. And then you have to factor in the constant delays and reschedules of release dates. This documentary should really have been given a lot more exposure as it is really well made and very accessible to non-fans. I think it’s a shame it never it never got that exposure. I’m going to give it 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 20 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).