Anime in the U.K. (an extremely short history)

I loved Battle of the Planets as a kid, it seemed so much cooler than other cartoons like Banana Man and Super Ted. At the time i didn't realise it was actually Japanese in origin. Its funny but looking back now a lot of my favourites were either Anime or based on a series that originated in Japan, such as Robotech and Transformers.

Then in the early 90's Manga Video introduced me to whole new world i never new existed, the preview trailer alone blew my tiny little mind.

I loved films like Fist of the North Star and Battle Angel Alita but more importantly if it wasn't for Manga Video most of us over here would never have seen the masterpiece that is Akira.

Since then things have only got better. More and more films have been released over here, and around the same time they come out in Japan. Beautifully translated and subtitled rather than badly dubbed and 5 years old. If you are new to Anime you can't go far wrong by starting with the Ghost in the Shell films, visually stunning and set in an amazingly detailed Science Fiction world.

And for anyone still not convinced, whats not to like about giant mechs beating the crap out of each other!