Back in 2001 I posted the story of how I became acquainted with El Hazard to the Yahoo! Groups El Hazard Fan Club forum, where I first met folks such as Erin-chan, Dooky, Amanda Dale, Mr. What and Spanner.
I've included it below in part, being relevant to the topic at hand:
--- In el-hazard@yahoogroups.com, "Mark Engels" <mark_engels@r...> wrote:
Special thanks to Spanner for the warm reception off list. As it
turns out he and I both live in Minnesota's Twin Cities in the north
central US. I am looking forward to meeting him in person for a
night of consuming edibles and watching anime in the near future.
.
.
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My anime and manga interests are wide and varied. It all began as I
suppose it does for most latetwentysomething and earlythirtysomething
listers here: sneaking down at 6:30 in the morning to watch Kimba
and Speed Racer, then watching Battle of the Planets, then later
Voltron and finally Robotech (this all before we knew what "anime"
was.) In college I experienced the requisite Bubble Gum Crisis,
Akira, and became hooked on the Heavy Metal motion picture. (OK OK
not anime per se but a cult favorite.) By this time I'd found out
there were actually COMIC SHOPS where one could buy manga. While not
manga in the strict sense, I'm sure there are other fans of Steven A.
Gallacci, Stan Sakai and Reed Waller/Kate Worley on the group: it
was about this time I first became a fan of their anthropomorphic
work. I did collect every Macross/Robotech comic I could get my
hands on and ate up everything by Johji Manabe. Miyazaki's Nausicaa
was also one of my early favorites. After picking up Ben Dunn's
adaptation of Captain Harlock, I began Ninja High School. That more
than anything set the hook for me, as I immediately began wondering
where all these "walk on" anime characters were coming from in the
NHS plotline (Salusian fanservice notwithstanding.
)
.
.
.
During college I had obtained a Commercial Driver's License. I got
back into manga when I was driving tractor trailer on the weekends
hauling mail between Minneapolis and Chicago to earn some extra
pocket change. I needed something to pass the time on my layovers,
so began toting various trade paperbacks with me in my grip. I tore
up Battle Angel Alita and the collected Nausicaa with a vengeance.
This was also when I'd started picking up Oh! My Goddess and Gunsmith
Cats. I'd also become familiar with Rumiko Takahashi's works at this
time and began collecting Ranma, Inu Yasha, and Maison Ikkoku
(probably my all time favorite) in trade paperback form.
It was also about this time I first began spreading my wings as a fan
fiction author. If any of the list is interested I'll be happy to
direct you to a link of my own works set in Kishiro's Battle Angel
Alita timeline. At various Midwestern anime conventions I've had
pleasure to meet a number of fellow fictwriters and engage in
wondeful C&C with them (usually while consuming libations in generous
amounts.
)
More recent favorites include Neon Genesis Evangelion and Child's
Toy. Other short series I've picked up in either manga or anime form
include 801st Airbats, You're Under Arrest, AD Police, Spirit of
Wonder, Legend of Kotetsu, All Purpose Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Dual! and
Tenchi Universe. Being a Kishiro fan I've enjoyed Aqua Knights and
await the coming of the new Battle Angel Alita adaptation. I pick up
Animerica Extra and Super Manga Blast at every opportunity because
I've been enjoying each publication's serieses a great deal.
Then there is El Hazard. I attribute my latecoming the the EHFC due
to the fact I caught a very brief portion of the OVA 2 back in '98 at
an anime club meeting in The Cities (it was the part where Shayla
allows herself to be seduced by Fatora thinking it's Makoto.) For
some reason it didn't really stick with me. I blew it off entirely
until I was reading the Animerica Extra issue in which the EH manga
was previewed. Those of you who haven't seen it...it was a wonderful
adaptation of the scene in which Makoto meets Ifurita for the first
time under Shinonome High. Just from the three page preview I was
hooked! I've collected the manga since and have purchased the EH DVD
box set. In fact I'm looking forward to watching it again when
Spanner-san and I manage to get together.
I've also taken great pleasure reading some very literarily sound and
satisfying El Hazard fan fiction. My favorites include the work of
Ken Wolfe ("Earth" and "Reunited") and Alan Harnum ("Mortal
Engines"...I'd like it more if he actually finished it!) I did see a
rather intriguing fanfic post from our own Herr (or Fraulien? I'm
confused!) Dititrich way back in the day describing a notably
different way in which Ifurita might later relate to Makoto after
their reunion. I'll agree with Erin: it was certainly a worthy
effort by a non-Anglophone to create a credible piece of work.
And I might be creating some new fanfiction of my own. I'll leave it
to you all to tell me whether you'd be interested in reading it
here. Some of you might want to check out my GUNNM body of work,
then tell me whether you want such rabble clogging up your in-
baskets.
I've got some wonderful ideas that I might need fleshing out. I had
the distinct pleasure of meeting Ken Wolfe in person last weekend in
Fargo, North Dakota (well, yeah, but it was halfway between Ken's
native Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and my Minnesota Twin Cities.) He
and I have been enjoying a delightful correspondence that has only
served to awaken my sleeping muses. I hope I might "get by with a
little help from my friends" as it were.
Time and again I've seen references to EH anime music videos. I was
absolutely stunned back in '98 at Anime Central when I saw Neon
Genesis Evangelion set to Europe's Final Countdown. More on topic,
at Ken's urging I downloaded the the Sarah Brightman Once In a
Lifetime El Hazard video by Michael Ko. Wonderful piece of work,
that. Watch it every chance I get! I've got a few ideas for
creating AMVs of my own but will need some technical assistance at
some point.
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.
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My apologies for the lengthy post, friends. I wanted to give you
some background on me in the hopes we'll discover our common
interests, not the least of which is El Hazard. I'm an Ifurita (OVA
1) devotee. I am particularly fond of the relationship we see
developing between them in OVA 1 and Ken Wolfe's rendition of its
continuance in his work. And while I prefer watching my anime
dubbed, I do believe there is room for improvement in vocal direction
and casting. Maybe if more production houses paid SAG going rate...
Looking forward to being a member of the community. Until next
time...
"...an' keep 'em between the white lines, driver..."
--me
Mark Engels
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And the madness continues. I now have all the EH manga in both loose comic and trade paperback form. I've downloaded several EH anime music videos that tend to focus primarily on Makoto and Ifurita, including ones set to such varying music types as Celene Dion's "You Look At Me" and Evenescence's "Bring Me to Life." Of course there are now additional forays into El Hazard fan fiction for the community to enjoy, thanks to my collaboration of the aforementioned Mr. Wolfe and the support of my fellow online EH fans, including those here and still with the EHFC forum.
Not bad, I figure, given the last new EH series was released in Japan several years ago now. With the release of the Wanderers and TAW box sets, I hope the fandom will enjoy some momentum for some time.
--me
Mark Engels
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(w00t! What happened to the lighting?)