William Chows KZread Channel : kzread.infofeatured

Even in Germany William Chow was a household name back in the day . What a fucking LEGEND thank you sir you and your friends made anime big in the western world

Not to sound elitist or anything but there definitely is something about growing up a fan of something that you have to go out of your way to enjoy especially pre-internet days. I can't help wonder how people today would still be fans if they couldn't get easy access to it. Some of the best moments were finding other people who were into games, anime, etc especially since so many people were scared to talk about it without coming off as weird or strange. You were practically best friends the second you met!

@HappyConsoleGamer Whenever Johnny talks about Anime, I instantly watch the video.

@FinalBaton

7 жыл бұрын

Same

@jamesgall475

7 жыл бұрын

Connor Waltman sameeee

As somebody who came to Vancouver in the late 90s, this was an amazing watch. This is true passion for anime.

@WilliamChow

5 жыл бұрын

you might get a kick about this episode about Vancouver FOB's on the anime scene: kzread.info/dash/bejne/hKR6sbiRfJmon7A.html

Oh no you didn't... you brought this guy on for a video? GET OUT OF TOWN!! That is so fucking awesome! I LOVE learning about the early days of anime fandom in North America, hearing anecdotes from people who've lived it. I'm so fucking stoked right now! Hory shit, this is so fucking cool!

Don't retire Johnny .. please

I think it's funny how this guy is so well known (I at least knew who he was before this video), is known for having one of the most extensive hentai collections for decades, it's all basically public knowledge yet his wife still doesn't know about it. That's amazing! haha XD

I'm only 19 and I've been into anime my whole life pretty much, but seeing you guys talk about the earlier days, with that greater sense of community, makes me wish I could have experienced it all back then. But this was video was great John, keep it up!

@JunpeiIori

7 жыл бұрын

Also gotta say, as one of the "younger kids" that hangs around anime cons, I would hang out with guys like you or the King any day. Lol

@TheDansonT

7 жыл бұрын

Junpei Iori It's funny you should mention hanging with older anime/manga fans and cosplayers. I turned 26 this year and definitely hopped on the anime-con train pretty late in life (MomoCon 2015 & SakuraCon 2017). Just the other day at SakuraCon I was eating lunch at the convention center's Subway and grabbed a seat at a table in a crowded lobby with about 4 or 5 late-teen/EARLY 20 year olds. At first I was like "ah geez, they probably think I'm too old to talk or socialize with". Going from appearances I'm something of a mid-20's, clean cut, heavier athletic build, sort of professional appearance. I later realized i was simply projecting my own insecurities because, contrary to my beliefs, they were actually very welcoming. We went around and shared our favorite con moments as well as our 'loot' we purchased. There was definitely the swapping of jokes and exchanging of suggestions for anime/manga that I'd never watched/read before. I was very bummed when I finished my sandwich because I had to get going to the next panel, but I won't forget the 20 minutes of fun, laughter and community we shared. I also bonded with several con goers waiting for THREE hours to purchase opening-day tickets, a Trafalgar Law cosplayer at a One Piece quiz show, a guy playing Power Stone in the retro game room, an Onocologist dressed as Doctor Who looking to get away from the stresses of hospital life, and many many more. So the long and short of it is that among older con goers, like myself, many of us appreciate younger attendees interacting with us. So thank you for helping keep the spirit of anime/manga community alive. I know I'll do my best to be as outgoing and inclusive as possible next time I'm at an event.

@JunpeiIori

7 жыл бұрын

For sure man, that's what cons are all about. I just love getting to interact with anybody that shares my interests, and I'm sure lots of people feel the same. Even I could do a lot better at opening up to the strangers I meet, sometimes it's hard, and I can get socially awkward too. But doing it is definitely worth it.

@edgezors

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah man, some times I wish away the internet, or at least the early days to get that sense of community back. Things got pretty shallow once social networks became a thing.

@TheDansonT

7 жыл бұрын

Not to get TOO too deep into your personal life, but are you planning on attending any big name cons on the West Coast or any notable ones in North America this year? Purely curious. I'm new to the Seattle WA area following a company transfer from the Midwest US and can definitely tell folks are WAY more welcoming to anime/manga, video game culture, and tabletop gaming out here than where I originally came from. So I'm definitely making the most of visiting cons up and down the coast this Spring and Summer. I'd definitely like to head down to Anime Expo in California as well as a few in Canada (i.e. YettiCon).

We all bow down to The King of Smut 95!!! I love these nostalgic episodes. Old folks rejoice!

episodes like this are the reason this show is my favorite show on the internet. I sincerely hope you don't end the show. Even if you dial it back a bit, maybe once a month while you do other things. Great episode. Very interesting to hear about those times and these passionate people working so hard to share the art they loved. Fantastic.

I was born in 91' so the only anime I grew up on was from Toonami. So for me it was DBZ, Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Rurouni Kenshin. It wasn't until college that I was able to watch limitless amounts of anime via streaming sights. Since then I've been playing catch-up and watching the classics TriGun, Mobile Suit Gundam, Dragon Ball, and other amazing OVAs

Vampire Hunter D, running on the USA network back in the day. Thats where my fascination with Anime started.

this channel is a nostalgia cannon, every show hits me in the feels and reminds me of growing up in the 80's and 90's

Wow, I remember Arctic Animation. Pretty sure that's how I saw Maison Ikkoku and countless other things back in the day. Thanks for the memories!

@brayanargandonaflorentino548

5 жыл бұрын

The best Romance Anime ever

@WilliamChow

5 жыл бұрын

I did an unboxing of the Maison Ikkoku CD box in this episode: kzread.info/dash/bejne/jK12r8WfgJa0h8Y.html

As one of the founding members of Calgary's Japanese Anime Watchers Society back in the late '80's, I remember we got a lot of tapes from Arctic! Including my favorite series, Orange Road! Thanks @HappyConsoleGamer this totally brings back memories!

I grew up in Russia. Anime was around since the 70s, but we are not talking Gundam or Macross. Simple stuff for the most part, but occasionally we were treated with things like GE999 on the TV. It was a mind blowing experience. Then something happened. Around 1995 we got Robotech and Sailor Moon. The time slot was perfect. 2 episodes right before the school was a great fix.

I remember joining the anime scene back in 1995 in Toronto. So exciting.

It's odd, I LOVED anime as a kid in the 90's and at the time it made me curious about possibly visiting Japan. I would stay up late to record anime from the Starz Action channel and spend my money on VHS tapes at Sun Coast Video. Now, I've been living in Japan for years and don't really watch any anime at all anymore, modern anime just doesn't do it for me with very few exceptions. I still find myself going back and re-watching those anime from the 90's and 80's. William is awesome, he deserves an award for contribution to the otaku arts.

@MrDmoney156

7 жыл бұрын

KidShoryuken Yes! Starz Channel and Starz On-Demand with Street Fighter II V and Tekken Animated Movie/OVA

@DJGodaryD86

7 жыл бұрын

There are some good ones but it's overshadowed with garbage and you need to spend time to dig into the good stuff and time is something people lately don't have.

@0oidiedinatimemachineo024

7 жыл бұрын

part of that that is just classic nostalgia probably ... Newer things just don't seem as good because older movies/anime/music/whatever has memories attached to it from when you were younger... I'm like this with a lot of stuff I can't get into anything really modern/new but especially things like Anime an music.

@MrDmoney156

7 жыл бұрын

0o I Died In A Time Machine o0 Honestly some Anime i could but mostly (especially) music nowadays It's hard for me to find some REALLY good.

@DJGodaryD86

7 жыл бұрын

I don't have a problem with nostalgia, I am looking at things realistically. I personally don't have those moments of "I wish I relive that moment etc" because there is nothing for me to go back to. Actually I do have some fond memories but that doesn't mean I am stuck with them or I am fanboying etc. If I would even go back in time I would do things differently not relieve things the same way. I never said all old animes are good it's just there were less compared to today and most of them were better than what we have today. People worked hard to make a good anime while today it's much easier to make animations because the technology comes with pre-sets nearly everything is in 3d which makes the animations far easier to achieve then to draw everything separately etc. Also today we have lots of hipsters that put together some shit anime and later brag about it how they made one like it's something relevant. Same goes for music, movies etc. Quantity over quality, that's the main problem then goes the rest.

Its so nice to hear about how anime community was back in the day, nowadays we discuss eps on mal but its not the same has being in the same room. Mad respect for William Chow!!

I love these stories. Reminds me of how I got into "Japanimation" in the early and mid-nineties when I was only an elementary student. I pretty much got into it about a year or so before Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon started playing on TV here in Canada. I used to collect anime cards imported from Japan with my Chinese neighbourhood friends when we'd go together to Ottawa's China town, that's where I first learned of Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and Yu Yu Hakusho, which were popular in Japan at the time. They were already quite far along DBZ with Majin Boo before the original Dragon Ball where Goku is a kid started airing here. Anyway I started getting into "Japanimation" as well with the cards particularly the Fatal Fury Animated Pictures and Ranma 1/2 released by Viz and those awesome anime films played by Teletoon at night, Ninja Scroll, Wings of Honneamise with my renting Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Project Ai-ko, Bubblegum Crisis, Dirty Pair and getting more into manga around when Naruto and Bleach were still relatively new, so much later into manga than anime, which I started watching before all of the above in French dubbed versions of Astro Boy in Montreal when I was still a little kid, 4 or 5.

I'm not here for the anime or hentai I swear I'm just here TO HEAR JOHNNY TALK ABOUT SOMETHING

Pretty cool to see you bring on a guy who influenced your childhood so much on the show, I actually found it really interesting as a guy who's never been anywhere near Vancouver.

Fascinating discussion! This man needs to write a book. Please convince him to do so, Johnny!

@UndeadFangtooth

7 жыл бұрын

cabbage he has a youtube chanel where he talks about the old days

I remember buying ~$30 CDN VHS anime movies, pretty much always taking a gamble whether it was good or not. Oh, pre-internet days...

as a guy between the then and the now ,. i want to say not enough people are watching the backlog , or to say it differently not enough fans are watching the stuff that came out before they got into anime

I see that Lum from Urusei Yatsuta on the thumbnail. Nice. Thanks for sharing this, listening to all these oldtaku's share their stories is always fascinating.

@brayanargandonaflorentino548

5 жыл бұрын

I want to be her darling

Who could possibly "dislike" this video? I don't get it people.

@hitachicordoba

5 жыл бұрын

Tipper Gore lol (that's an 80's reference for us old dudes)

Ahh the memories johnny,this take me back when i got into anime in the late 80's.Times sure have changed since then when anime was a obscure hobby.

I'm old so I started with Star Blazers (Uchuu Senkan Yamato) in the early 80's and I had the laser discs and Roman Albums and manga all in raw Japanese when I collected them in the 90's and I loved it. The 70's super robots from Force Five were MY super heroes growing up in the 80's. The stories were so amazing compared to the "magic parachutes" of GI Joke...

Thank you so much HappyConsoleGamer for your history with Anime before I was a fan.

Always love learning about the old anime scene, great stuff!

Damn all these stories about anime in the 80's and 90's are so cool to hear from you two, thanks to your videos i got into a lot of old school stuff like megazone 23 and project a-ko, thanks for sharing the love to what we like johnny!

The gateway drug was Starblazers/Yamato and Robotech/Macross. Believe it or not, Dragon Warrior/Quest anime was broadcast on US TV in English. Been looking for it for ages.

@seansharpe4681

7 жыл бұрын

SuperHighTechGamer So I wasn't insane, when it came to this?

wow this was going down 5 or 6 years before i was born in 95 thank you for being responsible for making anime popular enough to get pokemon to north america

@happyconsolegamer- it's so nice to finally see and meet William Chow after all these years of hearing you talk about him! great episode!

John I don't give a shit about anime and I still watched this. Don't stop this show lol

Awsome Video Johnny! Ah!!! Getting shivers listening about fansubs, and being crammed into small rooms reading out scripts aloud to people as the video plays hahaha. All Hail the Godfather of Anime!!! William Chow-OH!!!! Sniff, Sniff... I miss my Fansub tapes... Ahhhh.... If ONLY they didn't take up SO much room!!!!! Today's Anime Fans will NEVER know the struggle we had to get the next EPISODE of an anime series!!! So much time money and effort... BUT I'd wouldn't have it any other way!!!! Thank you Johnny and William for bringing back so many memories today!!!

Me as a middle aged guy: beer + happyconsolegamer = perfect!

This is why I like your channel so much. You always add a nice personal spin or story to everything. It's not the same old bullshit. Very cool.

I remember doing remastering and subtitles around ten years ago in lets say modern era technology and it was a pain in the ass I can imagine how even harder was in the late 90's without that modern day technology to put something together and to keep quality.

Great Video, brings me back to my old days as a anime fan and the fandom of the past.

I'm glad to see the show is continuing! Your content is some of my favourite on youtube, and when it does end it'll be a sad day. But for now, I'll watch this episode and be happy!

And this kind of episode is exactly why this show must go on !

Great video!!! I've had an interest in anime all the way back to the NES days. I always liked the artwork for games like Golgo 13 and Fist of the North Star on the NES, and seeing advertisements in magazines like EGM and Gamefan for import shops that sold anime really got me interested. The first real anime that I watched were the Streamline Pictures VHS releases of Akira, Fist of the North Star, Vampire Hunter D, and Robot Carnival. Still love them to this day. The 80s will always be the golden age of anime for me. Nice to hear from Mr. Chow and all he did to spread the love for anime.

Really great that you got to get him on the show. I was wandering about that guy and the times you had since you mentioned him.

My boy introduced me to Robotech about 10 years ago, and I fell in love with it. Macross Zero was my first experience... And he also introduced me to Outlaw Star which I still haven't seen the entire series yet, but I loved what I've watched and one day I will buy the series and re-watch the entire series.

Thank You to Mr. Chow for bringing anime into the mainstream in America.

Haven't even started watching but holy cow, that's amazing. Your "anime back in the day video" is one of my favourite videos you have ever done.

Great great episode. This is what makes this channel so unique.

Such a great relaxed interview. So much awesomeness.

great interview johnny, thank you!

I grew up with cowboy bebop, outlaw star, inuyasha, ronin warriors, saint seiya, (the stereo typical) dragon ball z, yu yu Hakusho, cyborg 009, samurai champloo, Fooly Cooly, lupin the 3rd and many more which really shows my age..... 21!!!!

@Zeithri

7 жыл бұрын

Cyborg 009, Mobile Suit Gundam ( 0079 ), SDF-Macross, Saber Rider & The Star Sheriffs. - 30, soon 31.

@KodaiYuki1

7 жыл бұрын

Saint Seiya ? Oh, I love that show, shame is not popular in America, as it is popular in other parts of world.

@executivedata7

7 жыл бұрын

Crim Rui yeah they are. Classic Anime beats newer anime in my opinion anyway. I like Attack on Titan, Berserk, and Boku no Hero Academia but every anime lately has been about magical girls, women with big boobs (ecchi) I don't like those type of genre unless it's prison school which was an exception

@executivedata7

7 жыл бұрын

KodaiYuki1​ saint seiya is still the best anime/manga I still need to finish the original anime series and then it's other season arcs. The Saint Seiya the legend of sanctuary CG movie was incredibly good. I recommend you and anyone to watch it if you haven't already

@CountMecha

7 жыл бұрын

All good stuff. I watched the Toonami and Adult Swim anime blocks religously back in the day.

It's so hard to explain to younger kids of the Cartoon Network generation how hard it was to watch anime before that. I remember they day when it was like Christmas if you could find two or more consecutive episodes of any series. You could usually only find spotted episodes in a series. I remember trying to piece together things like Ranma 1/2 and Project A-Ko. Or Record Of The Lotus War. Yeesh, that was a nightmare.

Too awesome! Answers so many questions about the origination of my anime copies.

WOW thank your for that interview Johnny.

Loving that Witch Hunter Robin shirt.

Great vid dude! Great seeing you at Sakura Con!

Absolutely enjoyed watching this! ^^

Old Anime? Too Satanic John...too Satanic!

@pdraggy

7 жыл бұрын

He is MISTA SA-TAN

It's awesome to see Mr. Chow on the show after you were raving about him. Cool stuff.

15:26 Oh my gosh, he actually mentioned Galaxy Fraulein Yuna... I can't put into words how much I love those OVAs! 19:44 And Akazukin Chacha too, wow, this guy has good taste...

This is amazing, Johnny! Thank you!

This is one of the best videos you've made. What a fascinating discussion and really takes me back. King of Smut 95 lol, absolutely love it! Robotech was also my first anime, even though I did not know or classified it as "anime" when I was a kid.

This was fascinating! It is always a pleasure to learn about different sub cultures from the people who were in them.

this has to be one of my favourite KZread videos

What an amazing guy!! 😄 thank you for introducing him to us Johnny.

this video made me smile almost the whole time watching. wow what a great person

Great idea for a vid! This was very interesting. I remember when I had one friend who was into anime growing up. We would travel two hours to NYC to go to Kinokuniya Books because it was the only place we could find manga! Pre-internet was such a strange time compared to collecting today. I have to consciously avoid shopping on eBay instead of visiting stores for the thrill of the hunt for video games.

best video in a long time Johnny! This was a super interesting interview/conversation . this guy should start his own KZread channel. as far as lack of community amongst the younger generation, you are forgetting the Toonami community. ever since Toonami cane back to the states everyone gets on Twitter together to tweet when the block airs on adult swim, there are even panels and conventions for it.

I went to A-kon(convention) in Dallas, TX last year and it was wonderful. It is much more of a celebration of anime, but I appreciated the artists who share their original artwork. I had so much fun talking to various artists about their inspiration and I can't wait to go this year.

Also Johnny's posture kind of shows how he still idolizes and respects Mr. Chow.

@arthurmorgan8991

10 ай бұрын

Totally!!

Great interview. Thanks!

I've been at work all day I'm happy I was finally able to watch this lol NICE

I grew up watching dragon ball(original)and z,saint seiya, pokemon,digimon,shaman king, yuyu hakusho, ranma1/2, sailor moon, inuyasha, rurouni kenshin,zoids and so on... anime is so different now I keep gravitating towards older anime for some reason rather than the newer stuff...

@super-robot-punch

7 жыл бұрын

AnimeExpress I agree. I can't stand all of the high school style shows. Kinnikuman and old stuff is what I find myself watching lol

@Darkpaladinfrozennight

7 жыл бұрын

Word!

@BuraiMurian

7 жыл бұрын

sounds like you grew up with the toonami and adultswim anime era my friend.. which I myself am apart of nowadays ^_^

@CrashKunio

6 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I also like watching the older stuff, like Hokuto no ken and Dragonball :D

@Zergito

3 жыл бұрын

Have you seen Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure? I’m sure you’ve heard of it, a manga that was from that old era, but they didn’t release a full anime series until 2012 and it’s still going trying to catch up with the manga :) check it out if you haven’t yet!

Man this channel is so much fun!

Oh man this whole thing takes me back. I loved that reaction when you mentioned Langrisser! I never would have known about that game if it weren't for great communities sharing their favorite foreign media.

you know how i got into Anime? .... Sailor Moon. Only Anime that played after school in grade 1-4 In Poland in 1990s. My TV had only 4 TV Channels back than. O.o so it was only thing i recorded after school. + the 2 episodes of Disney Cartoons that only played on Saturday XD (Compare to Complete Channels/Streaming Sites dedicated to cartoons/anime now... i feel spoiled, and i love it)

@brayanargandonaflorentino548

5 жыл бұрын

In Arizona, TV Azteca used to aired Sailor Moon, Captain Tsubasa, and Pokémon for the Spanish speakers, but then they took it away because of their scummy reasons

Lol when he said north americas largest hentai collection

Awesome video! This was great. Their subtitled anime made it's way all the way to Sweden. Still have some of those fansubbed tapes i got in the 90'ts in a box in my storage. Things sure have changed, it was hard to hunt but i appreciated it so much more. Even if i could only afford one tape or two each month and starve a little at times, i watched them to death and loved it so much. I worked hard to get them in everyway imagined, it's not the same today, so far from it. Johnny, i would love to hang out with you and talk anime and the old days of anime fandom, it would be a real treat and good fun time. Great video, i enjoyed it very much, stay awesome and take care.

Great video!Keep on the good work!

Hi Johnny. I am a big PC Engine fan as well. I see you were talking about Warsong. Langrisser 2 will be published in english by Watermelon in the future. I was the character designer/cutscene director of Pier Solar/HD. Also another undlisclosed game to which I participated will come in the future.

@WilliamChow

7 жыл бұрын

That's cool. I hope they programmed the hidden Aniki Levels!!

@ArmVM

7 жыл бұрын

I think there will be surprises for this new version. :)

@WilliamChow

7 жыл бұрын

Oh boy that's great. The biggest surprise which would be probably impossible, but if it had the hidden Otaku Mode like Langrisser 1 did. THAT would be so awesome. Even you would be really in the game!

Really enjoyed watching this episode, thx.

growing up in the early 2000s me and my older bro always watched the original yu-gi-ohs when it was still the original crew not gx etc and naruto, dbz and beyblade now there is so much more appearing that im never bored. this was a great episode and its cool to finally see the king of smut hahaha

This is definitely one of my favorite videos from you! Great work Johnny and bow down to the the King of Smut 95 William Chow!

A very special episode indeed! So great to hear this history. Coming from a little town in Ontario - just a bit younger than Johnny - I always wished I had known of what was happening in Vancouver. I'd catch Robotech or Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind on cable TV. I had no idea what it was, but I knew I needed to see more. I did not even know the names of things, because TV back then did not have an "info" button or built-in schedule. Thanks guys.

I've never been into Anemia but I really enjoyed this video. The passion you guys have for Anemia makes me want to like it. Great work. Another fun video

Brilliant episode. I'm not a fan on Anime in any way but loved this look back. I wasn't aware of William's and the Vancouver communities impact on Anime in NA. Awesome! Keep it up!

I remember buying dragonball and dbz on vhs and fuck.. I remember half a season would cost around 340$.

these interviews are gold

Episodes like this one are why I love the channel!

Great episode, fun insights.

I remember watching Arctic Animation fan subs back in day. Thank you for helping spread anime to the west!

So cool. I rememeber as a kid finding people who had tapes I got to watch or borrow

Great video! Really enjoyed :)

This show cannot end.

I love Mr Happy's anime videos. They bring warm feels like after taking a sip of hot cocoa with marshmallows on a cold winter day.

one of my favorite videos yet

Growing up in an age where Anime is really easy to access, It's cool to hear stories of how small the scene was back then. Thanks for uploading this Johnny.

Epic! Closest thing I had to this was going into HMV back in the day and seeing the Manga/Anime section with VHS tapes in the 90's or so. Damn things were like 80 bucks! I waited until some of them came down to like 30-40 and got Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Ninja Scroll and some other ones. Awesome times! :)