As promised yesterday, I’m posting a geek gift idea every couple of days between now and Christmas. First up on my list is a subscription to Animation Obsessive.
It’s pure coincidence that their latest newsletter leads with this beautiful still from Toei’s 1979 film ‘Taro the Dragon Boy’. It’s not just seasonally appropriate: it reveals how Takahata, Otsuka, Kotabe and Miyazaki, as well as Kotabe’s wife Reiko Okuyama, a badass genius who terrified the senior execs at Toei by simply refusing to be fired, and many other giants of anime, worked together and supported each other, and how even after they no longer worked at the same studio, their friendship and their influence on each other’s work lived on. It goes into detail about so many aspects of the production. It references the work of one of the early anime scholars I most respect, Ben Ettinger.
They publish the Sunday edition of the newsletter completely free to all subscribers. And it’s good. packed with news, info, quotes and ideas. Really good stuff. Paying subscribers also get the Thursday edition, which dives deeper into a specific topic, and full archive access.
I can get the weekly newsletter for free; I choose a paid sub. Why? Apart from the extras, well worth the money to anyone who loves animation, there’s not a single paid-for ad. The team rely on their work to sell itself. It’s all carefully researched, with supporting sources given for you to check. I know how long this kind of work takes, and how tough it is to deliver it twice a week, week after week, on schedule.
Few people can afford the time it takes to work for ‘exposure’ alone. Any freelancer knows that ‘exposure’ isn’t legal tender. It doesn’t pay your gas bill and you can’t hand it over in a supermarket. I want all workers to have a roof over their heads and food on the table. So I support what I can. I get Animation Obsessive’s subscriber extras and I help to make sure that its makers can afford to keep it ad-free and available, so those who can’t afford it can still read the free edition without being flashed by megacorps and scammers every ten seconds.
Disclosure: not every issue is about animation in Japan. The title is the clue. They’ve introduced me to great animation from all over the world, while still giving me enough anime catnip to keep me happy. There’s usually something every week, often a lot every week.
If you have zero cash, offer to sign someone up for the Sunday newsletter. If you just have a few dollars, give someone a month’s subscription. Or splash out for the full year. Whatever, this will be a welcome gift.