Interview with otaku Dan Cox

Amanda Stevens: What was the first anime you ever saw?

Dan Cox: When I was a kid, Sci-Fi was doing those Saturday Morning anime movie things - kind of like Animonday on "SyFy" these days. When I was really little, my first anime was the Project A-Ko dub. I think I saw Galaxy Express 999 a few weeks after that. Sci-Fi used to run a lot of classic stuff.

A.S: How do you think those animes have aged? Do you still enjoy them as much as you did when you were a kid?

D.C: Unfortunately, Project A-Ko hadn't aged well even when I was a kid. A-Ko was itself a parody of the kind of anime at the time, but series from the 1970s infrequently maintain their charm decades later. Leiji Matsumoto's work has always been good, though. I can go back and watch something even as old as Space Battleship Yamato and still enjoy it.

A.S: Now you mentioned the term dub. Could you explain that for those of us who are not so hip what dub means?

D.C: A dub is the english vocal reel laid over the original video, with the foreign language vocal track removed. At its worst, it can sound as awkward as a Godzilla movie voiceover. Many would argue that a lot is lost in this translation regardless of quality, but some series don't suffer from that. A lot of quality dub work has been done on a lot of good series, but I would say that most of the "good dubs" come from the mid-to-late 90s and on.

A.S: Do you have a preference between dubbed or subtitled? Also, do you have a dubbed title that you view as exceptional and a modern one that is absolutely awful?

D.C: Honestly, I have no preference between dubbed and subbed. It depends on the series itself. I've been known to watch a series in both formats depending on the situation. Sometimes you just want to sit back and listen. A dubbed title I thought was exceptional was the recent release of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann from a studio called Gainax. It's a really great series in and of itself, and the cast hired for the series was perfect. As for a title I've at least been somewhat exposed to that I thought was an absolutely atrocious dub, there's The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Something that American voice actors try to emulate is the high voices of some female characters in anime. It invariably ends in disaster.

A.S: What shows got you into those genres and are there any that make you ashamed of them?

D.C: Hellsing got me started watching horror series, and I, like many others, started enjoying mecha through the dubbed Gundam Wing. I can't honestly think of a series I'm ashamed of out of those genre off the top of my head, but then again, there's a lot left to be viewed.

A.S: Have you ever been to any of the dozens of anime conventions? Which was your first convention and how old were you?

D.C: Actually, my first anime convention was just last year, at the 2009 ConnectiCon - which would make me 21 at the time. I never really went to a lot of conventions growing up, but having a large group to go with here in Albany certainly made it easier. In addition, this years BadCon put on by Albany's gaming club The Guild was a lot of fun, and I plan to go next year.

A.S: Many people associated the conventions with a bunch of otaku(nerds) in costumes. This practice is known as cosplay. What is the best cosplay you've and, obviously, the worse you've seen?

D.C: The best you see at cons is usually not the anime cosplay, but the guys in the very well-constructed Stormtrooper or Vader outfits walking around. Those are usually pretty stunning. As for an anime costume, there was someone who had the balls to go around in a speedo and open hawaiian shirt and portray Franky from the series One Piece. Whether you call that bad or good I suppose is up to you, but it was really awesome to see someone wear such an unusual costume. As for the worst, well, there's always a horribly assembled Haruhi or Sailor Moon walking around...

A.S: Have you ever cosplayed yourself? Will you be cosplaying at this year's ConnectiCon? If so as what?

D.C: Last year I threw together a hastily-assembled Reaper from the game The World Ends With You. I was thrilled that a few people actually recognized my lazy costume attempt - I was missing a couple key elements of the character design. This year, I'm going to be going as Coop from the cartoon Megas XLR, and then Casio from the series Diebuster in the same weekend. There were nebulous plans of another costume which I will not mention here.

A.S: As you and me know, some of the best of mecha are sweeping series with years worth of titles. Which of these are the best? And among the titles, which do you prefer?

D.C: You can't go wrong with (most) of the Gundam series. From what I've seen, Getter Robo and Mazinger are good choices as well. But my favorite series are a pair of OVA from Gainax called Gunbuster and Diebuster.

A.S: Most of the Gundam series? There is such a thing as a bad Gundam series?

D.C: There's always personal taste to consider. Not everyone can bear the unusual nature of G Gundam, and some people prefer  certain continuities over others.

A.S: Want to tell people about G Gundam and its "awesomeness"?

D.C:  G Gundam was an unusual departure from the usual Gundam style. Gundam was, until that point, always a "Real Robot" series, meaning it used giant robots as a weapon of war as opposed to a sort of superhero element. However, G Gundam suddenly took all of that and turned it upside-down, going right into the "Super Robot" style, in which robots are, as I said, like a superhero element. G Gundam focuses on an international fighting competition among giant robot pilots. It's pretty awesome, but not everyone was a big fan of the sudden shift in style.

A.S: International Gundam fighting is awesome and you know it.

D.C: Well, I do.

A.S: Besides anime, what else has tempted you from Japan?

D.C: Tokusatsu, live-action costumed hero shows, have recently become an interest of mine.

A.S: Such as Kamen Rider, right? So, what is better Rider Punch or Rider Kick?

D.C: Rider Kick is the classic, so...

A.S: Hahah. Want to sign off with a catch phrase?

D.C: Something like...hmm.. "Strength isn't the size of your body. It's the power in your heart! That's... hard work and guts!" 'cause I'm a gainaxfag at heart.