The Story of the Jobless Otaku Part 1: Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Toonami, Oh My!

So my story isn't a new one, and I will never claim to be the first, second, middle or third to last jobless anime-loving person out there (kudos to my friends who have managed to find jobs and support their obsession with Japanese-related stuffs). No, my story really starts when I was about seven-ish (I think) and Pokémon had first appeared in all of its epileptic glory, though even before that, I was a hardcore Sailor Moon fan (or as hardcore as you can get at seven): It was then that I began to feel the stirrings of the inner Otaku rise and sink its sinister talons into my very being...

 

Pokémon Satoshi Taijiri

 Some of my best memories from childhood were waiting until 6AM (my family is Military, Navybrats will understand) and racing to get to the nearest TV to watch Saturday morning cartoons. During the week, I had recordings of Sailor Moon and live TV showings of Dragon Ball, Tenchi Muyo, and Gundam to keep me busy after homework. I lived through the fall of Toonami and I miss it everyday!

Toonami Cartoon Network

So anyway, as I moved from state to state, things would gradually change: friends, schools, age, and TV shows. During my time in Port Orchard, Washington I met a fellow Otaku who for privacy reasons I will call Sally. Sally and I hit it off pretty well and it is with her that I really started getting into more and more Anime series. She introduced me to HunterXHunter, Fushigi Yuugi, and together we discovered Yu Yu Hakusho. We were pretty close for two years. Fast forward to my 12th year of living, I had to say a few goodbyes to my friends Sally and our other compadre, Chrissy, but I promised that I would be back to visit. They were both sad and excited because I got to go where so many Otakus wish they could only visit: Japan.

>>TCB