Somewhere out there, the dedicated fans protest these changes, demanding that the original integrity, art, and cultural references be retained, right down to the titles that they will forget. Even if the companies do change the titles, the fans will pompously refer to the old Japanese title over the English translated title, making conversation with the less-informed a much more interesting experience. They firmly believe that they are the only thing standing in the way of having Mickey Mouse piloting a giant mech in Disney presents: Neon Genesis Evangelion, even though there are only a few thousand truly dedicated fans standing in the way of Disney’s billions.

Somewhere out there, there are a bunch of newbies who believe they have a firm grasp on the entire world of anime’, even though they only watch titles that contain characters named Goku, Vash, Inuyasha, or Spike. They demand continuations of the series that they know by assumption are superior to everything, so there’s no point in looking at the other stuff. There are hundreds of other titles to choose from, but these experts have got the whole market pegged by watching just three or so.

Somewhere out there, there are a group of whiners complaining that hentai is sick and evil and shouldn’t exist. They complain that yaoi and yuri should be more respected and everyone should love it, despite personal beliefs. They complain that there isn’t enough diversity in anime’.

Okay, all of you people just shut up for a minute, because I’m going to talk about shirts. I was going through my closet, trying to stuff my clothes in, despite the fact that I had precisely one hanger for a week’s worth of clothes. I remembered I had a bunch of shirts that I had long since “retired” that were taking up hangers, so I figured it was time to box them up, since they weren’t benefiting from hanging out in the closet.

But that does bring and interesting question: how do you “retire” a shirt? Answer: with a great ceremony and thanks for its service. At least that’s how I used to do it way back in the day. Now, I sort of grunt and put it away. It’s an appreciative grunt, but it’s not as glamorous as the old ceremony.

This ceremony was real. I would switch the mantle lights on in the family room and hang the shirt up, honoring it for its months of service to me. Each shirt represented a symbol of my passion, my passion for animation from a country that many Americans ridicule for its weird little cultural habits. These shirts were my public proclamation that I was going against the mainstream and liking something that they didn’t approve of.

Altogether, I folded and stacked thirty shirts from just under eight years of obsession. There were some popular ones, like Oh! My Goddess and Princess Mononoke, and a few obscure ones, like Riding Bean and Devil Man. There were a couple of shirts for various conventions that I had attended. There were even a few that I made. Okay, they look really bad, but godammit, they show more enthusiasm and passion than most fans feel today, and that’s all that counts.

Looking through these shirts brought back a lot of memories from my high school days, when I would hang around my friends who were also into anime’ and we would go off about it for the time between breaks. Back then, anime’ was harder to find, more expensive, and available only on VHS tapes. Oddly enough, anime’ was more fun then because it was harder to get a hold of. It was something unique.

I first got into anime’ in 1997, when someone I knew from the local video game store handed me a copy of Street Fighter II: the Movie and some episodes of Oh! My Goddess and Tenchi Muyo! I was excited about it because of one key reason: nudity.

Being fourteen, I was still in that stage where I wanted to see naked women (although, come to think of it, I’m still in that stage). The guy informed me that there was a nude scene in Street Fighter, and since Internet access wasn’t that widespread in my area at the time, I demanded a copy. Before I got to it, though, he made me watch a few Tenchi episodes, and suddenly, I was hooked.

My enthusiasm for my new hobby grew as I tried to convert friends to the fold. In high school, I created my first handmade t-shirt (an Oh! My Goddess print), and wore it proudly. I eventually caught the attention of a guy named Bob (nickname), who shared my obsession, but didn’t have easy access to anime’ because his parents were raging psycho Christians who thought it was evil. I spread the anime’ love his way, and we became really good friends after that.

Throughout high school, anime’ influenced everything from my writing to my clothing. I had been amassing more and more t-shirts, most of which were made by professionals in exchange for large sums of cash. Early on, I spent a year creating a DOOM II conversation based on Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo! My collection began to grow, and I met a couple more guys to hang around with, a feat in a severely clique-ridden school.

During my Senior year in high school, one of the guys introduced me to the concept of the anime’ convention. That spring, we were off to Anime’ Central 2001. Bob tagged along late in the game, so we agreed to wait for him while he got registered. When my friend and I saw the vendor’s room, however, all bets were off. We were in there before Bob could yell at us to stop.

I went away from that convention hundreds in the hole, but with a lot of cool anime’ stuff and a permanent mark on my mind. When I went to school the next day, thoughts of pocky and anime’ prevailed, and I severely did not want to be in that idiot-laden high school. I wanted to be with my fellow nerds.

I went to other conventions, but most of them couldn’t match the first. Actually, Jafax 2002 and 2004, where my friends and I participated in the cosplay and won, were the best ones, hands down, but I still have fond memories of Anime’ Central, although I stopped going after 2002 because of the underlining corporate sponsorship and the ridiculous cost of staying at the hotel. By then, a lot of newbies joined the fray, and anime’ suddenly seemed less interesting. Most of my friends and I parted ways, which is probably another reason why anime’ has lost some of its magic, at least for me.

That doesn’t mean that my anime’ collection is going away any time soon. With well over 500 tapes and DVDs and growing, as well as a wide assortment of posters, wall scrolls, figures, and, of course, t-shirts, I have a lot invested in anime’ and want to keep that passion going. Even this website has basis in my devotion, what with all the pocky goodness and all.

A lot has happened with those shirts, and I thought I’d share it with the rest of you.