The Story Of E.C.A.S.

In The Beginning

I guess you could say it truly started in 1984 when Robotech first hit the air. I can remember it like it was yesterday. It stole my heart and forever changed my life. Things were good in the mid 80's. For those of us who were discovering Anime for the first time, there was plenty out there to keep us content. With Robotech (Macross / Southern Cross / Mospeada), Voltron, Battle Of The Planets (G Force), and Tranzor Z (Mazinger Z) running on the air-waves, I remember rushing home from school just to watch Anime and play RPG's. But around 1988 the world began to change and there was a serious drought of Anime. Fortunately for me, I had a friend who's father was stationed in Japan, and kept me well stocked with raw and fresh Japanese TV shows. These we're the times that truly set fans apart from those who just watched for fun. For several years, I struggled to get my hands on anything I could. Needless to say, the pickings were thin. Then around 1990 or 1991 I discovered BubbleGum Crisis from Animeigo. Thus the 90's began, and so did the new Anime revolution. At first it was slow, with upstart companies just trickling out titles, and Fan-Sub groups coming and going like a summer breeze. Fans such as myself would buy just about everything we could get our hands on, just to have something new to watch. Then around 1994 to 1995, things really started to gear up. Series like Robotech, and Voltron were making a come back, and new shows like Sailor Moon and Ronin Warriors were there to help fuel the commercial fires. There were also Anime clubs and Conventions sprouting up all over the country, in both big cities and college campuses. This was when The East Coast Anime Society was first conceived.

In 1995, I was all about the Punk Rock / Skater scene. This doesn't seem so odd now, but in the early and mid 90's being a Punk Rock kid wasn't something you wanted to be, unless you wanted to be a total outcast. Myself, and several of my friends had also gotten used to our little Anime niche, and we weren't to happy with the current position Anime had taken on TV. So what did we do? We decided to start our own Anime Club in the Fayetteville area to promote Anime, and the local Anime scene. To let people know that there was more out there than just Sailor Moon. With the help of Sabrina Gravette, Thor Thorvaldson, Scott Burnette, Paul Taylor, Ryan Davis, Rob Skene, Gerry Ham, Mondo Nunez, Tim Moore, and Taliga Davis, we started a group designed to promote the Anime scene in the Fayetteville area. Naturally we started small. In fact the group and our newsletter was originally called "Otaku No Fayetteville", but thanks to Scott and myself, being small didn't last long. We started to distribute flyers and newsletters at Cons and in big cities like D.C., Baltimore, Raleigh, and Cleveland. Before we knew it, "Otaku No Fayetteville" had grown so large that we changed the name to "The East Coast Anime Society", began calling the newsletter "Origami Disaster",and began distro nation wide. We we're in league with a northern group known as "Iscandars Lance" and a south western group known as "Oiishi Pair". We thought the sky was the limit. We seemed to be turning into one of the top dogs on the scene. We were even recognized by Otakon in 1998 and 1999, and were given mention in their con booklet, in the fan-club summit section. But it was all to good to be true. Within time, quariling began in the ranks of E.C.A.S. We had grown to big to fast, and lost the purpose behind why we had originally started the group. As for myself, I tried to keep things going, even after everything had started to fall apart. I saw E.C.A.S. as my baby, and didn't want it to die, but there was nothing I could do. In the later part of the year 2000, E.C.A.S. was laid to rest.

"The Story Thus Far" by Chad Matich (a.k.a. CELL)