As anime fandom entered the new millennium, technological advancements placed San Jose at the epicenter of the next evolution in anime parodies.
Until the late ‘90s, most comedic fandubs were done with next to no video editing. While the VCR and VHS technology helped popularize anime in North America, editing video on the medium was still fairly complicated, and required a lot of money to invest in equipment to do so. Instead, voices would simply be recorded, sound effects would be added to the audio, and then it would be set against whatever anime had been chosen.
Computer editing software like Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere, released in 1989 and 1991, changed the game. The sharp rise in home computer ownership throughout the ‘90s saw these applications land more affordably into the hands of the anime community.
Studio Sokodei would use this tech to create their first parody fandub, an adaptation of Ninja Scroll titled Jubei Powers: Japanese Man of Intercourse, in 1999. It was their following project though, Evangelion: ReDeath, that would change the game forever. The parody converted the entirety of Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion into a thirty-minute, coming-of-age comedy, interspersed with clips from Tenchi Muyo! and Pokémon. The film proved to be immensely popular, and became a staple at several conventions across North America after its release, including Anime Boston and Fanimecon.
It wouldn’t be long before another massively impactful parody hit the convention scene at Otakon 2001’s “Hot New Fan Parodies” panel. NoD.D.E. Fanfilms’ first-ever production—This Is Otakudom—Was completed in just eight months, and finished on the Thursday before the con. It was structured as a mockumentary about a group of first-time convention goers attending Otakon, and combined clips from a myriad of anime, including Gundam Wing and Fushigi Yugi.
It would go on to change the anime fandom and its creators’ lives.
“I received e-mails and handwritten letters from people around the world who wanted copies or for us to go to their convention to show it,” said Scott Melzer from NoN.D.E. Fanfilms in a Facebook post. “We did panels about creating fan parodies. We were invited to more conventions and eventually became guests at several… Showing the films turned into running a fan parody track at over a dozen conventions.”
In the midst of this newfound exploding popularity in comedic fandubs with more resources on how to make them more accessible than ever, a newfangled website called YouTube would launch in 2005. And thanks to ”a bit of an insomnia kick,” a man in the UK would watch the tail end of an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!, inspiring him to change the genre of parody fandubs forever.
To be continued…
