The World's Oldest Living Otaku

Just wanted to bring everyone's attention to an amazing article by Patrick Macias for Otaku USA about one of North America's pioneering anime fans, Fred Patten. It's a really fascinating look at the early days (and I mean EARLY) of how anime fandom developed. Included is his meeting with Osamu Tezuka and their combined attempts to bring more anime to America. Here's a small sample:

But Fred had some pretty major conspirators in his corner, starting with the “God of Manga” himself, Osamu Tezuka. After briefly meeting each other in 1977, Tezuka would come to rely on Fred and the small circle of fans that he belonged to (the LA branch of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, AKA the C/FO) to show him around the SoCal area, and supply information about the burgeoning popularity of anime and manga outside of Japan. Says Patten in his book, “(Tezuka) was bewildered but flattered that so many Americans, who did not understand the Japanese language, had taken the trouble to figure out the plots of his manga from the pictures alone.”

You can read "2010 is 1980: Fred Patten and Osamu Tezuka" at OtakuUSAMagazine.com.