by the fans for the fans

I floated this idea in another thread, but it's always bothered me how many things mentioned in this essay seem to be unknown by many Robotech fans.

Kay Reynolds and Ardith Carlton (authors of Robotech Art I) are pioneers of anime fandom in the west, and were championing anime in the '70s, mostly in fanzines of the era. I believe this may be one of the first (if not THE first) histories of anime ever put together for book publication in the west. As such, it's incredibly important as an historical document, as well as being a good example of where fans' heads were at when Robotech premiered.

There are a few factual errors that I've managed to catch (and possibly more that I haven't), but generally, it's a very solid piece, especially considering how criticism and scholarship about anime was in its infancy at the time, even in Japan.

So yeah...here we go: