this post was initially written in response to ondororu introducing wasure hoshi no volicia, an independent yuri mecha anime: https://cohost.org/ondororu/post/2616693-just-found-out-about

going to piggyback on this post to mention everyone should also check out ancient battle shell genocider, the doujin mecha anime framed as found lost media from the 80s that has been one man’s labor of love since 2010. what started as one-off OP and ED parodies using licensed tracks (the ED being from aya+RT, who recorded it in 2005 to sound like it was from the 90s) has now expanded into real episode promo cuts, VHS cassettes, telephone cards, and a slew of other merchandise that you can also buy on the circle’s booth page. the level of auhenticity is legitimately astounding when you notice details like the mock rental VHS boxes that have been sunbleached in just the right way, or learn that the process involves mastering footage to DVD and recording it on a betamax to create proper noise generation loss. being a one-man crew also means having to manage everything yourself, like going location scouting in nihonbashi for backgrounds. watching the PC engine game MV that came out a few months ago stuffed with cutscenes, demos, and manuals, it’s a little hard to believe that it’s all only as real as a video showpiece. calling your own work lost media, it turns out, is pretty useful creative leverage to do as little or as much as you feel like.