Today's game is Akira Psycho Ball, a PS2 pinball game based on the "Akira" anime that was only released in Japan and Europe. Why wasn't it released in the USA? Why did they make a pinball game out of "Akira"? What the hell is actually going on in "Akira" anyway? These questions and more ... will not be answered in this blog. Instead I'm going to talk about Sci-Fi Channel anime from the 90's. Read more and watch Akira Psycho Ball gameplay right here.
I don't know the exact dates, but back in the 1990's the Sci-Fi Channel, back when it actually focused exclusively on sci-fi and still had the Saturn planet logo, showed anime movies and OVAs every Saturday night. Technically, I guess it was Sunday morning since they always came on a 1 A.M. or so, but whatevers. I was a teenager when I discovered it one night and it blew my mind. Staying up late to watch the midnight Sci-Fi anime is some of my favorite memories. This was also one of the first things Andrew and I found we had in common - along with watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 - and is part of the reasons why we became friends.
I don't know that I even knew what anime was back then - this was the days before the Internet, after all, and anime was still super niche and wildly expensive for just an episode or two on VHS back in those days - but I was hooked. The lineup they showed was phenomenal, too, so my first taste of anime was basically the best of the best at the time. I got to watch "Akira", "Project A-ko", "Armitage III", "Fatal Fury The Movie", "Ghost In the Shell", "Iria", "Tenchi Muyo in Love", "Vampire Hunter D", "Venus Wars", and many more. It was absolutely incredible.
Then, for various reasons, I kind of fell off of anime for a long time. I suppose it was because I was working (reviewing video games) and was focused on other things like LEGO and Transformers for a while, so anime just wasn't important. I'd still watch Toonami and whatever was on Adult Swim, so I watched "Evangelion", "Trigun", "Cowboy Bebop", "Yu Yu Hakusho", "FLCL", and the like and, of course, "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z".
Then, in 2010, I was tired of games, tired of Transformers, and couldn't justify buying LEGO, so I went back to anime. And I've been hooked all over again ever since. I've seen hundreds of series at this point and thousands and thousands of episodes. Even after all this time, and all of those other series and movies, though, I still have a soft spot for those Sci-Fi channel movies.
