One of the greats has passed.
I’d read all of his posts on his political-military blog, USS Clueless, for years. When he started posting review of Japanese animations, I thought he was losing his mind. Turned out, he was showing me a world I’d not imagined.
As a family, we started watching dubbed anime. Then subbed. We went to anime conventions (usually the whole family cosplaying). We started reading manga. I started playing visual novels; then I made one; then two more. I began to write traditional novels – much of who’s source material came from the years of anime stories in my head. I wrote more novels.
Would I have wandered into anime were it not for Steven? Possibly. But not with his intellectual rigor. To this day, his analysis of Haibane Renmei -still my favorite anime – is breathtaking in its complexity. The few times I posted comments to his website, or communicated with him directly, he was courteous and polite. A gentleman.
The impact of his life upon mine is incalculable. I was not close enough to call him a friend, but certainly a mentor. My world, and the whole world, shall be a darker place at his passing.
Aside: Steven was an atheist, but not militantly so; not like a vegan. I do have to smile, just a little, thinking about how his Exit Interview – with Someone he didn’t believe in – is going right now. I shall have a Mass said for him.