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Always happy to hear the experiences of other Spanish-speaking anime fans. I also watched Locomotion here in Argentina when I was a little kid, unlike the U.S. here in Latin American the broadcasters didn't care a lot about the content that was present in most anime so shows like Inuysaha and Yu Yu Hakusho were shown in the afternoons, and we got all the seasons of Sailor Moon.
I'd say the golden age of anime in Latin America lasted from the mid 90s until '05. There were local cable channels airing anime alongside American cartoons and Cartoon Network and Fox Kids had anime blocks, and many of those shows were dubbed directly from the Japanese version with very few cuts, though shows like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! were adapted from the 4Kids versions. But sadly in the end some channels went defunct and people started complaning about the content so CN began airing late at night which only attracted the hardcore fans. And worst of all, Animax began phasing out their anime programming and became another Sony channel airing live-action shows and movies.
Nowadays, I'd say that the anime presence in Lat-Am is improving, piracy is still present, but many series are available on Netflix and Crunchyroll also started dubbing some shows into Spanish. Also, although it varies from country to country, a lot of manga is published here.

I sometimes find Spanish dubs when checking out some obscure 90s Anime on Youtube. Is Saber Marionette popular in South America? I never hear any English speaking fans talk about it, despite it having 2 shows and 2 OVA series.

That was an interesting topic! Im puerto rican myself but live in NY. Got to say most of my spanish friends and family all read and watch anime. Cool to see back in Puerto Rico anime viewing is strong there too. Would love to read a follow up to this story on the convention scene. Like if there are any anime conventions or if any comic con types feature alot of cosplaying

This was fascinating! As someone with family on the island, I was too young to recognize anything beyond “wow, look at all this anime on TV!” whenever we went over for family visits. Too bad I wasn’t fluent in Spanish, though that sure explains how my much older, not at all need-adjacent aunts knew about shows like Fushigi Yugi.

MarshalBanana wrote:

I sometimes find Spanish dubs when checking out some obscure 90s Anime on Youtube. Is Saber Marionette popular in South America? I never hear any English speaking fans talk about it, despite it having 2 shows and 2 OVA series.

I'm from Latin America and I used to watch Saber Marionette when I was in elementary school. I'd say the show is a cult classic, is not as well known as other anime from the era but it has its fans. I think it helps that many of the characters were voiced by popular voice actors who are still working to this day, for example Lime was voiced by Cristina Hernandez who then voiced Sakura in Cardcaptors and Blossom in PPG and PPGZ; Cherry shares the same voice with Akane Tendo and Sailor Mercury; and Otaru shares the same voice with Yugi Muto, Dende, Anakin Skywalker and Gir. Another piece of trivia about the show Spanish cast is that Lime's actress and Mitsurugi's actor are now married, though Cristina was previously married with Rene Garcia who voices Vegeta and Cygnus Hyoga.

I was so nostalgic reading the article about the old shows of my youth growing up in neighboring Dominican Republic. I had a hunch you boricuas had it easier than us with manga and that you got it in both languages is even better. I had to buy my Spanish-language manga from Argentina or Spain like those offerings from Norma that were mentioned in the article.

I can't believe Saint Seiya didn't hit PR the same way it did in the rest of the region.

Wait, what? Cris Hernández was married to René García? I didn't know that one. Eh well, neither are my cup of tea.

As far as I knew the “Samurai X” dub that was made on Venezuela was a straight one with minimal changes and they just inherited the name the US version got because reasons. (A similar case with Sailor Moon in the Mexican dub getting all the “Serena, Molly and Kevin) but I don’t think they censored much. (As dubbing something may censor something they feel is too crass but it’s not super common)

Seven years ago I went to Puerto Rico to see how some of my cousins were doing near Cabo Rojo on the west coast of the island.

I took a rented car for a day from my family and went to Puerto Rico Comic Con and saw amazing things there. As I am staff in my regional anime con and I wanted to see how much of the culture was different from the New Mexican side to the Puerto Rican life. I talked to a whole bunch of anime fans there and got an idea on what they liked and how it was like being a fan there. Also quite a bit of the people there wanted to go to the US and live there.

Even with the Hispanic blood in my veins, I felt so out of touch of this culture, as living in the Mainland US, knowing some of their plight and the strengths of them living there as I visited. I have never felt so much like a tourist trying to order coffee at a Krispy Kreme in Mayaguez in Spanish.

Spent my time since then trying to learn Spanish with my Japanese trying to broaden my understanding of us all.

Some of these details are a little off for me but it could be due to location within the island. Been living in PR my whole life and before Borders the first place I had heard of having manga for sale (published by the big houses at the time like Viz and T*kyopop) was a fun dvd store called Suncoast. They had what they could carry in their small stores at the time and the ones I was acquainted with where the ones at the biggest mall on the island and then at a local mall in the metro area. Before then I bought the original format of manga which where more similar to traditional comic books and I think it was Pokemon Magical journey. Also if you got up really early at say maybe 4 am you could catch Sorcerer Orphen on channel 2 Telemundo. I've been a fan since very young but always managed to be just at the border of the close knit anime community here. I still draw and consume it even more excessively than when I was little so it's good to hear the enthusiasm is still lively with the newer crowd.

If you go to local comic book stores like Metro comics you can still find some very old series like Cipher as well as niche series like The Wandering Son which honestly brings a lot of charm and variety on its own. Most new local bookstores or places that are carrying manga are focusing on the more popular stuff. Very difficult to get ahold of more niche series and authors and light novels. We have two big anime conventions here, the most well known and reputable being a branch of Comic Con. The second one is/was Kaisen although I no longer know if it's active. Unfortunately the cons are still rather new in terms of how long they have been in business so you can often find places that may sell things with stolen artwork on them or just knock off figures etc.

MarshalBanana wrote:

I sometimes find Spanish dubs when checking out some obscure 90s Anime on Youtube. Is Saber Marionette popular in South America? I never hear any English speaking fans talk about it, despite it having 2 shows and 2 OVA series.

It was incredibly popular pretty much everywhere, but only for a time. The character designs and style of humor dates it to a very specific kind of era. It used to be spoken of highly at about the time people were talking about Sorcerer Hunters, Slayers, Tenchi, and El-Hazard. They're all fun and silly '90s comedies, but don't necessarily make a lot of new fans nowadays. Here's a Shelf Life review from 2002 with a volume of J-X that sort've illustrates the franchise fatigue by then. Trends change, stars fade, and all that.

Thank you again for these articles; it’s compelling to read about the local stories of different countries. Hope there’ll be more of these in the future!

I was born and raised in PR and lived through the 70's 80's fantastic tv anime shows.
The oldest show I remember seeing was probably " La princesa caballero" (The princess Knight by Tezuka)

I also watched :
Candy Candy
Mazinger Z
Captain Harlock (Capitan Raimar)
Yamato (Intrepido)
Nobody's Boy Remi
Captain Future
Starzinger (El Galactico)
Ninpu Kamui Gaiden (Las aventuras de Kamui, el ninja desertor)
G-Force (Fuerza G)
Kotetsu Jeeg (El Vengador)
Windaria (TV movie)

I think I watched a few other anime shows but these ones are my favorites.

I remember every afternoon coming back from school and sitting in front of the tv and watch anime shows. Mazinger Z was extremely popular even during reruns.

Back then the majority of tv cartoon shows were aimed for kids (Hanna-Barbara, WB, Disney). The concept of cartoons aimed to a older audience was new. Anime blow my young innocent mind.

What I liked about anime is that they were not "Disney". These anime stories required a bit more of brain matter to follow than standard kiddie American cartoon shows. Anime stories were very creative, sometime violent (Kamui), sometimes bittersweet and on many occasions very very sad (Remi, Candy Candy). Anime heroes and villians personalities had depth and honor.

In the late 80's there was only one comic book store that had anime in my home town. I remember renting a lot of other series and movies from that place.

Eventually every video club and music store started providing anime shows and movies. Cable was also expanding and I remember watching English-dubbed anime shows.

Hellfish wrote:

As far as I knew the “Samurai X” dub that was made on Venezuela was a straight one with minimal changes and they just inherited the name the US version got because reasons. (A similar case with Sailor Moon in the Mexican dub getting all the “Serena, Molly and Kevin) but I don’t think they censored much. (As dubbing something may censor something they feel is too crass but it’s not super common)

Actually Samurai X was dubbed in Colombia between 1997 and 1999 (but the final episode was never dubbed), according to my sources the name Samurai X was already chosen by Sony. Curiously, the movie was dubbed in Mexico with the script based on the European Spanish version, and the live-action movies were dubbed in Argentina.
Sailor Moon is a curious case, according to Gloria Rocha, the show's ADR director, they used the Japanese master tapes but the scripts were based on Toei's international version which explains all the name changes. However, after episode 65 they began translating directly from the original and all new characters like Haruka and Michiru retain their Japanese names, there were also some voice changes, for example Tuxedo Mask went from being voiced by Genaro Vasquez (Spike in Cowboy Bebop) to Gerardo Reyero (Freezer in DBZ).

The writer is missing a lot of Anime in the 80s shown in Puerto Rico, stuff after Mazinger Z... Like Capitán Raimar Pirata del Espacio (Captain Harlock) , Nave Espacial (Yamato SSN 1), El Justiciero (Groiser X) , El Festival de los Robots (Gaiking, Jeeg, Starzinger and Gakeen) , Guerra entre Planetas, Fuerza G(Gatchaman) , Super Agente Cobra, Candy Candy, Remi, Captain Future, Don Quixote on Tales of LA Mancha, Future Boy Conan, Kamui: El Ninja Desertor?