Okay, I admit it, I’m mostly posting this for Japanator’s John Martone. See, in the first episode of Macross F (which I know I’ve been remiss in first-dating) we’re treated to a cute little jingle for a Chinese restaurant:

And then alafista offers up this Miku-ized remix…

But see, every time I hear this stuff, I’m transported back in time to Ranma 1/2’s Shampoo reciting her restaurant’s menu, a character song from one of the six trillion Ranma CDs that came out during the show’s peak. You can enjoy the iffy amv/slideshow as you choose.

From ComiPress comes this article from the Asahi Shimbun, which places much the blame credit on the shoulders of VIZ head honcho Seiji Horibuchi.

Okay, they’re probably right to some extent– they brought over a fair few of the titles that got people into manga, like Ranma 1/2. But honestly? I’d credit the anime and manga explosion largely to the Internet. Still, a neat article– Horibuchi has some interesting history. Homeboy was a hermit with his buddies for a year and a half? Groovy.