Once Popular Anime and "The Churn"

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the once massively popular anime of American fandom -- Ranma 1/2, Fushigi Yugi, You're Under Arrest, Kare Kano, to name a few -- and the reasons why they seem to have so rapidly fallen from awareness. In the news, the vestigial New York Anime Festival, like the appendix, lives on, Kids on the Slope is pretty fine so far, Media Blasters' woes illuminate the sad drama of the American anime industry (see posts by "blaster"), and you can wake up with Yoko Kanno (box optional).