Lately, I’ve had to reeaxamine my blogging priorities a bit. There’s a lot of potential projects I’m looking into and a ton of posts I can’t seem to find the time to sit down and write. Work has been super busy lately and by the time I get home I’m completely beat. This said Ty-chama’s project is worth the effort.
In an effort to bring the community together a bit more Ty proposes a simple yet really lovely exercise. Just share with everyone why you still love anime. I really like this idea. Sharing love is always a good thing and taking the time to think on why you enjoy something makes you appreciate it more. It’s a win win win! Great idea Ty!
So here are the rules for the tag:
- Write a post about why you love anime. It could be your favourite thing about it or one of your favourite things about it, it doesn’t matter which, but just pick one!
- You can get as personal or as impersonal as you like. You might want to write about how anime helped you through a tough time or something that it has taught you or you might want to write about just how much fun you’ve had watching it over the years. Your choice
- Nominate three bloggers to do the same
- Link back to (the original) post. Ty would love to see what you’ve written and may compile a list of favourite entries further down the line
I’m just going to do what I always do…I’m going to make this all about me!
I’ve hinted a bit at my past here and there. Essentially I moved around a whole lot in my childhood. As such, I was always the weird kid, with the weird accent and occasionally the weird skin colour. A perpetual outsider. Having little to know family and knowing next to nothing about my “roots”, I spend a lot of time searching for a place to belong. Before we go to far into poor little me territory, I’m not saying my childhood was particularly bad, it went a long way into forming me into a fairly confident and ridiculously happy adult, but it was occasionally isolated.
When I first discovered anime I was very very young. It was Rose of Versailles. This was a revelation for me. For one the hero was a self assured and very competent women that I could look up to and aspire to become. It’s not that special nowadays but I hadn’t been exposed to so many heroins in my day and I was captivated. Second, I was way too young to understand half of what was happening but there was naughty things going on, and violence, and talking in serious voices. It all seemed very grown up and mature, yet it had all the pretty colours and pictures to keep me interested. I could play “adult” without getting completely bored. It felt special and just for me.
As I grew up and moved around, anime wasn’t always available but when it was, I found it. I soon discovered that not that many other kids shared my interest. And so anime was a bit like me. A little odd, not that popular. It used weird sentence structure. There was a disparate mix of elements. Occasionally disturbingly violent, or blantanly sexual, it played with taboos. It felt edgy yet nerdy at the same time. It felt like home, no matter where I was.
Eventually I would find the big boys of the 90s, Eva, GitS and Bebop. The little SciFi nerd in me lashed on to those less pleasant themes that Star wars and Star Trek were never going to openly explore. The grit of those series brought a dimension to the genre that I hadn’t found elsewhere. The Battle Angel Alita manga and later Serial Experiments Lain also developed on some of those themes. I was glad I still had a place. A place where a show for children dealt with uncompromising honesty with questions of existential trauma and responsibility. Where the nature of sentience was debated and left unanswered for the audience to seek out their own truths. Anime wasn’t talking down to me, but it still gave me the pretty pictures I liked so much.
Life happens, school and careers take up your precious time. Anime was always there but a little muted. I fell out of touch with what was coming out. I was never really a part of the community, but the few connections I did have fell away. And then, for no reason, I decided to watch some weird looking show with a silly Engrish title. It had a Sci Fi feel to it and maybe it would be good for a few laughs. It was on Netflix so easy access and all. That’s how I saw Psycho Pass for the first time.
So I kept going. I saw Soul Eater. Started looking up new shows. In got Crunchyroll and randomly went through their libraries. I discovered Visual Novels and played Steins;Gate then obsessed over Steins;Gate. It was great. I remembered that kid who had escaped endless studying through episodes of Berserk. I was recapturing a little part of me and it felt invigorating. I started a blog so I could share it with others!
Then, I stumbled across a little show about a quiet boy and his protector…mentor…friend yokai cat. Just like that, it wasn’t about memories or recapturing the past. I had a new home. Warm, comfortable and full of friends. I still love anime because it can still make me smile at the end of a long day. Because it will still challenge me to open my mind to new ideas. Because I am still making friends from all around the world thanks to it. Because, as a grown up, I can still audibly gasp in crowded bookstores at the sight of my (soon to be new) favourite manga. Because no matter where I go and who I become, it’s still my home. And you are all welcome to drop by anytime!
Now then, your turn to tell us. I’m not sure who’s been tagged. I actually would love to hear all your stories! Let me start with asking my supremely patient collab partners this season:
- Matt from Anime Q and A
- Crow from Crow’s World of Anime
- Lethargic Ramblings because I have a feeling we’re going to get a great post out of this
- And Takuto – I know it was suppose to be 3 but if we can convince Takuto to do this we all get a Takuto post…Win for everyone!
I’ll stop before I just start nominating everyone. Thank you all for reading. I do hope you all still love anime as well!
What a beautiful post! I hadn’t thought of anime as a home before, but it’s safe, reassuring, helps me to unwind… It’s a constant… So I can totally see how you can think that!
Thank-you so much for taking part in my little challenge!
It was a lovely tag and I loved writing it. Great idea Ty!
The rules seem a little complicated, so I’ll duck out of the main run. But as to why I like anime, well, it offers similar escapism to a good book (not surprising, with all that source material out there!) but without all the hard work. . .and I just love the fluid beauty of animation itself.
me too. I always prefer drawings to photographs
“exposed to so many heroins in my day and I was captivated”
“ridiculously happy adult”
…
Fun with typos!
First of all thank you very much for the tag! I’m definitely going to write my own version of this now as I feel that my vocabulary has been rather negative lately given the topics I’ve chosen to cover on my blog over the past few weeks! This is just what I need!
Secondly, it was interesting to hear your story and why you love this medium so much. It’s a very different origin story to my own and I’m glad that you’ve found a home in Anime and it’s community, much like myself and I imagine many others here.
Finally, I’m sorry that things are so busy recently, I hope things aren’t too stressful. Take care of yourself and make sure to take plenty of time to chill out and relax!
Busy isn’t bad, better than the alternative! I really look forward to your post – I have a feeling it’s going to be a great one
I love anime….. but I’m not IN love with anime…
It is a medium just fringe enough that it’s still like being a part of a secret society when you identify a fellow compatriot.
I think I might be… I get excited when I discover a new show I really enjoy. I look forward to spending time with anime at the end of a long day. I would miss it if it wasn’t around….
My story of how I got into anime is less personal. Couldn’t play Persona 4 so I saw the anime. Also wanted something else to write about on a movie site blog section so I said why not anime. Friend recommended me Death Note, got hook, and still watching it. Best thing to come out of it is easily the people I met online. Anime brought us together, and we’re still sticking with each other. Plus, Discord with anime fans been rather fun so far when not getting into arguments that is hahahaha
As for the Oscar fanart, I think this is the original artist. They do a lot of Fate fan art from what I saw.
https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=39746888
THANK YOU!!! was looking for that artist! You rock!
First, I love your choice of intro GIF! That scene really captures the spirit of your post.
Second, thanks for the tag!
Third, the light touch you show in your writing continues to amaze me. It takes a lot of work to appear effortless — don’t think that it’s going unnoticed!
You are going to go to my head…I would have tagged you without the compliments you know!
It’s pretty interesting to learn about how the older, veteran anime fans got into anime. Newer fans like me usually get in through stuff like Naruto.
^That was me didnt sign into my account lol
You sure know how to talk to a lady….
That’s quite an Anime journey you got there. So very different from mine, but yet so relatable in a lot of ways. I think that isolation is apart of a lot of our anime origin stories and I’m glad that a community like this was built so we could all meet.
That giant robot picture by John Chiu is awesome, and I say this as someone who’s not into giant robots. Where do you find this stuff?!
That was a great post. It’s interesting to read about watching anime that felt for grownups. All I got as a child was what they broadcast in the children’s programming in the afternoon. (And I was in my twenties when they broadcast Rose of Versailles on TV – they were decades late – in the nineties.) I can relate; but not with anime in that case, but live action.
These days, the most important thing anime does for me is help me relax before and after work. But on the whole it’s hard to say why you love anime when you’ve grown up with it. I mean I’ve been watching Japanese cartoons around 15 to 20 years before they even started to use the term “anime”.
I know what you mean.. It’s kind of hard to define why you love anything really. A lot of it is just “cause I love it…”
Great post. It’s funny how easily you can get back into anime no matter how long you are away. Sure, there’s going to be some catching up, but that’s half the fun. I moved around in my twenties and missed a sizable chunk. I can totally relate about the awesome pictures and adult content not speaking down to you when you’re younger. I started with Akira, Fist of the Northstar, Project A-ko, and Ghost in the Shell. As a young teen, these shows blew my mind.
Oh yeah Akira was quite something.
Wow, you start into an anime is really great. Regardless this is a funny yet great written, you grew up mostly in sci-fi anime. Just for me, I just didn’t know if I’m the most perverted guy who prefers in the ecchi genre because is the one of the most that interested me in anime besides video game genre. What a shame for me. 😅
Yet, anime is something that keeps us, connect us, and became one of the important things in life. I mean, no exaggerated by the way. 😊
Crack that is such a sweet comment. Thank you
You’re welcome 🙂
First off: sorry to hear that things are so busy right now for you 😢 Do take time for yourself as well, when you can find it. I can speak bravely, but I honestly forget that myself as well at times. I have been at work now for just three days, and I’m already exhausted again. So…hope you will get to some relaxing times soon.
Secondly: Leave it to you to write another completely hearwarming and heartbreaking post. I really loved reading it. Just remember though: You do really belong here! I think it goes without saying, that everyone in this community is very happy you are here, and it would not be the same without you. So yes: you are home! 😊😊
Aww Raist – you just made it better as always
I love the magic of anime that makes it feel like home.
and it gets particularly great when you can have friends over!
*runs over with a bottle of alcohol
This is… Beautiful written! Great job! It’s funny isn’t it, how Anime ends up to be such a huge companion to all of us! Maybe I’m biased, but I never sensed that with non-animated series… I can, for sure, tell that I got way more attachment towards to way more Anime characters than I did with series or movies. Don’t ask me why, but it’s the true 😛
Same – it’s probably not the healthiest thing but it’s fun!
Healthy is overrated anyways
I feel like manga and anime has genuinely made me a better person. I feel like I would have lost the will to do a lot of things and fallen into hopelessness without these stories.
Like, as much as I love my friends and family, anime and manga is something that I find just as special as those things. It pushed me to pursue so many hobbies and projects, all of which distracted me for my anxiety.
That’s so great
Aww, this was a lovely read! So great to hear how much of an important part of your life anime has been! It’s a great idea for a post, so thanks for tagging me in it–just don’t expect anything as deep and personal from me lol
I’m sure it’ll be hilarious and entertaining as always