anime transcends barriers: gender, age, race, educational background. why it appeals to some of us could be as simple and as complicated as you want to be…
Last saturday, my sister, who dropped by to return a book, caught me knee-deep in piles of CDs, VCDs and DVDs. curious, she came over and asked what i was doing.
too caught up in my search, i mumbled distractedly about a misplaced DVD that i particularly wanted to watch that day. casting a glance at some of the titles, she said "Oh," which spoke volumes, and shook her head. "i see you still haven't outgrown your phase."
grinning, i replied, "darn right… ah-hah here it is, my precious Slayers disk (vol. 1, ssn 2)." without any further ado, i popped the offending disk to my player and turned back to her. "want a coke? this could take some time."
she sighed and shook her head, "can't stay long. honestly though, don't you ever get sick and tired of watching these things? you must have watched this series twice already."
it was my fourth viewing actually, but this time i was watching the japanese version (with english subtitles), which as far as i was concerned made a huge difference (because it featured my favorite seiyuu megumi hayashibara as the mercurial and cute sorceress Lina Inverse). not that i bothered to explain though. i doubt if she'd have appreciated my explanations anyway. to a non-anime fan, any explanation or justification would have sounded lame.
which brings me to this interesting question: what makes anime so appealing to some of us?
normally, this sort of behavior is indulged (and half-expected) among children and adolescents. as you move on to your late teens, it's still somewhat tolerated; in your 20s, the raised eyebrows and the head scratching begin ("what? you're still into anime? how do you find the time to watch 'em? boy, you must have spent a lot on these suckers!"). as you grow older, it gets worse… not that it has ever bothered me though.
frankly, i can't explain it myself. *grins sheepishly* i just know that i like them and i'm sure that 5 years from now, i'd still be watching japanese anime features. after that, who knows?
still, i believe that this inexplicable fascination can be traced to a few things:
1. anime connects to the child within us
2. it deals with universal themes
3. it offers a relatively simple and inexpensive way for us to indulge our "what-ifs" in colorful 2D and 3D formats
4. ready tie-ups with the video gaming community as well as manga and music industry
5. it's visually appealing!
6. it uhm… offers excellent opportunities for viewers to pick up some nifty nippongo phrases
7. and because its technology-friendly, it has become even more accessible and continues to find a ready supply of converts (thanks to dedicated fandoms, forums and bit torrent sites. PAHABOL: youtube syempre, this site has saved me a lot of dough)
this is all i can think of right now. i'm sure the list goes on for many anime fiends who have been in this roller coaster far longer than i have… (i'm open to suggestions in case you'd like to expand this list.)
it's easy to dismiss anime as a simplistic, escapist fare. in a way, i suppose it's true, but it's much more than that though. some features have surprising depth, complexity and impact — far more that the genre's detractors would allow. a few have even managed to achieve commercial and critical success internationally — here, hayao miyazaki's excellent body of work (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies, etc.) screams to the fore, a fact that has spurred Disney to cash in on this particular niche by producing, releasing and distributing an english version of some of his best works.
damn straight! im in my early twenties already and i still haven’t gone through half of my anime phase, not even by a quarter. anime has been with me ever since the first time that i could actually understand what im watching on tv. it has been an outlet to my wild imaginations and fantasies. dahil din sa anime kung bat ako natuto magdrowing. sobrang hirap i-outgrow ang anime para sakin. it has been part of my life, and i belive it will be one of those things that i could share with my kids in the future.
“ang kewl mo naman daddy!”
Posted by cockybastard at February 18, 2007, 2:51 ami love love anime!!! it entertains me, relaxes me, and made me and my siblings bond more than ever when we discuss our fave animes. plus, i get to make new friends with anime and learn a lot from their stories.
Posted by Cheska at February 18, 2007, 11:14 amthanks guys, anime fans are the best (syempre kasali ako dun e 
)
reishin: no problem about being chatty. in fact i appreciate it when people really go into details, coz it makes me feel connected with my fellow bloggers. there are a lot more anime gems out there waiting for us. good thing there’s youtube 
CB: i know somebody who started out just like you. he lives and breathes anime, and he’s an awesome illustrator too (technically, he’s a geek nyahaha). i think that anime has given us free rein to indulge our fantasies in a creative and relatively harmless way, and if you want to make a career out if, it’d be great. at least, pag nagkataon may kakilala na kaming mangaka. yay!!!
cheska: we’re on the same wavelength and i expect to read more about anime in your blog. you know, you should try watching Miyazaki’s anime movies. he’s the best really. even in anime-crazy japan, he is regarded with awe and respect.
to fellow anime fiends:
“ANIME is the glue that binds us all!”
I should start watching anime too. I’m running out of shows to watch. hehehe I’m into Heroes now and I get so frustrated sometimes waiting for the latest episodes…
Posted by alvin at February 19, 2007, 8:11 pmnaruto chic here
to alvin: maybe you should i have an officemate here who can’t stop raving about Heroes. if i have enough time, i’ll check it out one of these days
to chelsea: heheh another anime fan. one of these days we’re gonna rule the world!! for now, we’ll just concentrate on watching ‘em shows…
Posted by onyxx at February 20, 2007, 12:06 pmanime??? yay! my hubby is a big anime fan! Have you seen Grave of the Fireflies - The movie? I like it better than the anime version. It’s more real and more touching. I cried a lot watching it.
Posted by Daisy at February 21, 2007, 6:31 pmgreat! another anime fan heheh. i can’t watch Grave of the Fireflies again. the first time i saw it, i steeled myself because i knew what was coming. guess what, i bawled (well not much) just the same hahaha
Posted by onyxx at February 21, 2007, 8:32 pmI agree, Grave of the Fireflies could make even a real man cry. I’m an anime addict myself and so is my family including my mom. We’re “suki” to some of the anime shops here in the Metro. Enough for us to be given Bleach mugs.
Some people are shocked that my mom is an anime addict. Addict because she’s willing to shell out the funds just to collect the series and she really watches each and everything that we’ve bought. Case in point is One Piece and Prince of Tennis.
I’m glad na ndi na filler ep ang Naruto. for those who would like to dl the shuppuuden eps, it’s available on mininova.org
There are a lot of anime fans in our country who are in their 20s to late 30s. I think old guys like us (hehehe) can appreciate anime much better now than when we were kids. And besides we have money na to spend for this.. well actually i just download most of the eps hehe
Posted by shinji at May 3, 2007, 5:40 pmanother lost soul hopelessly adrift in the confines of blogosphere
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This post of yours reminded me of the Anime powerpoint presentation we had in 3rd year. I remember back then that we were mostly discussing anime back then and anime now. The only thing that could really relate to this post of yours was the fact that towards the end our source also took note that fans of anime come from whichever age group.
I swear I’m way younger than you but as far as I can tell you seem much more of an anime fanatic than me. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised afterall, you do have the resources and I’m still living under my parents’ roof thus limiting my consumption of anime paraphernalia.
I can compare you somewhat to my sister thought. She’s in college and not too long ago she brought home these anime DVDs. I swear the “Hikaru No Go” DVDs are still outside waiting for someone to watch them again. My siblings and I are into anime and so far it has also raised some of the eyebrows of people in the same age group as us. It’s no big deal really. But lately I’ve been feeling less into anime. I guess that’s because I got tired of the Naruto fillers. haha..
A quote and reaction to something from your post:
“It’s easy to dismiss anime as a simplistic, escapist fare. In a way, I suppose it’s true, but it’s more than that though. Some features have surprising depth, complexity and impact…”
I’m on the ‘maybe’ side. Some anime really do tend to have a simplistic and escapist fare for me (especially those anime that were particularly created for children). But there are also some exceptional ones that would really make you think, I’m referring to the Gundam Series… Gosh the script there was excellent, I barely understood what the characters were saying sometimes but it had much depth. Sometimes you can’t even tell whose really the victim and the oppressor.
Anyways, sorry for being so chatty. There goes my comment
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Posted by reishin at February 18, 2007, 1:20 am