The joy of Anime

I like anime. I've liked anime since my early days in the early 80's when I was watching Star Blazers and naming our cats after the characters. Back then, I didn't know it was from Japan. It was just a great cartoon show that was on early in the morning before school. Or was it the afternoon? Really, all I cared was that it was way cool. The mid-80's brought the joy of Robotech to my bright young eyes. That show had it all! Action, big robots (they are actually termed Mechs, but what did I care back then?), and a story that mattered from one episode to the next. The third season, also known as the third generation, presented me and the youth of the United States the best piece of science fiction based machinery: the Veritech Cyclone motorcycle. This mech has been in many a dream since I saw that season. It's just soo cool! I thought so then and I still think so today.

I have been hooked on anime since then, watching whatever I can that is broadcast on the US channels. There are exceptions to my rule like I don't care for the kids anime that they play now. Stuff like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Beyblade, and Kirby (my least liked kids anime ever, it's worse than Barney) I rather not watch. Kids anime movies I tend to like such as Castle In The Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service are all fun to watch. The animation is superb to watch which is a major reason why I tend to go for dubbed movies. Until I learn enough Japanese to keep me going through the story, I'll have to stick with the dubbs.

Besides the great animation of series, there's one other characteristic that keeps me coming back for more. This characteristic is the music. A vast majority of the series I have seen include J-Pop songs as their themes. Now, as some of you know already, I'm a pop whore. Meaning I'll listen to most whatever is on the radio. And like it. The J-pop songs are just Japanese pop songs and well, I whore for them too. Songs that are featured at the beginning of Evangelion, Escaflowne, Record of Lodoss War, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, and Cowboy Bebop are almost always can be found in my playlists. I keep on hearing more great J-pop tunes in every new anime series/movie I watch. In the past couple of days, I have sought out more j-pop music and tuned my mp3 player to the streaming bits of a couple of anime music stations which you can find on Shoutcast.com. Though I don't understand any of the lyrics, it's very entertaining nonetheless.

I tend to like the anime that has some sort of sci-fi flair to it, be it a setting in the future or having huge mechs running around. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been watching the Neon Genesis Evangelion series over the last month or so. That story is based in the near future and it has huge mechs running around. Vision of Escaflowne is/was another favorite of mine, if I don't try to think about the last several episodes of it. There are mechs, but the setting is kind of mediaeval times. Though actually it's an alternate reality filled with magic and technology.

Once again, there are exceptions to the rule of mechs in the future. Ranma 1/2 is a great comedy with the main character switching from male to female at the drop of some cold water on himself. Now, how can you not find that hilarious? Inuyasha, from the same person who did Ranma, is another anime series (I actually haven't seen in about a year!) that doesn't revolve around future technologies. Inuyasha is a half-human, half-dog demon wanting this one magical jewel which will allow him to be a full demon. The setting is mediaeval Japan. A lot of the same elements can be found in Inuyasha and Ranma, which only seems natural. A movie that comes to mind that is based on real events that occurred during World War II is Grave of the Fireflies. That was a really sad story and could really compete with traditional films for content. Sadly, anime is still considered a cartoon for many an American.

There's still tons and tons of anime I have never heard of. There's tons still only available in Japan. They seem to only trickle over here. There are several more series that I do know about which I would love to watch, but those series are long and each DVD costs a good chunk of change. So, along with watching the rest of Evangelion, it will be a while before I get to view the joy that is Anime.