Otaku no Blossay: My Decision to Watch Anime

 

My Decision to Watch Anime

Anime interested me, but I never really got around to watching it. It was always in my periphery. I have friends who watch it. People who like the same things I like seem to like it. And I’m a fan of some video games from Japan, which have anime-like character designs. But I never got into anime myself. I felt it would be too much work. I have trouble keeping up with all the entertainment content in the world today. The summer before last I finally got around to watching Parks and Recreation, a show my friends have been talking about since like 2015. Star Wars keeps pumping out new shows like someone’s life depends on it. A couple years ago I watched my first Marvel movie, so now I follow that fandom too. It feels like a chore, and every time I meet up with friends or go online, it seems everybody else has seen a ton of other movies and shows I haven’t seen yet. The last thing I needed was a vast addition to my mental list of things I want to watch, and so I held off on anime. Taking a course on anime gave me the excuse I needed to tackle it. 

Gravity Falls remains my all-time favorite animated series. It takes place in a Pacific Northwest town prone to supernatural occurrences. Its references to anime were one of the first things that clued me in to the genre. (Image via typewritermonkeytaskforce.com)

Perhaps I didn’t feel obligated to get into anime because it exists outside of the mainstream. No one would respond with shock if I told them I haven’t seen My Hero Academia, at least not in the way they’d be shocked if I told them I haven’t seen a single James Bond film. Now, I’ve seen a little anime before taking this class. Of course, I watched Pokémon. I’ve heard people say Pokémon “doesn’t count” as anime, presumably because it’s so mainstream. The conversation goes like that annoying joke: “Is there a hole in your sock?” “No.” “Then how do you put it on?” Same thing: “Have you ever watched anime?” “No.” “You never watched Pokémon?” For some reason, Pokémon doesn’t feel like it counts. I think that’s because it’s become so entrenched in American culture. When we traded Pokémon cards as kids, pored over the thick game manuals, and battled each other, we didn’t really consider ourselves to have engaged with Japan or an anime culture. Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum were inspired by the Hokkaido region and the Shinto religion, but my friends and I didn't really know about it. When people say Pokémon “doesn’t count”, they’re not necessarily being elitist. Becoming “a person who watches anime” or an otaku, must involve some engagement with Japanese or anime fan culture.

The Mitsukoshi Department Store in Walt Disney World’s Epcot was one of my first encounters with the world of anime. They sell T-shirts, mecha toys, Ghibli merch, and many other things from franchises not even owned by Disney. I still have some of the Pokémon cards I got here when I was 10. ( Image via mitsukoshi-orlando.com)

Some time in high school I became aware of the idea of anime. The fact that nerds and geeks liked it made it more appealing if anything. I remember someone back in high school explaining the plot of Assassination Classroom to our teacher: “Yeah, it’s about this yellow, smiley-faced octopus guy who’s a middle school teacher, and his students have to figure out how to kill him.” Our teacher seemed mostly just confused, but the bizarre plot kind of interested me. Sure, my friends and I joked about “weebs”, but often in that hyper-ironic postmodern way, where it made fun of the mean people who ridicule anime and its fans. I never knew anybody who considered themselves an otaku. I admit I initially associated the term with the stereotype of the fan who gets a little too obsessed. Even now, I don’t consider myself an otaku, at least not when it comes to anime (My rather large Lego collection is another story). Outside of the stereotypes and memes, anime and the real people who watched it seemed pretty cool.

Assassination Classroom, an anime I heard about from a friend in high school but never got around to watching. Korosensei is slightly more bizarre than the teachers I had in middle school. (Image via jamietalksanime.wordpress.com)

Although people I knew got me interested me in anime, some of its formal aspects interested me too. I liked that it had detailed human characters. I don’t like how some American cartoons over-stylize the characters (Teen Titans Go will forever disappoint me). Anime certainly has stylistic characteristics, like the big eyes and the spiky, multicolored hair, but those traits come with detailed characters with human proportions. In fact, I’d say characteristics like sparkly eyes or the animated facial expressions are more realistic; they don’t mimic real people’s visual appearances, but they represent what people feel like. When characters with human emotions engage in fantastical events like mecha battles, the battle becomes grounded, and engaging. On the other hand, I don’t feel much from cartoonish blob characters engaging in unrealistic situations, because the stylization prevents me from identifying with them. Recently, I’ve been interested in things like the Marvel Cinematic Universe because the human characters and modern-day setting grounds the sci-fi and fantasy elements. Most sci-fi and fantasy stories stick to clichéd genre boundaries. Others have mentioned that anime appeals to people because it doesn’t have the baggage of American animation conventions. I remember being in awe watching Naruto as a young child, and seeing the maroon animated blood. I had never seen a cartoon be so serious, so dark. I look forward to watching more anime and seeing the different potentials it provides.