Otaku no Blossay

     I didn’t watch that much anime as a kid but when I did it was Pokémon with my brothers.  As I got older, I watched some Miyazaki films but strayed away from other mainstream anime such as Naruto and Dragon Ball Z.  I knew people who loved these anime but to my middle-school-self it seemed that you either had to be obsessed with it, otaku- or cosplay-style or avoid it entirely.

     When I was in high school, I told myself and others that I “hated anime”.  In retrospect, this is a ridiculous thing to say as of course I couldn't have been familiar with an entire genre and shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss it.  That being said though, I know now and probably knew then too what it was I despised about anime so much; or at least about the kinds of anime I’d seen or heard of.  My hatred was aimed at the treatment and portrayal of women in anime.  Of course this is not only found in anime, but I feel that the animation medium allows for even more exaggeration of stereotypes and expectations of women.  Examples of this of course are how female characters are dressed, how their bodies are drawn and how they move about and pose, how female characters behave and speak, their relationships to male characters, their role or importance in plot and so on.

     In my experience, it is common for Americans who are not familiar with anime to have a similar negative reaction to it.  They will often associate all of anime with Hentai for example which is an amplified version of these portrayals of women that I can’t stand.  They will do what I did in high school and lump all anime together with the sexualization of women and the perverted anti-human contact aspect of the otaku stereotype.

     While some anime are definitely much better and more tolerable in this regard than others, this treatment of women is still prevalent in many outlets of Japanese culture and I’d say most first-world countries.

     Eventually I figured I was being too harsh on the genre and for the time being could just avoid watching anime who so blatantly participate in these sorts of plot devices and character portrayals.  After all, I already loved Miyazaki films and loved the drawing styles used in many anime.  I took Japanese film last year and developed an appreciation for not only live-action Japanese film styles but also anime films.  I was blown away by Akira and Millennium Actress (even though both have elements of sexism, like I said the majority of media does). 

     I decided to push myself further and take the anime course especially after having enjoyed the Japanese film course so much.  I discovered how much I enjoy watching different kinds of anime.  The early anime is particularly interesting to me.  The anime shorts we watched in the first week or so were really cool!  It’s interesting to watch the development in animation styles as the appreciation for the medium/art form increase; like the paper cut-outs to the more cartoon-like drawings.  I also found it really interesting to note the Western influences on anime.

     Before taking this class, I don’t think I’d watched a full episode of a Japanese anime except for Pokémon.  I’d seen snippets of Naruto and Dragon Ball Z.  I always used to think I wouldn't enjoy those shows.  However at the beginning of the semester I watched all of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) for our first blossay assignment and loved it.  Aside from some episodes in the middle that dragged on melodramatically, I thought it was a really good anime. From that point on I was more open –minded towards anime of all sorts.  When we watched Naruto and Dragon Ball I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them and how engaging they were.  Both have creative plots and character backstories. I think I would enjoy watching Dragon Ball (as opposed to Dragon Ball Z etc.) and the earlier episodes of Naruto before it exploded into the franchise it is today.

I enjoy the first concepts of the mecha genre but I’m still not a huge fan of the mecha films and animes we've watched.  It seems like there are tons upon tons of similar mecha stories and I’d enjoy maybe a handful of the best out of that bunch.  Otherwise it seems overdone to me.  For example I thought Evangelion had a unique and compelling story along with beautiful animation and music.

     Something else that I've found that I love is anime-style English shows.  One example of this from my childhood I've been re-watching lately is Avatar: The Last Airbender.  While this show is in English, the drawings look just like some typical manga/anime-style drawings.  It also has incorporates a lot of Chinese and Japanese culture into its plot and background.  Another show that comes to mind is The Boondocks.  While this show focuses on the black community and is primarily satire, it too is drawn in manga-style with awesome fight scenes that are reminiscent of modern anime.  I would highly recommend everyone to watch both of these shows.

     Though I developed a new liking for anime, I doubt that I will watch it often.  I will pursue my goal of watching all of Miyazaki’s films and might watch an episode of something here and there.  If I’m going to watch TV of any kind, I like it to have deeper meanings underneath silly or exciting plot lines.  For example, I love shows/animations meant for kids while simultaneously meant for adults.  I appreciate when anime that is geared towards younger age groups does not sugar-coat the truth and addresses real-life issues.  I see anime and cartoons of many kinds as very powerful tools that can be used to guide and teach younger minds.  Anime can reach them much easier than other mediums.  Anime as an art form is beautiful and vast and how it’s used towards its demographics would be a fascinating thing to look into.

     As someone who previously had little involvement with anime in her life, I’m glad I've developed an appreciation for and eagerness to learn more about anime (even if that doesn't mean I’ll watch tons of it, especially most mainstream stuff).  If a friend suggests a really good, moving or relevant anime for me to watch, I’d definitely be inclined to do so.  But for now I’ll keep an open mind in my non-otaku life and enjoy most of what we watch in class anyway.