What is Anime? Dictionary dot com tells us better than I could word it:
Anime [an-uh-mey] is a Japanese style of motion-picture animation, characterized by highly stylized, colorful art, futuristic settings, violence, and sexuality.
People often see just “Cartoons”. Dictionary dot com also has an answer for this.
Cartoon [kahr-toon] is a motion picture consisting of a sequence of drawings, each so slightly different that when filmed and run through a projector the figures seem to move.
Yes, by that definition, Anime is a form of cartoons. I like to think they are more.
- Anime is often not appropriate for children; I am not referring to the Hentai which is an entirely different genera than Anime and is definitely not appropriate for children let alone most adults.
- Even if the subject matter is age appropriate, children will not fully grasp the concept of the story or the depth of the character development.
- Anime is awarded for excellence. Any one see the Academy Award winning movie by Hayao Miyazaki “Spirited Away”? (That’s right, an Oscar for Anime.)
Every avid Anime fan has a gateway series. The series that showed us the way and helped us discover just how cool Japanese Animation really can be. (Mine was Trigun, unless you consider Digimon from my childhood on Saturday mornings.) I love listening to the stories of the pre-internet era fans. About boot leg copies on beta max and VHS sold under the counter at comic book stores straight from Japan. If you didn’t speak Japanese, often you were watching for the pure joy of Anime rather than understanding the story itself. Like today though, there were enough Japanese fans in America to help the rest of us along. From subbing in English to just simply narrating as the story progressed, the 80’s and even part of the 90’s were a very different time than today. Anime clubs were celebrated like a super bowl viewing parties are today, except they were more under ground. Underground, because even back then, Anime was frowned upon. Grown men and few women watching animated “cartoons” from a different country? Tsk Tsk.
I have to admit that I have tried watching some of these celebrated Anime from the past; “Tried” being the operative word. I guess I am just a quality snob. As our technology progressed, so did the quality of the Anime itself. If you are not an Anime fan, you can see the quality difference in films. A great example of this is Tron vs. Tron: Legacy. WOW is right. I also feel like Anime trends within the time frame it is created. Clothes, hair styles, slang…the 80’s were a very funny time to be alive. If you read forums or listen to pod casts on Anime, Akira is always mentioned as one of the most celebrated Anime of the 80’s. Some even say it’s a landmark in the history of Anime. The line you draw in the sand that says “I’m here to stay buddy.” This film even has a cult following. I have watched it, twice. Maybe I can not get past the quality or maybe the story just doesn’t peak my personal interest. Anime, like comic books are appreciated more by men. Akira is definitely geared towards this audience. This is one of those times that I can not say it better than the internet, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(film), to be exact.
The film is set in a futuristic and post-war city, Neo-Tokyo, in 2019. The film's plot focuses on Shotaro Kaneda, a biker gang member, as he tries to stop Tetsuo Shima from releasing Akira.
What is Akira? Watch the film and find out. You may be surprised.
I am inspired this morning! If you have read my past blogs, you know that inspiration to me means stimulating emotion. No matter how many times I watch my favorite Anime, I still get a rush of emotion when I see the good guy winning; when I hear the awe-inspiring dialogue; but most of all, I feel their pain when things don’t go as planned. Every time I see this series, I find my self either crying or squeaking in delight. Even the music stimulates emotion. Tengen Topp a Gurren Lagann, the best thing since sliced bread. It literally translates to: Heaven Piercing Gurren Lagann. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurren_Lagann. Even if you never find your self interested in Anime, at least sit down and watch the first episode. I was up late on a Monday night 3 1/2 years ago flipping through cable, trying to sleep when I came across the Sci-fy network, my favorite channel. At 11 every Monday night, I discovered a program called Ani-Mondays, where they showed Anime dubbed in English for the American audience. I caught most of the first episode of Gurren Lagann. One of the characters overused the word “bro” and I was a little taken back by the type of dialogue. Using phrases like “Don’t believe in your self, believe in me. Believe in the Kamina that believes in you.” Silly right? Luckily, Sci-fy aired episode two as well. I continued to watch because I wasn’t sure what I had just witnessed. I remember thinking, “What the heck was that?” I just couldn’t turn it off though.
The series starts out with an odd young man digging tunnels with a handheld drill for his underground village. We don’t know why all humans appear to be primitive and living under ground but we soon find out as the series progresses. The digging boy, Simon, discovers a tiny drill and we are then introduced to his best friend and like-a-brother mentor, Kamina, the village delinquent. Kamina seems to think there is a surface to their underground village and is always trying to find a way to get there. He comes up with a plan and of course, he fails. While Kamina is distracted, sitting in a make-shift jail cell, Simon continues to dig. He finds a giant metal face which appears to be connected to the tiny drill he found at the start of the episode. After digging his way to Kamina to share his find, the story jumps into action as a giant metal monster falls through the ceiling and starts attacking the village. Here we meet, Yoko, a female bad-ass with an electric riffle who follows the monster down into the underground village to defend the people. Yoko, Simon and Kamina all meet at this climatic moment and Simon leads them to his discovery, the giant face in the dirt. Here, Yoko explains that the face looks like a gun man, like the monster they currently trying to defect. Simon shows us that he can jump into what looks like a cock-pit of the face and the tiny drill he found starts to glow. Before we know it, Simon is controlling the mecha and they are able to defeat the bigger gun man. With Kamina and Yoko aboard, Simon burst through the ceiling into the outside unknown world and this is how the first episode ends.
Weird, right? This is a 27 episode series. The first 15 episodes follow along with the whole humans are primitive arch. Then all of a sudden, following a very climatic could-be-ending, the story continues on to a “7 years later” new story arch. Simon is fully grown and humans now live in cities that represent present day Tokyo, even having cell phones, lol! The story’s not over and frankly, it’s even better than the first half. You take away so many wise lessons from this series, like never give up and always do what’s right versus what’s easy. You can also relate so well with at least one character from this series. Although, I consider this to be a feel good Anime, it does not lack in failures. This is definitely a story you could actually see unfolding in real life, if the circumstances were right. (Hopefully we do not ever find our selves living under ground.)
You can actually watch the entire series on Hulu right now! Take a look and let me know what you think.
My description of the first episode was pretty spot on, so please watch episode two as well. Then you will at least be a little surprised. If you don’t like the human’s are primitive arch, I am pretty sure you can watch from episode 17, where the “7 years later” arch begins. Episode 16 is like a little book report of the first half of the series, which is helpful if you are skipping over the first half. I wouldn’t suggest skipping the first half though.
I will leave my readers with this: Have you been inspired by anything recently? If in the past, when’s last time you took another look at that inspiration? You might find that it still inspires you. Take a look, it’s in a book … lol… another great song to hum with a theme in mind.
