Forum - View topicDiscovering the awesomeness of anime.
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24564 |
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Maybe I'm having a mid-life crisis (I'll be 44 soon), I don't know. But since about midJanuary of this year, I've suddenly gone anime crazy. It's not that I hadn't been introduced to it before. About five years ago, a friend had shown me Princess 9 and NGE, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. A few years back I bought the Mezzo: DSA set which I also liked. I had a handful of anime movies, too. So why did I go from a very spotty dabbler to a fullblown addict? (Out of the 18 anime TV series I own, 17 have been purchased in the last two months.)
No friggin' idea. I guess part of it is that non-anime TV isn't really doing it for me these days and hasn't since Buffy went off the air (with the notable exception of the HBO gems like The Sopranos, Rome, and yes, even True Blood). I didn't discover Firefly until its lamented corpse was long buried. 24? Lost? Heroes? Wasn't able to stomach more than the first few episodes of their first seasons. Not even Summer Glau could save T:TSCC for me. Dollhouse? Saw the first eppie, not sure I'll bother with any more. So what's a story junkie to do? Start mainlining anime, I guess. I know you old-timers have seen it all: you know every annoying cliche like the back of your hand. But for me, it's all still shiny and new. I wonder how long it will take me to get jaded? Wow, sorry for this tl;dr post but it's just something I had to get off my chest. So where are you in your anime career? Dewy-eyed virgin like myself? Crusty, grumpy old-timer? Do you think you're a lifer or is it something you might get bored of after a while? [Edit: Changed topic title to match thread content. ~Cloe] |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Not sure it this will stay open or not (I'm inclined to say that it will be locked, because it's basically an intro post, but I have to say it's a very well written intro post so maybe not).
Anyway, for non-anime TV, you definitely should check out Battlestar Galactica if you haven't already, since it seems right up your alley and is IMO possibly the best television series ever made (certainly the best sci-fi that I've ever seen, even beating out Firefly). And Dollhouse has improved a lot since the pilot, which was easily the weakest episode. I actually have to admit I haven't found any new anime to really watch lately and am not currently watching any thing, since I just finished with the second season of Story of Saiunkoku (though I am watching my new Ouran Host Club DVDs and quite loving them...but I'd seen that show already). Basically, anime is just as fallible as North American television. Some stuff is great, some stuff just sucks. The one major advantage anime has, IMO, is that they are more likely to tell short, complete stories with 13-episode series and the like. Which is nice. But yes, check out BSG. Best thing ever  And my obsession with it is comparable to yours, since a few months ago I started watching it and now I own seasons 1, 3, and 4.0 on DVD and am going to watch the finale at one of the theatres in the Beaches (I see that you are also from TO, so you might know where that is  ).
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24564 |
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Oh man, I hope I haven't inadvertently broken another no-no. I didn't intend this an "intro" thread although it obviously has introductory details. I've seen the about the first eight episodes of BSG a few years ago and it didn't grab me. The BSG lovers REALLY, REALLY love it, but it left me a bit cold. I still own the first season and season 2.0 so I'll probably try it again - but right now I have a mountain of anime to get through!
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I think this topic has the potential to garner some interesting insights and opinions, so I'll keep it open. It's definitely not the typical intro thread, and he's not asking for suggestions or recommendations, so it's A-ok in my book.
Mileage varies from person to person, but you have several good years of pure enjoyment ahead of you for now, I think. I've been watching anime since I was a kid (I'm 24 now) and went through the typical "craze" period in my late high school/early college years. Although I complain an awful lot nowadays about how stale and cliche anime is as a whole (and how crazy the whole moe trend drives me), I still have the capacity for excitement when titles of particular interest to my taste come out. I went over-the-moon nuts for Kaiba last year, for example. And I was unapologetically enthusiastic about buying Gurren Lagann when it come out on DVD in the states, as well. So even my shriveled, jaded little heart still has a soft spot for anime every once in a while. That said, I love plenty of American TV, too. I'm sure never to miss an episode of The Office and Flight of the Conchords, and more dramatic series like Big Love, Dexter and Weeds are personal favorites as well. I'll watch anything that entertains me, regardless of genre, medium, or country of origin. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18590 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Cloe is right in that your experience with anime for the long-term will vary a lot; your personality type, factors in your private life, and other variables all play into that. There do seem to be certain qualities that promote very long-term interest, however:
1. Expand your anime interests across multiple genres. 2. Don't focus on what irritates you about anime; focus on what you do like about it. 3. Don't overdo it. The last one is both especially important and advice that is applicable well beyond anime. I've maintained a consistently high level of enthusiasm for anime for more than a decade now, and I attribute that heavily to not letting myself obsess over just anime. That may be my #1 interest, but I still follow certain sports, involve myself with RPGs, board games, and card games, and watch at least some regular TV programming and non-anime movies. People that I see that burn out on anime in just a few years usually focus on it too intensely and to the exclusion of other diversions. (I see this in RPGs, too.) You can't ever let yourself get too jaded, either. I've seen enough to regular roll my eyes at the same old gags and story gimmicks, but every so often a gem bursts forth and renews my faith in anime's ability to entertain beyond just a base level. In the last year or so titles like Spice and Wolf, Flag, Simoun, Moribito, and especially Toradora! have helped remind me that there's some wonderful stuff still coming out if you just look for it. As for regular American TV programming, I must second the recommendation for Battlestar Galactica; if there is a better sci fi series that's ever been made (Firefly and Babylon 5 included), I haven't seen it. |
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TheTheory
 Posts: 1029 Location: Central PA |
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I suppose I'm closer to "dewy-eyed" than not... I've only been more--obsessive--about anime for about a year. Although I have known about, and appreciated, the cultural medium since my mid-to-late teens. My trend in life is to obsess over something for a while, collect the heck out of it, then realize that thing's limitations. I'll then turn to something else. However, unlike some people who pull 180's (from "ooo, i love 'x'" to "ooo, that is the worst thing everz", I maintain appreciation for it. Example, I love music. I've had phases with just about every genre... finding the stuff that appeals to me and loving the heck out of it. Then I'll move on to something else... but I still appreciate the "by-passed" genres and keep them on my mp3 player and dial them up. I guess you could say I continue adding interests to the fold rather than completely give up on them. So doubtlessly my interest in anime will fade from being the foremost media interest in my life, but I'll still retain the appreciation. I'll still have phases when I immerse myself in it for a week or a month or whatever. I'll blow a paycheck on TRSI specials like the good ol' days. (Did this once with baseball cards... boy was that anti-climatic. Baseball cards just don't hold the same appeal anymore, even though I love the sport more than ever. Go Phillies!) It'll be lovely. |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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To address your question about why you've suddenly gotten so much into anime, it could be that you've just unlocked it's potential. I think every anime goes through the same steps of becoming a fan. 1. You see your first anime. 2. you start to recognize anime as a genera. 3. you watch anime lightly off and on for a little. 4. you discover a currant series that really gets you interested. 5. THE PATH TO YOUR DESTINY HAS BEEN ILLUMINATED BY (INSERT ANIME TITLE HERE). and you quickly become a full on addict. I'm not saying that this is the case for everyone, but it seems to be a common proses. I know that's what happened with me.
As for your "how long it will take me to get jaded?" question. I can't be sure. It's hard to say if someone's in it for the long run or not. I've seen allot of people who really started to get into anime and then just stopped. It seems to just be something that happens because of unforeseen forces. |
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GeekyBlackGirl
 Posts: 52 |
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Although I am not as "fresh" as you are (the OP), I am new to anime compared to many of those who have been in it for the past 10 - 15 years. I guess I have always liked anime seeing as I thought Sailor Moon was the greatest thing ever when it was being aired here but I had no idea that it was an anime at the time. I got introduced to Cowboy Bebop by a college roommate who loved it because she found Spike hot and since it was her television, I watched it.
I still didn't know the full scope of anime until the last two years and that it was more than just Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop, Pokemon, Trigun, and Ninja Scroll. So now I'm playing catch up and first going through the most popular (although I have watched some on my own without recommendation based on previews on some Japanese movie dvd). I hope that I don't become jaded because I really like anime and manga and there is so much out there. But there are periods where I take a bit of a break from it all and don't watch any anime for months. I don't watch much American TV but I love 30 Rock and watched 2 seasons in about a week. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24564 |
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Very good advice, Key, especially the point about spreading your interest across genres. That's one of the things that excites me about anime: there's just such a wide variety out there and I already know from my limited experience that my tastes are pretty eclectic.
I feel very lucky right now. I have that happy energy you get when you discover a new passion and I have the consciousness that there is this enormous backlog of great stuff waiting for me - not to mention what is being created now or will be in the future. (My wish list is already at 36 titles and I'm not even out of the "G" section yet!) I've got two more series coming to me from Amazon: Beck and Le Chevalier D'eon and I've promised myself those will be my last purchases until I finish the stuff I already have. Because, sadly, my enthusiasm may be unbounded, but my bank account sure ain't. Anyway, ANN is an amazing resource for a noob like me. Between the reviews in the Enyclopedia, the videos/trailers available as samplers and the comments about different series from posters, I think there is very little chance that something really special will ever escape my radar. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7361 |
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While I still think my most dewy-eyed moment will be the first time I saw Outlaw Star airing on Toonami's Midnight Run with 1 new episode a week on Saturdays at 1 am or something (since I was totally faithfully up that late every Saturday night during 8th grade or so) and those were great memories (especially since I almost never see anime on TV anymore), I think while I've become slightly more jaded, there are those series every so often that totally make me dewy-eyed once again, recent example include:
Princess Tutu-which is completely out of what I normally watch and I haven't found a magical girl type show since to make me go dewy-eyed over. I initially saw it in fansubs, but ADV released their first thickpack a few months afterwards so I asked my mom to get it for me for my birthday (which at this point is "here is money, go buy stuff that you like to save us both time and effort" which is also highly effective because I am psychotic and hate the sound of wrapping paper, especially on things that I already know what it is. I just have really good hearing). Still, at the very least, it told me not to judge a series by its title and not to dismiss something good because some things can break my genre expectations in genres that I don't normally care for. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann-which I was not expecting to be good because there was just do much hype around it, but as Yahtzee said in his "Alone in the Dark" review on Zero Punctuation, "sometimes even the masses can be totally totally right". I got the artbox from the Best Buy 50% off and will get the other two when I have the chance/time/money/summer job. Once again, I don't watch too many giant robot shows either, but like Princess Tutu, it's all about taking a cliche list, then flipping them on their head right in front of you. Pure joy ensues. Those are the two that most recently come to mind, so even if I think I am getting a little bit jaded on this, I can see that there is still plenty of stuff coming out of Japan that will make me gladly eat those words. My main problem is that video games used to be my main entertainment source and while they used to be #1 and anime #2, they've recently switched places because I think there are too many shooters and pet simulator games coming out that I just don't care about. So now I think I'm becoming jaded on videogames. I say this in massive irony of course because my avvy is from killer7, an action game with shooting elements mixed into it, even though I cannot stand most shooters, 1st or 3rd person (arcade shooters are fine). While my new PSP is getting some action and the DS and GBA still are, my Wii and 360 might as well be dead, so I guess I'm getting jaded on console gaming, considering that my PS2 and GC are still my top gaming consoles and I'm just cleaning up loose ends from last gen (including killer7) I've also only seen Firefly recently (about 2-3 months ago) and while I immediatly converted to the church of Firefly, I noticed that it was quite literally the first American TV show that I'd seen, so now I have some catching up to do there too (but now I get to be dewy-eyed on that!), this whole thing probably occurring because I will not watch random episode of thing I'm curious about (like Heroes) if it's in the middle of season 1 or 2 etc, since I will probably be lost. But I guess my point here is that while anime has bumped up to my #1 form of entertainment, I'm still always finding new things to enjoy and I'm still not burning out on it and refusing to watch anything made in America or deal with anything that isn't a videogame either. Me not knowing about American TV is probably my fault for living under a rock for so long, but this only means that there is plenty of great stuff to catch up on too. I haven't even gone to my first anime convention yet (that will change this July!), so that's another thing to be all excited and see everything new about. So even within anime, there's always new stuff, as long as I don't bite down all at once and more TTGLs and Princess Tutus come out, it should last me for a while yet. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2094 |
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Now those are two excellent choices (well, I've only seen Beck, but I've heard nothing but good things about LCD), so good call there. Anyway, I'll add to those who say Key nailed it, that's really the best advice you can be given. As for me personally, I started in about 2007, and am close to owning 100 DVDs (probably will reach it by the end of the month) by now. It's hard to imagine me growing sick of it within the foreseeable future, even though a lot of recent year's line-ups don't interest me, I find that the R1 companies generally license the series I am interested in, and there's plenty of older series I've yet to check out. Having many co-workers and personal friends who are into anime helps as well, because while discussing it online is fun, it doesn't compare to real life discussion IMHO. (I'm also a hardcore LOST fan, but will try to control myself from persuading you to give it a second chance. Seriously, episode 4's ending of S1 was probably one of the best things I've ever seen on TV IMHO But hey, you like Sopranos/Firefly, so that's good enough for me) Though since you didn't mention it, if you like comedy, check out Arrested Development (on DVD, since it has to be viewed in episode order for it to be truly funny) and The Office (either version, though the American one has a weak first season, but it's only 6 episodes long, so it doesn't take long to get to Season 2.)
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24564 |
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100 titles in 2 years? Not too shabby! You should create an anime list and make it available for public viewing. That's one of my favourite features around here. You should check out Tony K.'s list - not only is it pretty comprehensive, but he's got it neatly categorized too, with a bunch of Top 10 categories.
Love Arrested Development, 30 Rock, The Office (both versions), Extras, Family Guy and American Dad. Hmmm, guess maybe I like more non-anime TV than I first thought... |
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doctordoom85
Posts: 2094 |
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http://doctordoom85.dvdaf.com/owned/anime Great site to use to keep track of your collection and your "wish-list". Yeah, my interest in video games lowered about that time and I got a second job in '06, so it was good timing for me so I could afford so much anime. I've been meaning to watch 30 Rock, I've heard good things about it. |
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HMMcKamikaze
 Posts: 189 |
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I'm currently going through a "jaded" stage even though I've only been watching anime for around 3 years now. I can't really say what set it off, but I've been watching less and less as of late. The only show I'm still watching that's new is Major. I know it's not that good, but at least it's consistent. Otherwise, the only series I've seen in the last 3 or 4 months was Rahxephon, which I've seen many times now since it's my favorite. Everything else more or less just loses my interest. I know there are probably a lot of interesting series out there that I've neglected, but I don't feel like dedicating the amount of time that it takes to see a series through when in the same time I can watch half a dozen films.
As for advice on how to avoid such a thing: try to limit how much you watch so you don't get "overloaded" and stop appreciating anime. In addition, try to be open to other genres, but if you find something that you really like, stick with and look for shows that are similar. Do research beforehand when looking for shows, but don't be too selective because then it becomes too easy to pass of shows when they might actually have worth. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24564 |
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That's a cool site, doctordoom85, I may start using it at some point.
I'll tell you guys something else that has me jazzed. Right now my visual/audio set-up is pretty primitive. An old school 27" colour TV (420i, of course), standard DVD player (but at least it can hold 5 discs at a time) and two Bose shelf speakers. But I plan on getting a 58" Panasonic plasma TV, Blu-ray player and surround sound (nothing fancy, just your standard 5-speaker out of the box deal; I'm not really an audiophile). I'm holding off watching things like Blue Submarine No. 6, Appleseed Ex Machina, etc. until I have the new set-up. The only problem is I may never leave my apartment again... |
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