Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Story time, part the second

So, kiddies, time for more stories.

This post will be Sharon's Tale of Anime, in case you care.

When, that week or so ago, I was reading the random forum thread about anime, I realized that I am an extremely late bloomer, anime-wise. I got the feeling, however, that most of the posters on that forum are more my brother's age than mine, so what was ok for a 6 year old to watch wasn't so for the 12 year old. I've never been into Pokemon (or the other "mons"), and I don't really remember many anime crossing the Pacific when I was younger. I wonder if Rainbow Brite could be considered anime-ish? They do have the big eyes and giant foreheads and bangs of 80s anime...
About the time I started college was about the time I first noticed Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, but I didn't really start watching it then. No, no. If you ever get tired of me trying to force you to watch anime, you can blame Ernest. If I remember correctly, the first anime we started watching (we being me, Jenny, and Ernest) was Record of Lodoss War, which E had on VHS. He didn't force it on un until late in the year, so we didn't even finish it that year. We may have begun Escaflowne in Japanese that year, and watched the first two tapes or so of Fushigi Yuugi, but I can't remember that too well. It all gets blurred in my memory (which has never been that good).
I know we didn't finish Lodoss War until sophomore year, because I distinctly remember watching it in KP's basement, and I remember that was the year we finished Escaflowne, watching part of it in the 3rd floor or Donner Annex with Amanda. I even remember we borrowed part of it from her then-fiancee John, I guess E had left his at home. But it wasn't a very good sub, John's copy, so we watched a bit of it in English, and it was kinda scary. I think now I'd be a little more ok with it, but maybe not. Maybe the entire time I'd be sitting there saying "hey, it's Miroku and Sango!" I know that year we watched Metropolis (on my computer right before the end of the year, because my brother was there), as well as part of Outlaw Star and all of El Hazard, all on my computer, since no one else had a DVD player. I know that was the year I also saw all of Trigun in about a 24 hour period. Basically, Jenny and Amanda wanted to see what E's house was like, what his family was like, over spring break but neither of them wanted to be the only ones going, so I went too (since Valpo is close to my grandmother's, I used it as an excuse to visit her, too). While we were there, we watched all ofit, before I went to my grandma's, which is saying a lot, since we got there Friday afternoon, and Saturday evening I went to my grandma's for the night, before we headed back to campus. That was fun, though. By this time, I was also watching a bit of Adult Swim, but that was pretty much while I was at home (where my dad had me start buying Tenchi DVDs). Dunno why.
Let's see...junior year I actually joined the anime club, so I got to see more of Cowboy Bebop (on AS also), got to see Nadesico, Hellsing, the first couple of discs of Excel Saga, Trigun again, Perfect Blue, My Neighbor Totoro, the very beginning of Now and Then, Here and There (which I decided not to watch the rest of) and the first half of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Also, that year we watched Video Girl Ai on my computer.
Senior year, I saw His and Her Circumstances, Abenobashi, Ah! My Goddess, most of .Hack//Sign, the rest of Eva, and Clerks the Animated Series (I know, it's not anime, bite me) all thanks to anime club. I saw most of Witch Hunter Robin, and saw more Inuyasha (I had already begun buying it at that point) on AS, watched Read or Die, saw the beginning of Ruin Hunters (I think that's the title) thanks to Gribble, and saw the first full season of Fushigi Yuugi.
When I got out of college, I began to crave anime. I gave in and started buying Kare Kano the manga, and then I bought the anime. Then I began to abuse my library. I realized the EVPL had begun to buy anime and manga, so I began to rent it. Because of that, I have seen all of Card Captor Sakura (in Japanese), up to disc 5 of Kodocha, the Rayearth OVA, the first 3 discs of Love Hina and the Spring Special, and finally got to actually watch Princess Mononoke without being on the phone. Because of AS I have seen most of S-CRY-ED, Samurai Champloo, and Full Metal Alchemist. I found Vandread and Chrono Crusade on extended extended cable, and have begun to watch fansubs on the internet (like Mai HiME, or the beginning of Bleach or Fruits Basket).
Every day, I become more addicted. It's very sad. Do you think there's a methadone for anime??

Ok, that was, well, basically a list. Who knows, I pull this rant later cuz it's boring. Oh well, til later!

2 comments:

rabidmonkey said...

i think voltron is more anime than rainbow brite is. i think that's about as close as you could get here when we were little. i also remember when it was commonly refered to in america as japanimation instead of anime.

A-muse-ing said...

lol What about Transformers?? hehehe And don't forget The Last Unicorn--actually done by Japanese artists! I remember when we discovered that in college. :)

I think I actually watched El Hazard and part of Outlaw Star in E's room, on his computer, during Spring Term of sophomore year. That was the year he lived in Wiley, and I remember escaping Kat by going to E's room, because all of you other people were already asleep or just not there. Then we showed El Hazard to everyone else. :)

Yes, E can be blamed for the anime addiction of you, me, and Ellie. I think we also got Wendy and Kayla started on anime, via Escaflowne. We tried to hook Julie, but, alas, she never saw the appeal.

The same goes for RPGing, really, except I had already played before--at AHS and at the Academy--so that might have been a joint getting-everyone-else-addicted effort between E and I. ;P :)

Peace.