So this week I want to post on a subject that's very close to my heart. This week I'd like to talk about anime. As you're on the internet you probably have a vague idea of what anime is so I'm not going to patronise you, let me first put three common misconceptions to rest before we continue.
It is not all pornographic.
It is not all "like pokemon".
Dragon Ball Z is really old now, you're just embarrassing yourself.
Anime is basically cartoons from Japan for teenagers/ adults and I love it. Like really love it. You know that tingle you get down your spine when you hear that song that reminds you of her? I get that whenever I see a giant robot punch another giant robot in the robot face.
Giant robots: statistically more likely to be bad ass than any woman
So what makes Anime so good? Why do I love it so much? Have I ever felt the touch of a woman? All of these are perfectly good questions (apart from the last one, you're kind of a jerk internet) and I intend to answer them.
One of the things I love so much about Anime is the fact that it inhabits a place between the realistic and the ridiculous. We're dealing with a cartoon here so obviously things are going to be exaggerated, over the top and needlessly overblown sometimes but often there's still a grounding in some form of reality that allows you to suspend belief.
Most of the time these things are boobs
When it comes to anime I often forget that I'm watching a cartoon because the unreality of certain things are fused with realistic and relateable character motivations and/or well crafted feasible yet fantastical worlds. This allows story tellers and artists to create characters and events that are totally impossible in any other medium of story telling. In a world where the same recycled mundane fodder is constantly fed to us though western media (I for one am fed up of vampires and zombies) it's refreshing to be able to experience narratives that can make you laugh, cheer and cry, all inside 20 minutes.
If you know who this guy is, you'll know what I'm talking about
Another thing that never ceases to amaze me about anime is that there is so much of it. It's at least as varied as normal television shows and there is totally something for everyone. Do you like kittens? there's an anime for that (Chi's Sweet Home) are you into gritty, realistic science fiction? there's an anime for that (Planetes) are you a school girl who likes to play rock and roll? there's an anime for that (K-On).
Whoever you are and whatever you like there is an anime out there for you. While you're sat in your living-room watching another re-run of Scrubs a young man is raising a revolutionary army to fight for the right to live above ground (Gurren Lagann), a space pirate and his rag tag crew of outcasts are on the run from a team of 12 cyborg asassin maid girls (Coyote Ragtime Show), a prince is being forced to become a terrorist to save his island home from a totalitarian global empire while his childhood friend hunts him down (Code Geas) and a bunch of school girls are going to the beach (Azumanga Daioh). Whatever Dr Cox has to say to JD about him being a big girl, it can wait.
As I mentioned in my first post I am what I like to call a "Person of Alternative Interests" after I've been drinking. When I'm sober I'll accept nerd, geek, weirdo or "hey you with the glasses come help me fix my computer" - which I can totally do (ladies) - a moniker I have earned via long hard years spent in the weeaboo trenches of various societies, conventions and internets. After much reflection on my life so far I've decided I may actually have my parents to blame. For example the only night we were allowed to have dinner in front of the TV when I was a child was Wednesday night because that was when Star Trek: The Next Generation was on.
Pictured: what I (still) want to be when I grow up
Also at some point between the ages of 12 and 13 my dad sat me down for an important man to man discussion. The kind of talk that all good fathers have with their almost teenage sons. That talk was about Star Wars and how we should watch it together.
More important than sex ed
A lot has happened since then but the geek in me has never gone away, in fact he's grown into something new, something eccentric and something sexy. He moves in exclusive circles, speaks a myriad different languages and inhabits a world that many people don't even know exist.
We live in a society where enforced social norms and compromise crush the life from our lungs and the colour from our souls, where apathy and futile acceptance force us to build gilded cages from the stuff we accumulate in which we are imprisoned until death. Where fiscal responsibility and creative photosynthesis force us to root ourselves to stagnant sinking soil made from endlessly recycled celebrity and hollow pop culture. This is a world that I decided a long time ago not to inhabit so I made a big life choice:
I joined an anime (Japanese cartoon) appreciation society. The group of people I found there was one of the most creative, welcoming and fun social groups I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of, we all had issues (some of us even monologued like self indulgent Rorschach wannabes) but everyone was welcome and united by one passion. We drank, we watched anime, we argued, we fought, we laughed, we partied, we philosophised and had elbowy awkward sex until the early hours of every Friday night. I met a girl, fell in love and became a man in the company of these amazing crazy people.
Some of which were also anthropomorphic animals
Towards the end of my university years I moved in with four physics and philosophy students who were all kinds of amazing, we played through Mass Effect 1 and 2 together along with Assassin's Creed and formed probably the worst 5 man team DotA has ever seen. I had some of the best friendship times ever in that house with those guys (no homo).
After university one of the first jobs I got was at the headquarters of Games Workshop "Warhammer World" essentially a combination of the virgin sweat boxes you see on most high streets, an epic gaming hall a museum and a bar.
It sure as hell beat Starbucks as a graduate job
In this hobby stronghold I got the opportunity to teach kids to paint, make friends and kick ass at table top role playing games, just like I did when I was little.
Here I am, kicking ass... apparently
I also got to hang out with some pretty cool dudes and manage other smaller GW stores across England. Those were magic times.
Then of course there's the conventions:
Cosplay Hard
Party Harder
So what's the point of this self indulgent look back at the past? The point is I'm not the only one who's grown up as a nerd, we're everywhere hidden in plain sight. We've done it all, probably better than you have and we've lived to tell the tale. We're not all reclusive misanthropic loosers who sit in our bedrooms alone, we're out there stealing your girlfriends and living it large and we're not scared any more. We've grown up, we know what we're doing now and we're not going to take your shit any more. So next time you see someone like this:
Remember underneath all that apparent awkwardness he's dropping sick ass beats like this:
