Why I love Anime
Anime ≠ Cartoon
The popular misconception about Anime is that it’s for kids just like cartoons, which could not be any farther from truth.
It’s not bounded by any genre or limited by physics of human realm, Only thing that can hold back is artist’s imagination. Japanese artists has got lot more freedom in experimenting with various genre’s and themes, since they did not have any sanskari censoring in Japan.
Live movies simply can’t matchup with Anime
Most of the Anime’s are adaptation of Manga’s (Japanese Comics).But live adaptations of Manga/Anime into cinema has failed miserably because it cannot truly depict the nuances in anime. In other words it’s like watching 4k video in a 1080p device, therefor lossless conversion is impossible.
It does not have a fixed running time, means some Anime can be a single movie like “Kimi no na wa” (“Your name”).And some are long/short series with tens and hundreds of episodes.
The movie Kimi no na wa is about a city boy and a village girl who miraculously swaps their bodies. It has brilliant twist of events followed by a heartwarming climax.
Death Note (37 episodes) is the story about a genius boy called Light Yagami who becomes a vigilante to create an utopia with no criminals.For that purpose he uses the deathnote that can predefine anyone’s death simply by writing on it’s page . Ironically he soon turns into a cold blooded serial killer to achieve his goal. Walter white will look cute in comparison to Light.
Full Death Note Potato Chip Scene — YouTube
One piece has 1000 episodes(and counting) tells the story about ‘straw hat’ pirates who sets out to find the treasure ‘Onepiece’. And if you have the patience Onepiece gives you the moral that “journey is more important than the destination”. The story has not ended even after 20 years since it started. In that sense it’s the game of thrones of Anime.
Anime has various sub genres spawned over years. Movies like Akira (1988) was genre defining in Post-Apocalyptic and CyberPunk category that changed the history of animation and influenced the growth of Japanese art around the world. This sub genre of Anime that depicts mass destruction was in fact inspired from their own history of war and nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki. But they turned this seemingly dark memory of theirs into a cultural revolution using their artistry and creativity.
Another example is Godzilla an iconic fictional monster created by Ishiro Honda. Unlike the American counter part King Kong, Godzilla is more about the impact of destruction on victims than the destruction itself. The 3 part series covers areas like science, technology, psychology and religion. Where as in Hollywood the Kong fell in love with a women and dies.
In conclusion whether it be sci fi, romance, psych, magic, fantasy or even adult, Anime can cater to any kind of audience.
Only pointer that I have to add that some of the sub genre has Japanese names like
- Shonen and Shoujo for teen boys and girls
- Seinen and Josei for men and women
- Echhi for horny adults
- Mecha is about robots
and the list goes on
