Otaku essay
My first anime I think I ever saw was YU-GI-OH, now If you’re wondering if I remember anything that happened in the show sorry to disappoint you. All I can remember is me being infatuated with the animation style I was seeing. Now, this show was made from 2000 to 2005, so I don’t know when I actually watched it, maybe it was around when I was five or six. From what I can remember I would always wake up early to watch YU-GI-OH, I still to this day don’t know what my fascination with the show was. I can even remember myself asking my parents to get me YU-GI-OH cards, I didn’t know how to even play but anything YU-GI-OH wanted. Also, I think when I was about six years old I dressed up as one of the main characters Yugi Mutou, sorry I couldn’t find the pictures. More recently the last anime I remember watching as a child was, Avatar The Last Airbender, I know pretty basic but I loved the show. I think it had to do with the storytelling and the art style, I’ve mentioned this before about the simplicity of anime. I feel like when I kid I was all over the place but if I had one of these shows on I would immediately be drawn to it.
Continuing with Avatar The Last Airbender, I think still to this day this was one of my favorite shows growing up. There was always something about the story of Avatar that I was drawn to, a utopia broken up by one of the four nations. Then one single person bringing them all back together. This was probably the first television series I got into and was able to somewhat understand the story at the time. Avatar The Last Airbender was also the first show that made me care about all the characters involved in the series. That’s something that I like most about anime you are drawn into their personality and characteristics much more easily than any other genre. In other genres, it might take you a season or two to find out what the characters are all about but in anime, in my experience, you can find that out pretty fast. I’m sad that I only got to watch only one anime series when I was growing up I feel like if I would’ve watched more I would get into it more. Just like me enjoying Avatar I might have found a new show that got me just as intrigued as Avatar, im hoping one of the titles will watch in this class will do that for me.
This begs the question why didn’t I watch more anime when I was younger or even now. I think this is because there was always a stigma about watching anime, I think we all thought it was fine when we were younger. Especially in our teens though it was almost looked down upon for watching or talking about anime. Being completely transparent I was one of those people who would look down upon people watching anime. Still to this day I don’t know why I had that thought process, even when I started college when my friends mentioned it I thought less of them. I can remember one instance when I went into one of my teammate's room and saw he had a Naruto flag. Since I didn’t understand anime I thought he was weird because he had a flag of an anime show. After I learned more and more about anime I can see I was very wrong because I am too enjoying watching all types of anime in this class. I’m excited to see what we watch next in class, I feel like with every new anime we watch in class keeps opening my eyes to new experiences
I think me having a very limited point of view on anime leads me and possibly others on their views on anime. This doesn’t just have to be on anime but our views on other opinions in life, Just because someone is interested in something that you might find odd doesn’t make them less of a person. You should always try to diversify your experience because I spent most of my life thinking people who liked anime were different. From taking this class all of this has changed, I’ve been opened up to a whole new genre of what I thought was odd all my life. I’m very glad this class changed my perspective on anime and I can't wait to watch more.
I never got into YU-GI-Oh because there were so many plots that I couldn’t follow (as an 18 year-old)! Do you remember liking the animation of the creatures that came from the cards or the animation of the people? I couldn’t stand the hair animations for the characters sometimes. When I watch animes I also like to get to know the characters especially when they have personalities that I can relate to. I have never seen someone being looked down upon or being put down for watching anime. What would be said about those who watch anime? Anime was a very popular thing in my junior and senior high school.
ReplyDeleteOhh I love Avatar the Last Airbender! That's the show that really stared my obsession with cartoons/anime as a child. I remember watching it every week it aired on television. I've been re-watching all the episodes now since they added them on Netflix this summer. I still have to finish Legend of Korra though, its personally very sad to see Aang as someone else now.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed watching Yu-Gi-Oh when I was a kid. It was always on during the Saturday morning cartoon block which started at around 8am, so every weekend I’d wake up early and wait for them to start. Like you, I found the premise of the show to be somewhat confusing and drawn out, but it always entertained me. I recall the fact that the dueling sequences would frequently take multiple episodes, which usually never bothered me. But, once I realized that the morning cartoons were not shown in sequence, meaning I’d watch a couple random episodes of the show that were not related to last week’s episodes, I stopped watching Yu-Gi-Oh and never went back. Moving on, I also love that you mentioned Avatar the Last Airbender. I agree with what you said about the characters being relatable and that you were able to quickly form emotional connections to them. That’s certainly a strength of the show, and I also think that Avatar shows kids that individuals can be people can change. The whole Zuko character arc is a prime example of this. Initially, he was the scary one-dimensional villain who wanted to bring Aang to his father in order to regain his honor; however, by the end of the show he turned out to be an ally of the avatar and an emotionally complex character. His progression showed us that everyone is redeemable, which is a powerful message to instill in young kids.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen YU-GI-OH when I was a kid. I would watch more of like Dora and the backyardigans. It was not until my brother got older till him and I would watch Avatar The Last Airbender. This was one of our favorite shows along with Power Rangers. For Halloween one year my brother and I were characters from Avatar The Last Airbender. After reading your blog, I remember what good times my brother and I had watching and acting out Avatar. As like you, taking this class as opened my eyes of different genre of television out there. Currently, I only watch drama tv shows, like grays anatomy. This class has broadened my horizons and Ive realized that there is a lot more shows to watch than I have been watching.
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