And Where It Stops, No One Knows! When I first entered high school, the only animes that I was familiar with were Sailor Moon, Samurai Pizza Cats, Pokemon, Digimon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Jubei-chan, and Princess Mononoke...roughly, about seven. But as time passed and I met other anime fans and made new friends, that amount nearly doubled each year. By the time I finished high school, there were so many animes that I liked, I had lost track!(and I had my anime web site, but I'll get to that later.) However, if I were to write about every single anime that I've ever seen and how it affected me, it would turn this "condensed" autobiography into a novel!(and it would be somewhat inaccurate, since I'll discover new animes after I'm finished writing this!) So for this chapter, I've only discussed a few of the first animes I got into and how they gave me a true understanding and appreciation for what really defines Japanese animation.
Slayers Slayers was the first anime comedy series that I watched, and the first new anime introduced to me since I had started high school. After Amanda and I had become good friends, she invited me to her house one day and showed me an episode of Slayers. Even though it wasn't the first episode of the series, it had been a while since I'd seen a new anime, especially a more "mature" one, so I liked it right away. Every now and then, she would show me an episode of Slayers when I went to her house and she even let me borrow some of her videos. As I saw more episodes and got to know the story and characters better, I grew to love the series so much that I finally started buying it for myself! The comedy in Slayers was just so appealing and clever. It had slapstick as well as adult jokes, and yet it never once seemed like a "silly cartoon." And, like all good animes, even though it was a comedy, it also had action, drama, fantasy, and even romance. After seeing Slayers, I realized that even if an anime was classified into one genre, it always had tons of other elements in it.
Mon Colle Knights Not long after I became a Slayers fan, I heard about a new anime that was coming to Fox Kids in summer 2001 called Mon Colle Knights. There were already a lot of "monster" animes on Fox Kids and Mon Colle Knights looked like yet another one. But, since it was anime, I decided to give it a try. I was pleased to see that Fox Kids actually started with the first episode, and the episodes seemed to be shown in order after that. However, I could tell that the dialogue was horribly rewritten, even more so than Digimon, which was also on Fox Kids. Yet, for some reason, I really grew to love Mon Colle Knights and it even became one of my favorite animes for a while.
After Fox Kids aired all the episodes, Mon Colle Knights was abruptly cancelled(but I kept most of the episodes on tape this time!) Even though I liked the characters and story a lot, the extremely poor English dub bothered me, so I actually bought the Mon Colle Knights movie and a few episodes in their raw Japanese versions. Even though I couldn't understand them much, I knew I liked them better than the English dub! Unfortunately, though I liked Mon Colle Knights a lot, it proved to be very unpopular. Unlike other animes, I could hardly find any Mon Colle Knights web sites and the series never had an American video/DVD release. I guess the bad English dub is to blame for its unpopularity, but I think it's also due to the fact that it came at a time when the once popular "monster" animes were phasing out and being replaced by the rest of the growing anime market. Looking back, I think the real reason I liked Mon Colle Knights as much as I did was because, of all things, the romance. I do enjoy romance in anime immensely, but I was never a big-time romantic and at that time my only OTP had been Rocketshipping. Even though Mon Colle Knights is hardly the anime to watch if you're looking for romance, for some reason the sometimes love-hate, sometimes overly mushy relationship between Mondo and Rokuna, the two main characters, kept growing on me until eventually Mondo & Rokuna became my second OTP. I guess this proves that I, too, was beginning to branch out to more than just the "battling monsters" element of anime, and I was starting to see and appreciate all of the many subtleties that make up the uniqueness of anime.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Now that the Pokemon craze was beginning to subside, it was only a matter of time before a new Japanese "monster" game would replace it. When I first saw the commercials for Yu-Gi-Oh! on Kids'WB, I could just sense that it was going to suffer from a horrible dub. And, as it turned out, I was right. After watching its debut on Kids'WB, it wasn't hard to tell that they did not start with the first episode(they actually skipped the entire first season and started with the first episode of the second season!) To say the least, I was turned off by the bad dub and was very hesitant to continue watching Yu-Gi-Oh!. But, since it was one of the only animes availabe to me on TV(no cable, remember?) and, disregarding the bad dub, it looked like it might get kind of interesting later on, I decided to keep watching it. As I learned more about the characters and plot, I started to like it better. After the "first" episode was shown, the rest were shown in their correct order, and most of the actual English voices weren't bad...it was just that the script was terribly rewritten and made to sound way too American(there were plenty of name changes and edits too.) I didn't start collecting the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards until late 2002, after they had already been out for a while. After learning how interesting and challenging the game was and seeing that it was much more mature and required more skill and strategy than Pokemon, I decided to buy a couple of starter decks. Since then, I've been steadily building a collection of cards, though I'm not nearly as avid a collector as I was of the Pokemon cards.
It took nearly two years for me to like Yu-Gi-Oh! as much as I do now. Though I enjoy the series as a whole, hearing all the mistranslations makes me cringe, but I've grown to like the dub in its own right since the original uncut Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! was never available(to me, dubbed Yu-Gi-Oh! was better than no Yu-Gi-Oh! at all.) The dub has gotten slightly better over the years but it's still one of the worst English dubs out there. However, just recently the uncut Japanese version has become available. Unfortunately, for an over 200 episode series like Yu-Gi-Oh!, it will take years for the uncut DVDs to catch up with the dubbed ones. But, since I've grown to like Yu-Gi-Oh! a lot and I've gotten used to the dub, I'm willing to wait!
Tenchi Muyo! My lack of cable, and thus my lack of Cartoon Network and its growing array of anime, caused me to be late in the Tenchi franchise. While a lot of anime fans were Tenchi-crazed in the late 1990s, I didn't get my first look at Tenchi until early 2001. After meeting my friend Pamela in 10th grade and letting her borrow some of my Slayers and Jubei-chan tapes, she let me borrow some episodes of Tenchi that she had taped from TV, since I had never seen it before. However at that time I didn't realize that, besides using the same characters, the three Tenchi series' were not connected to each other. So I was a bit confused about the stroyline at first(since Pamela's tapes had episodes of the three series' mixed in with each other.) But I did know that I liked Tenchi right away, and after buying the DVDs for myself and piecing together the different storylines, I became a big-time fan and Tenchi actually replaced Pokemon as my favorite anime for nearly a year. I watched all my Tenchi DVDs to death and I bought all the volumes of the No Need for Tenchi! manga series(that summer, I even wrote an over 30 page long Tenchi fanfic!)
I think my Tenchi obsession finally began to diminish in early 2003. It began when I realized that the two Tenchi TV series', though enjoyable, completely lacked the character development, intricate plots, and intimacy felt in the Tenchi OVA and manga, so I started to lose interest in them. But I still loved the Tenchi OVA and manga. However, the OVA was a mere 13 episodes, so I guess I just watched them way too many times. Also, the OVA was never truly completed and its lack of a real ending left too much unexplained. I still enjoy the manga though, but I guess at the time when I was into Tenchi I was also getting into lots of different kinds of anime at once. I was in the process of becoming familiar with all the different genres of anime, so I still had yet to find my true favorite.
Inuyasha After seeing the first few episodes of Inuyasha, I never thought that it would become my favorite anime. The first time I saw it was at the end of its first week on Adult Swim. I was at a sleepover with Jessica and one of her friends(Jessica and I had gotten back in contact since we both ended up becoming anime fans!) After spending the evening at the mall(which was also the first time I bought Yu-Gi-Oh! cards) we stayed up really late to watch all the animes on Adult Swim. Jessica and her friend were both raving about Inuyasha, since it was the newest addition to Adult Swim's vastly growing number of animes. At this time, the 5th episode of Inuyasha made its debut, but unfortunately I wasn't used to staying up that late at night and, after spending a tiring evening at the mall, I was nearly half-asleep when it came on. Also, I hadn't seen the previous four episodes, so I had pretty much no idea what was going on, and therefore couldn't form much of an opinion about it at the time(I wouldn't say I didn't like it, though.)
However, when I went to school the following week, Pamela told me about it and she even let me borrow some of the episodes that she taped from the week before(she had missed episodes 1 and 2, but she taped 3 through 5) and after watching them I was able to understand a bit more of the story. She continued to tape the episodes for me each week for a while, and I liked them, but I didn't really love them(not yet, at least.) Unlike the other animes that I was into at the time, like Tenchi and Trigun, which really appealed to me after the first few episodes or so, Inuyasha didn't. But I think my not liking it at the beginning of the series(and then later on, it becoming my favorite anime) really shows how strong the character development is in Inuyasha and how it takes time to really connect and sympathize with the characters. I think the reason I failed to love it at first was because of how Inuyasha himself was portrayed. I guess at that point I was used to shorter, less complex animes in which much of the good and endearing side of the main protagonist is revealed early in the series. After getting to know gentle Tenchi and heroically caring Vash, it was a new experience for me to relate to Inuyasha in those early episodes when he seemed bluntly uncaring and excessively violent, before his real personality had a chance to show. As the episodes went by, I noticed the minor subtleties hinting that there was more to him than just the demon-like facade that he kept. But I didn't take this into much account until I saw episode 13. This was the episode that turned me into an Inuyasha fan(for those of you who've seen it, I'm sure you know why!) For some reason this episode really seemed to show how Inuyasha's developing personality and his relationship with Kagome had grown since the series began, and it left an endless amount of possibilities for the series to take.
After that, I really wanted to buy my own DVDs of Inuyasha. Less than a month after Inuyasha had started airing on Adult Swim, I checked my local anime store, Anime Plus, and found tons of Inuyasha DVDs in Japanese with English and Chinese subtitles. Not only that, but the DVDs had much later episodes that were not even close to airing in America yet. However, as you've probably guessed by now, these DVDs were bootleg. But back then I had absolutely no knowledge of anime bootleg DVDs so I bought them, thinking that they were just normal anime DVDs that happened to be made by a Chinese company. The fact that they were really cheap should have tipped me off that something was wrong with them, but like I said, I just didn't know about bootlegs back then. The DVDs I bought had episodes 1 through 25, and then(since I was missing a couple) 39 through 74. For the next month or so, I spent most of my spare time trying to get through them all. Since they were bootleg, the subtitle quality was pretty bad, but understandable enough. With each passing episode, as the plot began to unfold and new characters were introduced, I grew to love Inuyasha more and more until it finally replaced Tenchi as my favorite.
And since it is still currently my favorite, I feel it's appropriate to say way it's risen above all the other anime I've seen; On the surface, Inuyasha may appear to be a violent and bloody action anime with a ridiculously long plot. But like all good animes, there's a whole different story going on underneath. Not only is the complex plot and intricate web of relationships what makes Inuyasha so appealing, but like I said, it really showed me how planned and precise character development can be in anime. Most of the characters on Inuyasha are not one-sided stereotypes - they all have their good side and their dark side, but they don't openly express their emotions with unnatural angst nor do they make mushy speeches. We're often given insight as to what they're thinking and feeling, even though they don't say it outloud, which makes them seem a bit more real and easier to sympathize with. The characters themselves are often uncertain about their own feelings and conflicts, so it's up to the viewer to piece together the characters' personalities based on how they act in their situations and how they develop over long periods of time, so the story never seems rushed. The relationship between Inuyasha and Kagome is a good example of this - we're aware of their growing relationship, and yet they're often full of uncertainty and denial when it comes to dealing with it. Thus they make mistakes and hurt each other, but at the same time situations rise up in which they're forced to take a step forward in their relationship. I think it's this that made Inuyasha & Kagome my next(and current) OTP, and the Inuyasha series my favorite anime.
I kept buying more of the bootleg Inuyasha DVDs that had later episodes, not knowing what they were until just recently(now I'm kind of sorry I bought so many...) But I've read all of the Inuyasha manga online, and I always keep up with its most recent chapters. But as for the anime, I guess I'll just have to wait for new episodes to be realeased in America!(either that, or learn Japanese!)
Evangelion If I thought the character development and intricate plot made Inuyasha a special anime, I had another thing coming! I first heard about Evangelion at school. Many times I overheard a few boys in my 10th grade P.E. class talking about it. I heard them say things like "it's the best anime" and "you haven't seen anime if you haven't seen Evangelion." As I heard them talk more about the characters and story, it really did start to sound interesting. At that time it was getting close to Christmas and I was in the mood to try a new anime. So I decided to use some of my Christmas money to buy the 8 DVD Evangelion box set.
Saying that the series completely blew me away would be an understatement. I had never seen anything like it. I'm sure those of you who've seen Evangelion know what I'm talking about and know why it deserves all the credit it gets. From its high-tech action, soul-shattering drama, and psychological odysseys, Eva showed me just how far beyond anime can go passed mere "TV entertainment." This was made apparant not soley by its war-torn, futuristic setting, but by its characters. Like all great animes(and great shows) the Eva cast are all carefully defined individuals, with their own conflicts, motives, and needs. They're not black and white "heroes and villains," but people struggling to live with themselves and each other in a harsh world. Eva doesn't portray stereotypical protagonists in cliché situations, but realistic people in an awe-inspiring world that must be taken in on its own level of entertainment.
Not long after I watched the Eva series, I bought the two Evangelion movies and a lot of the Eva manga. And also, along with my Tenchi fanfic, I wrote an over 30 page long Eva fanfic(based on my arbitrary thoughts on The End of Evangelion movie.) Evangelion temporarily bumped Inuyasha down to second place on my list of favorite animes, but not for very long. I guess the initial shock of how great it was wore off and, unlike Inuyasha which was still an ongoing series that always offered some new potential, the Eva series had already been finished for about five years by the time I saw it, and so after I abosorbed all of the elements that made it so great, there just wasn't much left to do with it. But there's no doubt in my mind that it gave me a new perspective on anime, and thus it will always be among my favorite shows.
It's Nice to Have Friends! My years in high school are definitely what turned me into a true anime fan. But this wouldn't have been so had it not been for all the friends I made that liked anime and their willingness to share it with me! In addition to introducing me to Slayers, Amanda also showed me Sorcerer Hunters, Escaflowne, Trigun, and Record of Lodoss War. When the International Channel began showing anime, Pamela taped many episodes of Fushigi Yugi and El Hazard for me. In addition to taping Full Metal Alchemist for me, my friend Jennifer also let me borrow her CDs of fansubbed Naruto and DN Angel episodes since my dial-up Internet connection was too slow to download them. I even got back in contact with one of my old friends from middle school, Natasha(who was the only one who didn't make fun of me for liking Pokemon.) Like me, she had gotten her start on anime through Sailor Moon and she later became a big fan of shoujo anime and manga. She showed me many great shoujo series', like Magic Knight Rayearth, Chobits, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Love Hina.
Finally, that fateful day came in February 2005, the very year and month of my writing this...I got cable! It happened because I figured out that if I were to get high-speed Internet and basic cable in place of the old phone I used to use for dial-up and my AOL Internet service, it would roughly come out to the same price each month. However, even though I finally have cable now, I've already missed out on so many animes. Animes that a lot of fans take for granted because they're always on TV and have been on for a long time, like Rurouni Kenshin, the Gundam series', Cowboy Bebop, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Wolf's Rain, I've barely been able to see, if at all. But now that I finally have cable, I'm going to try and catch up with all the anime that I can! Also, besides having a computer that's too old and not in the best of shape to download fansubbed anime, I don't have much money either(going to college, don't have time for a job yet) so I can't afford to buy very many anime DVDs. But luckily, for a somewhat deprived fan like myself, I did manage to find another way to help sate my ever-growing passion.