Hello Anime lovers, today i am going to start by raising a question, is there such a thing as “real anime”? This may be polemical, usually Anime fans have a preference for a genre, name if giant robots, school life, *gasp* Hentai and what not, whatever is your cup of tea. Can you affirm the genre you love is real anime and the rest garbage not worth watching?
I have been watching Anime since the early 90’s and have seen a lot of Shoujo and Shonen genre over the years, never was interested in Yaoi or Hentai, not my cup of tea.. Really I have watched but one Hentai in all my years of being an Otaku, pinky promise.
From classics like Heidi or Candy Candy to Mazinger Z, Gundam, the amazing Saint Seiya and most recently, something i consider a great anime among the many bland and dull stories released last year, that is Steins;Gate.
Talking to someone recently, I suggested he should watch Steins;Gate, apparently he did watch part of the first episode and the eccentric, strange and often exaggerated attitude of the self proclaimed mad scientist Hououin Kyouma (Okabe Rintarou) made him think the show was not worth his time. Commenting to me that he is more interested in “real anime”, if like me, you were about to flip a table be my guest.
New or old Anime, can we really say a genre or an specific show is real Anime? and I’m not speaking of anime shows animated outside Japan no, but how can some people think the shows they like are the real and only Anime worth to watch, closing the doors to new and unique experiences.
Explosions, blood, violence and giant robots. Long time ago, when Anime was something new in the west, we can agree a lot of people did catalog Anime as something like that? When Anime is much more than that, specially in how directors make the characters full of emotions and personality and tend to think outside the box appealing to the eye and heart of the fans, unlike western animation.
Akira is a great example of the most fine Anime people can experience, yet I know people that believe that movie is utter garbage, means I’m right and they are wrong? I dont think so, it’s just a matter of taste and opinions, as in art… It’s all relative.
Yet, why judge an Anime (which by the way was one of the best in 2011) because one character made you think “wtf?!” that was ignorant, the same as judging a book by it’s cover.
I remember I was not fond of school life Anime (I love Mecha, guilty of charge) until my co-admin suggested Clannad and K-On! to me, a bit skeptic, I started to watch the shows and glad to say it was an amazing and pleasant experience, since then I have watched more of this same genre.
People need to stop being narrow minded and stop thinking the Anime shows they like are the right and only “real Anime” to watch, they are losing a great opportunity to expand horizons and broaden the experience of this amazing hobby.
So let me ask you one more time guys, is there such a thing as real Anime, can anyone really dare to say and affirm that? What Anime shows do you like to watch and what shows did you think you’d never like but ended loving in the end? Thanks for reading!
