Post
by EmilLang1000 » Wed Sep 27, 2006 6:54 pm
I've been into anime since I was about... oh, say three. This was when things like The Noozles, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and Maya the Bee were on Nickolodeon. Those were my favorite shows, though I had no idea they were anime. Then I was into Voltron, then Speed Racer, then G-Force, then Dragonball Z (the only reason I got up that early on a Sunday), and finally Robotech: The Macross Saga. The last one was the one that really sealed it for me. I knew that those shows were Japanese, but Robotech is what really sealed my belief that Anime was an entirely new step above other cartoons.
To this day, I still atest that Anime is the highest classification of animation, being both beautiful to look at AND having thought-provoking and/or usually mature content; this means that I've come to believe that Anime goes beyond being just Japanese in origin and has transcended into a style that encompasses all nations' animation (Code Lyoko of France, to an extent; Justice League Unlimited, Samurai Jack, and Avatar the Last Airbender of America, for some examples).
I used to say that I'd watch any Anime over almost any American live action show, but in recent years that's changed. Back when I was first aware of what Anime was (i.e. when I was in middle school in the hayday of the sub/dub wars and EVERYTHING that made it over here was A-List material), I would go for weeks without watching live-action stuff.
Now, though, that anything that's japanimation is brought over to America, I've been enlightened to the fact that Japan is not always superior in storytelling and animation, that only the best of the best was brought over to America in the early eighties to late ninties, and that, like American shows, most of it just flat-out sucks.
These days, I'll watch live action shows and movies over most Anime - at least the Anime that's been made after 2000 and is ultra-popular for the moment among the Anime community. I've basically lost faith in the part of the Anime community that's only jumped on the bandwagon in the past 3 or 4 years (meaning, about 75 percent of it), and won't really listen to them when they say "ZOMG (insert anime title made after 2000 here) ROXXORZ" until: a, I've either heard it from a VERY reliable source; b, its popularity last far longer than its lifespan; or c, it somehow catches my eye because of incredible visuals or interesting motifs and themes (Gankutsuou and Monster were examples of the latter).
Back in the day when Slayers and Trigun were new, even they could compete with my attention versus things like The X-Files. Now, though, far-less live action shows will catch my interest when they compete with, say, Super Milk-Chan or Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo (absolute piles on both accounts). If you were to, say, play a marathon of Lost against a marathon of Monster, however, I'd be pulling my hair out trying to decide which to watch.
Long story short - if it's one of the few top-quality Anime to appear in the last 6 years, I'll probably watch it over live action; if it's an anime that's on VHS, has a shitty transfer, has an even worse dub, and was brought over to America before 1995, or made by Hayao Miyazaki, you bet your ASS I'll watch it over anything else; otherwise, I'm not going to waste my time on it. I may be an elitist bastard, but watch "My Youth in Arcadia" before you go spouting that Naruto is the greatest thing EVAR and say that anything over two years old is too old for you to watch and totally crappy.
You know what they say: "when life gives you a T-Rex, go ninja-kick it in the head." - Rayne Summers, Least I Could Do
Proud to be a Jenova's Witness - WWSD (What Would Sephiroth Do?)
