What about me Wednesday

What strange and interesting fact will you learn about me this week.

Well, I like to watch some Japanese Anime!

So how does one get into this form of entertainment? Well, I got into it through a bridge over from Video Games.

Pokemon was my first real Anime. It was the serialized english dubbed version on the Wb 11 network (now it's called CW). I had bought the video game, and then saw this on TV and started watching it. I remember thinking that I have a pikachu in the game, and there's one on the show. Honestly, out of all the anime I've watched this isn't the highest quality. The animation is good, but the stories get old very fast, and the kids focus of the show became more and more apparent. I only watched a season and a half of this before I stopped. This was mostly due to wanting to see the new Pokemon for the Gold and Silver versions, but like most of this show, the Main Character catches very few pokemon compared to the hundreds you catch in the game. My watching of pokemon led me to watch Digimon,

this show started out similar to Pokemon, but quickly evolved to a more adult themed story arc. I liked this series so much that I based my last Dungeons and Dragons game that I ran on the "crests" part of the storyline.


The next anime I started watching was Yu-Gi-OH.
This was because Darque's little boy watched it, and I was in his house at the time. Since it was always on in the afternoons, when his father and I would play our strategy games, we inadvertently watched the entire first season. Halfway through that season we saw the starter packs in ToysRus one day, and decided to see if the card game was anything like the duels on TV. Well, the rest is histroy, as after that day we were both hooked on the Game, and would be for the next 5 years. I don't play Yu-Gi-Oh anymore as I've "graduated" as we call it to Magic: The Gathering, which is the original Trading Card Game, and what inspired the Yu-Gi-Oh card game and television show. Watching this Anime literally changed my life, as it started a hobby that would give me some awesome times, good friends, and introduce me to something I now love to do.


During this time period, Darque had me watch DragonBallZ. I objected having seen some episodes which made little to no sense. He gave me a provision, "Watch the first story arc, if you don't like it after that, then i won't say another word." Well after those first 20 episodes I was hooked, and I have to this day watch all 300 and something DBZ episodes.

I haven't watched the prequel Dragonball, as it's more kiddish, and the sequel Dragonball GT's first season just didn't grab me.

When I lived in florida, Cartoon Network was riding the DBZ and Yu-Gi-Oh wave of huge popularity that they were experiencing at the time to release some lesser known animes during their TOONAMI block. I caught Mobile G Gundam fighrer and Yu Yu Hankuso during this time period, and I enjoyed them.




My current anime is Naruto, or more specifically Naruto: Shipudden, which is the sequel to the Naruto Anime which is about 120 episodes long. I'm behind in this, but I just started watching them again at night in between Magic Online tournament rounds. This particular anime is really the most well-rounded I've seen, which explains its popularity right now.





The key to watching any anime is this: Most shows require about 20-30 episodes before they find their footing or have set up enough exposition to get a big payoff. During the "payoff" episodes, these are where the series shine if they are good, and you are literally riveted to your television or computer screen in my case. That is what the really good animes do. It's kind of like a roller coaster ride. Each story arc builds up to a really big payoff, and then you start the slow climb again. If the series are good, you're interested in the climb by the second time around, and then the payoff is even bigger. This pattern continues until the anime's conclusion.


now i have seen more "adult" animes like vampire hunter D and Princess monoke, but I haven't liked them as much. I've even seen Hentai, which is the "adult" form of Anime which is a huge industry in japan, but like "adult" entertainment here, most of it is quite horrible story wise.


if you would like to try anime, i recommend getting japanese with subtitles, as the English dubs lose a little, sometimes alot in translation. Most of these series are on Netflix, so give them a try next time you're up for something out of the ordinary. until next time folks!