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Jun 06 2003

Categories: anime

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My previous post is meant that you progress up in levels as you are more and more drawn into that cel-shaded world of big robots, sailor outfits, and talking (but non-ninja) turtles. It’s also not an exact scale but more of a “where do you best fit” type of thing.

When I was a little kid, I watched the Chinese version of Doraemon, and my parents would read that manga to me (I have more Doraemon manga than Love Hina manga, FYI). My dad also got for me Macross VHS tapes and this ninja manga that I don’t have anymore but have this faint recollection of it. I thought that Macross and Robotech were the same thing for a very long time.

Then many years passed. The Simpsons, ReBoot, and The Critic were my favorite cartoons, and they grew up with me. I never thought of cartoons as “just for kids” because of the grown-up nature of these shows.

So one day 3-4 years ago I got handed this VHS tape with “Love Hina 1-2” written on the side handed to me. I didn’t watch it for the longest time because I thought it was pr0n, but I finally did, and I enjoyed every moment of its non-pr0n-ness (is this even proper English?). Two things that really appealed to me was that, one, it wasn’t geared to kids. Instead, it’s something that appeals to people in college who can empathize with Keitaro’s situation. Secondly, they deal with gags that would probably never make it on American TV like when Naru mistakes Keitaro for Kitsune in the hot springs. I just wanted more, and not just Love Hina. I started asking about similiar shows and just good shows in general. It wasn’t long before I watched OMG!, Escaflowne, and Jubei-chan.

What really helped me along was that I don’t mind subs. I watch a lot of Hong Kong kung-fu movies (old Jackie Chan, Jet Li stuff mostly), and most of those are in Cantonese. Since I don’t speak Cantonese, I read subs. Secondly, I also had friends who were into this sort of thing, so it wasn’t hard to get a Lain DVD or a tape of Macross II.

Everyone progresses differently down the levels, but we’ve all been there. I’ve watched my share of Pokemon, and I can name maybe a two dozen of them. I still watch anime on TechTV and Encore Action Channel, and I still visit animeondvd.com. It’s just surprising sometime to take a good luck at yourself and go, “Wow, from Pokemon to Twin Girls” and remember how everything began.