Anime Primer
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As beautiful as these productions are to watch, what really stands out about Anime are the interactions between the characters and the superior story telling techniques that they employ. After one has watched a few different series, it will become readily apparent that the pyschology of the characters is just as developed as the action surrounding them. In Anime, the story revolves around the characters, not about the "against all odds" battle of the week. Each episode builds upon the last, and is critical to understanding the next. They are not interchangeable as in American animation, which tends to have a short introduction, problem, and resolution packed into a half hour. An Anime episode is rarely wrapped up into a nice neat package. It usually leaves the viewer with many questions, some of
which may be answered in the next episode, some later in the series, and some never at all. What you are left with is a feeling that you are watching a chapter of a book, not a weekly installment. The characters display real emotions, and frequently make mistakes or poor decisions. No matter how far removed from the viewer, they seem genuinely human, thanks not only to the excellent script writing, but also to the fine voice actors who give them life and personality. In Japan, to
Casts can be extremely large. These are just some of the main characters in one series.
be a Seiyuu (Voice Actor) ensures you of virtual celebrity status. The acclaim is well deserved, as the emotion they are able to convey a vitality and realism unmatched in American animation. To truly appreciate Anime, one must watch it with subtitles. Without the original character's voice, half of the character's dimension is lost. Comapnies that dub Anime into English seldom do a very good job. They seem to purposely choose voice actors with goofy voices in order to conform to this country's expectations about animation. What results is a endless parade of terribly delivered lines, with plently of bad jokes thrown in which were never present in the original. I personally have only watched a few dubbed episodes and they absolutely turned my stomach. Do not judge Anime based on what you may have seen on such channels as Cartoon Network. While they are to be commended for exposing Anime to the masses, their insistence on showing poorly dubbed versions of respected titles does a diservice to the medium as a whole.
Anime has slowly been making its presence felt in the US. In fact, you have probably seen Anime before and not realized it. Classic shows such as Speed Racer and Voltron are both Japanese. As mentioned before, Cartoon Network shows a regular rotation of Anime series every afternoon. The Encore Action channel on cable shows two episodes of a different Anime series each night. For a time, the Sci-Fi channel had a midnight feature every Saturday night. Every Friday afternoon Fox devotes its entire children's programming to Anime. The problem with all of these outlets, however, it that they only show dubbed versions, which are undesireable for the reasons mentioned above. Japanese culture has also become somewhat popular in mass advertising aimed at young people, seen in ads for 7up and other "hip" brands. The Pokemon craze, which is burning out as you read this, is Japan's most popular export to America since Godzilla, and has since spun off many copycats, costing parents ungodly sums of money in the process. For the most part , however, Anime in the US has remained an underground phenomenon. Those lucky enough to live close to a store with an ample rental library are able to sample many different series before purchasing titles. Most people, however, must simply make a leap of faith when buying the admitedly costly tapes, often relying only on the cover art and box description when contemplating a
Megumi Hayashibara, voice actor.
purchase. As an alternative, fans can buy titles that haven't been picked up by US distributors for much less than what one pays for commercially released titles. In fact, some of the best titles in Anime can be purchased this way. See the FAQ and Recommended Viewing sections for more info. On-line auction sites such as eBay can also provide fans with cheap used tapes. The Internet has been a godsend for those interested in Anime, as it allows widespread dissemination of information and images about every series. One website in particular, Anipike.com, houses hundreds of series-specific pages and is an essential resource to any Anime fan. I strongly encourge you to explore this and other websites in hopes that you will find something that appeals to you. Be forewarned, however, before you know it, you may find yourself trying hopelessly to convince other people just how special Anime can be.