GO SEE SPIRITED AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
 

08/14/01
"A citizen of the Anime Nation"
or
"I was Anime When Anime Wasn't Cool."
    I've been doing a little reflection tonight on anime and what it's meant to my life.  This was brought about by some flak the genre has been getting as of late.  Ya know, there are times I get so irritated and put off by the stereotypical anime fans I run into.  My friends and I bitch about them, bitch about the mainstreaming of anime, the pokemons and the digimons and the hook up shirts...  It's easy sometimes to feel sick of the whole thing.  Then there are moments when I'm reminded just how much it means to me.  I was sent a link today to an "anti-anime" page, that was actually pretty ignorant and laughable.  Don't get me wrong, there's nothing the matter with not liking anime.  It isn't for everyone, and hey, what is?  But this site was very harsh about just how damnable the author felt it was, and just how sick the people who watch it are.  After a moment, I was able to laugh it off and get out the "get a load of this guy cam", but when I first read it, I became aware of my heart beating faster, and my temperature rising.  I felt a lump in my throat.  This became personal.  So I was slapped a little back into the reality of how much I really do love the stuff and what it means to me.
 
 

    Angel's Egg

    Designs by Amano, written and directed by Oshii, this is an absolutely incredible amazing anime.  !@^#&*%ing gorgeous.  Warning: well....  I don't know how to describe it...  People either love it, or...   I have heard tell of fan clubs threatening to burn the tape after viewing.  It's an experience, I'll say that.  Watch it in the dark, all by yourself for the entire effect.  I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!  Sigh......

    UY is my all time, never beaten, never challenged, favorite anime ever ever ever.
It's a pretty old series, and not nearly as easy to "get into" as some, but well worth the effort.
UY was the series that really got me interested in anime and manga.  I had picked up a copy of the Viz release back when I was about 15 or so, and it was just the weirdest thing I'd ever read.  It was also the first thing I had read that was so distinctly "Japanese" in names and foods and customs.  My prior experience having been with Yamato, Macross, Dirty Pair, etc...  UY was like nothing I had ever read before.  I was immediately hooked and when I went to my next comic show I was asking everyone who

had a table if they knew where I could get more of it.  This one guy was like, "You know there's animation for that right?"  Oh my God!!!!!!!   So I went home with a fan subbed copy of "Only You" the first of the Urusei Yatsura movies.  I was so engrossed in it, but anyone who's seen this series knows how much background material is needed to understand who everyone is and what their relationships are.  The closest thing to it that I can relate to "non UY" fans is the SIMPSONS.  You know how in the Simpsons there are like a bizzillion characters that just pop in and out and if you don't know who they are and what their story is, it isn't as funny?  UY is like that times a thousand...

Plus the majority of the characters in UY have routes in things other than the show.  Many are based on Japanese legends and mythology.  I was given a Japanese mythology book for a birthday one year and I was amazed at just how much I had missed!  For new viewers (or readers), great info can be found at Tomobiki-cho   What an awesome site.  There are summaries of the movies and TV episodes worlds better than I can do here...  As well as one of the best character guides I've ever seen. (Even includes the often overlooked characters: Sugar, Pepper, and Ginger!)

Lum images from Animeigo .
Lum against tree from "Only You", from Tomobiki-cho

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Video Girl Ai

    Another anime I'm inordinately fond of is Katsura Masakazu's Video Girl Ai.  The manga for this is gorgeous...  He can draw clothing and fabric like no one else...  This is another one of those anime that starts out all light and happy fluffy and then gradually gets darker and darker until it's total dramatic tragic.  The scene with Youta walking up the glass staircase to prove his love for Ai is incredible.
 
 

The anime for VGA is only 6, 45min episodes.  Those 6 episodes only cover the first three volumes of the manga (plus the manga ends that segment differently).  The manga goes on and on and on...tons of complications for the love of Ai and Youta that weren't even thought about in the anime.  A friend sent me the translations for the manga about 3 years ago, and I confess I read ahead to make sure I would able to deal with the ending...  I have most of the manga, haven't picked them all up yet.  I was lucky enough to get them all unedited though, even the infamous "volume 5" with the red cover hahaha!  Also of interest is the 2 volume sequel, "Video Girl Ren".  Ren is adorable.

pic courtesy of: