Anime 101, Part 1

A Naruto Shippuden wallpaper, taken from naruto.viz.com

My favorite entertainment consists mostly of anime. I watch it, write about it, talk about it, and even joined a website where users recommend, review, blog about, and generally discuss anime and manga. In the past year and a half, I’ve completed a whopping 82 anime series. It shames me even to write that number, as I realize what other things I could have been doing. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t consider all the time I spent on anime to be a waste. For one thing, I need the leisure time, and sometimes my brain is too worn out for even my favorite books. For another, I learn quite a bit by viewing anime. I know more about Japanese culture and language than anyone in my family or close circle of friends. I can say “Good morning,” “thank you,” “sorry,” and “I’m really sorry,” in Japanese with little or no pause, though my pronunciation may be a bit off still. All this purely from watching anime.

But hold up. After watching such a bulk of anime, I forget that, two years ago, I didn’t even know what anime was. Not everyone knows about this widespread element of Japanese visual pop culture. There are both adults and teens who have no idea what I’m talking about. It’s time to explain myself.

Last spring, needing a break from researching tough topics like abortion and embryonic stem cell research, I decided to write my twelve page research paper on a topic of increasing interest – anime. This paper covered the basics, from definition to history to why anime became so popular. I uncovered gems of information about culture both in Japan and worldwide.

Now, I want to spend a week or two revising and condensing that paper into a more reader-friendly, lighthearted reading and post it in segments on my blog. I think anime fans and the clueless public alike will find the information intriguing – I know I did.

Part I – Introduction

One lazy summer day, I sat on my bed with my laptop, searching for passive entertainment. Having exhausted my usual television shows, I looked for something new and exciting. Through some forgotten process, I ended up on the page of a Japanese animated TV series called Naruto that was geared toward teens. Within two episodes the show captured me, whirling me into the fictional world of a young ninja. I enjoyed its plot, its lighthearted moments, the scenes of emotional, relational, and physical struggle, and the many times I laughed out loud. This new style of animation had me hooked, and before long I wanted to add similar shows.

Over the past year, my interaction with Japanese animation (known as “anime”) has expanded significantly. Before (and after) I began researching for this paper, I spent a horrendous amount of hours watching Naruto and other anime. This became my favorite escape, especially when school and life in general wore me out. I began to realize the enormity of this form of entertainment, not just in Japan and America, but all over the world. I became curious about the medium, and decided to research it, both for my own sake and the sake of my befuddled parents and friends. As a result, I learned about anime and manga (its printed cousin) and the history behind them.

(next post: anime and common misconceptions)

Punie-chan from Dai Mahou Touge,

taken from punie.jp

Waking up

My comforters wrap me in peaceful oblivion. Neither light nor sound penetrate my little world. How I so enjoy something when unconscious is a mystery to set aside. For now, all difficult thoughts, any thoughts, leave me in quiet. when I wake, I will be grateful for that time of peace.

I drift in thick, warm clouds, undisturbed by the earth's trouble. Nothing reaches me, nothing bothers. Then thunder rumbles in the distance, threatening to storm. I push it away and burrow deeper in my clouds. Again, thunder comes, closer this time, and insistent. "Mmph," I mumble, grabbing another dark, warm cloud and pushing my head under it. So cozy... I drift back into that timeless peace.

The thunder roars, next to me now, too loud to shut out with my clouds. With the thunder rides an earth-dweller, one with a tribal drum. Pound pound pound pound. Pound pound pound pound. "Go away," I groan. What made the earth-dweller come to the clouds? Did she and the thunder conspire to disturb my ethereal world? Regardless, she receives as little welcome as the storm on which she rides.

Unruffled by my hostility toward invaders, the storm continues with its ruckus. It stops, and I begin to drift off in my clouds once again. But then the thunder and earth-dweller return, this time accompanied by lightning and rain. "Wake up!" insists the earth-dweller, tearing though my fog.

"I am up!" I growl back.

The rain continues, soaking me through. Finally, to appease the earth-dweller who seemed to control the tempest, I jolt from what remains of my clouds. I intend to shove away the rain and noise. The rain leaves, but the rest of the storm imprisons me and slams me down to earth. They feed me in an effort to scatter the clinging fog, and sternly warn against any attempts to escape back into the clouds.

I eat, drink, and even take the pills the earth-dweller gives me. Yet, despite the obedient facade, my mind remains on that moment when I may return to comfortable oblivion among the clouds. No tempest ever tames me. If I watch and wait, I will someday burrow in the clouds once again.


I'm such a grump in the morning. What can I do to wake up honoring God and my parents? I suppose the obvious answer is to go to sleep earlier and set my alarm, so Mom isn't the first to wake me. As much as I dislike my alarm and wish to be free of it when it's not a school day, I prefer it over beginning the day with a war.

Succinctness is Not my Gift

This past Saturday, I started reading and responding to a forum thread titled, basically, "General Religion Discussion." In this thread, people posted the basics of their religious views (i.e. "Atheist," "Catholic," or "Muslim"). Including me, I think a total of three Christians contributed. One of them, TWWK, said he was open to questions about Christianity, and the questions poured down (by the way, he has an interesting blog about Christianity and anime - look in the list of blogs I follow).

I spent over five hours and almost seven pages of Word responding to the first 6 out of 10 pages of discussion on Saturday, then returned on Sunday, and again today. This is a great opportunity to learn about other religious views, and to discuss my own faith. I just wish I could learn to say things in a shorter way. I'll post one of my responses here, just to give you an idea. The notes in brackets are to help you understand what's going on, newly added for the blog.

Oh, but I thought that subject [reliability of the scripture] was fascinating! Of course, I consider Calculus to be fascinating as well, so maybe I'm not the best judge...

[one of the other users thought I just couldn't imagine or cope with a world without God] I've tried imagining a world without God before. It's hard, since I think of God as a concrete, definite existence, just as much as the wind or the president of the USA or water. But I'll try again. First I have to bypass the little issue of whether the world would even exist without God, let alone be inhabitable, or have inhabitants, let alone inhabitants with any sense of morals. Once I push those aside, I can begin imagining the effect on me personally.

I love sound logic, so I'd reject any religion presented to me, unless I could find scientific, historical and social (like sociology) reasoning behind it. And without God, there would be no such religion. I'd look at what makes me happy and agreeable and create a set of "moral" guidelines to hold myself and my peers to, and devote myself to making a community bases on those morals. Sometimes I'd wonder what the point of my life and my mind was. If we just happen to be here, just happen to be smarter than other creatures, are the things I call "bad" truly wrong? What makes stealing, lying, or even murder wrong? I'd wonder why I should bother trying to fix things if there was no point, and why I shouldn't just end my life and disappear into nothingness. Then I'd shake myself out of that mode, call myself weak for wanting to escape, and find a new project, a new way to build my world and myself into what I call "good." My only truth would be that I am me, and that I can do anything I want. If I still felt empty, I'd try to fill that emptiness with hobbies - anime, reading, playing piano. I'd revere logic and my version of "good," and my life would revolve around those two principles. In a sense, I'd be my own goddess.

Perhaps that wasn't so hard - I just had to imagine a lifetime of forgetting about God. And since I do forget, doubt, and ignore more often than I care to admit, I just had to multiply the intensity and length of those moments to get an idea of how I'd cope without God. On the one hand, it does sound thrilling, like I'd have power. On the other hand, it sounds like I'd be building an illusion - and I'd know it. Such an empty life does scare me, but that's not a logical reason to believe in God. And, like I said, I love logic.

I will say that I don't listen to God's word just because "there is someone watching who will fry my ass later on." [not my words - the other user's] If I relied on my good deeds and regular prayer to get me into heaven, I'd have given up by now - there's no point in trying to be perfect enough for God. If I'm going to be punished anyway, I may as well live for myself now.

By truth, I mean moral truth. Most people agree that 1 + 1 = 2 and that if you get hit, it hurts. Those are "truth"s. Though, from a purely philosophical standpoint (and without the God factor), I wonder, does it really hurt? Or is it an illusion, a reaction I made up to fit the world around me, which in turn is mostly illusions that people before me created? And at that point I realize I'm getting ridiculous and go for a walk or something tangible that doesn't include turning circles within my mind.

I think some preachers (and I) use "high words" and "weird grammar" sometimes because we are exposed to those with frequency and so our thoughts naturally fall into that pattern. That's where I start searching for words besides "righteousness," "ultimate truth," "salvation," and such. I already stopped myself a few times from using the word "covenant." :P Since I both grew up in the church and am an over-thinking type, it all spills out before I realize that not only do most people have a different thought process, but they aren't interested in all the religious-sounding wording. I sometimes wonder what people think when they walk into church fro the first time and hear words and grammar that I forget aren't common in most folk's daily life.

And don't worry, I won't take anything personally if you don't. We're just exploring religion (especially, it seems, Christianity) and opinions here. We have to be polite, but no good discussion will come from trying not to step on anyone's toes. Let me know if I seem to sidestep a question or if it sounds like I'm spouting well-disguised fluff.

Long, isn't it? What can I say? I clearly lack the gift of succinctness.

For the full discussion, check it out under "general discussion" in the forum at anime-planet.com. You don't have to be logged in to view it.

Awe and Encouragement

Due to being very busy and tired, I have not posted on my blog much lately. And that's why. My first sentence in this post is awkward and full of helping verbs, but I no longer have the brain power to fix it. So, instead of writing something more original, I decided to share a bit from my favorite passage, Isaiah 40. I find this chapter awe-inspiring and encouraging, and I turn to it often for comfort. Tonight, at the peak of my weariness, I turned aside from work to read it again, and would like to share the last few verses of the chapter, which are among my favorite in the Bible.

"Why do you complain, Jacob?
why do you say, Israel,
'My way is hidden from the LORD,
my cause is disregarded by my God'?

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
The Creator of the ends of the Earth.
He does not grow tired or weary,
His understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
And increasing the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
And young men stumble and fall.
But those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will fly on wings like eagles;
They will run and not grow weary,
They will run and not be faint."*

I hang desperately onto that promise, hoping in the Lord for my strength tomorrow and Friday.

*New International Version
By the way, I posted this on the wrong blog at first. Just goes to show how tired I am.

Dai Mahou Touge Anime Review

In November, I joined anime-planet, a website that give excellent recommendations and review for anime lovers. There are both "official," or staff written, and "community," or user, reviews. For the fun of it, I decided to try my hand at reviewing. Here's one I did a few days ago, reviewing Dai Mahou Touge:

The Meat of the Review

If you’re looking for an innocent little magical girl anime, Dai Mahou Touge is not for you. However, if you want dark humor, parody, and violence, look no further! Tanaka Punie-chan is a princess from Magic Kingdom, blonde, cute, and… so violent and scary, she scared off a big god-beast-thing.

The fun starts with the opening theme, where we see clips of Punie-chan in front of burning buildings – including the landmark largest wooden house. Oh dear! The actual content is great, too, each episode unveiling new parody of magical girl anime with as much bone-cracking as you can handle. It has killer moves, evil little sisters, and even suicidal vegetables. No, Potato-dono, don’t do it! Your have so much to live for! And then the credits roll, and you hear the absolutely perfect battle cry music, accompanied by fiery war scenes. You simply must see Dai Mahou Touge for yourself because, as the end song states, “There is honor in bending bones to their limit!”

Story – 9/10

The four OVAs (eight 12-min episodes) are episodic, but that’s just what they’re meant to be: perfect for parody. I do think the OVA would have benefitted from a bit more connecting plot. However, it’s a careful balance. Too deep of a plot would have taken away from the whole point of the production: an outrageous take on magical girl anime.

Animation – 6/10

I watched a very low quality version Dai Mahou Touge, so I’m trying to score it based on the points when the video was at its best.

The animation did its job. Punie-chan’s facial expressions were priceless. Some of the “bad” girls were painful to look at, but they were supposed to be. Character designs were, for the most part, typical. Again, that was probably part of the parody. I think the action was smooth, but the quality is always the worst during action scenes.

While animation wasn’t amazing, it did its job and made me laugh.

Sound – 8/10

The music, especially the opening and ending themes, was the best, most fitting music I’ve ever heard in an anime!

The voice actors, while good for the most part, did leave a little to be desired, particularly with Punie-chan’s friend, Tetsuko Koku.

Characters – 10/10

The main character, Punie-chan, played a perfect role as a magical princess with a violent personality twist. Other characters were either wonderfully stereotyped (like Tetsuko), or twisted (like the queen and Paya-tan).

Overall – 8.4/10

Wonderful, simply wonderful. There are a few moments of cruder humor, but not enough to make me dislike the anime. The majority was dark humor – my favorite. I recommend this anime to anyone who loves magical girl, hates the genre, or, like me, is looking for rather random, satisfyingly violent humor.

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You can find more of my reviews (and my anime blog) at http://www.anime-planet.com/users/Annalyn

Changed the Blog Title and URL

I decided, after a bit of thought, to change this blog's title to "Annalyn's Thoughts," rather than "A Writer's Thoughts." I still write rather often, but I think it's a bit inaccurate to describe myself as a writer. I considered changed the title to "A Student's Thoughts," but it didn't look as poetic.

I also changed the blog's URL from liliannalissa.blogspot.com to annalynspot.blogspot.com. I came up with the original URL back when I called myself Liliannalissa in the blogging world. Liliannalissa is the main character in my first (of two) full length stories, written my freshman year of high school, so the name is a bit nostalgic. However, I now go by Annalyn in nearly all my online interactions. In addition, should I ever have any readers, "annalynspot" is easier to spell than "liliannalissa." Of course, that last bit is completely hypothetical.

Trying to get this signature background to work

I made a background for an anime forum signature (my first ever), and I want to show it to my fellow forum users. It needs a URL if I want it to upload into the forum, which I means I need it to be online, and thus this blog post. Click on it if you're interested it the full size. It's a screen shot until right between the two identical trees, where I started using the "stamp" tool in Photoshop to do the rest. Actually took a while.
It's from the anime Gankutsuou:The Count of Monte Cristo. Not my favorite, but interesting art.

Edit 1/10/11:
And here's another one, this time with bits from Vampire Knight. Why does it have to have a URL?
Anyway, I really enjoy doing this. It's nice to have a mindless creative outlet between Calculus and We the People.

Fed Up With Immature "Discussion"

I don't mind discussing, debating, or even arguing politics. In fact, I love it! And rallying, joining together with like-minded people is great. However, some people take it too far. On Facebook, I became a fan of "Being Conservative." With Reagan for a profile picture, you'd think the group made distinguished posts and warrant good discussion. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case.

A recent post by the "Being Conservative" group stated, "Dear Obama: take 2011 off and don't come to work. 'Like' if this is one of your New Years wishes." This post turned into an outlet for my fellow discontented conservatives to voice their... disapproval of our president. I understand the need for an outlet, but got fed up with the seeming lack of thoughtful, issue-related comments. So, I thought I'd post my comment here as well to share my annoyance.

Look, I don't like President Obama either, but my friends and I have more mature discussions about him and other politics... and we're teenagers! If I were a liberal, I'd look at these comments and think, "What argumentative, insulting, broken records these conservatives are!"
Obama is liberal, and the most pro-choice president we've ever had. But he's still the president, and comments like these help no one. The American people woke up a little during the last Congress election, and we're not helpless. Let's use our passion towards something useful - like research, writing, intelligent discussion/debate, protests, letter writing... something more productive than showing a nasty face to our fellow facebook users.
I know I'm younger than most of you, and I'm sorry for the lecture. I just get frustrated when I see a bunch of unproductive, immature comments on political issues. I get even more frustrated when the comments are coming from my fellow conservatives, since they hinder our cause more than help.
Oh, and this comment doesn't apply to those of you who are just happy to imagine a world without the negatives of Obama and aren't supplying useless immature comments. There's a difference between rallying and spouting unintelligible words. Sometimes that difference is a fine line.

Maybe I'm taking it all too seriously, but I think most of the other people who commented weren't thinking enough.