July 30th, 2017
Why Watch Anime? 5 Reasons to Give to the Critics
I didn't start watching anime until college, when my siblings got into it and dragged me along to watch with them. After a while though, I started watching anime on my own, deliberately searching through this database to try highly ranked shows, and different genres. I started wondering why I kept going back to anime. After all, I'm an adult. Shouldn't I find other mediums more compelling? I often feel sheepish admitting I watch anime to my peers and older adults. But I think there are many reasons why anime is an excellent genre, not just "cartoons" as some people might derogatorily think. Here are 5 reasons to give others when they ask you why you watch anime.
1) Cultural Exposure- Sometimes I get bored of typical Western stories. Correction: I am extremely bored with the same rehashed Medieval European fantasy setting, the cut and paste romance forumla, the stoic action figure, etc. Anime is a breath of fresh air. It tells stories with a different ideological foundation. Ideas such as codes of conduct, family relationships, religion, and even humor are approached with a slightly different mindset. This adds a whole new creative twist to a story, and helps you take imagination in new directions. Interestingly, filmmakers will often hire a foreigner to be their director of photography (the person in charge of the visual style of the film) because they want someone who sees the world slightly differently to make artistic decisions. A different cultural lens creates subtle changes that make you pause and think, question, and recognize new things about the same old stories that have been told for centuries.
2) Film/Art Appreciation- I studied film and the arts in college, so this may just be personal, but I am interested in many different genres of film. The Japanese film industry is highly refined, and their speciality seems to be animated material. Many Japanese animated films and shows are regarded with international critical acclaim and are groundbreaking in terms of art and entertainment. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is Studio Ghibli. America tends to make animations exclusively for children (for no particular reason), but that should not stop us from being able to enjoy and learn from the excellent art and storytelling style of another culture.
3) Intricate Plots- One of my favorite things about anime is how well planned they are. American TV often creates episodic shows that make up the plot as they go. There sometimes is no overarching storyline, like in crime shows, and the story can get repetitive and the characters dull. They renew shows for countless seasons, dragging out a show past its satisfying ending to continue raking in dollars. Japanese studios don't seem to fall into this trap, at least not as much. They plan an entire story (or follow a manga), produce it, and then end it, even if it is wildly popular. This results in wonderfully tight story arcs that give viewers just enough, and leave you wanting more. There is a reason why shows like Game of Thrones have become so popular recently. They follow books, which have years of planning behind them, and so are intricately woven into a plot that all ties together in the end. I think anime has known how to do this for a while already, which is why the genre enjoys international popularity with both children and adults.
4) Emotion- Anime shuffles a variety of emotions highly effectively. I often go anime when I want to watch something cheerful and light. Anime can be delightfully childlike in a nostalgic, purely fun way. Is it escapism, a harkening to simpler years? Perhaps. But anime ALWAYS has darker, more serious themes woven through even the lightest story. This continues to impress me. One moment a character can be caught up in the thrill of a competitive fantasy fight, and in the next we are exploring loneliness, loss, and vehement loyalty to kin and cause. Quite a few anime have reduced me to tears and in the next moment, lifted me into passionate excitement. I can name more anime off the top of my head that managed to accomplish this, than I can American TV shows. At its root, this is just excellent storytelling. The ability to weave complex emotions together through even a simple plot idea or character and create compelling scenes that resonate with human experience across ages and cultures.
5) Side Characters and Villains- Anime shows always develop their side characters, and most importantly, their villains with great depth. I get bored of black and white characters, but anime depicts grey characters very compellingly. They GET human nature. The villains are rarely simple or purely evil. Often, viewers can sympathize with them and understand why they fell to this point, which adds so much more interest to the protagonist's arc as well because they have to actually pause and question the consequences of their actions. And most astonishingly, the development of side characters and villains often occurs in only a few minutes, as a flashback in a single episode, or a brief internal monologue. And yet we care, instantly. I recently watched an anime which managed to reduce me to tears over the death of a character whose personality and past was explored in 2 minutes. The shorter a story, the harder it is to get the most important elements right and still move a viewer. And anime accomplishes this beautifully, hitting the vital emotions and actions, and nothing more, to make us care about each and every character.
Why do you watch anime? Let me know if this genre draws you for other reasons.
1) Cultural Exposure- Sometimes I get bored of typical Western stories. Correction: I am extremely bored with the same rehashed Medieval European fantasy setting, the cut and paste romance forumla, the stoic action figure, etc. Anime is a breath of fresh air. It tells stories with a different ideological foundation. Ideas such as codes of conduct, family relationships, religion, and even humor are approached with a slightly different mindset. This adds a whole new creative twist to a story, and helps you take imagination in new directions. Interestingly, filmmakers will often hire a foreigner to be their director of photography (the person in charge of the visual style of the film) because they want someone who sees the world slightly differently to make artistic decisions. A different cultural lens creates subtle changes that make you pause and think, question, and recognize new things about the same old stories that have been told for centuries.
2) Film/Art Appreciation- I studied film and the arts in college, so this may just be personal, but I am interested in many different genres of film. The Japanese film industry is highly refined, and their speciality seems to be animated material. Many Japanese animated films and shows are regarded with international critical acclaim and are groundbreaking in terms of art and entertainment. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is Studio Ghibli. America tends to make animations exclusively for children (for no particular reason), but that should not stop us from being able to enjoy and learn from the excellent art and storytelling style of another culture.
3) Intricate Plots- One of my favorite things about anime is how well planned they are. American TV often creates episodic shows that make up the plot as they go. There sometimes is no overarching storyline, like in crime shows, and the story can get repetitive and the characters dull. They renew shows for countless seasons, dragging out a show past its satisfying ending to continue raking in dollars. Japanese studios don't seem to fall into this trap, at least not as much. They plan an entire story (or follow a manga), produce it, and then end it, even if it is wildly popular. This results in wonderfully tight story arcs that give viewers just enough, and leave you wanting more. There is a reason why shows like Game of Thrones have become so popular recently. They follow books, which have years of planning behind them, and so are intricately woven into a plot that all ties together in the end. I think anime has known how to do this for a while already, which is why the genre enjoys international popularity with both children and adults.
4) Emotion- Anime shuffles a variety of emotions highly effectively. I often go anime when I want to watch something cheerful and light. Anime can be delightfully childlike in a nostalgic, purely fun way. Is it escapism, a harkening to simpler years? Perhaps. But anime ALWAYS has darker, more serious themes woven through even the lightest story. This continues to impress me. One moment a character can be caught up in the thrill of a competitive fantasy fight, and in the next we are exploring loneliness, loss, and vehement loyalty to kin and cause. Quite a few anime have reduced me to tears and in the next moment, lifted me into passionate excitement. I can name more anime off the top of my head that managed to accomplish this, than I can American TV shows. At its root, this is just excellent storytelling. The ability to weave complex emotions together through even a simple plot idea or character and create compelling scenes that resonate with human experience across ages and cultures.
5) Side Characters and Villains- Anime shows always develop their side characters, and most importantly, their villains with great depth. I get bored of black and white characters, but anime depicts grey characters very compellingly. They GET human nature. The villains are rarely simple or purely evil. Often, viewers can sympathize with them and understand why they fell to this point, which adds so much more interest to the protagonist's arc as well because they have to actually pause and question the consequences of their actions. And most astonishingly, the development of side characters and villains often occurs in only a few minutes, as a flashback in a single episode, or a brief internal monologue. And yet we care, instantly. I recently watched an anime which managed to reduce me to tears over the death of a character whose personality and past was explored in 2 minutes. The shorter a story, the harder it is to get the most important elements right and still move a viewer. And anime accomplishes this beautifully, hitting the vital emotions and actions, and nothing more, to make us care about each and every character.
Why do you watch anime? Let me know if this genre draws you for other reasons.
Posted by singmuse4 | Jul 30, 2017 6:10 PM | 0 comments