My Life and Anime
Opening (There's probably a catchy theme song here too)
I have a very long history with anime. Even before I could find and watch it properly, anime had a massive impact on my life growing up and even today. It was anime that introduced me to my love of animation and was the gateway into my interest in how film in a broader range is made. Through anime and my love for animation in general I recently explored my interest in making art properly. I also ended up taking a class on Anime and its history, hence why you are reading this today.
It was actually watching Akira in this class that inspired me to draw myself in Kaneda's outfit
The Prologue Arc
Before I knew anything about anime I had the people around me and the discussion of Dragon Ball. Alongside that, there were always the kids who had anime merchandise that they would bring to school. I had no idea what any of it was but I knew it all looked and sounded so cool to me. When I was able to access and use the internet my early feed was flooded with everything animation and at the forefront of that was anime, specifically Dragon Ball. For almost all of my younger years, I knew all of the characters and a lot of the important tidbits and even saw some clips, and that was enough for me to be hooked on the idea. As I got older I more or less forgot my interest in anime specifically and moved over to all things animation, starting with stick fight animations on YouTube made by people who are known today as “Hyun’s Dojo”. Ironically the place they took inspiration from in their animations was popular anime, so I never was too far from it. I even learned how to make animations myself and picked up a little bit of art but neither really went super far.
I think its pretty obvious where they were inspired in their videos
The Anime Boom Arc
The world calendars hit 2020 and as most knew it, shit hit the fan. For me, however, I saw an opportunity to play more video games with my friends. Little me was kind of a shut in. It was during COVID-19 that I finally decided to properly watch anime. I had already heard so much discussion and seen references everywhere I went and I finally had the free time to sit down and watch something. My first anime was My Hero Academia (ぼくのヘロアカデミア) That was THE anime to watch at the time, the one that everyone was super crazy about. The show was okay. I was a little bit disappointed in anime as a whole that it turned out to be so just okay, the visuals were cool and the concepts were fun but I kind of hated the cast and did not like any time the main character existed. But I decided to binge it to see if it got better, (it didn’t really) and then decided to see what else anime had to offer. That is when I found Attack on Titan (しんげきのきょじん). It was from then on that I was completely hooked. Instantly the show became and still is my favorite show of all time. I forced all of my friends to watch it or get caught up. All of them were already, this was in-between seasons and also one of the most popular anime out. Looking back I think the shows I enjoyed the most were the ones with the most endearing characters. I went on to watch a bunch more anime that were nothing like Attack on Titan and I loved them. The one thing they all had in common was their ability to make characters that I just loved to watch. Whether it was a slice of life or Shonen, I was always hooked on interesting characters. Not to say My hero doesn’t have interesting characters, I just hate them. I fell deep into the anime pipeline, even going as far as to make an account on My Anime List just to keep up with all of the things I wanted to watch.
The Present Arc
Fast forwarding to where I am today, shortly before coming to college I bought a tablet that I would be using to take notes and do everything school on. This tablet just so happened to come with 4 free months of drawing software called Clip Studio Art. Naturally, I decided to not let it go to waste and I started to use it just to see what it was like since I used to be into drawing anyway. I was awful at it.
This is the first drawing I ever made on my tablet (it's Deadpool!)
I know it's not THAT bad, but I cannot and will not look for my paper sketches from longer ago
Luckily for me, there was inspiration all around me as my list of anime grew deeper and deeper, so after many months, a lot of YouTube art school, and many subpar drawings of shows like Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and Spy Family, my art today is… not awful. It was all of the shows and different art styles that I became able to observe and use to better myself that helped so much. These shows have had a direct impact on me through my art and a more subtle impact on the way I interact with the world today. Despite it being “for kids” I still find myself learning and asking deeper questions of the things around me. Spy Family taught me to find comfort in the people around me even in the most unlikely of circumstances, Demon Slayer taught me to have compassion for everyone I come across no matter what the reason and Attack on Titan asked just how dangerous a grudge can be and how it affects the cycle of hate. These shows all have meant so much to me in a short amount of time. In just 4 years I have to have gone through almost 100 shows, all with different messages to share.
The Epilogue Arc
Anime is a big part of how I have gotten so close with my friends here at Ursinus, one of my fondest memories is getting my group of friends together and getting to witness the ending of Attack on Titan with them. 10 years of content and shared experiences all culminated in that moment and it's something I will always hold dear. Ironically that was shared with people in this class.
If it weren't for Ben (in this class) I would never have watched FLCL and in turn never would have made this
Even as I’m writing this, my roommate wants me to stop and watch the new DanDaDan show with him. I can’t imagine where I would’ve ended up without these shows. How would my art look? Would I even be making it? I don’t think I would be far off from being a weeaboo anymore, Anime is the reason I’m learning Japanese. What started as kind of a joke about wanting to watch without subtitles has become an actual pursuit. I love and will continue to love anime because of just how much it has impacted me and guided me to where I am today in its own weird way.
It is interesting to learn about how people find interesting to learn what inspires people to draw and what they find interesting to draw. Since I have never really had any interesting in drawing or art, it was interesting to learn from an artist perspective what got one into drawing. I am also intrigued by your My Hero Academia take. From what I have heard, as long as you avoid the fanbase, the show itself is good and I planned on watching it in the future. After reading your thoughts about the show, I think I will be putting off watching it even more now lol.
ReplyDeleteThis was an insightful read! As I'm sure you already know, anime has also inspired me to create, and has increased my appreciation for art as a whole. Its ability to provide an outlet for a passion for drawing and to encourage a continued interest in creating is wonderful, and it's great to see how far you've progressed in as little as a year (at least in part) because of this motivator. Aside from art, it was interesting to read about how much anime has taught you and how you were able to apply its lessons to your own life, since it's quite an unexpected place to find self-reflection. I hope anime continues to inspire you well into the future, and see you in 日本語の授業！
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