Animation and comics has become one of the most popular entertainment sources throughout the years. Anime, originating from Japan, has grown in popularity for the mass production, diverse genres, online streaming sources, and the ability to break language barriers. I’m sure you can picture the high-pitched voices and the cringe-worthy scenes but there is so much good to anime that goes beyond what meets the eye.
Anime is something more than just the fandoms that surround it, there are so many genres, storylines, characters to follow. This makes viewers like Mariah Creighton fall in love with it.
“I like it because there’s a lot of genres and characters which a lot can be done with,” Creighton said. “The style is nice, the animation is really cool, and the voice acting is always really good.”
Unlike the masses who began watching anime around their teen years, Creighton’s passion for animated television started at a young age.
“My parents were into it, so I would watch it with my mom,” Creighton explained. “I really started watching it around first grade, and I just kept watching it ever since.”
The first anime senior Jackson Campbell watched was the show “Assasanation Classroom”, it was recommended to him by a friend of his. He was under the impression that anime was “weird” until he actually watched one that changed his mind.
“I’d say there’s definitely a good subsection of people who watch it because it’s interesting, not because there’s weird stuff in it,” Campbell said. “I think it’s cool because they can pump it out super fast, [meaning] there’s a lot of it, so there’s something for everybody.”
Creighton gives her opinion on the misconceptions.
“A lot of people think they’re all girls with really high voices, animal ears and a lot of weird stuff,” Creighton explained. “But that is one big genre that you can avoid, [really, you can find] a lot of action with really good stories.”
Senior Reese Brayton is a huge fan of manga purely because of the artwork and the lack of filler storylines. He describes why he decided to read the stories instead of watching.
“It is all done by hand and by the creator so it gives more personalization than it being animated,” Brayton said. “The actual shows themselves don’t do the artwork or the visuals justice, especially if they’re in a rush because they’re working to get episodes out for production.”
Not only does Brayton enjoy that you can appreciate the artwork for more than seconds on a TV screen but he thinks the stories are a lot easier to get into by reading.
“Episodes tend to be stretched around 25 to 30 minutes while you can read multiple chapters in less than 10 minutes or so if you’re just reading at a constant pace,” Brayton said.
If you are considering picking up anime for the first time, Creighton recommends starting with something short. If you’re into physiological horror, she recommends “The Promised Neverland”. Jackson Campbell recommends one of his favorites “To Your Eternity”.
“It’s crazy emotional, touching, and sad,” Campbell said. “It’s about a guy trying to find himself.”
