My Introduction To Anime
For me, I discovered the otaku path in August 2008, during a phase of particularly heavy movie watching. In order to find new horror movies I had not seen, I created a list of movies in my collection, movies I had seen, and DVDs that I wanted to see. I started looking up movies that had good reviews on sites like Rotten Tomatoes. I took a list of possible candidates and went shopping.
I just happened to see Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl's Moving Castle -- all movies that my cousin had recently recommended to me -- for less than $10 each at one of the local used DVD spots. I bought them.
From Movie Buff to Otaku
Well, I have not been the same since. To put it succinctly, I was blown away! I started to do basic research into what was considered the best anime in certain genres that interested me.
As I looked more closely into horror anime, dark sci-fi anime, classic anime like that produced by Studio Ghibli, and other anime that I thought might appeal to me, I started adding the anime titles I felt had the most potential to my movies list.
Within a few days, almost a quarter of my movies list was anime. It quickly became apparent that I needed to create a separate list for anime, and that’s when the anime list was officially born.
Hopelessly Hooked on Anime
Shortly after I discovered anime for myself in August of 2008, this new type of entertainment completely pushed aside most other video entertainment. Anime even took precedence over my all-time favorite genre: supernatural horror.
My anime spreadsheet has grown exponentially of late and is persuasive physical evidence of my current addiction to and love for certain anime these days! The anime list – an Excel spreadsheet available on request -- was spawned from an earlier version, a list of horror/suspense movies that I liked, owned, had seen, or wanted to see.
My anime spreadsheet serves several purposes.
First and foremost, I have always liked to document my interests and make huge lists. I have created lists for just about every interest and/or hobby I have (or have ever had), so it was natural that a comprehensive anime list come into being once I caught anime fever.
I use the anime spreadsheet to track prices of used anime DVDs, which I often buy and sell locally as well as on Amazon.com. Some of the last columns on the spreadsheet include anime purchase information at Nashville-area used media traders – places like the Great Escape, the Great Escape Outlet Store, Phonoluxe, and McKay’s. However, I do not always list my purchases on this sheet. I am much more concerned with including all the anime on the list that I think I might like.
I have a weak memory when it comes to some things, and these lists of mine are an excellent tool to help me remember things like which anime DVDs I want to see, how much I saw a given used anime DVD selling for on Amazon.com or elsewhere, whether a particular anime title received favorable reviews, and so on.
The spreadsheet contains multiple review columns (in which the anime reviewer’s opinion, rating, number of stars, x out of ten, etc. is documented) so that I can get an accurate feel for what anime titles are rated highly by multiple anime fans. Awareness of several different reviews for each anime title also assists me in avoiding those lame ones that were reviewed favorably by only one or two reviewers.
To other anime aficionados, what I am going to say in this paragraph is blatantly obvious, but I will say it anyway: all anime is NOT created equal! Liking anime does not mean I like ALL anime, any more than John’s liking a movie means that John likes EVERY SINGLE movie! The number of genres and sub-genres (and themes, and demographics, and so on) within anime is almost staggering; it approximates the number of genres in regular, live-action, Hollywood-style flicks. Anime is not just for someone who likes cartoons, or who liked cartoons as a kid. In short, anime represents a whole new world of mostly untapped entertainment, especially for creative types, art lovers, and open-minded movie/TV lovers in general.
My anime list is not meant to be comprehensive, nor is it free of errors.
The earliest entries, some of which are probably still listed, certainly reflect the lack of knowledge I had about anime at the time it was added. Even though I know a lot about anime now, it’s all relative; my knowledge is only relative to what I knew before. As a both a 43-year old guy and a relative newcomer to the anime scene, I literally do not have any friends who share my interest in it; therefore, I have (so far) never discussed anime at length with anyone! That is a trip. It’s true, though: this is such a new interest of mine – not to mention an uncommon entertainment choice for my Generation X – that I do not personally know any other fans. This will certainly change soon if my interest in anime continues at even a fraction of its current level.
In the shell of a nut, I have much to learn and discover about anime. Let the fun continue!