Majo Anime

Monday, May 28, 2012

Birthday and the Pink Cow

A few days ago I celebrated my birthday. Nothing big and not much happened. I didn't really get anything except the one thing I asked for specifically. My boyfriend is such a sweetheart. He's the only one that actually listened to me when I said what I wanted.
Sebastian Black Butler
My very own Sebastian (From Black Butler) Cow Plushie. He's so adorable and in the last week he's gone everywhere with me. The only thing I don't like is that he's in a pink cow suit, I hate the color pink, but if it's Sebastian I can live with it.

When my mother took me out to eat a few days after my birthday and I brought him along, she scolded me. Said I was an adult and shouldn't be carrying around a stuffed animal. My only response was 'But he SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO kawaii!.' In which case I had to explain that kawaii meant cute and she still didn't find the humor in it all. Then she had me put him under the table. I felt so bad. IF only Cat had been there with me, she would have understood the importance of the Sebastian Cow.

My two sisters also thought it a little weird when I kept having Sebastian tell them thing, like to stop poking each other and waving this pink cow in their faces. But they know I'm crazy already so it really doesn't matter.

But all in all, I'm happy to have my cow and will continue to take him everywhere with me for the time being. I've gotten use to all the she's crazy looks anyway.




Monday, May 14, 2012

Two Cent Anime Advice

Okay, so I have a little advice for those just getting into anime.... actually a few points of advice, and of course these are just my thoughts and are by no means something you have to do, but I'm throwing my two cents out there anyway.

So number one, don't be afraid to step away from you comfort zone and watch something new. I watch a lot of reverse harems, shoujo or josei, dramas, and ones with bishounen, but it's by no means all I watch. These and yaoi are my comfort zone animes. But I can't just watch those. I mean, I'd get bored with just that selection even if there are tons to chose from. And there's no guarantee that I'd like all of them. So I do tend to watch some regular harem, and even the occasional shonen, just because it somehow caught my attention. So just to say again don't be afraid to try something new. Maybe you watched an anime that had a tag you never watched before, if you liked it, branch out from that first category and try some more in the new one.

Second, and this kind of related to the point I made above. Shonen, or shoujo are directed towards boys and girls respectively, but that doesn't mean a girl can't enjoy shonen or a guy can't watch shoujo. It's just not the target audience, but there's nothing saying that you can't watch either or. And your boyfriend, or girlfriend might enjoy watching them, so that's always a thought for watching something new. Mine is a Cowboy Bebop fan, yet he still sat and watched and enjoyed (at least seemed to) Ouran High School Host Club with me. So just because it's an anime aimed and one gender or the other, doesn't mean you can't watch it.

Next, is to not be afraid to admit what you like. If you say got into anime because of a sister, and your a guy, and she had you watching things like Fruits Basket and Chobits, but you enjoyed them and started watching more anime similar to these, that's perfectly fine and there's nothing wrong with it. And don't let anyone else tell you differently! You're your own person and are allowed to like whatever you want.

Fourth, there's no such thing as being too young or too old for anime. There's stuff out there for any age just like everything else. Like I've said, I'm nearing thirty and still find anime to watch and enjoy. And I know there are plenty of people out there that are older than I am, and still watch it. It's okay, no matter your age.

The next thing I'm going to say is, that when starting a new anime to remember that usually the 'meat' of the story doesn't happen until at least the fifth to seventh episode, so try not to drop something until you've given it a chance. Now sometimes it just may not appeal to you after the first episode, but keep in mind that you haven't really seen what's coming yet. And we've all heard the phrase you can't judge a book by the cover, well don't try to judge an anime just on the opening credits, you're not going to have much of an idea of what actually happens just from the opening. Now there are always exceptions to this, and if something really doesn't sit well with you after one episode don't force yourself to keep going on it. There have been plenty that I won't watch or have dropped for one reason or another.But do try to give things a chance before you outright drop them.

I think the last piece of advice I have for today is this, just because an anime is old, doesn't mean it's not good. There are plenty of newer anime out there, but it all started somewhere. And even if something it more than five years old, doesn't mean it's bad. And remember, it may have been really popular when it came out. It may not be as fancy as the stuff coming out today, but that doesn't make it inferior. I still enjoy Ranma 1/2, and Fushigi Yuugi and Gundam Wing are still two of my favorite animes despite them coming out in the nineties. So don't be afraid to try out those 'old school' animes.

I'll end my two cents here for now. Until next time.

Friday, May 11, 2012

HotD... Anime Love, Zombie Fear

Well the other night I finally decided to watch High School of the Dead. It may not seem like anything to most people, but this was important for me. I'm terrified of zombies, irrational I know, but it's true. And while I've tried to watch everything with zombies in it to help reduce this paralyzing  fear of the irrational, which has worked to some extent, I was still hesitant to watch this particular anime.
High School of the Dead

It was nothing against the anime itself, which turned out to be very good. The animation style was one that I found pleasing. And the story was alright to me, but then I've watched some bad zombie movies so this was better than those. My boyfriend absolutely loved the fan service and panty shots through the whole season.

The only thing that had held me back on watching it for so long was that it mixed what I love, which is anime, and what I fear the most, zombies, together. It took me awhile to be able to wrap my head around this concept and actually sit down and watch it.

But I'm glad I did. If I can handle seeing zombies in my favorite thing (anime) then I can handle them in anything... well maybe not real life...

Monday, May 7, 2012

Anime... Where?

So, we talk about picking your first anime, how my anime life started and I even shared a story of introducing my own sister into it. But now I'm going to tell you some places to get your anime.

Firstly, try you're local library, with the grown interest in anime, they started carrying some as well, so this would be the place to start just to get a feel for what you're looking at. The library is a great place to start getting familiar with titles as all you need is a library card. Though, some down falls could be their selection or what you're looking for may already be out by someone else and you'll have to wait for it.

Second, you can find them in some of your local retail stores. Usually stores like Best Buy carry a limited selection of anime titles. You can also get them right here. That's right, right from this page. It has it's very own store, Majo Anime, just for all things anime. And it's just waiting for you to pick your next title.

There's also streaming sites for anime. Crunchyroll, is an example of this. Stream your favorite titles right from your computer.

If you have a Netflix account, this is another way to see your new interest as they too have anime. Just click on "Browse DVD" tab and then selection "Anime and Animation" and you can start watching instantly. A note though, not all anime titles on Netflix may show up this way, so if you're looking for a specific series, you might have to do some searching or manually type in the title to see if it's there.

There's also The Anime Network. Check your local listings to see if this is available to you.

And there's always ebay. This is a good place to go if you're looking for something hard to find, or out of stock somewhere. With this option, always remember to check the seller's credentials to make sure they've completed transactions in the past. A good portion of my own collection has come from ebay and has always been in great condition. Even the slightly used complete manga collection of Sailor Moon I bought a few years ago for nostalgia reasons was still in good condition. It arrived before I'd even made room for it on the shelf!

And I feel I should say, since you'll probably find them anyway, there are places to get your anime from illegal downloading. But you won't find me telling you how to find them.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

My sister and Princess Tutu

Princess Tutu
The other day I was watching my nine year old sister and three year old brother. My sister was bored and playing games on the computer. Well I'd watched Princess Tutu a while ago and had thought of her since she recently started taking dance classes. So I looked it up on NetFlix and just put it on in the background as something to listen to while I took care of the toddler. I wanted something appropriate for kids to watch while it still being something I liked as well. I'd kind of done it intentionally just to see if she would like it, but for the most part I just wanted something I was familiar with and could enjoy again while I played with my brother.

Well by the time the second episode came on, my sister was off the computer and glued to the couch, her eyes wide in interest. Made me think of how I must have looked to my mom when she introduced me to my first anime, Sailor Moon. She was commenting on what was going on, excited to see what would happen next.

When the pizza I'd ordered arrived, she was still watching and kept trying to turn around in her chair at the dinning room table to be able to watch more. And I knew she was enjoying it, since normally nothing holds her attention for long. My little brother actually settled down a few times as well to sit and watch, pointing out the duck every time Ahiru turned into it.

Whenever an episode ended and I asked if she wanted to watch more, she kept saying yes. So we watched about five episodes before I decided it was time to stop. She actually whined a little bit at me. In which case I told her we'd watch more in a couple weeks when she's staying with me while our parents are on vacation.

I, instead, asked her what she liked about it. I like it because the story was cute and I think the animation is very well done, but I wanted her opinion of it. She said she liked that it was funny and how Ahiru kept turning into a duck and various other characters being animals. And she liked that it had ballet in it.

As soon as out parents got there, she started telling them about what I'd been watching. Which of course got a raised eye-brow from my dad when I told him the title was Princess Tutu. He repeated Princess Tutu at me and I told him it was an anime I'd thought she might like, then had her tell them what it was about instead of me.

Before I left to come home, she asked again if we could watch more when I have her in a couple week, to which again I told her yes.

It was so neat to get to share my hobby with someone I love and see that awed look that must have been there for me all those years ago and probably still is when I watch some new anime I absolutely love.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Start of Obsession

Well last time I gave advice on how to pick your first anime. This time I'm going to tell you a bit about my first animes, and what has continued my obsession.


Like several people out there, my first animes included Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z. Now I was more into Sailor Moon, being a young girl at the time, but my brother watched DBZ, and so I was exposed to it even if I barely paid it any attention at the time. I'm not a morning person, but I'll be damned if I wasn't up every morning to watch Sailor Moon after the first time my mom woke me up to show it to me. She'd been up getting ready for work and happened to see this, and probably thought it was something I might like. And she was right! I was up an hour earlier than needed just to see it every day, and that started everything.


My next few animes included anything that was shown on Cartoon Network's Toonami, and Adult Swim at the time. These included Gundam Wing, and Tenchi Muyo, Cowboy Bebop, Inu Yasha, and Outlaw Star. 


Now while Sailor Moon got me started, Gundam Wing is where my obsession really took off. And to this day, it still holds a special place in my heart. I loved the animation style and adored the characters. It's also because of this series that I got into yaoi - although Sailor Moon may have had a hand in that since in the Japanese version Zoicite is male, but I didn't know that at the time. Now I'm not going to start a war that yaoi is or isn't in Gundam Wing, all I'm say is that this is where MY obsession started, just because of how I saw things and that's all I'm going to say on the matter.


After this, Cartoon Network, slowly began removing anime from there line up. So I was forced elsewhere for my fixes. Luckily I had a friend who was also into anime and she got me watching Weiss Kruez Knight Hunters, and Gravitation. She also turned me from watching in dubs to watching with subs. Again not starting any wars, I still watch dubbed anime, just mostly prefer subbed when I can sit and watch it.


From there, I got recommendations from the small group of friends I made in the anime community. When I went to visit a few of them in Australia, they introduced me to so much I couldn't wait to get the chance to finish all of them. These included, Fushigi Yuugi - which is still one of my favorites to this day - Initial D, Love Hina, Ranma 1/2, Kurogani Communication, Sorcerer Hunters, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Yami no Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness), Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind  and probably a few more that I can't think of. 


Things just kind of took off from there to anything I could get my hands on. A few times I would drop something or just from seeing a little bit decide it wasn't for me. There have been times when I bought a series without knowing anything about it, other that I thought it was 'pretty.' And there have been times when I couldn't get anything, whether from not having money, or not having internet, but still my obsession stayed with me until this day. And being that I'm almost thirty and still watching anime whenever I get the chance, it's unlikely now that I'll ever stop.


And that is pretty much how one morning of being woken up incredibly early by my mom turned into a life long obsession, probably something she never saw coming and may have even regretted a few times over the years.


Until Next Time