And the First Year goes by

I just realized that today is May 1st and looking through my posts discover that yesterday was this blogs first anniversary. I really can't believe it's been a year since I started this already. It doesn't feel like it. Mainly because in this first year I haven't been able to blog as much as I would have liked to. Real life kinda got in my way a lot starting around last June. Thinking up topics to write about, was also a problem, since I don't do well with reviews and don't really want to do editorials. I just want to share my thoughts on anime, and sometimes, other things get in way of me thinking about anime.

At one point I had a bubble chart of topics I wanted to write about, unfortunately I lost the chart. Which in it's own way is alright, as I don't know if I would have every really had something to write about in those topics I picked.

But since this is an anime blog and it has been a year, I just decided as I'm sitting on the porch writing this to share the anime I've finished watching in this last year. And those are:

Ai no Kusabi (2012) - although this only consists of 4 episodes so far, I do hope for more.
Angelique - as much as I could find with subtitles and including through Neo Angelique Abyss
Azumanga Daioh
Clannad
Clannad After Story
High School of the Dead
Howl's Moving Castle
Ikoku Irokoi Romantan
Junjou Romantica 1, 2 and Ova
Lucky Star
Miracle Train
Okane ga Nai
Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi 1,2 and Ova
Shuffle!
Tenchi in Tokyo - Because I was never that into Tenchi when it first came out. Man, how the years can change your thoughts
The Secret World of Arriety
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 1,2, and all Ovas
xxxholic

(All links go to Anime Planet since I mostly use that site)

I think that's all the anime I saw for the first time this last year. I know most of these are older titles, I just hadn't gotten around to watching them before. And generally I don't like to watch something when it's popular just because it is and everyone is watching that. I usually enjoy those more after all the hype is over with.

Some things I've re watched this last year, include:

DMC - Detroit Metal City
E's Otherwise
Fruits Basket - If you read my last post you already know why
Fushigi Yugi
Gundam Wing - Because I'm working on some fanfiction based on it
Hand Maid May
High School of the dead - this is because my boyfriend is obsessed with this one
Howl's Moving Castle - I just can't get enough of this one
Magical Knight Rayearth
Orphen
Ouran High School Host Club
Ponyo
Princess Tutu - This one it because I got my little sister watching it
Rurouni Kenshin
Spirited Away
Trigun
X: the Movie

There's probably more, but those are the one's I remember right now.

Some that I intend to actually finish watching this year:

Ah! My Goddess
Bleach - I only have a little more of the anime to actually watch
Gakuen Heaven - I feel like I've been trying to finish this forever
Love Hina - I bought it at a convention I went to with Cat a couple years ago, I started it... I should really finish it
Ranma 1/2 - Argh, I'm so close, I need to stop falling asleep while watching it
Starry Sky

And that's my watching list right now.

I won't even go into my want to watch list, as right now that includes some ninety anime and is always growing.

So in closing that's my year in review, as far as anime is concerned, and as much as I can remember. It really doesn't feel like I watched that much. And in truth it's not nearly as much as I want to watch in a year. Ah well, just means I need to try harder this year.

Until next time.

Bonds over Fruits Basket

So I spent the last few days watching Tsubasa: ReservoirChronicles and xxxholic. Then started reading the manga, a little backwards I know, but I was sick and his seemed to make more sense at the time. But that's neither here nor there. While watching these two I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to watch Fruits Basket. So last night I pulled it out and set up my laptop to play it. As soon as I heard the opening song, I instantly smiled, but it wasn't actually the anime that made me smile. While it played, I thought of my friend Cat and just how much I miss her, and why Fruits Basket is so special to us.

Here's the thing you have to understand about Cat and me, we've been friends for quite a while and we use to be neighbors. But even though we were neighbors for a while, it was actually a few years before her and I became friends. See, her brother and my sister were in the same grade and hung out quite a bit, but it wasn't until her mom came over to talk to my mom about something that we (Cat and I) finally met. She came into get her mom because they needed to go somewhere, and I distracted her with my Fushigi Yuugi manga. Haha! Then the two of us talked about other anime and soon started hanging about and realized there were more things that we were both interested in – namely  Johnny Depp, after all this was right after the first Pirates of the Caribbean had come out and we’re both completely obsessed with him.  

But getting back to what I was saying, Cat and I have a very interesting friendship. Now Fruits Basket was by no means the first anime we watched together, but it was definitely a very important one in our friendship. We initially started watching it at an anime club at the university here, and we both just fell in love with it. I think part of it was because it was the first anime we watched together that we both weren't fighting/drooling over the same character, as is what happened with Bastard’s Dark Schneider, she loves Kyo and I absolutely adore Yuki. But I think it goes a little deeper than that, at least for me. Now in my circle of friends I always felt like the outsider, like I was just there to fill make a circle but never really part of the group. And so the part in Fruits Basket when Tohru is remembering a game the children use to play, a game called Fruits Basket, where she was labeled the rice ball and no one called her to come play, that was how I felt. With Cat it was like, I had always been the ‘rice ball’ and someone had finally called for me to come play as well.

Now I’m not saying my other friends are any less important and I hope none of them take offense, and I love them all, Cat is just like another half of me. And I know that even though she’s thousands of miles away right now, when I see her this summer, I know we’ll pick up exactly where we left off like she’d been here all the time.

Fruits Basket just symbolizes our friendship for me and makes me so happy to finally have friends where I feel I belong.

The two of us even did something a little strange. We had both decided we wanted to buy the anime, but as both of us were struggling at the time, her a poor college student and me getting my first apartment, we decided to just buy one copy and shared it between the two of us. She kept two volumes and I kept two, she got volumes 1 and 3, which worked out since 3 had Kyo on the front, and I got 2 and 4 which also worked since the cover of volume 2 had Yuki on it. It couldn't have been more perfect. Since we generally didn't want to separate the series and we always watched it together, we took turns holding on to the whole series. Then after a while, we finished both of our series by buying a box set and splitting it between the two of us, with each of us now taking turns keeping the box.

 

So all and all, Fruits Basket, it just made me really happy to watch it and reminisce about my friend Cat. Maybe I’ll prepare a fruits basket with some rice balls for when she come home. If you don’t get it, check out Fruits Baskets to get the reference.

Until next time.  

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.

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.