Why I Just Can't Get into Anime...

I used to work at a DVD store, Suncoast, while I was in my last few years of college and because it was in the "ghetto" mall (and on the bus line) we met some pretty interesting characters. One of which was this mentally challenged middle-aged man who had the dirtiest mind ever. His name was Anthony. He would always come in and peruse the playboy section (we didn't sell actual porn just "girls gone wild" and stuff of that nature) and hit on which ever female was working there at the time. For the majority of the time that I was there I was the only girl working with a bunch of guys, but they were all good guys so it was okay, but it also made me the main object of Anthony's affection. His main line was asking us to be his nurse and yes I mean in the totally dirty way. I still throw up a little inside at the thought, but all and all he was harmless...just annoying.

The truly interesting people were the Anime kids. I know we all have our things and with the way I talk about LOCI and Joss Whedon, people probably wouldn't be surprised if I turned out to be a creepy stalker one day, but I'm not. The hardcore Anime fans really have a look and culture all their own and get whatever memorabilia they can get their hands on. They would spend hours in the back of the store (we basically had two walls dedicated just to Anime...everything you can think of was there: DVDs, Mangas, action figures, plush toys...everything). And there were groups that would just camp out and then spend hundred of dollars at a time.

I had people (even one co-worker) try to get me to watch some of it and I did try, but I just couldn't get into it. Then we started carrying hentai, which pretty much closed the door on my Anime exploration. For anyone who doesn't know, hentai is Anime porn, and it's not like normal porn because it's all torture/rape based and there's things with tentacles. My friend, Thalen, and I were pretty disturbed when we saw the covers to these things because they didn't leave much to the imagination (hence why I know about the tentacles).

Well this weekend I got exposed to some Anime for the first time in a couple of years. I was visiting my best friend and her and I have very, very different tastes in movies and TV. I like darker, more realistic stuff and she likes things on the cuter, more romantic side. So she got me to watch some episodes of this Anime that she had been watching online and it was this high school drama/romance. Now even on shows that I love (Buffy), the tortured teenage romance kind of gets on my nerves, so I kind of found this Anime a little ridiculous. The characters were just idiotic. I got the same feeling I got when watching "Reality Bites" because I was one of the few who wanted Winona Ryder to kick Ethan Hawk to the curb. I'm sorry but being a tortured artist doesn't give you the right to be a jerk and in this Anime, who does the witless girl choose? The jerk. The girl just kept reminding me of an Anne Sexton poem on the story of Snow White in which she refers to Snow White as a "dumb bunny" because of all the times the witch is able to trick her, and that's how I saw this Anime girl. Maybe it's just my western, feminist ideas that prevent me from getting into this stuff because I just have no sympathy for female characters like this.

Besides the story though, I didn't understand some of the animation choices. They would do close-ups of the characters and all of the sudden the character would only have one eye. That really bugged me for some reason because I don't understand the point of it. Then other times the whole face would disappear and suddenly they were No Face from "Dick Tracey." Is this just a budget thing or is there some emotional symbolic meaning that I'm ignorant to? Seriously, I want to know.

I'm sure there is some Anime out there some where that I would enjoy because I hate to dismiss a hole genre out of my own ignorance but so far I feel better sticking to the live action stuff where eyes and faces don't disappear at random.