Anime: A New Art Form, Not a Childish Hobby

Anime lovers are called Otaku, which is western for ‘freak’ or Japanese for ‘fan.’ Those that enjoy anime are shoved into that category for no reason aside from the fact that they like cartoon stories. They are seen as childish, immature, and having no real life. This simply isn’t true. There are many reasons that anime is a legitimate art form and “otaku” should be viewed as no different from people who love action movies or love stories..

Many heroes in anime are not typical Western heroes. Our heroes are Rambo, Dirty Harry, and Indiana Jones - somebody with a gun, an attitude, and a way with women. Sometimes the hero is a woman, but these cases are few and far between- women are usually just romantic interests for the hero. You don’t get swordsmen, space-age heroes (since Buck Rogers, anyway) or children in our movies-until you go to movies based on history, 80's kids shows, and kid’s movies. In anime, the heroes tend to be younger and less capable. Their shows focus on the growth of characters instead of how many explosions movie makers can stuff in. (though there are still lots of explosions).

Anime is Eastern-style cartoons, not Western.. Most American adults see cartoons as kid stuff. They ‘grew out of it’ by the time they were eleven, or so they’ll claim. Why do so many people love anime, despite their 'cartoon' roots? The simple, wrong answer is that they don’t have the mental capacity to deal with seventy-three seasons of “Friends” or “Everybody Loves Raymond.” The more complex answer is that they like stories in a different medium, and that they look past the artwork to see a tale being told - often with scantily-clad, impossibly-endowed cartoon women.