I am also a Senior! I envy you for being able to take 4 years of French. Japanese is not available to Freshmen in my school district, so I'm only in my third year.
Keep up your solo studies of Japanese. They really will help out a lot when you are taking it in College (which I just assume you will be^^). A friend of mine and I studied hiragana together our Freshmen year to get a headstart for Sophomore year and it really paid off. Do you have any textbooks you are using? I could suggest some, if you would like.
I know what you mean about dwindling foreign language classes. My Japanese III class has only 5 students, one of which skipped up to us from Japanese II at semester. The Chinese class (yes, we have Chinese, too) is hurting as well. I don't know about French or German though. None of the people I know are in those classes. And, as you said, Spanish is doing fine. It really is too bad that it seems so many people are giving up on learning foreign cultures and languages.
To answer your questions, yep! I've been teaching myself japanese for about a year now. I like to focus on the culture and how the language morphs around it. I'm also in my fourth year of French and, coincidentally, in my fourth year of high school. So, I shall be a fresh college student this coming fall! ^_^
I'm jealous of you having a japanese class. I get that in college, but in high school, there's only Spanish, French, and German. Sadly, french and german are losing students to spanish and, soon, there may not be any french or german programs. I mean, it's great that students want to learn spanish for the sake of all the immigrants coming to America, but let's not forget about the french and the germans! WAFFLES!!!!
I just wanted to say too that anime has inspired me. Their great messages and deep storylines have helped motivate me to do social justice work. Some animes- Rurouni Kenshin being the most powerful for me- talk about fighting injustice, while others discuss about strength and helping others. Things like these have contributed to me becoming active in working for justice. I've also written fictions that have similar themes and they're all inspired by anime. Once more, good work and I enjoyed your article a lot. ^^.
Solid article, and it made very good points. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I like how you talk about anime being very varied- it can discuss topics that are serious and ones that are comical. Its what makes it so great and unique, and unfortunately, with how many Americans see animation, they don't see the power and depth of anime.
I've heard the stereotypes of anime as well- generalizations that range from "anime is childlike" to "anime is gory, pornographic, and sick".
But as you explained (and I totally agree with you) it has so many variances with all different kind of themes. Like you, I also have found that anime discusses about how the world is and has many real-life themes.
I know I'm talking a lot here, its just because I feel the same way as you. I once wrote a paper- it was about 18 pages or so lol- about how anime is wrongly stereotyped; it went into what anime really was and how it can be very positive.
Keep up the great work. And well, about the title, I didn't see how that related to the work, but its okay. You did a magnificent job with your piece. I'm sorry for bringing the title issue esp when others brought it up, but I just wasn't sure how it fit in, is all. I'm voting for this article :). Its going to be favorited as well ^^ Keep on writing. ^^ ^^!!
oh my. Half the article I was wondering what the title had to do with anything. But yes, I guess it is just spelled backwards ^.o;
When people make commments like those I just have to bite my tongue. Very very hard. 'Coz if I scream out this 7min long rant about how uncultured they are, I'll just seem like a krazi wierdo. They'll completely miss the point of my rant and be like "omygawd, lyke, is she okay?" -__-
But I'm in honor classes where the kids are more cultured and aware that of the world past US borders. And I've got a science teacher who loves anime. So I feel like someone's got my back when I rant.
Thanx for this awesome article. Very accurate and well explained.
And I've got to look that movie up!
Hi. Yes, I agree. Especially under the part For those of you besieged by people who can’t believe a cartoon for adults is serious My past thoughts almost refelct your words perfectly. I serious. And I agree that deeper anime does indeed stretch your mind and opens your eye and so on. You certainly wrote that part out very well!
Ahh, most excellent. You have captured the situation and throughly explained it well. I like that.
It is ture that most Americans do not see animation as anything other than for kids or insanely profane comedy. I can also remember not knowing what to think when I had first read the first volume of Inuyasha. It was a chore, of course, trying to have everything make sense back then and I wish I had this article then for not only me, but the others who either looked at me strangely or critisized me for being a girl reading comic books with boobs. Some of my friends still think it is silly and my parents may never stop rolling their eyes, but as long as I understand that animation is a legitimate form of story-telling not limited to comedy everything will be fine in the end.
...and yes, not explaining things to people can sometimes be difficult. *nodnod*
Fantastic. I try so hard to explain these very topics to some friends of mine. Friends that also like anime, but can't get their heads around the nudity and such. I recently watched a movie, Tekkon Kinkreet that was a perfect example of the intense violence that can be found in anime as well as a tidge of nudity, considering there was a bath house scene.
Have you taken some Japanese? It seems that perhaps you have, because not everyone throws around the word hiragana. It was nice of you to explain the title, too. I'm fairly certain quite a few people would have thought you were crazy haha. Oh, and I just had to check in my text book (because I'm so bad with kanji, lol) but the "to" in Kyoto is different from that in Tokyo. However, you did say that they were backwards in hiragana, so you were 100 percent correct. I just checked for me. :p I'm actually pretty sure that you probably already knew that and now I feel silly. lol
Anyway, you write very well. Are you a High School student or are you in college? I can't decide...Either way, I envy you for watching anime in school. That's pretty awesome. We only watch anime every now and then in my Japanese class and those are always classics like Miyazaki films. And I agree with SomeGuy. It would be fantastic if you could get your class to watch Grave of the Fireflies. And I am certainly going to check out this Barefoot Gen movie. It sounds intense.
Once again, great writing and those were some pretty insightful points you covered. I may have some of those friends I mentioned earlier read this^^
I just want to point out that covering yourself and modesty are not only Christian concepts. I mean, I'm pretty sure you'd get arrested if you walked around town naked in Japan, just the same as you would in the US. There are plenty of reasons for clothing besides bad weather and Christianity.
Nudity in itself is also not condemned as immoral by Christianity, though there certainly are a lot of prudes in the US, both Christian and not, who believe it is. Provocative nudity (i.e. porn) and lust are what's condemned. Christianity teaches modesty to prevent lust, not because nudity itself is immoral.
Ah.. yeah.. it is a pet peeve of mine to see people who are too immature to go, "Anime is just porn," or "OMG, THAT'S SO GOREY." It's only the truth (relating to the gore) but these things have happened in history-- take example of torture, back in the medieval era, they'd chop their heads off or stretch someone's body out with ropes tied to their arms until the bones broke. This is sad that a lot of people are still "shielded" to our horrible world reality of the past AND present-- and this goes for America! Many people are still too immature to not accept the fact that in other countries, nudity (not sexual content), but just pure nudity is "such a bad thing."
*sigh* D: But you've made such an honest half-sided opinion/truthful fact that anime-- is not just entertainment. To some people, it is just entertainment. I always feel sad when someone, who declares themselves a true anime fan, can't respond to me well when I would tell them the true meaning behind a certain anime itself. Sure anime is cool to watch and get entertained by, but even some anime have meanings behind them-- but I shouldn't say "some," I should probably say all. I think people can try to figure out a meaning or purpose for people behind every anime-- even the most indecipherable anime like "Bobobo-Bobobobo." =3 I think one of my friends... won't say who it is.. said that anime was just designed to be entertain able. I don't even think they took a thought to really think it through... but most anime do reflect on values, cycles, and scenes of life.
I'm really glad though that your class watched that movie even if I haven't seen it xD You guys should also watch Grave of the Fireflies, ne ;) As someguy stated.
I think I remembered that Kyoto and Tokyo are just oppositely written to each other XD in hiragana~
Hey, i just wanted to say excellent, its really the only word i can think to describe what I just read. As a fellow Otaku i understand you points and anger/frustrations completely. I myself have had ppl come up to me and tell me how stupid anime was and i just wanted to beat the hell out of them for there cultural ignorance. I think thats my biggest petpieve. If you didnt mind I wanted to post this on my myspace over the next few weeks( in you name of course, i wont takr credit for this) to try and show my friends what anime is and if they dont like it to at least respect that I and others do, if you could pm me with the response i would greatly appreciate it. Again, very nice.
i don't know how many times i've been asked "oh anime, isn't that porn?" that really makes me mad.
also, Tsubasa reservoir chronicle startowed out as a pretty low key read and is turning our pretty dark and serious. alot of people, who read manga even, see pretty pictures and think oh it's a girly manga! but its not...
Ranma 1/2: hilariously funny, used to be at the town library. then it mysteriously went missing... i have a hunch a parent flipped through it and went "OMFG! my child is a pervert! *whisksawaytocounceling*"(this is a dramatization) bye bye ranma... i then bought it off ebay for like five bucks a piece.
people need to getover the whole nudity=pornographic thing i mean seriously. america is so weird like that. people can chop each other up into little bitty pieces and thats ok but god forbid someones ass show... watch a foregin film volence= baaaaaad nudity=so what? think of the influence on the next generation:
we can all accept one another's bodies
or
kill someone if they piss you off.
we are supposed to be the people to turn the world around!
.....wow that was long. good article tho. got me thinking and i can totally relate. my freinds and i invent holidays so we can wear cosplay to school.
I'll definitely need to check out this movie (I'm a total WW2 geek). Heh, you should get your class to watch Grave of the Fireflies, that'll get everyone to hush up the less-intelligent comments, I imagine.
Mm . . . really good writing, excellent prose. You may kinda be preaching to the choir a little here (which really isn't THAT bad, really), but you wrote this with a lot of controlled emotion that makes the work go deeper on a subtle level rather than just another "non-otaku people need to learn stuff" declaration.
I don't know if the title was the right choice for this work, though. I understand where you're coming from with it so I left it as is, but it doesn't really give a good sense for what you were really writing about in terms of culture-clash and such. I dunno, I've been brought up in the "Titles mean EVERYTHING" school of thought, so that affects me there - it's still a good title itself, just maybe not the right one for this particular work.
And yes, too many Americans are prudes and it complicates life. Luckily, you are not.
I know you dont know me, but I feel like commenting on this anyways, I hope that is okay.
First of all.....OMGosh!!! It is spelled backwards! LLH xD
Second....what a long post! Thats a lot of typing! Do your fingers get tired after awhile? LOL
Thrid....you make a strong statement on both anime and magna. Most people dont understand anything and go nuts when they see the "backwards werid book" as many of my class mates call them. And with the issue of my friends and I giggling and laughing over something funny that happened on Death Note where someone dies...they go nuts! yes, diying isnt funny, but they kust dont relize the point of it. Hello, its a cartoon for goodness sake...
I do agree with you on the nude factor. You have it on your ipod and everyone freaks out when they watch it....LOLz people these days...arent mutuare enough I guess....
Well thankd for letting my comment on this. I hope to see you around sometimes. Feel free to Pm me. I like you thoughts and ideas and I hope we can chat some time.
ShikamaruRocks
Title: Otaku Legend | Posted 04/27/08 | Reply
@TheDarkAngel:
I am also a Senior! I envy you for being able to take 4 years of French. Japanese is not available to Freshmen in my school district, so I'm only in my third year.
Keep up your solo studies of Japanese. They really will help out a lot when you are taking it in College (which I just assume you will be^^). A friend of mine and I studied hiragana together our Freshmen year to get a headstart for Sophomore year and it really paid off. Do you have any textbooks you are using? I could suggest some, if you would like.
I know what you mean about dwindling foreign language classes. My Japanese III class has only 5 students, one of which skipped up to us from Japanese II at semester. The Chinese class (yes, we have Chinese, too) is hurting as well. I don't know about French or German though. None of the people I know are in those classes. And, as you said, Spanish is doing fine. It really is too bad that it seems so many people are giving up on learning foreign cultures and languages.
TheDarkAngel
Title: Otakuite | Posted 04/27/08 | Reply
@ShikamaruRocks:
To answer your questions, yep! I've been teaching myself japanese for about a year now. I like to focus on the culture and how the language morphs around it. I'm also in my fourth year of French and, coincidentally, in my fourth year of high school. So, I shall be a fresh college student this coming fall! ^_^
I'm jealous of you having a japanese class. I get that in college, but in high school, there's only Spanish, French, and German. Sadly, french and german are losing students to spanish and, soon, there may not be any french or german programs.
I mean, it's great that students want to learn spanish for the sake of all the immigrants coming to America, but let's not forget about the french and the germans! WAFFLES!!!!
~Yosei (TheDarkAngel)
destinyssweetman
Title: Senior Otaku | Posted 04/27/08 | Reply
I just wanted to say too that anime has inspired me. Their great messages and deep storylines have helped motivate me to do social justice work. Some animes- Rurouni Kenshin being the most powerful for me- talk about fighting injustice, while others discuss about strength and helping others. Things like these have contributed to me becoming active in working for justice. I've also written fictions that have similar themes and they're all inspired by anime. Once more, good work and I enjoyed your article a lot. ^^.
destinyssweetman
Title: Senior Otaku | Posted 04/27/08 | Reply
Solid article, and it made very good points. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I like how you talk about anime being very varied- it can discuss topics that are serious and ones that are comical. Its what makes it so great and unique, and unfortunately, with how many Americans see animation, they don't see the power and depth of anime.
I've heard the stereotypes of anime as well- generalizations that range from "anime is childlike" to "anime is gory, pornographic, and sick".
But as you explained (and I totally agree with you) it has so many variances with all different kind of themes. Like you, I also have found that anime discusses about how the world is and has many real-life themes.
I know I'm talking a lot here, its just because I feel the same way as you. I once wrote a paper- it was about 18 pages or so lol- about how anime is wrongly stereotyped; it went into what anime really was and how it can be very positive.
Keep up the great work. And well, about the title, I didn't see how that related to the work, but its okay. You did a magnificent job with your piece. I'm sorry for bringing the title issue esp when others brought it up, but I just wasn't sure how it fit in, is all. I'm voting for this article :). Its going to be favorited as well ^^ Keep on writing. ^^ ^^!!
Allamorph
Title: Senior Otaku | Posted 04/27/08 | Reply
My one and only gripe: if the title had nothing to do with the subject of the article, then .... why is it the title?
Other than that, good, solid, laid out rationale. Someone should probably direct [as] to your first major point. :D
–A
xX9.tailed:NekoXx
Title: Senior Otaku | Posted 04/27/08 | Reply
oh my. Half the article I was wondering what the title had to do with anything. But yes, I guess it is just spelled backwards ^.o;
When people make commments like those I just have to bite my tongue. Very very hard. 'Coz if I scream out this 7min long rant about how uncultured they are, I'll just seem like a krazi wierdo. They'll completely miss the point of my rant and be like "omygawd, lyke, is she okay?" -__-
But I'm in honor classes where the kids are more cultured and aware that of the world past US borders. And I've got a science teacher who loves anime. So I feel like someone's got my back when I rant.
Thanx for this awesome article. Very accurate and well explained.
And I've got to look that movie up!
[9.tailed]
Razing Phoenix
Title: Otakuite | Posted 04/26/08 | Reply
Hi. Yes, I agree. Especially under the part For those of you besieged by people who can’t believe a cartoon for adults is serious My past thoughts almost refelct your words perfectly. I serious. And I agree that deeper anime does indeed stretch your mind and opens your eye and so on. You certainly wrote that part out very well!
Nehszriah
Title: Otaku Legend | Posted 04/26/08 | Reply
Ahh, most excellent. You have captured the situation and throughly explained it well. I like that.
It is ture that most Americans do not see animation as anything other than for kids or insanely profane comedy. I can also remember not knowing what to think when I had first read the first volume of Inuyasha. It was a chore, of course, trying to have everything make sense back then and I wish I had this article then for not only me, but the others who either looked at me strangely or critisized me for being a girl reading comic books with boobs. Some of my friends still think it is silly and my parents may never stop rolling their eyes, but as long as I understand that animation is a legitimate form of story-telling not limited to comedy everything will be fine in the end.
...and yes, not explaining things to people can sometimes be difficult. *nodnod*
akileh
Title: Otakuite | Posted 04/26/08 | Reply
oh dear, wish i could write as much as the people before me did. all i really wanted to say was that it was brilliantly written.
ShikamaruRocks
Title: Otaku Legend | Posted 04/26/08 | Reply
Fantastic. I try so hard to explain these very topics to some friends of mine. Friends that also like anime, but can't get their heads around the nudity and such. I recently watched a movie, Tekkon Kinkreet that was a perfect example of the intense violence that can be found in anime as well as a tidge of nudity, considering there was a bath house scene.
Have you taken some Japanese? It seems that perhaps you have, because not everyone throws around the word hiragana. It was nice of you to explain the title, too. I'm fairly certain quite a few people would have thought you were crazy haha. Oh, and I just had to check in my text book (because I'm so bad with kanji, lol) but the "to" in Kyoto is different from that in Tokyo. However, you did say that they were backwards in hiragana, so you were 100 percent correct. I just checked for me. :p I'm actually pretty sure that you probably already knew that and now I feel silly. lol
Anyway, you write very well. Are you a High School student or are you in college? I can't decide...Either way, I envy you for watching anime in school. That's pretty awesome. We only watch anime every now and then in my Japanese class and those are always classics like Miyazaki films. And I agree with SomeGuy. It would be fantastic if you could get your class to watch Grave of the Fireflies. And I am certainly going to check out this Barefoot Gen movie. It sounds intense.
Once again, great writing and those were some pretty insightful points you covered. I may have some of those friends I mentioned earlier read this^^
Desbreko
Title: Otaku Legend | Posted 04/26/08 | Reply
I just want to point out that covering yourself and modesty are not only Christian concepts. I mean, I'm pretty sure you'd get arrested if you walked around town naked in Japan, just the same as you would in the US. There are plenty of reasons for clothing besides bad weather and Christianity.
Nudity in itself is also not condemned as immoral by Christianity, though there certainly are a lot of prudes in the US, both Christian and not, who believe it is. Provocative nudity (i.e. porn) and lust are what's condemned. Christianity teaches modesty to prevent lust, not because nudity itself is immoral.
little inufan
Title: Otaku Legend | Posted 04/26/08 | Reply
Ah.. yeah.. it is a pet peeve of mine to see people who are too immature to go, "Anime is just porn," or "OMG, THAT'S SO GOREY." It's only the truth (relating to the gore) but these things have happened in history-- take example of torture, back in the medieval era, they'd chop their heads off or stretch someone's body out with ropes tied to their arms until the bones broke. This is sad that a lot of people are still "shielded" to our horrible world reality of the past AND present-- and this goes for America! Many people are still too immature to not accept the fact that in other countries, nudity (not sexual content), but just pure nudity is "such a bad thing."
*sigh* D: But you've made such an honest half-sided opinion/truthful fact that anime-- is not just entertainment. To some people, it is just entertainment. I always feel sad when someone, who declares themselves a true anime fan, can't respond to me well when I would tell them the true meaning behind a certain anime itself. Sure anime is cool to watch and get entertained by, but even some anime have meanings behind them-- but I shouldn't say "some," I should probably say all. I think people can try to figure out a meaning or purpose for people behind every anime-- even the most indecipherable anime like "Bobobo-Bobobobo." =3 I think one of my friends... won't say who it is.. said that anime was just designed to be entertain able. I don't even think they took a thought to really think it through... but most anime do reflect on values, cycles, and scenes of life.
I'm really glad though that your class watched that movie even if I haven't seen it xD You guys should also watch Grave of the Fireflies, ne ;) As someguy stated.
I think I remembered that Kyoto and Tokyo are just oppositely written to each other XD in hiragana~
jacemdamron
Title: Otakuite | Posted 04/26/08 | Reply
Hey, i just wanted to say excellent, its really the only word i can think to describe what I just read. As a fellow Otaku i understand you points and anger/frustrations completely. I myself have had ppl come up to me and tell me how stupid anime was and i just wanted to beat the hell out of them for there cultural ignorance. I think thats my biggest petpieve. If you didnt mind I wanted to post this on my myspace over the next few weeks( in you name of course, i wont takr credit for this) to try and show my friends what anime is and if they dont like it to at least respect that I and others do, if you could pm me with the response i would greatly appreciate it. Again, very nice.
Aethelwynne
Title: Otakuite | Posted 04/25/08 | Reply
i don't know how many times i've been asked "oh anime, isn't that porn?" that really makes me mad.
also, Tsubasa reservoir chronicle startowed out as a pretty low key read and is turning our pretty dark and serious. alot of people, who read manga even, see pretty pictures and think oh it's a girly manga! but its not...
Ranma 1/2: hilariously funny, used to be at the town library. then it mysteriously went missing... i have a hunch a parent flipped through it and went "OMFG! my child is a pervert! *whisksawaytocounceling*"(this is a dramatization) bye bye ranma...
i then bought it off ebay for like five bucks a piece.
people need to getover the whole nudity=pornographic thing i mean seriously. america is so weird like that. people can chop each other up into little bitty pieces and thats ok but god forbid someones ass show... watch a foregin film volence= baaaaaad nudity=so what? think of the influence on the next generation:
we can all accept one another's bodies
or
kill someone if they piss you off.
we are supposed to be the people to turn the world around!
.....wow that was long. good article tho. got me thinking and i can totally relate. my freinds and i invent holidays so we can wear cosplay to school.
SomeGuy
Title: Team | Posted 04/25/08 | Reply
I'll definitely need to check out this movie (I'm a total WW2 geek). Heh, you should get your class to watch Grave of the Fireflies, that'll get everyone to hush up the less-intelligent comments, I imagine.
Mm . . . really good writing, excellent prose. You may kinda be preaching to the choir a little here (which really isn't THAT bad, really), but you wrote this with a lot of controlled emotion that makes the work go deeper on a subtle level rather than just another "non-otaku people need to learn stuff" declaration.
I don't know if the title was the right choice for this work, though. I understand where you're coming from with it so I left it as is, but it doesn't really give a good sense for what you were really writing about in terms of culture-clash and such. I dunno, I've been brought up in the "Titles mean EVERYTHING" school of thought, so that affects me there - it's still a good title itself, just maybe not the right one for this particular work.
And yes, too many Americans are prudes and it complicates life. Luckily, you are not.
Great essay, once again.
lunastarz
Title: Senior Otaku | Posted 04/25/08 | Reply
Konnichiwa!
I know you dont know me, but I feel like commenting on this anyways, I hope that is okay.
First of all.....OMGosh!!! It is spelled backwards! LLH xD
Second....what a long post! Thats a lot of typing! Do your fingers get tired after awhile? LOL
Thrid....you make a strong statement on both anime and magna. Most people dont understand anything and go nuts when they see the "backwards werid book" as many of my class mates call them. And with the issue of my friends and I giggling and laughing over something funny that happened on Death Note where someone dies...they go nuts! yes, diying isnt funny, but they kust dont relize the point of it. Hello, its a cartoon for goodness sake...
I do agree with you on the nude factor. You have it on your ipod and everyone freaks out when they watch it....LOLz people these days...arent mutuare enough I guess....
Well thankd for letting my comment on this. I hope to see you around sometimes. Feel free to Pm me. I like you thoughts and ideas and I hope we can chat some time.
~lunastarz~
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