All girls round robin

This is a beautiful world, is it a world that people escape to?

The first topic for the all girls round robin is up, and I’m one of the writers who signed up, this blog was made for this purpose after all. Since I live in Pacific time, this will probably be one of the latest posts. The topic is:

The Rabbit Hole: Anime and Escapism

Why do you watch anime? What do you get out of it? Think about this prompt in terms of escapism. What is it that you are escaping from? How does anime offer you an escape from your reality? Talk about the way in which anime distorts reality by offering up fan services of all types, fuzzy feelings, and happy endings. What is the appeal of anime? How do you balance reality with the unrealistic nature of anime? Does this make you feel like a coward for not being able to cope with reality? Or do you think it’s a healthy refuge from the stress and hard realities of daily life?

My little love for anime and manga started in elementary school, because you cannot be a grade school girl in a Chinese city without knowing about sailor moon. Strangely, I really liked it even though I never watched a single complete episode of it. My first manga was also sailor moon, as one of my cousins gave me the complete manga set. Of course I didn’t know it was called manga back then, I just looked it as the only form of entertainment I would be able to understand for the next few months. (I’m an immigrant who moved in elementary school). The surprising thing is that I loved it, and continue to love it even now. (Seriously, even though the anime completely ruined its reputation, the manga of sailor moon is really good.) I re-read it countless times. Why? Because I was bored. Bored of strange people with strange habits who spoke a strange language that I didn’t understand. And tired, tired of the seemingly endless amounts of word that I’m supposed to learn and of the way people treated me.

One of my favorite mangas of all time

My first proper contact with anime would be Inuyasha (I can hear groaning already). Hear me out, I bet this is one of the more original stories. My dad had to get his appendix removed, and so I was waiting in the hospital with my mom who was freaking out. There happened to be a TV in the waiting room, and it was turned on to Inuyasha. I watched it, got interested, and bought the whole thing 2 months later in China (why China? Because it hasn’t been fully released in English yet). After a few years, I discovered the way to download things off of the internet and I’ve been going at it ever since. But even now, as I have friends, things to do, and no trouble with the language, I still stuck with anime.

For me, it’s something enjoyable that I use so that I can have no empty time. I have a strong dislike for empty time, because of reasons that escape me. I don’t think that anyone would like to be stuck with free time with nothing to do. Anime, manga, and games are something that are really enjoyable that I can use to get rid of something I hate.

Some people think guys watch anime to see pretty girls that they would never get in contact with in real life. Is that a form of escape? Or are they wrong?

I’m a sucker for happy endings, and I just can’t seem to like a story that dosen’t end well. Maybe I’m like that since it lets me think that everything will work out well, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with being optimistic. There are a lot of other things that I like about anime, the gorgeous pictures, high quality animation, soundtracks, well written stories, etc, etc. but you know what? When one of my friends asked why I liked anime, I was stuck for an answer! I found that I couldn’t describe my like in some way that satisfies me. There’s just something about it that is so entrancing about anime. Even if it’s completely unrealistic, it is still some other world that I can look on to.

Would someone call this an unhealthy obsession? I don’t think so. No, not unless it’s someone who uses anime as their sole reason for existence. I can go without anime for a week and still be fine. I rarely turn down something to do with my friends just so I can watch some episode of this and that as soon as it’s released. While I know I can’t apply my example to everyone, I still think it’s fine to have something that you can look forward to and indulge yourself with.

Anime is like ice cream, good in small amounts, excellent in larger amounts, but if you have too much, it’s kinda bad for you and people’ll think you are werid.

In the end, it is an escape, and everyone will have to deal with whatever they are supposed to be doing in a few hours. But is that few hours were spent in doing something that makes you happy, then I think it’s fine. Sure, some people may think you are crazy, but you know what? Everyone has their guilty pleasures and theirs will be more guilty and strange then yours.

P.S.

Okay, Most of the people have posted their, well, posts, I’ve added the links.

AGRR: The Rabbit Hole – Means of Escaping Reality

Here’s another

Anime, Casual Hobby Or Personal Rabbit-Hole?

And another post

And yet another

Just click this will ya

http://www.elezend.com/2008/05/31/round-ro…e-and-escapism/

Anime and Escapism: Living in and Out of Your Comfy Anime Burrow

http://giapet.net/2008/05/31/round-robin-i…hole-joke-here/

And the last, I think