The Anime Community

BY ABIGAIL INOSTROZA

Getting bored of your regular shows? Or do you want to explore something new? Anime could be what you’re looking for. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, we’ve all had to stay home to keep ourselves and everyone else safe. Sometimes staying at home can be really boring or you just need something to entertain yourself. Anime is a great way to entertain yourself and also even learn something or motivate yourself to do something you’re passionate about. Since the pandemic began, anime has become a trend and more people are starting to watch anime. There are so many different genres of anime that you would like such as, romance, comedy, drama, slice of life, mecha, shonen, shojo, and many more!

Dean Se (12) said “It has helped me distract myself from some problems and struggles I’ve had.” Below is Dean Se’s Initial D shoes.

Anime can be a form of escape of coping mechanisms for those who are struggling with different things in their life and also help them learn something that could also help them overcome different obstacles they could be facing or are facing. Dean Se also said, “its given me a new view on certain aspects of life.” Watching anime has helped him achieve different points of views so he can understand others better and can help improve future friendships or even relationships.

Some individuals can also gain new hobbies from watching animes such as watching “Your Lie in April” can inspire someone to pursue a life of music and know how to appreciate its beauty and meaning. Zach Flores (12) said, “It’s helped me become interested in things that I probably wouldn’t have experienced if I just watched stuff from here in the States. It’s also given my friends and I more things to talk about and share.” Below is Zach Flores Gundam collection.

Having people to share conspiracies and theories about different anime shows is great and thanks to anime, there is a whole community where you 14

can make friends and share your love of a show or character. Interacting with others that have the same interests is a great way of staying social and staying safe during this time. Anime is also a great way of exploring yourself and even finding something new about yourself that you didn’t know before. Sebastian Diaz (12) said “They’ve been able to really cut deep and get raw emotions out of me that books, and TV and western cartoons really don’t or haven’t.” It’s incredible how so many people can be reached at a different level emotionally through anime than western cartoons could ever reach them.

In the industry of animation, it takes a lot of money, time, and dedication to make just one episode of an anime show that it helps the viewers enjoy watching the anime more as the fans can see and admire the art work, animation, and effort put in the whole episode. Benjamin Dabucon (12) said “The amount of work and effort that’s put into things such as character design, animation, and musical score that makes watching an anime so enjoyable and even memorable, is one of my favorite aspects of the industry and anime as a whole.” Benjamin Dabucons Pop Figurinw from My hero academia.

Recommendations and Reviews

and its plot, Benjamin had also mentioned his enjoyment of anime being because of, “The use of detailed writing and well-developed characters.” Character development is one aspect of an anime show that helps connect the viewer to the show as the audience can grow an emotional connection with the character and can see that character as their comfort character. A comfort character is a fictional character typically from an anime that they can identify themselves with and find immense comfort in. Having an emotional attachment to a character can be taken in both a positive and negative way as it depends on how attached the person is to the character. Some characters can impact a person in a positive way helping them learn moral and take those morals personally. Mckenna Davari (12) said “Each show/movie varies in their vision of how such a world is supposed to be no matter what the future holds and the major theme across the titles and watching different genres of anime allows myself to take back a different morals from each story.” Below we show Mckenna Davari with her anime themed board. Haikyuu (show)

A sports anime focuses on volleyball players that do their best and work hard to get to nationals. The main protagonist a devoted volleyball player that played throughout middle school but was slightly ostracized from his school but going to highschool, he found his team and make great memorable experiences throughout his high school years. He faces a few obstacles trying to make his way to nationals but his friends were always there to help him get through them. Rating: (9/10) The character development was a bit of a slow burn but was worth it at the end and there are many loveable characters that you can easily fall in love with. I love how it really valued friendship, hard work, and making your dreams a reality no matter how hard it gets.

Anime is able teach the viewers of different morals and values that the characters may possess that the viewers can take from the show and apply it to their lives in a positive way.

When a person starts watching anime they have the opportunity to watch an anime very mainstream or very unpopular or just not very known. Being careful with what anime’s you watch is important because not all animes are suited for everyone; there are animes that could be too intense for the viewers so reading reviews about the anime show before watching it is a great way to check if you want to watch it but don’t want to be surprised by what is shown. Twitter, Reddit, and other websites can give you great reviews of animes without spoiling anything major for you but do be careful of TikTok reviews as they can sometimes contain major spoilers then it becomes a very sad time as you now know what the big secret was supposed to be or who wins in a fight or not.

Above shows Isabelle Gultom (12) with her anime collection. Isabelle Gultom gives advice for people who might be just starting to watch anime, “Take your time and have fun! Don’t be scared to watch animes that aren’t so popular and trendy. Also you shouldn’t be scared of older animes with old animations. Current popular anime’s wouldn’t be the way they were without the influence of the older ones.”

If you are starting to watch anime, have fun and enjoy it and interact with the community, you could meet new friends with the same interests as you and you can learn new lessons and develop more social skills doing so.

Photo Credit: Dean Se, Zach Flores, Benjamin Dabucon, Mckenna Davari, Isabelle Gultom