Anime recommendations to wreck your sleep schedule *CAUTION: EXTREME ADDICTION IMMINENT*
Humor
Ouran High School Host Club Haruhi, a normal girl, scores a scholarship
to the prestigious Ouran High School full of the incredibly rich and privileged. On her first day, she has a misunderstanding with the host club, the school’s superstars. She ends up cross-dressing as a boy and getting into endlessly hilarious high-jinks with the perverted twins, baby-faced senior, and air-headed leader.
Romance Toradora
Ryuji is a nice guy who happens to have the appearance of a thug, which keeps people from getting close to him. Taiga is a beautiful, sweetlooking girl with a harsh attitude, known for her low tolerance of people. They both happen to be best friends with the other’s crush, and decide to team up and help each other change their reputations and find love.
Black Butler
Fruits Basket
Kind, selfless Tohru finds herself staying with the Sohmas, including her sweet classmate Yuki, the short-tempered Kyo, and the hilariously perverted Shigure who happen to be cursed to become the animals of the Chinese zodiac (or the cat) when they are stressed or hugged by a member of the opposite gender. The show follows their adventures and attempts to break the centuries-old curse, blending roll-on-the-floor-laughing hilarity with touching and deep moments.
Sci-Fi Sword Art Online Set in 2022, a new game called Sword Art Online is released where players can control the game with their minds. Once in the game, they realize they cannot log out until they beat the final boss. If they die in the game, the players will die in real life.
Action/Intense
Set in Victorian England, Ciel Phantomhive loses his parents in a fire and gets kidnapped and tortured by a mysterious organization. When he returns, he is accompanied by a demon butler who will serve his every command in exchange for devouring his soul after avenging his parents’ death. Ciel also happens to be the head of the British underworld, and employs his demon Sebastien to solve crime.
Death Note
Genius high-schooler Light Yagami finds a Death Note dropped by a shinigami, a god of death. The Death Note comes with multiple rules, but can ultimately kill someone by writing their name in it. He uses the book to deliver his vigilante justice against criminals of the world, calling himself Kira and intending to rid it of evil and become a god. He finds a rival in the form of a mysterious prodigy, unseen by the public who goes by L.
Anime draws in American crowds
Jenna Bao
W
Staff writer
hat do humaneating giants, creatures with magical powers in a world where children are encouraged to acquire every one, and excessively rich teenage flirts have in common? They are all subjects of popular animes*. “I like how every anime is different to fit other’s tastes in what they like to watch,” sophomore Gabrielle Broton said. Japanese anime first entered the US in 1963 with Astro Boy, which attracted a young male audience who liked the more intense plotlines compared to the animated Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry. Some of that appeal lingers today. “Compared to American entertainment like cartoons, anime shows more life lessons. There are some animes with the sole purpose of making the audiences laugh, but most of them try to make audiences think deeply about their lives” freshman Hajime Minoguchi said. However, it was not until the late 1990s that anime really exploded with TV hits like Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Pokemon. Popularity continued to rise, reaching a peak of DVD
and related goods sales of $4.84 billion in 2003. Today, anime caters to a dedicated niche of primarily young adults who favor actionbased, fairly violent selections like the 2013 hit, Attack on Titan. However, there are animes for every taste and genre. “Networks might be happy to get a show that 20 million people kind of like. [Hulu is] more interested in finding a show that a million people love to death,” Hulu’s senior vice president Andy Forssell said. As for the reason anime is so appreciated, reasons vary from the art to the zaniness that drives others away. “Since [anime] is so unique, more people are inclined to try it. The plots… are phenomenal because you get topics that you would never think of in your little community, but Japan has a lot of inspiration and creativity. It’s just really fun to watch,” sophomore Luis del Morale said. Also, despite the eccentric personalities and situations (cross-dressing and demon slaying included), viewers find they can connect with animes. “I think people are into anime because you are able to feel like you are one of the characters,”
Anime/Asian pop culture terms
Anime- Japanese animated television aimed towards young adults Dubbed-English (or other languages) voices placed over the original Japanese Cosplay- Dressing up as characters. Often includes acting in skits. Manga- Japanese comic books or graphic novels that most, but not all, animes are based off of
Minoguchi said. Other forms of Asian pop culture such as Korean music, or Kpop, and Korean and Japanese television shows (dramas) have also left rabid fans and throughout the world. “Anime is the most important entertainment. Anime is a lifestyle. Anime is religion,” Minoguchi said.
Anime inspire fans to create art of all kinds. Artists to make fanart of their favorite shows or groups, like Black Butler (left) and Death Note(right). Other ways fans express their love are cosplaying and fanfiction. Photo courtesy of Adhiti Chundur.
Where to find shows with English subtitles • Many anime are dubbed/ subbed on YouTube • myanimelist.net is a database dedicated to anime recommendations, reviews, and forum • Crunchyroll has anime and Chinese, Korean, and Japanese dramas (TV shows), and movies, as well as forums and news • Netflix has a growing collection of popular anime and dramas such as Attack on Titan.