"Ohhh...You're an ANIME nerd..."

So, yeah. If you know me really well...you'll know that I am a HUGE anime nerd. I don't push this information on anyone, because to some, "anime" is synonymous with "weird animated tentacle rape porn." These people who cannot make the obvious distinction between "anime" (any stylized Japanese animation) and "tentacle porn" (which is kind of a sub-genre of "hentai" anime) are retarded.

Also, yeh, it's pretty nerdy to like anime.

I've seen a lot of series, and I'm always looking for more. However, when asking around for suggestions I ultimately get this as a response: "Oh I LOVE Naruto! And Yu Yu Hakusho! And Dragon Ball Z! OH! AND POKEMON!" So, although I'm sure these series have their merits (I've seen more episodes of these than I care to remember), I don't really enjoy them as much as say Neon Genesis Evangelion, Death Note, or Paranoia Agent.

My favorite, favorite, FAVORITE of all time (so far) is Neon Genesis Evangelion. This series actually introduced me to something I'd never really seen in a tv series: I got a sense that the entirety of the story had been decided before the first episode hit air. The series was finite. To me, it seemed as though everything presented in every cell of animation had a purpose to further the story, it's characters, and/or the philosophy of the series as a whole--Using the adolescent understanding I had: "This is like the awesomest, longest movie I've ever seen."

Growing up with 1980's-90's American tv, I'd always assumed that a successful tv series just kind of stays on tv forever. I thought that milking story lines into as many episodes as possible, no matter how it effected the pace of the storytelling, was just part of what made a tv series, a tv series (thats why it's not...a miniseries). You want tight, purposeful storytelling? Go see a movie. TV was for long-term character development. When I was introduced to Evangelion, I asked, "well was it cancelled after only one season? Why isn't it longer if it's so good?" My sister, who initially showed me the series had to explain, "No, this is common in anime...they already know what's going to happen...they already have the beginning, middle and end...and this series is complex, so you really have to remember all of the details, or you won't know what's going on."

This series completely blew me away. It had so many intricate, purposeful layers. I watched it over and over, noticing new aspects and possible philosophical underpinnings every time.

So yeah, I had (and still have) a huge gay boner for Evangelion. And, like a naive emerging adult searching for someone to live up to the standard set by their first love, I tried to find another series that was equally fascinating and satisfying. But, yeah...like first love, you can't (and shouldn't) compare your first anime series boner to any subsequent anime series boners.

HOWEVER, I still find that I enjoy anime series most when:

1. They are finite and/or have well-paced story development (they aren't like Dragon Ball Z, Inuyasha, One Piece, Pokemon, etc.): Not that the never-ending series aren't awesome too. I just find that I get impatient with them. Sometimes these seem more like money-making machines than anything else (not that all series aren't $$ making machines, but the primary focus of these series seems to be "OH FUCK! STAY ON THE AIR! SELL TOYS!"). I mean, you could watch an episode of Dragon Ball Z, move to Guam, and come back 9 months later, and those fuckers would still be fighting Majin Buu.

Also, I know that in the U.S. we get a lot of the cancelled but popular, one-season anime run-off from Japan. I've actually seen a few (maybe two or three) of these that were pretty good. However, you can usually tell (without looking it up) when a series got cancelled or "concluded" before the writers could begin to answer fundamental questions posed. These are only good if the story telling was good to begin with.

A good example of a finite series that I would consider less successful is Ghost Hunt, an anime series that ended after 25 episodes. It ends with many unanswered questions, posed by the main character, which I interpret as "we would like another season, please?" Unlike Evangelion or Death Note (which I consider to be very well thought out), this series leads you down the path of "this element of the story is really important, we're going to use it as a through-line, and it will be explained eventually...we're gonna milk it though." However, in this example, the through-line was never explained, NOR was the ambiguity intentional or helping to recapitulate some fundamental theme of the series (eg:"some things cannot be explained, and that is not comfortable"). I'm not sure if Ghost Hunt was cancelled or not, but if it intentionally left unanswered questions and gaping plot holes, the writing isn't tight enough for me to even attempt a second look.

2. There is character and story development: Don't get me wrong, there are TONS of series that I just watch because those characters are so awesome, as static as they are, JUST KEEP PUTTING THEM IN WACKY SITUATIONS!! I know this isn't anime, but The Simpsons! I mean, come ON! They never change! And I LOVE it! I do have a soft spot for Inuyasha and Pokemon, I will say that, but I fucking get a boner and DIE when a series has characters/plot that progress in interesting and unpredictable ways. DEATH NOTE is a great example of totally fall-off-your-fucking-couch, intriguing plot and character development.

3. Explores Meaningful themes/Explores themes in a meaningful way:

Denno Coil? Holy shit! That entire series is so creative, and yet uses themes from cultural context! This series explores technology and how it can divide youth from adults, creating opportunities for youth exploration and also youth risk; communication and language between peers and between kids and adults, etc etc etc. Monster explores trauma, coping with trauma and poses whether or not true evil or good exist. There are so many awesome examples...

Anyway, series like Pokemon, etc, while fun in a certain guilty pleasure kind of way, are not really enjoyable for me and tend to make me impatient or frustrated.

So yeah, please don't insist that "Naruto is like crack" or "One-Piece is so fuckin' rad." If it doesn't have a brain...I can't watch it. I mean...I probably will anyway, but I promise I'll be multi-tasking if I do.