Thursday, September 7, 2006

Flashback...
After downloading some old doujins, I had a flashback to when I first became a hardcore otaku. It was 1998 and I was in a library in Halifax(I can't recall the name), I was just casually walking around(translation: wandering aimlessly to kill time) until I came upon a shelf labeled "manga". I had no idea what it meant(I was unfamiliar with Japanese culture then), but I went over to check it anyway. I picked a random book from the shelf(the first volume of Ranma 1/2) and starting reading. I was big into comics beforehand, superhero stuff like Batman and Daredevil, but Ranma 1/2 was unlike anything I'd ever read. It had a great sense of humor, well-thought out characters and nudity, and to a young Gary Feldman, that was a huge fucking deal.

I was smitten instantly, I began to delve more into the genre. I then read Video Girl Ai(a personal favorite of mine for it's very angsty story) and then moved on to more "blood n' guts" type stuff like Bio-Booster Armor Guyver(which I loved so much I even braved watching the live-action film with Mark Hamill).

Manga had everything that superhero comics lacked, brutal violence, sexual themes and even stories about everyday folks in normal(and sometimes not-so normal) situations that would arise out of everyday life, a far cry from the "beat the bad guys and save the world" universes of Superman and others.

After a few years of happily reading my manga, the era of anime on cable TV began. I was introduced to the magic of big fucking robots(Gundam Wing), beautiful scores(Cowboy Bebop) and big fucking robots fighting in a middle-ages style fantasy world, all set to a beautiful score(Escaflowne). Manga took a seious backseat to anime for about five years and I saw my tastes in anime change almost constantly. Initially favoring the Gundam series and it's ilk, then on to apocalyptic drama(Akira and Evangelion come to mind), back to robot-combat, then to fantasy series(Slayers and Inuyasha) and finally settling on robots once again until this year.

In January of this year, my father died in a freak car accident, I was reduced to a shell of my former self mentally. I was hard to speak to, totally impossible to console and self-loathing. The only thing that kept me together was films, but even they began to wear thin. One can only watch Pulp Fiction so many times before getting a tad sick of it. One day, out of the blue, I decide to start a new habit. I would buy at least one book(120+ pages) a week, but I had a hard time deciding what to buy. Horror novels never had much appeal to me, the best-sellers are all yawns. I concluded that it was high-time I reunited with an old friend, manga. I started with series that were totally new to me(Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo, Naruto) and after reccomending a few of my old favorites to a friend, I decided to start buying the series that started my love of Japanese culture, Ranma 1/2.

Since then, me and my manga(and to a lesse extent, collection of anime DVDs) have been inseperable. I bring it with me everywhere, buy new manga constantly and pass on the ones I have no interest in re-reading to friends. The medium has always provided me with laughs, deep thoughts and entertainment and certainly did wonders in keeping me occuppied during my time of grief. It has changed my outlook in philosophy and inspired me to take up the arts. Sure, my room filled with old issues of The Return of Lum, bootleg anime DVDs and all manners of Evangelion merchandise(from a courier bag to a "NERV employee" parking permit to 1/8 scale statues of Rei and Asuka) may make me seem a soulless otaku who needs to get out more, but I feel that my pursuit in foreign culture as not only a means of entertainment, but a way to remember the good ol' days of years gone by. Everytime I flip open a manga or watch an anime, the little child in me smiles gleefully and all my problems and uncertainties fade away, even if just for a few hours.

It may sound crazy to some of you reading, but it beats using violence as a cathartic release for my stress. I'm sure society'd rather me catch a few episodes of Urusei Yatsuta to blow off steam then beat the shit out of someone. Plus, I'm quite sure you all have an inner child somewhere who comes out when you listen to a song you liked years ago or catch the re-run of Mork & Mindy. Admit it, we've all got our quirks, and I'm done venting about mine.

To add to my unmitigated hardcore love for Asian literature, here's an abridged list of the manga I've read since that fateful day in '98, I also took the liberty of noting which ones I own.

Bio-Booster Armor Guyver
Video Girl Ai
Neon Genesis Evangelion(own)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days(own)
Akira(own)
The Return of Lum(own)
Ranma 1/2(own)
Fullmetal Alchemist(own)
Naruto
Bastard!!
Vagabond
Slayers
No Need For Tenchi
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Cowboy Bebop(own)
Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star(own)
Love Hina
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Z(own)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0079(own)
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing(own)
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz(own)
Golgo 13(own)
Cromartie High School
One Piece
Ruroni Kenshin
Zombie Powder
Buso Renkin
Yu-Yu Hakusho
Yu-Gi-Oh!(own, IN FRENCH!!!!)
Sand Land
Battle Vixens
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
Weather Woman
Time Traveller Ai

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