First Round: The Rabbit Hole [Anime & Escapism]
Prompt: 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?
Participants: Hinano, elezend, animemiz, soshi, myu, blissmo, shizukie, choux, a day without me, usagijen, gia, kaeboo, and dick
So when I wrote this prompt, I was genuinely curious about the reasons why people watched anime to an extent that goes beyond just sitting mindlessly in front of the TV, watching for the sake of wasting time. What was it about anime that made it different from the average sitcom or cartoon show? How can a medium of animation bring so many different people together, create community based on a shared interest, generate subcultures, produce a whole lifestyle dedicated to watching anime, buying merchandises, collecting figurines? Some people make pilgrimages to Akihabara, the Jerusalem of Otakus, to get a little closer to their own kind of heaven. Or in the case of the blogosphere, how could anime inspire so much writing from so many different people? What is the allure? Where is the trap?
Hence, the prompt was formulated. And the responses were overwhelming in their astonishing variety and thoughtful depth. Thank you to all of those who participated in this round. I have read each and every single one of your responses and I have found them all to be incredibly honest and profoundly insightful.
Whether you watch anime simply for the sake of entertainment, or plain boredom, or artistic appreciation, or maybe you watch it in order to be apart of something that you could share with your friends, or maybe you just watch it because it makes you laugh and makes you cry and you need something like that after a long, long day at school or work. For some of you, anime is a means of escape, at least temporarily, from the everyday. It’s a twist on the mundane, a rabbit out of a hat, magic in a box. And that’s okay, because sometimes it’s nice to be able to watch a rebellion unfold, a quest to be the best and catch them all, a love story trying to remember itself in a world that commodifies memories, and think about all of the possibilities that can be, must be, should be real… that all the best things in life are possible. For some of you, escapism is not a good thing because reality, as pressing and stressful as it is, is still preferable for all of the tangible things that you can touch, feel, and treasure with your own hands, secured by your own hard work. For others, there doesn’t need to be a big divide between the fantastic and the real, because the fantastic compliments the real, completes our human understanding of interpersonal relations, art, culture, philosophy, etc.
Ultimately, I was humbled by the things that I have read in your responses. And I can’t adequately put into words how grateful and happy I am to see the consideration that you all put into your entries, to know that every one of you took the time and made the effort to sit down and write things that were so honest, deeply personal to you, and constructive in the points that they made.
Thank you all for participating in this first round. I’m looking forward to many more~
June 1st, 20084:34 am at
DID YOU DRAW THE LAST IMAGE?
Because it’s really adorable! And I liked the first image too!
[Reply]
June 1st, 20084:37 am at
@blissmo: Why, yes. Yes, I did. =D Thank you~
[Reply]
June 1st, 200811:42 am at
*DYING OF LAUGHTER* OH GOD MY STOMACH IT HURTS *CLUTCHES SIDES*
[Reply]
June 1st, 200811:47 am at
That second picture’s rather whimsical – where’d you find it?
[Reply]
June 1st, 20081:29 pm at
for me, i think anime is so good because the people that make anime don’t think it’s anime. hahah. i wonder if that makes sense. people who draw anime [at least the ones i enjoy] create stories in a way that is very ironic. yes, these are cartoons, but many of them are about serious subjects and lessons that we cannot create cheaply with live action. for example, anything written my miyazaki (spirted away, howl’s moving castle etc) teach really important lessons while creating completely new worlds out of animation.
anime’s power to create entirely new and different worlds does create that escapism that you talk about. we get to live lives of other people in worlds we can only imagine and that anime can only deliver, and not only that, we can follow interesting people and watch them learn and grow through it.
and some are funny.
[Reply]
June 1st, 20081:47 pm at
@Maggie: It does make sense! I love that inherent irony in anime that you talked about, how cartoons can come to represent and mean so much to different people. I think it’s the limitless possibility that anime has to go in any direction with its creativity that makes it so awe-inspiring and enthralling. Thank you for reading and responding.
btw: Your designs are gorgeous. Juno is definitely a wonder.
[Reply]
June 1st, 20084:23 pm at
I really enjoyed the first round of the R-R, honestly more than I expected to – I’m looking forward to the next round =)
[Reply]
June 1st, 20085:02 pm at
Great job everyone who participated
Sorry I haven’t had time to go around all your entries and comment yet T_T
[Reply]
June 1st, 20088:50 pm at
Thanks for your comment, I enjoyed the first round. Definitely looking forward to the next round.
[Reply]
June 1st, 200811:32 pm at
It was so cool reading the first round posts! Although I haven’t gone around to everyone’s yet still, I’ll have to.
:] Definitely looking to next round! (I think next is the topic I really want… hopefully :])
[Reply]
June 2nd, 20082:02 am at
HEY NEECHAN YOU’RE RLY GOOD AT POSTIN PRETTY PICTUERS I THINK ITS UR TALENT
[Reply]
June 2nd, 20089:27 am at
such lovely pics you choose, itsubun. I second Marmot’s opinion XD
also, one commentator in my post (Ryan A), brought up the issue of the ones at the other end of the escapism issue, aka the ones who are so into reality that they forget to take a break and well, escape. It might a good topic to write about next time, and boy does many of my relative fall under that no-fun category.
And I wonder if this is the write place I should be posting about this lol.
Enjoyed this first round too, despite how lacking we are in being organized rofl. Looking forward to moarr round robin!
[Reply]
June 4th, 20089:59 am at
I’m definitely at the opposite end of the spectrum that Ryan A (via ‘jen) mentions. A lot of the time it’s difficult for me to disassociate from the GAR CYNICISM that pervades my waking consciousness, but when I do get caught up in things in feels doubly special. It takes someone like Miyazaki to really grab me by the whimsy balls, however. Even watching something like Kaiba I rarely feel completely ‘lost in it’. I think my childhood is officially dead. Lame.
[Reply]
June 16th, 200812:00 am at
OMFG I DIED. AHAHAHA BUSH BABY.
O3Ob
[Reply]