OWARINAKI TABIBITO - No Make Girl’s Endless Journey

I hope I will always love anime

I’m sitting in a ryokan in Nagano, which against all odds has wireless internet. I am reading Erica’s post on maximizing anime enjoyment and it got me thinking, because after god knows how many years, I still love anime and I love it in different ways.

Some people burn out on anime because, as discussed in Erica’s post, they fell hard for their first anime and couldn’t find something which brought the same “hit” after that. I suppose I should count myself among the lucky, for while I have anime from childhood which I fell absolutely utterly in love with, I don’t actively search for anime which will blow me away. So while I may be disappointed, I am not upset if I watch 3 eps of something and it just don’t do it for me. But, I still sometimes find something really special… and I guess I am most grateful for that.

I just finished Seirei no Moribito on a total marathon. I didn’t fall in love with it, but I thought it was an amazingly good anime (just like GitS SAC). For once, there was no character I hated, I could find not fault with the logic of the story, the storytelling and pacing itself was wonderful (for a marathoner, at least), and I had tears in my ears at the climax. It was so realistic I felt I was partaking of a great piece of fantasy literature. It’s the way I feel about good TV shows, I guess.

When I younger, much younger, I was obsessed with Robotech (for Lisa and Rick, perhaps), Dragonball (for utter coolness), Lodoss (for the sheer gorgeousness of the chara designs), Sailor Moon (for Rei, oh, Rei and her long black hair and red skirt and high heels). Then there were the anime which I did not obsess over the characters but loved nonetheless for making my heart overflow, like the Miyu OVAs which had the most incredible music and atmosphere and such pathos, and Laputa during which I cried. Lately I find I don’t obsess much anymore, with the exception of Natsuki and Shizuru, but I still meet anime that make me oh so glad I spent 6 or 12 hours of my life staring at pretty moving colours on a screen.

And for that, I am very, very grateful. Because anime will always bring me a sense of wonder that TV shows won’t. I guess I just like anime.

Which bring me to, what’s good lately?
Kurau Phantom Memory - great characters and story, a good “grownup” anime
Seirei no Moribito - wonderfully crafted

…

hmm, guess that’s about it ^^;; I watched a lot of stuff but they didn’t quite make the pick. Most of it was yuri of some kind or another, but I won’t watch something just because it’s yuri if the story or storytelling puts me off. I have a list of stuff I haven’t given much of a chance, so I guess I’ll work on those now.