Enter the diverse world of anime and you might never escape. It's a place where crazy hair colors and overly expressive eyes exist, and you can find any genre that you're interested in. I was introduced to anime by chance- I was walking down the aisle of a Blockbuster (yes, I'm old) and noticed an interesting looking dvd with the title, Spirited Away.
As a child, Spirited Away managed to scare me and enthrall me at the same time. For those of you who haven't seen it, Spirited Away is a mysterious anime about a young girl, Chichiro, who gets catapulted into the Spirit World after her parents turn into pigs. With the help of new friends, Chichiro bravely perseveres to find a way to free her parents and escape the Spirit World. If that doesn't interest you, I don't know what will. So here are some reasons why I might be a little addicted to anime.
1. Everything is so pretty.
From the landscapes, to the food, to even the villains, everything and everyone is attractive in anime. I do appreciate watching live action shows, but I also like the artistic flow that anime tends to have. And within the genre of anime, artistic styles widely vary. For instance, in Sword Art Online, the artistic style is simple but interesting without all that much variation between the facial features, whereas in Death Note, the artistic style is much more realistic and dark in order to depict the real world.
2. Episodes are usually short
For most anime, episodes are about twenty minutes, so if you have a little time on your hands, you can watch an episode or two. Or ten. Who am I to judge? It gets really bad when every episode ends with a cliffhanger- ahem, Erased.
3. The theme songs are amazing.
With most shows, after a few episodes I'll skip over the theme song because it doesn't draw my attention anymore. Certain anime have absolutely incredible openings that a huge amount of work went into and they're impossible to skip over. Attack on Titan's openings are a classic example of this. If you don't believe me, check it out.
4. Speaking of which, anime OST.
Anime OST has gotten me through studying for exams many times, and even when I'm not studying for exams, sometimes it's really relaxing just to listen to OST from anime that I've liked. There are always interesting covers as well as the original songs posted online.
5.) There is so much to choose from.
You can find anything from the more realistic anime like Your Lie in April or Free!, to more fantasy based anime like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Cowboy Bebop.
6. You can connect with a lot of other anime lovers!
As a fan of Attack on Titan, I almost always recognize other fans based on the merchandise they might be wearing. Whether you actually become from friends with the person or not, it's still a nice way to see that other people are interested in the same content that you are.
