First post of 2019!
(and a short update from me after the post-proper)

Al from SliceOAlfredo (thanks!) tagged us for the “Why I Still Love Anime” aniblog community project started by Ty-chama from Watash wa Bucho.

Guidelines

• Write a post about why you love anime. It could be your favourite thing about it or one of your favourite things about it, it doesn’t matter which, but just pick one!
• You can get as personal or as impersonal as you like. You might want to write about how anime helped you through a tough time or something that it has taught you or you might want to write about just how much fun you’ve had watching it over the years. Your choice
• Nominate three bloggers to do the same (per blog traditions, I shall forego this one)
• Link back to this (the original) post. I would love to see what you’ve written and I may compile a list of my favourite entries further down the line

Back in 2013 I wrote a post (yes, I’m an older blogger than y’all think, lol) as part of Kai’s blog carnival project titled “Why Do We Watch Anime”, and for it I gave the answer that I watch anime simply because it’s fun. I enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) it for what I would count as close to ten years now since I started really watching anime back in my sophomore year of high school. It is, and always will be, my most cherished past-time and I honestly don’t foresee myself getting tired of it any time soon. I mean, at one point I did think I was gonna drop it as a hobby once I reached my 20s, but well, I’m still here (xD).

Growing up, I’ve never had to “search out” anime on my own. Anime was always just there to be watched, owing to our local TV stations having picked some shows up to air, and the Philippines’ proximity to Japan (and subsequently its pop culture) in general. Watching anime was the same thing as watching cartoons for me, so I never had to have that clear divide of what is and isn’t anime until much later on in life.

That is to say, they were all just… shows, that I enjoyed a great deal as a kid. More so considering I was very much a TV child for a majority of my time in elementary school. An important thing to note is that this period of time would also be where I was at my most formative. In the same way that I won’t forget a nursery rhyme, will I never fail to remember the tune of Voltes V’s opening theme.

Suffice it to say, anime was heavily inculcated in my thoughts and my identity very early on without me knowing. It became a part of me whether I liked it or not; to which, for the most part, I was indifferent. It wasn’t really out of the norm to be an anime fan back then compared to other places I’m sure (or it might be a bit better now even in the West) so saying someone was an “anime fan” really just meant they watched a lot of TV like I did — or at least that’s the thought I had for the longest time.

It wasn’t until I was introduced to the notion that anime can be and was beyond the confines of what my television could show (by way of an off-handed anime recommendation from a friend) that a whole new world opened up for me. I poke fun at it every chance I get, but I will forever hold the first adaptation of Fate/Stay Night very near and dear to my heart, because F/SN made me fall in love with anime (as hilarious as that may sound). It’s not a masterpiece by any means and, after having read the source material for it (and the subsequent reiterations of the franchise that have come thereafter), it wasn’t really as good of an adaptation looking back. But that didn’t matter. What I saw before my eyes resonated with the me who was exposed to anime at an early age for some reason or another.

If I had to put it into words, I’d say it was a magical experience (contextual pun notwithstanding), seeing something so in line with my preferences at the time; a plot unlike anything I’ve heard of before (lol), a touch of romance that was bit more mature than what I was used too, and an absolute visual feature (for its time). It was like I was watching something catered and made specifically for me and my tastes. The natural course of action would be to look for more; for something that can replicate this feeling, chasing it almost, with an earnest belief that there are shows out there for me — as there are shows for you as well, and for everyone else.

That is what I love most about anime. That in this wonderful medium, there most certainly exists a show for every viewer, and every viewer their show.

However the original inquiry of this post is to answer “why” it is exactly that I still love anime and, in my reverie preparing to write this piece, the following thought occurred to me; perhaps it wasn’t that shows were made specifically for me, but rather it might have been the opposite. I was “made” for this medium; having grown up alongside it, and ultimately having made it a part of me — my personal preferences and all.

Something I learned very quickly when I moved to the States some two-three years ago was that anime isn’t as commonplace as I had been used to it being. It made me realize how much anime has impacted my life leading up to now, and how different my life would be without it. I think about the ways the people I interact with in my everyday life now fill their time, and I wonder about what I would be doing if I didn’t watch anime. What would I have done in lieu of watching anime these past nine or so years? What would I have done had anime not been aired by our local TV station? What if I didn’t watch anime?

Most likely, I wouldn’t even be writing this post and “Leap250” the aniblogger wouldn’t really exist, and would have ceased to exist as an Internet handle following my departure from semi-competitive Tekken (xD). I don’t think I’d consume the multitude of Japanese media that I currently do now. I wouldn’t have taken two years of Japanese classes as part of my course requirement. I wouldn’t know some of the things I know now. I wouldn’t like some of the things that I like now. I would have had completely different social interactions, and I think I’d even end up not having met some of the good friends that I have now too.

If anything, I still love anime because it allowed (and continues to allow) me to be who I am now, and I am very appreciative of that 🙂

ーー

Granted, I haven’t written that much about anime towards the end of last year, but then again, it was like I was terribly active in the years before (xD).

So just a quick Update/State-of-the-Blog before I let you guys go; I haven’t fallen out of love with anime and blogging so no worries on that end. BUT, as much as I would like to have a projection regarding blog activity for 2019 (which I initially did plan on doing here), all’s I can really guarantee is that as far as aniblogging is concerned is I’ll still be around in some form or fashion, just not as “regularly” as I’d been during the earlier half of 2018.

The Japanese Music Recommendation Round-Up will continue of course (lol), but in so far as anime related content is concerned, well, it’s really a matter of just me sitting down and setting aside time to actually do some writing like how I did for this one.

It might take me a while to get back in the groove of reading my fellow bloggers’ posts as well (as I do genuinely feel bad that I don’t get to read them as often as I used to), so I’m definitely gonna try working on that this year now that I’m more or less on a regular schedule all things considered.

We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime —

Till next post!