Anime Classics: Part 3

Naruto:

The show takes you back twelve years before the start of the series. The ninja village of Konoha is attacked by a nine-tailed fox demon and is running amuck in the village. Unable to defeat it, the head ninja of the village, the fourth hokage, uses a special justu to seal away the beast and is able to save the village. Then, they show the watchers a seal, the seal used to seal away the demon and rolls into the present. Twelve years after the attack, twelve year old Naruto is causing a ruckus in the village only to be caught by his sensei, 'teacher', Iruka. After a day of punishment, Iruka sensei takes him out to dinner. During the meal, Naruto asks Iruka sensei if he can wear his ninja headband, but is told to wait to pass his ninja exam for his very own headband. Hearing this, Naruto promises to finally pass his exam. On the day of the exam, the students are asked to do the substitution justu, a jutsu that allows the doer to create clones of himself, to pass their last test. When it was his turn, he only was able to create one, but pitiful clone. Wanting Naruto to become better, Iruka-sensei fails him. Upset, Naruto tells his feelings to Mizuki, another instructor. Hearing his distress, Mizuki tells Naruto about the sacred scrolls, containing advanced jutsus, and gives the Naruto the idea of practicing them. Later that day, Mizuki goes to Iruka and tells him that Naruto took the scrolls. Looking all over for Naruto Iruka sensei finally finds Naruto. However, upon his arrival, Mizuki attacks Iruka and demands he hand over the scrolls. Mizuki also reveals to Naruto why he is always alone and that the nine-tailed beast is inside him. Unable to take Mizuki's harsh words, Iruka goes to protect naruto and tells him to run and he does. The two instructors go head to head and the two end up at stand off. However, the fight is stopped by Naruto using the shadow clone jutsu to defeat Mizuki. Proud of Naruto, Iruka finally passes Naruto and give him his headband. From this point on the series revolves around Naruto's journey as a ninja.

Personal Opinion:

This anime has an amazing plot and is very thorough. The story is well developed and their characters memorable. It is one of the best anime series I have ever watched and is a series I'm still watching.

Suggestion:

It is definitely a must watch.

Anime Classics: Part 2

 

InuYasha

Summary:

The story revolves around a fifteen year old girl, named Kagome, living in modern day Japan, who lives on her family's Shinto shrine. One day, she goes into the well house looking for her cat, when she is suddenly pulled into the well by a centipede demon. It attacks her, but she is able to stop it with an unknown, glowing force in her hand. Escaping from the well, she comes to realize that she is no longer in the Japan she called home. She had traveled back in time into the ancient Sengoku Period of Japan. Trying to find a way back home, she stumbles upon Inuyasha, the half-demon sealed to the sacred tree, the tree on her family shrine in the modern era. Seen next to the sacred tree, villagers capture and bring her to their village. Unsure of what to do with her, they bring her to the high priestess, Lady Kaede. The two spend time together and soon become friends, but they are interrupted by an attack on the village by the same demon that had last attacked Kagome. Knowing it is after her, she runs away from the village bringing the demon with her. Crying out for help, the sleeping Inuyasha awakens. The centipede demon continues to attack Kagome and rips out from her side, a sacred jewel, a jewel with great power that demons wish to possess. Unable to protect herself, Kagome frees Inuyasha. Now free, he defeats the demon and saves Kagome. The two instantly grow a disliking for each other, but are forced to work together after certain events cause the sacred jewel to shatter into many shards and are dispersed throughout Japan. Together they must work together to find the sacred jewel shards to avoid disasters caused by its power.

Personal Opinion:

It is one of my absolute favorite anime shows. It has an interesting storyline, decent animation, and hilarious characters.

Suggestion:

WATCH IT!

Anime Classics: Part 1

Through all my years as an anime enthusiast, I have come to see all sorts of anime shows. I've seen a lot of shojo, about a handful of shonen, a sprinkle of kodomo, and a twinge of seinen. And after all these years, there are just a couple of anime I keep close to my heart.

Sailor Moon

Summary:

This series revolves around a group of girls who are reborn guardians of a kingdom that once spanned the Solar System. The group, known as the “Sailor Scouts,” is made up of Sailor Moon (the leader), Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus. Throughout the series, it is the girls' duty, to defeat all evildoers who threaten to take over their world and disturb the peace. This show spans to about five seasons, with each season having a new antagonist and a new opponent in each episode.

Personal Opinion:

This anime is something I had really enjoyed when I was a kid. It has everything a little girl would ever want in a TV show. The series has beautiful girls with magical powers, accessories that can be used as weapons, lots of pretty transformation sequences, and adorable talking animals. What is there not to love? It is a pretty wholesome anime compared to some other anime shows. There is not much violence and rarely any nudity. The art work is relatively simple, but it's fitting to the simple but entertaining anime series.

Suggestion:

I think that it depends on the person. This series is a wonderful anime classic that has been said to have redefined the magical-girl genre. However, I'm not sure a teenage girl would find it sustaining. It is very cute and interesting in the beginning because the main plot of the series and its backstory holds the watchers attention. However, it can feel a bit repetitive. Personally, I'd be happy to watch it again. It's a nice series to watch for a relaxing day at home.

Step 2: Where to Watch and Read

Once you find the anime you'd like to watch or the manga you've just got to read, the next issue at hand is figuring out where to watch your anime and read your manga. Although this step isn't as hard as the first, finding the most efficient way can be very difficult.

The old-fashioned way to get your dose of anime/manga is to go buy it. For anime, you can find DVDs of anime series in stores like Best Buy in the movies and DVDs section where they will either sell them individually or in a series pack. As for manga, you can find them in your favorite book stores such as Barnes & Noble next to the graphic novel section.

However, for a typical anime lover like me, this just isn't enough. As much as I love anime and manga, I just can't afford to be buying that many books and DVDs. In dire need of anime and manga, I've looked to find another way to get my anime and manga. The most convenient place to look is none other than the internet.

Through all my years searching for places to watch my anime and read my manga, these are the websites I've come to like the most.

Manga Reading Sites:

(#1) www.77manga.com: This site is my absolute favorite one to read manga on. It has a great supply of manga series there, both old and new, and is constantly updated.

(#2) www.mangafox.com: My second favorite site. It's my second favorite because some of my favorite manga series haven't been uploaded on the approximated due date, but it will come eventually. It just takes a little longer.

Anime Watching Sites:

(#1) www.hulu.com: It's really hard to say what's the best watching site for anime, but I think hulu is a pretty good place to start. They have a large selection of anime to choose from and provide most of the aired episodes. [On other sites, like YouTube, they only show a couple of episodes and aren't even in sequential order.]

(#2) www.animefreak.tv: It's a pretty good site. There's a lot of series you can choose from and I haven't had any problems with it.

Although these are my personal favorites, there are other sites that you might like to try out. If you want to do some investigating of your own, just consider a couple of these things.

1) Make sure it is a certified website.

2) Check how often it is updated.

3) Make sure the site is free of viruses and other problems.

With these tools, you'll be an anime fangirl/fanboy in no time. So, enjoy and happy hunting!

Step 1: How to get started?

Getting started in anything is always the hardest and most annoying step. This is especially so when it comes to anime. You type in 'anime' in your Google search engine and a bunch of things pop up. The majority of the time you get sites trying to define anime to you, showing you news of anime as a fad in America, or sites where you can watch anime. Despite the interesting things you may learn from this entire internet surfing, you come to realize you haven't achieved your main goal.

The best way to really get started is by asking yourself, "What kind of anime am I looking for and how do I get started?" Well, let's first take a look at anime as a whole.

Like movies and music, there are all sorts of categories or genres that anime can come in that are very unique and specialized to a particular audience. The terms anime uses to categorize these groups are Children, Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, and Josei. I know what you're thinking. What in the world do these words means? Well, let me walk you through it.

Children: The name itself is self-explanatory to what age group this is aimed at. Also known as Kodomomuke anime, 'kodomo' meaning child, is focused on children. These types of anime tend to be moralistic and aim to teach children to behave and to always do the right thing. Because this anime is for children, their episodes do not follow an overall plot and stand alone to appeal to children.

Shonen: This category is particularly aimed for boys ten and up. Anime particularly put under this category are filled with lots of action-packed stories with humorous male leads. One of the things emphasized in anime like this is male bonding and camaraderie amongst male groups. The art style of shonen manga is less flowery than shojo and also contains some depictions of violence and sexual matters.

Shojo: Anime under this category aim at girls from about ten to eighteen. This can be indicated by the word 'shojo', meaning 'little woman'. Shojo anime covers many subjects and appears in a variety of narrative and graphic styles that can range from historical drama to science fiction. However, no matter what way the series is packaged, shojo anime is known to focus on human and romantic relationships and emotions.

Seinen: The audience seinen targets are men from the ages eighteen to thirty. With 'seinen' meaning 'young men,' the subject matter varies. It can range from the most progressive of subjects to the mundane and even to the pornographic. However, the seinen mainly focuses on the storyline and character development.

Josei: This type of anime series aims at women from ages fifteen to forty-four. Josei could be seen as the mature counterpart of shojo. Its art style is less flowery and more realistic than shojo and rids itself of cutesy features and sparkly eyes. The storylines are also more mature with it mostly focusing on the everyday experiences of women living in Japan, but there are some that cover high school as well. In addition, the storytelling can be mature and sexually explicit.

Finding out what these categories are, you'll be able to narrow down your search. Usually after choosing one of these groups, it becomes easier to find anime specific to your liking. So, type in a category with the word anime in your search engine and you'll be able to find sites that will bring you to a bunch of choices to choose from.

  
 

Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to my anime blog. Anime is a strong passion of mine and something I can't get enough of in my everyday life. So, it comes to surprise me when I hear that people don't know too much about anime. As a devoted follower, I want to spread the anime cheer as well as keep this fad alive. So, in this blog, I will guide you through the beginning stages of your anime journey and will provide you with the knowledge and resources you need to get started. Books, TV series, sites, and more will be available to your convenience. So, kick back, relax, and start reading.