Kicking it Old School
So I used to be really into anime when I was younger. Really into anime. Network broadcasts of Sailor Moon hooked me in middle-school, which lead to Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi Muyo, and a fervor for monthly issues of Animerica. I fondly remember the monthly trips down to the local bookstore with my dad to see if the new issues were in, and I also remember distinctly the trip to Yosemite with my then girlfriends where I brought along the just-released first issue of Animerica Extra. My boyfriend/fiance of the past seven years I happened to have met on a Dragonball Z newsgroup (true story). The the annual Otakon excursions that occurred during my first couple years after moving out east always bring back great memories. So you could say I owe the fandom a lot.
But I fell out of it a few years ago. The last show I watched in earnest was Full Metal Alchemist, and even then I didn’t even bother with the movie; the crew hasn’t been to Otakon in a good four years; and my last mainstay to the fandom, manga, tapered off after I realized how much of a useless money-sink graphic novels were- though I habitually check for new volumes of Hellsing. We’ll pop into Anime Boston every other year but not for the same reasons. I guess the part of me that cared about anime was gradually replaced by my scholastic interests while my interest in video games expanded and filled in the rest of the gap.
But lately I find myself occasionally peeking in at the anime boards on the SomethingAwful forums. I don’t even know what I’m looking for exactly but all the shows being discussed look like crap. Why am I even visiting the boards in the first place, though? I think maybe watching Avatar the Last Airbender has done something to me. It seems that the drought of new episodes lately has made me yearn for more episodic-style animated stories to follow.
But recently I did finally find something that piqued my interest: they’re making a new Slayers series. I actually never watched Slayers. And now that I think about it I have no idea why. It was around in full swing during my anime heyday, and I recall seeing a plethora of ads, reviews, etc. Hell, the show Sorcerer Hunters was one of my favorites and it’s the same damn setting. So I fine myself curious why I didn’t feel compelled to watch Slayers.
I think it was because the theme didn’t appeal to me at the time. I never played D&D, didn’t have anyone to play Magic: The Gathering with, I hadn’t read The Lord of the Rings, didn’t play Western RPGs yet, and even then I didn’t start playing JRPGs until FFVII- which was more cyber-punky than fantasy. So I completely bypassed all of the popular fantasy-themed shows: Slayers, Escaflowne, Record of Lodoss War. The aforementioned Sorcerer Hunters I only got into because of TokyoPop running the manga in their magazine when I happened to subscribe to it.
Now that I’m more versed in Western-style fantasy I want to go back and give these shows a shot. I’m guessing they probably don’t age well and that my lack of attention span for TV shows in general will be my undoing in the endeavor, but I’m going to be bugged by it until I at least try.
First I need to watch these two disks of I, Claudius so I can get my Netflix queue moving again!
Originally published at glitzy bad. You can comment here or there.