A blog entry after nearly a year of silence in which Jess explains why she likes Japanese Media

For a portion of my early educational life I was bullied. I won't dwell on it too much but one reason I was bullied was because of my interests. From a young age I'd been a fan of animé and manga. I remember seeing Spirited Away at the cinema and watching Sailor Moon during my Saturday afternoons. I got my first Graphic novel when I was 11 (it was volume one of Inuyasha). My comics pile is nearly up to my waist now. There was a very small group of us at my secondary school who shared this interest with me. We were picked on quite a lot for it. I remember watching Princess Mononoke for the first time at a friend's Halloween get-together. That same friend also gave me the first two OVA episodes of Vampire Princess Miyu on VHS. That evening felt like a rite of passage. XD

People at school just didn't understand the draw of these animated films. They also refused to even attempt to understand. And that's what got to me. If they'd watched a couple of Miyazaki films and gone "Nah, sorry, not my thing" I wouldn't be writing this entry. It's the fact they 'knocked it before they tried it' and then went on to make me dread coming into school because of this judgement.

A few months ago I was discussing a friend's interest in Japanese Animated Films. The person I was discussing this with, a boy called Adam, saw this interest as immature and childish. I valued both people involved as friends however I stayed quiet. A short while later I was having a similar conversation with another friend, Fran, and she couldn't see the appeal of Japanese Animated Films either, seeing them as generally kind of dumb. Neither friend had seen many films of the genre, their viewing experience and opinions limited to the likes of Poke'mon.

Since these discussions Adam's girlfriend has gotten him to watch Jyu-Oh-Sei (which he now adores) and Fran has been exposed to copious amounts of Miyazaki films. She's currently borrowing my copy of Howl's Moving Castle. She tells me she's 'seen it, like, eight times' and that she 'love[s] that film so much!'

I remember telling Fran prior to her seeing these films that Animé as a form of entertainment is not lesser, it is only different. There are some good animé films/series and there are also some truly god-awful ones, as with all other genres. It's similar to the debate for graphic novels and comics though attitudes towards the medium have shifted remarkably with film adaptations such as Watchmen and Kick-ass (though a giant step was taken back with the Dragon Ball movie. UGGGH...).

At any rate, I'm by no means saying that you'll definitely love Animé if you give it a chance. Another friend of mine, Phyllis, dislikes animé rather a lot. Her reasons for disliking it mainly lie with the scary corners of the fandom. It's not that she dislikes the idea of fandom (she's very active in the Harry Potter and Robin Hood fandom community) rather that the animé fandom community has it's own special brand of crazy that proves too much for some fan boys and girls (this is something I'm totally not denying; the fan girls can be pretty rabid at times). Which is fine by me; she gave it a chance, she didn't like it herself and she doesn't begrudge me for liking it.

What I'm asking for here is a bit more tolerance and open mindedness. That's all. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If someone's interest isn't causing themselves or others any sort of harm and pursuing it makes them happy then what's wrong with that?

Thanks for reading. Join us next time in which I explain why I despise Twilight...