Bridge to Anime--ithia

Pretty much anytime someone in middle school and beyond sees something in cartoon form, they'll call it a cartoon. That's just how it is. Most kids will watch cartoons growing up and most parents won't distinguish between what is a cartoon and what technically isn't.

A cartoon, though, is typically created with a humorous edge geared toward the proper demographic of children. Some older people will watch cartoons to catch some of the innuendos thrown in for a good "Ha...I see what they did there," but besides that, cartoons are often regarded as something to be looked down on. Like: "Really, watching a cartoon? Pft. Lame. I'm going to go watch something real like rednecks in Louisiana be dumb."

Hate that show.

Anyway, though, a funny thing happened to me the other day. I was sitting down, having some breakfast, watching Blue Exorcist, an anime that came out a few years ago. My dad was in the room and wasn't watching it, just listening in to it.

One of the characters on the show got a little mad and exclaimed, "What the hell is your damn problem?" To which my dad almost immediately jumped out of his shirt, asking, "What kind of language is that for a cartoon?" Of course, I had to explain that it was an anime.

Anime, for those of you who don't know, is a Japanese animated show typically geared toward young adults or adults, and some of which get licensed by companies over here in the US to be dubbed in English, so we don't have to read subtitles.

And there is a distinct difference. There are some exceptions, such as the Avatar the Last Airbender series (so I'm including Korra) and the more recent DC animation movies and shows, that more adult language and situations, but for the most part a cartoon will feature some characters being silly and going on a little quest and following a basic outline kids will follow.

Anime, on the other hand, will handle much more mature themes. Whereas in something like Danny Phantom you'll see Danny struggling with how to battle his evil uncle and maintain a social life, you'll see something like in Naruto in which Sasuke has to live with the fact that his brother killed his entire family and has to deal with fighting him as he has sided with Orochimaru. Bit different, isn't it?

But not all anime are like that, obviously. Adult Swim used to show a lot more kid-ish anime like Sailor Moon and even, to some respect, Dragon Ball Z, though the gore and violence was enough to turn some parents away--actually the material with Future Trunks was fairly heavy so, eh on that one.

To be honest, when most people think of anime, they'll usually think of Pokemon or any Yu-Gi-Oh! series, a poor misrepresentation of anime as a whole. For the most part, that is what anime will be called. Just two days ago I was watching Attack on Titan and one of my sister's friends asked, "So...Pokemon, right?"

Bro...just no.

So I figured that there has to be a gap between worlds. There has to be a gap between people who are like, "Anime is dumb and for kids" between the people who are like, "Dude I wanna join Fairy Tail."

Luckily, there is! Though not one as abscure as going from watching the manly Shark Week (grr) to watching the fairly funny but definitely cool Fairy Tail, but there is indeed a bridge between the worlds. And it comes in the form of two shows that are dubbed--one partly, just wait until September--in English pretty well I would have to say.

Death Note and Attack on Titan.

Though the shows share little outside of directors, I feel that in today's world, these two shows are so good that any TV show collector would gladly add it to their shelves. In fact, I'm quite disappointed that Attack on Titan wasn't nominated for an Emmy for Best Animated Feature. Because it should be!

What makes these shows so great is that despite some odd supernatural elements to them, that often gets overlooked by what the show is trying to say, what it is trying to convey.

In many aspects of media--such as TV, movies, books--I find that one thing that has become a recurring theme is that people are obsessed with characters getting picked off easily. Whether it be Game of Thrones or the Harry Potter series, fans are always buzzing about who is gonna get axed next.

So much so that when I hear that, I can only think of Attack on Titan. Characters die every episode. A third of the human population gets it in episode 2. Plus, main characters drop like flies in horrific fashion.

Why I think the show is such a good gap between the world of the cartoon-thinkers and the rest of us (us being anime fans) is that it carries a lot with it. You'll see straight out the gate into episode 5, where the first big arc of the season starts, Trost, that the shows has a lot of themes, characters, and suspense. The show can also be seen as one big metaphor, but I'll get to that another day.

The show is actually an inspiration for me. The Survey Corps, one of the army regiments, has a symbol known as the Wings of Freedom, as they fight for humanity's freedom against the Titans. The message is clear: break free of your restraints, fight, and be free. I feel that is a powerful message that the show conveys and it does so through a beautiful story that will have you crying all of the time. You get so into it that your reactions are the same as some of the characters, even if you watch certain episodes over and over again.

You don't really get that out of many TV shows. A human can only express so much emotion, we're limited by our facial muscle, and an actor even less because it's in a way unnatural. But an animated character is unrestrained and the animators have restricted freedom to show the emotion on their face the best they can. In Attack on Titan, you know when a character is happy (pft, because that happens), sad, distraught, or relieved.

Above all else, though, Attack on Titan is a drama series and it is so good at conveying the drama and intensity and the weight of the overwhelming situation our characters often find ourselves in. Between the blend of the animation, the voice-acting, and the perfect music, the show will have you asking, "Is there more like this?"

And there is! Often regarded as one of the best anime of all time is Death Note, a story about a young Japanese boy who finds a notebook, and when he writes someone's name in that notebook, they die.

At first, the story sounds dumb. Guy's a broken character, he can stop anyone who comes to find him. Okay, but what if the police get involved. Okay, just kill the police.

What if the person hunting him is his father?

Ah, now we're talking. And what if...there's another like him? What if the greatest detective in the world decides to stop him, the best student that district has seen.

Death Note does this thing where you literally cannot stop watching it until it slightly taps the brake for a few episodes--never coming to a full stop to breathe mind you--because of the action. The show makes you think, you get into Light--the main character's--head and wonder what could happen next. There's really no way of knowing where it goes, but, I'll tell you, it ends in a way that's going to make you go, "OH man I totally forgot about that!" and is a very satisfying ending.

Most of the time when I'm watching a show I'll think, "That was great! I want more!" But with Death Note, the 37 episodes of 22 minutes a piece I got were just enough. At the end all I could say was, "Brilliant."

And that was it. It was the end. I knew it. The show did what it set out to do, and it raised one question, "If you had the power to change the world, would you? And at what cost?"

The most used line in Death Note is said by Light, and it is, "...the creation of the New World." He sets out to change the world and the quest to do so is about as real as it could be. You don't doubt where the investigation goes. Most cop dramas on TV nowadays are absolutely nothing compared to Death Note. There's little action but tons of suspense and it's really like a thriller.

I believe that Death Note is a wonderful bridge between anime and non-anime people simply due to the fact that it will blow their mind how not over the top it is. Most anime people think of are, like I said, something along the lines of Yu-Gi-Oh! and DBZ. They think colorful Japanese people constantly yelling things.

But with a scene such as the trick L pulls on Light and reveals that Kira lives in the Kanto region of Japan, one so woven with intelligent dialogue and master planning, it makes those shows seem like child's play. Though that is not the beginning of the mysteries it certainly was the first big step into the story, as this where things got good. Real good.

With shows like these, it's difficult to explain how they can really grasp someone outside telling them to watch it, or without giving anything away. But giving things away spoils the fun. These are two of many shows that can bring one closer into anime. I would say that Attack on Titan is like doing a dive into the anime pool whereas Death Note is jumping off the step in the deep-end. Regardless, you wind up in the water surrounded by potential, and fun.

Unless you're a pessimist and you think you'll drown.

But since that probably isn't the case, I recommend those two series to you, both on Netflix by the way, if you're even slightly interested in anime. I'm sure you'll find them to be great fun!