The untapped viewing potential of anime

By Nick Vanburen

April 21, 2021

Today, the world is always demanding something entertaining. This has led to the booming of streaming services like Netflix, especially due to the pandemic. New services are also popping up like Disney plus and Paramount+, and yet, people still want more to watch, so I ask, why not anime?

Anime is a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically adapted from Manga, which is a little bit like a comic book. The majority of anime starts off only being voiced over in the original language of Japanese, but will often be dubbed for English viewing.

Anime is often judged based on its cartoon-like style, which makes many people believe that it is only for children, and if you compare only having watched cartoons, then it would often look that way. But unlike cartoons like “Spongebob” and “Peppa Pig”, anime is often far from child friendly.

There are many anime shows that would have scared me if I watched them as a child. Anime like “Attack on Titan” has more blood and gore than some war movies.

Something that I love about anime is how much freedom they are allowed. I mean, since anime is all fictional and all drawings, they are allowed to make more plot lines then you could have ever imagined. For example, if you wanted an anime about identical quintuplets, then it's possible. It's not so possible in the realist films, because the rarity of even having quintuplets is already so high.

The main drawback to anime that most people look to is that it's mainly associated with Japanese voice acting. Which means, in order to watch it, you would need to read the English subtitles. But in many cases the scenes in Japanese have better voice acting, and even though you may not know the words being said, the way that Japanese voice actors portray their voices can often make the scene even better.

Some anime have been turned into TV shows. Shows like “Attack on Titans” and “Assassination Classroom” have been record with actual people playing the characters. But of course, these live action remakes are lacking in one major thing, the ability to be unrealistic. Most live action remakes either have to use massive amounts of CGI effects to do things like the original or they have to use other tricks in order to get the correct effect.

Anime is becoming more mainstream here with anime movies being shown in movie theaters and Imax. And soon, if the US government will allow it, the majority of anime will be all on one streaming service.

Every type of anime wont be for everyone. But that's the magic of anime. If you don't like action pack adventures then that's fine. You don't have to watch what you don't like and it's the same with anime. You may hate one series but find out you love another. But you will never know unless you try. Make your own judgement and don't let the opinions of others shape your view of something you haven't even watched.