Sunday, October 19, 2003

   Anime becoming more mainstream: Good or bad?
How many TV channels show anime? Well, we have Cartoon Network, TechTV, ABC Family, Nickelodeon, Fox, Showtime(Beyond & Next), and soon MTV. ADV has even started an all anime channel. There might be more channels but, that's all I can think of right now. Anime is becoming more mainstream in America. More and more titles are being licensed, More distribution companies are popping up, and more TV networks are picking up anime series'. Is this mainstream explosion a good thing or a bad thing? I've heard many of view points on this subject. Let's evaluate the two main views.

GOOD: Some people like having more anime in the mainstream. It introduces new people to the genre and having anime on more TV networks gives fans more of a choice. People like it because it gives them a chance to see what a particular anime is like before they go out and buy it. They also like it because they can just watch a certain anime and not have to go out and blow a bunch of money on the videos.

BAD: There are other people that hate the Idea of mainstream anime. They want it to be a more underground thing. They feel that liking anime and hanging out with other die hard anime fans defines their individuality. They feel that putting more anime into the mainstream will only bring out more "posers". They are sick of running into posers(people who watches one anime and think they know everything there is to know about the whole genre) and they would much rather discuss anime with people that actually know quite a bit about it.

Which side are you on? Well, the biggest factor for me is how I got hooked on to anime in the first place. When I was a little kid, I used to go to my Grandpa's house and his Idea of quality entertainment was anime LD's(Laser discs). I remember sitting down and watching Vampire Hunter D without subtiles or englih language. The LD was a pure import. At that time(real late '80s), I was confused that my Grandpa would watch foreign cartoons. In the early '90s, my Grandpa took me to California for an anime convention. I didn't want to go but, my parents insisted that I spent time with Grandpa. If my parents knew that it was an anime convention, they wouldn't have let me go. My parents were overly religious and they believed that radio, tv, and mere newspapers were propaganda for the devil so when I went, I swore my secrecy about it to my Grandps. The convention was weird to me at first. There wasn't much cosplay. There was a few people dressed up as anime characters but, most of the people were wearing flannel. Yes, FLANNEL. It looked more like a flannel convention than an anime con. Me and my Grandpa went to a spot that lead to my love for anime. This place was selling VHS's of Devil Hunter Yohko and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than an LD. My Grandpa happily bought one and when we left, My Grandpa had spent over a thousand bucks on LD's and that Devil Hunter Yohko tape. When we got back home, My grandpa popped the new tape in the VCR and I was blown away. It was SUBBED! I understood what was going on! When I watched it, I thought it was the best cartoon ever made. That started my obsession with anime.

I do like the Idea of having more anime choices on TV but, I also agree that it would only bring more posers. I'm kind of torn up on the views of mainstream anime. What do YOU think?
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