Let me tell you a secret, I’m old. I started watching anime before anyone knew it was anime. When I was a kid there were two amazing shows on television every day after school. The first one was Starblazers. Most of you may know it as Space Battleship Yamato. This was a story about humans racing across the galaxy to find a cure to heal the dying Earth, while being chased by the aliens who ruined the planet. Yes, Yamato was originally from the 70’s. Yes, I am that old. Shut up. This was the first cartoon that had more of a plot than “Good guys win and bad guys escape to do evil another day.” In Starblazers there were people who actually died. I learned about sacrifice and I truly worried if the bad guys were going to win. I had to wait another seven or eight years before I discovered another amazing anime, called Robotech, also known as Macross. The trademark of this series was fighter jets that transformed into piloted robots. These robots were used to fight off invading alien giants. There were more than just the robots. There was the super space fortress, Macross, which transformed so it could fire a massive weapon. This series
had a lot of same things that I loved about Starblazers such as sacrifice, death of a good guy, and the bad guys winning. Robotech also introduced me to the stories of relationships on all levels. When I first realized it was anime that I loved so much it was the early 90’s. This was before the anime became mainstream. I watched the original Bubblegum Crisis and Dirty Pair on hand me down video tapes and with the English translations typed up on paper.
Since then I have watched a couple of hundred different movies and series. There were a lot of Anime I loved and there were several of them that made me hit the stop button and exclaimed, “What The Hell Is This Crap?!?!?”
I have to pay homage to those Anime that are my all-time favorites. Of course Starblazers and Robotech will always hold a special place in my heart. The funny thing is I have tried to go back and re-watch Starblazers. It is really out dated. It was painful to listen to the 70’s dialogue. A couple of the others that I will always love will be Fullmetal Alchemist and Ghost In the Shell. 
A piece of advice for all those who are reading this post. Do not listen to all that hear about what is supposed to make a great Anime. What makes a great Anime is what you love about it. There is a certain goofy six episode Anime that everyone says is a landmark creation. I bought it and watched it. The series didn’t make sense. I watched it a second time, with someone. It still didn’t make sense. Then there was Gurren Lagann. It was criticized for amateurish art and childish storylines. I think it is one of the best giant fighting robot series ever. So, watch what you want to watch and enjoy it proudly. It does not matter when you started watching Anime, or what you have watched since. What matter is that you enjoy watching the Anime and gain something from the stories. Happily collect the videos of your favorite shows and memorabilia. Finally when you get the chance watch your Anime with someone. The best part of watching Anime is getting to share it with someone.
Thanks to:
Yay TV by maDideA @ deviantart.com
Spaceship Yamato by gcarcass @ deviantart.com
Robotech by Urbanrang3r @ deviantart.com
MotokoCityScape by Nanahra @ deviantart.com
Gurren Lagann by apchi @ deviantart.com
I am doing research for the characteristics of a geek and came across you website.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your post on Starblazers it brought back memories. I am a girl and I loved this cartoon. I remember falling in love with the young man with the big brown eyes. I also remember feeling great admiration for the old captain. Perhaps that is why I dig men with beards. Even at 5-6 years old, the reason this cartoon appealed to me is that it had a love story. I believe I remember the lovers not being able to be together because he had to do his duty. I also loved at the end of the cartoon the countdown of how many days left to save earth. Ahhhhh memories.......