Day 4: Anime you're ashamed to admit you enjoyed

[sara_tanaquil]

Not a big surprise after yesterday...



I will never forget the horrified look I got from one of my more intellectual anime-loving colleagues to whom I tried to show this. (And this, should I say, from a colleague who could appreciate the exquisite irony of the Marmalade Boy/Level C mashup I inadvertently exposed her to.)

Yeah, the barbie-doll aesthetics of the naked girl transformation scenes are appalling, the monster of the week plots are repetitive, the makers of the dub should be shot. (And that's not even taking into account Sailor Says. Sailor Says!) But behind all that, there is some surprisingly epic backstory, great moments of drama (if few and far between), and some not-too-shabby character development. And, well, back in the days of 1994 when it was on Fox Kids or whatever it was right after Bananas in Pajamas, it was all I had. (It's too bad I didn't know there were such a thing as fansubs until much, much, later, since I probably would have appreciated it even more if I could have made the transition from dubs sooner. As it is, I have never yet met Sailors Uranus and Neptune.)

Comments

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

As it is, I have never yet met Sailors Uranus and Neptune.

Interestingly enough, the Uranus/Neptune episodes are the only ones that I've watched. (Ogata Megumi yay!)

If I had to name something, I'd probably pick Level C. I can't really think of anything else corny enough to qualify.

[mangaroo.livejournal.com]

I'm having a hard time with the concepts of "ashamed" and "enjoyed." I'm self-deprecating about a lot of the anime I enjoy (HikaGo, KKM, Bleach), but while I would be embarrassed to talk about them to a non-fan, I wouldn't feel any sense of shame about asking an anime fan to at least look at them. (Contrast to My Neighbor Totoro or Kino no Tabi, which I think are viewable by non-anime fans.)

On the other hand, the anime I am ashamed of owning, I wouldn't actually say I objectively enjoyed. Fujimi, the first two Kizunas...I'm not ashamed of them because they're yaoi, but because they're chopped up and incoherent.

Sailor Moon is anime's mom

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

ah pif.

Without Sailor Moon, there would've been no Evangelion, and without Evangelion, anime would still just be "kids stuff" with the infrequent "Akira" or "ghost in the shell" now and then in a theatre.

[collarnojutsu.livejournal.com]

I will never forget the horrified look I got from one of my more intellectual anime-loving colleagues to whom I tried to show this.

I think this might have been the same face I gave my friend when he returned from a year abroad in Thailand raving about this show (which was shortly before it showed up on US TV, I believe). I'd been all behind the whole G-Force and Bubblegum Crisis sides of anime, but even my gay boyfriend couldn't sell me on sparkly sailor scouts.

... Until one day in college when my non-anime fan roommate was watching a borrowed tape from our neighbor and suddenly I WAS sold and it was all over from there. (Incidentally, it would be those scenes in S1 that rate highly on both cheese and sadness [aka drama] factors in the dub that made me realize I had to stop mocking Sailormoon and start loving it.)

I actually have great nostalgic hilarity-love for the dub (in the same way I have it for Yu-gi-oh), even though I own and tout the vast superiority of the JP versions. I am probably more ashamed to admit that I honestly do wish I had bought the dub dvds for posterity's sake than I am to admit I like Sailormoon.

[mangaroo.livejournal.com]

Randomly...there's something hilarious about the hugeness of the image you selected to illustrate the day of shame. It fills an entire browser "page" on my laptop and demands to be gazed upon without intervening text. LOOK AT ME! I AM THE ANIME OF SHAME. I DARE YOU NOT TO LOVE ME!