Monday, June 25, 2007

Anime - Janani!!! This time, its personal!

The Scene - House, 9.00 PM. I'm clearing the dishes after dinner, Dad's on the phone and Jan's on Orkut. The sweet sound of wailing fills the air as the daily sob show continues on 'Kolangal'. Abhi says 3 dialogues 3! ways and 'Thols' replies to all of them with a grunt. In short, a typical night at F6, MJ. Right?

Wrong.

"Sharuuuuuu!!! That thingy you made in your photoshopingy totally rocks da"
"Enna?"
"That last photo in your album! That AMINE inspired stuff"

The last microwaveable container with the sorry remnants of yesterday's food fell SPLAT on the ground. Dad shouted on his phone. Abhi slaps Aadi in Koolangal. Desi-heavy metal fills the air. I open my eyes, and strangely, everything looks red.

"ENNA?"
"Adhaan da... that 'Phantom star..."... you only said it was Amine inspired no!'
"Its ANIME. AN - E - MAY! You nerd! Dont you ever stop nerding! Cha!"

I snapped. The neighbour dropped his cup of coffee. The baby downstairs starts wailing. Kolangal's music reaches a Cresendo as Abhi FINALLY reaches the top of that flight of stairs she started climbing ten minutes ago. Dad smashes down the phone on his office people.

"Ya whatever. It looks good!"

At around this time, i figured out that the red colour from my eyes had lowered itself quite graciously to my nose, and was now trickling out and falling on the ground with a steady 'SPLOTCH SPLOTCH'

Okay... enough exaggerations. Forgive me, but Mom always says i talk in hyperboles and circles. And go off on a tanget sometimes... Quite the Con(ic) artist me, eh?

So here's wat bugged me about wat Jan said.

1. She mispronounced a word. I hate that happening. Especially if i like the word.
2. She dragged a chemistry related term into a conversation with ME.
3. The word is Anime.

You see... i think most people dont realise what Anime stands for. This bugs me. I hate people calling it 'Cartoon'. I hate people saying 'Tsk tsk' at the violence. I hate people exclaiming at the mild sexuality. I hate it sooo much that when I'm watching anime, i lock myself up, put on headphones and switch off my cell.

There's more to anime than violence and protagonsists who look cool and say corny one liners. And no, its not just a cartoon either. Anime is perhaps the ONLY... yes ONLY 'Cartoon' which puts so much emphasis on characters, their lives, and their relationships with other characters. It's not just goodguys saving the world. It's how they save it and who they save it for. In that regard anime is a perfect caricature of the real world.

It teaches morality, perseverence and the importance of competition... why Naruto wants to be Hokage even when he's being battered into the ground by a third grade ninja.

It teaches you why sacrifice is a part of life... why Ed is ready to go to the Gate if it means Al gets his body back.

It teaches you teamwork - why Goku defeats EACH enemy worth mentioning with a 'Spirit Bomb', 'Super Spirit Bomb' or 'Ultimate Spirit Bomb'.

Importantly, it teaches you to toughen up and be content with wat you have... because at the end, all animes have to end. *cries*

So basically... Never dismiss anime as a violent cartoon... or else...

Or else wat? I have to sit here and crib about it while you ppl sleep peacefully... which reminds me... now where was that rubber cockroach... oh jannuuuuu....

Hehehe... later!

*Around five minutes after this post, jan wakes up screaming and sharu goes to bed grinning. You figure out the rest*

11 comments:

roboboy said...

Passionate stuff....Although I share your love for anime, I must say that not all anime are as good....

But I also love the stuff which Disney and Warner Brothers create as well....Pinky and the Brain to me kicks the butt of all the anime I've seen put together....and unfortunately these are still called cartoons....despite their intense meaning,parodies and character-oriented plot....

So anime is not supreme...although I entirely forgive you for being so cross with your sister...reminding you of painful memories....must have been hard for you when you heard "amine"

roboboy said...

And one more thing....the title of your blog abbreviated reads as
PRO AIM

Did you plan it this way when you gave the title...or is the abbreviation entirely coincidental...

Sharu said...

Pinky and the brain - one is a genius, the other's insane :)

hmmm... i dont think so... that 'toon' was totally episodic... while the objective was certainly 'Brain's' quest to take over the world, not many episodes actually affected others...

And no, as much as i adored Tom n jerry, popeye n the like, i would NEVER rate them above any anime i ve seen... Point of view i guess :P

And as much as i would like to say "yeah! I'm the number one hidden message writer in history!", i was completely unaware of it until abt 5 mins back. And yes, that means my typing speed sux when im sleepy :P

In fact, the naming of this blog was... and interesting process. But that s in a diff post...

Unknown said...

Since i am a big fan of pinky and the brain i totally will support them against ANIME but i ve seen very fewanime series..so ve no clue abt the inner meanings and various sides of anime besides the aryistically sketched pencul thin mouths and trendy hairstyles and weird eyes of the characters!!!:)

Jan said...

dei.. idhellam too much.. anyways, I still love you my brother..U r too sweet... Muwaaaaah ( kiss on the cheek )... ( this is gonna irritate you more than Amine did. Or was it anime. Whatever!!!! )

Sharu said...

@sindhu
wierd eyes??? either the only anime u ve watched has androids and aliens in it, or.... *evil laugh*

@jan
In the interest of general atmosphere of the blog and in order to maitain decorum, i shall refrain from swearing :)

roboboy said...

u nasty fellow...look at pinky and the brain beyond the outwardly cartoonish gags....don't u notice the striking resemblance of the Brain's character to Orson Welles(if u even know who he is)?Don't you see the various pop culture references in its dialogues?Don't you look at the irony of it all when Brain wants to dominate the world..but in a "good" way.The conflict within the character of Brain is portrayed more beautifully and subtly than any classic novel.You are not a kid to just see the cartoon superficially and note catchphrases....

My favourite quote from P7B

Brain:"pinky..are u pondering what I am pondering?"

Pinky:"I think so Brain...But if the plural of mouse is mics...shouldn't the plural of spouse be spice??"

Sharu said...

to be perfectly honest, i dunno who he is... but wait...

"George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, a radio, film and theatre director, a radio and film producer and an actor in film and theatre, as well as a Grammy Award-winning radio personality."

Gotta love wkipedia... and regarding the 'Kid' stuff, dude, i WAS a kid when P&B got taken off due to CAS... then PS happened ;)

But now that u mention it, i DO remember enjoying it for its amazingly hilarious dialogues and insights into brain's mind... however, again, i must stress the point of view part.. quite simply, you cannot actually COMPARE something like P&B with anime, because while such toons draw from real world events and characters (draw from, not based on...), anime typically takes place in a fantasy environment, with fantasy characters with fantasy dreams... but very very real problems and hurdles...

and another kostin... how many such deep, profound yet enjoyable toons has the stable of Disney produced???

Lone Observer said...

"my comment"
the magic word.....




see just like you asked for it...


but seriously...really good attempt and nice choice of words...

Sharu said...

*icy tone* attempt? hmph... neways lol thx...

vasudha said...

my first reaction upon seeing dis article was "what the hell is anime??" and then some angry anime fanatic (shyam) told me to read the article...which i did...and though i didnt focus on wat it was :d...i did realize dat u rite very well :)...keep the good work going.