Old Anime, Movie and Manga

Every one of us have certain series that happened to be our first anime, manga, movie, etc. Today, I decided to be somewhat different from the usual and talk about anime and movies as well instead of just manga. I'll be talking about some of the first anime, anime movies, and manga that I have seen. Expect there to be spoilers, so be careful.

ANIME

Crayon Shin-chan

For the majority, Pokémon was their very first anime. As for me, I watched Pokémon after Crayon Shin-chan. Being Chinese, I grew up with this website that provides various cartoons. There are shows like Spongebob, Dora the Explorer and much more. The only thing different is that these cartoons are in Chinese dub instead of the original language. From all of the shows the website provided, Crayon Shin-chan was the show I happen to watch and came to enjoy the most. Growing up, I never realized Crayon Shin-chan was an anime because I've always watched it in Chinese until a year or two ago. I had no clue the original one was voiced over in Japanese. Crayon Shin-chan, or Shin-chan for short, is categorized as a ”cartoon,” but I never understood why. Yes, the art style strays away from what many expect an anime to look like, but the themes and jokes included in Shin-chan can be pretty inappropriate, yet many young viewers, like me, continued to watch it. Being that the series was inappropriate, my mom banned me from watching it, but I still manage to sneakily watch it without getting caught. Shin-chan is like a guilty pleasure. 

If it was a-few-months-go-me, I'd be watching Shin-chan on a daily basis. I used to watch it really often, but now I don't anymore. The episodes are getting pretty repetitive and I've seen most of the available episodes as well, so the surprise, at this point, is nonexistent. Despite all this, the times I was still regularly watching Shin-chan, I enjoyed it very much. If wondering, Shin-chan is a slice-of-life anime that follows the daily life of a five-year-old boy named Shinnosuke Nohara. What's different about this series is how it doesn't have an actual plot. For me, I don't particularly mind because I don't have to watch each episode in order. I have the option to skip around while not getting confused. Others might find it boring, but honestly, no one comes to Shin-chan for something serious. Shin-chan is a comedy series. Its main purpose is to make the audience laugh. And yes, the series did an amazing job in making its audience, well me, laugh. Even though I barely watch the series now, I would still watch it time-to-time whenever I'm feeling down. It really lightens me up. I also found out Shin-chan has a manga, so yeah, I'll be checking that out soon. 

Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Unlike Crayon Shin-chan, Maid-sama was a series that I'm well aware of it being an anime. I don't exactly remember what my first anime (that I'm aware it's an anime) was, but Maid-sama is one of the first I've seen. I remember watching Youtube for ”romance anime recommendations.” You could say little me is intrigued when it comes to the romance genre. What made me check the anime out was because of the kiss scene on the rooftop. I remember thinking it was beautifully executed and the blonde guy was exceptionally good looking, but then I saw the guy jump off the roof. Stupid me thought it was a suicide and I told myself I had to watch the anime to find out what happened. Watching the anime for the first time, I got myself called a laughing pig. The comedy in the anime was executed really well. I, especially, love the way the characters reacted during a funny scene. Usui, on the other hand, is my laughingstock. I remember thinking the way he teased Misaki, along with her reactions, is really funny.

There is a reason why I ended up rewatching Maid-sama multiple times. One thing I appreciate a lot about the anime is the strong leads, mainly the strong female lead. It's common to create a weak heroine when it comes to shoujo. I'm assuming shoujo heroine is written this way because readers will be able to put themselves in the heroine's shoes, however, it's just a way of stereotyping that girls are weak? The author of Maid-sama made Misaki a strong female lead even though it was barely done. Despite it being a risky move, it was a success. Misaki is a character I happen to admire because she is a character I wish to be. I like how confident and hardworking she is. She's like the opposite of me. A problem I have with her character is how she would do things I wouldn't dare/too afraid to do. Shoujo manga is easy for me to put myself in the heroine's shoes, however, by doing that, everything the heroine does, which are usually things I won't do, ends up giving me second-hand embarrassment. I always get the feeling that I'm toasted even though I'm really not. 

Another thing about the anime that made me rewatched the anime multiple times is the couple. Misaki and Usui are by far one of the best shoujo couples I've seen. Whenever I finished watching the anime, all I would think about are the couple and how ”perfect” they are. They're powerful together and I really love their relationship. I believe their character compliments each other pretty well. Misaki being the student council president and coming from a poor family, she doesn't have the time to have fun and relieve herself from all her busy work. Usui being a relatively silly person, it allows Misaki to, sort of, take a break from all the serious stuff. On the other hand, if you haven't read the manga, Usui had a bad past revolving his parents. Usui was kind of considered a ”disgrace” toward the family and isn't really receiving any attention. Misaki have always considered Usui to be someone troublesome and after he found out about her part-time job, Misaki had to keep her eyes on Usui, thus he's receiving full attention from Misaki, which is something he didn't receive growing up. 

Anime Movies

I Love My Younger Sister

Yes, this movie is an incest. If wondering, I'm pretty sure you can watch it on YouTube, but it's separated into parts. The very first time I watched this movie, I cried because of the ending. Right now, I'm lowkey ashamed of myself. I wouldn't say I regret watching it, but the movie contained inappropriate activities that aren't suitable for young viewers like me. I still continued watching it. You could call me a rebel since I actually rewatched this movie another two/three times. I don't remember much about the movie, but I wouldn't say it's ”good”. I do remember it being pretty confusing. The sister likes her brother, but it seems like he can't because they're siblings. I totally get him, but I heard from somewhere that they aren't blood-related. I'm not sure. Later on, another girl, who appears to be the brother's classmate, did that with him. Then the sister got all jealous and stuff and did that with him as well. I'm pretty sure the brother admitted that he likes his sister, but he brought up that he's going somewhere, so they had to separate. 

I cried at that part not because the brother is leaving his sister, but it's because I understand how it feels when someone, who's living with you for a long period of time, had to leave. If you're used to them being by your side, it can be pretty lonely once they're gone. Whenever my cousin or grandparents came over to stay for a while, I always find myself getting really happy. More people means more fun. But when they had to leave, the house, suddenly, feels quiet and lonely because I'm used to the sight of them in my house every day. So I totally understand how the sister might have felt when her brother, who grew up with her for years, had to suddenly leave her side.

Kuroko's Basketball: Last Game

When it comes to movies, I always tell people ”I don't like movies,” which is true. Throughout these past, few months, I've noticed my attention span for TV shows, movies, and just anime, in general, getting shorter over time. I find myself losing interest really quickly. It's either because I stopped watching anime/any sort of videos on a daily basis, like the usual, or it could be because I've been reading manga way more than usual. The current me definitely prefer the manga medium over anime, but when I was still an avid anime fan, there was this movie I happen to love: Kuroko's Basketball: Last Game. I used to be a relatively big fan of KNB. I watched all three seasons of the anime, all their OVAs/special episodes and even started reading the manga. During the time, I wasn't aware they had a movie. Once I found out, my excitement skyrocketed. I remember yelling from excitement and leaving the house quickly to buy some snacks for the movie.

With the end of season three, Last Game is like a ”continuation,” or a time-lapse because of the art style. When Kuroko, Kagami and the Generation of Miracles members were introduced, I've noticed they looked older. I'm not sure if it's because the movie was made by another animation company or it was done on purpose, but I do like how they look. It's like showing the audience how the characters will look in the future. I always wanted to see the Generation of Miracle members, including Kuroko, competing alongside each other. The team together was noted to be really powerful, yet they separated when heading to high school, so we were never able to picture and witness how powerful the team actually is, which was why I appreciate the idea having Kuroko, Kagami and the members of the Generation of Miracles competing against the US basketball team. (Jabberwock) With the appearance of a new team, I never really liked the new casts, but I have to give them props because they're the reason why Last Game, for me, was such an exciting and intense movie. Jabberwock, especially Jason, have the tendency to trash talk their opponents. Even though his arrogance and word choices can be considered rude, it riles up his opponent; making them give out 200%. They even made Murasakibara and Aomine give in their all.

I also appreciate the surprise the movie gave me by making Jabberwock a team, whose almost on the same level as the Generation of Miracles. The Teikō basketball team have always been labeled as powerful, broken and just straight out rigged. By making Jabberwock a team that's on the same level as them, it made the match exciting. Getting put against strong opponents are always interesting as well. I do like to point out, I didn't really like the ending. It had something to do with Kagami getting invited to the so-called NBA. They could have made it a moment of the Generation of Miracle members, including Kuroko and Kagami hanging out because who knows, it might be their last time seen together on the same team. Despite the unsatisfying ending, given that the movie was an hour and a half long, I totally understand the rushed ending. At least the beginning and body were interesting. The entire time watching the movie, I didn't realize time was ticking. I also rewatched the movie another three times in the same month since I had trouble moving on from it after the first watch. 

Manga

  

Yokai Watch

I don't know why I'm embarrassed in revealing that Yokai Watch was my very first manga. I have only read the first volume and I don't plan on continuing it, so I'll be talking about the first volume. And making a few assumptions here and there. I read this manga when I was nine, and nine-year-old me did enjoy the story. I don't remember much, but the story follows a young boy who was given a watch that can reveal supernatural monsters that no one else can see. His goal is to somehow persuade the Yokai, then create a contract with the Yokai, which he befriended, with his watch. Whenever another Yokai appears, the boy will have the option to ask a Yokai he befriended to come and help him. This series really give off some Pokémon vibes with all the capturing creatures idea. The first time reading it was fine, but when I came back to revisit the manga, I realized how repetitive it was. Each chapter introduces a new type of Yokai, the Yokai appears, the boy somehow persuades it and makes a contract with the Yokai with his watch. I know there's way more volumes than just one, so I'm assuming each volume will be just like the first one: a young boy befriending a new Yokai every chapter. Maybe it would have been better if his adventure contained more challenges or make him fail on befriending a Yokai. Being all rainbows and unicorn won't be that interesting. I found out Yokai Watch was a role-playing game that got adapted into an anime and manga, so maybe that explains it's repetitiveness. Even though for me, the manga is at most mediocre, the series will receive some of my gratitude for introducing me to manga. I got a general idea of what manga is and how to read it, so I appreciate it being that I'm now a huge manga fan. 

Hikaru no Go

Even though Hikaru no Go was not the first manga I've read, it is the first manga series I've completed. The manga also made my first year of middle school easier, so the manga will, probably, forever hold a special place in my heart. From watching YouTube videos and hearing others' middle school experience, I imagined middle school to be all fun and stuff. Nope, it wasn't. Not being in the same class as my friend, I was a loner. I had trouble making friends as well; I'm only able to make friends when someone approaches me or through my current friend(s). One of my classes, media, is held at the school library and we were given the option to borrow books at the end of class as long as there's time left. Since I'm a loner, lunch is boring, thus I decided to glance around to find a book I can read during lunch. On the ”new arrival shelve,” I noticed a manga called Hikaru no Go. I, at the time, had a general idea of what manga is, so I decided to check out the first volume of it. When I read the manga during lunchtime, oh boy, the manga had me hooked. I finished the first volume quickly and was dying to attend media class again so I could return volume one and borrow more. I was also really glad the library offered all 23 volumes of the manga.

Even though I had no clue what Go is nor how to play it, I felt that the story was really engaging. Whenever Hikaru plays against someone, the way it's executed made me feel that I'm a bystander, who's standing there, watching two people dueling. The characters are pretty well written as well. I like Hikaru's character development when it comes to Go. At the start, Hikaru appeared as someone who's ignorant towards Go, but later on, he decided to learn how to play Go himself, improving and even attending competitions against other competitive Go players. But my favorite character have to be Sai. I love Sai's personality. He takes Go seriously, but outside of Go, he can be a pretty silly and is a cheerful boy. I love his enthusiasm when it comes to learning new things. I also felt that Sai plays an important role in Hikaru's life. Without him, Hikaru wouldn't have been interested in Go. Sai also cheers Hikaru up whenever he's feeling down or in a tight situation, which was why I wasn't that fond of the way the manga ended. It was great Hikaru developed an interest in Go, but that means Sai can't play anymore. I didn't like the idea of Sai disappearing because ”his time is up.” Sai's disappearance affected Hikaru a lot as well because he had the idea of quitting Go. Fortunately, he didn't quit. When the manga was close to an end, I hoped to see Sai appear again; being proud of Hikaru or something. But no. Around the end, Sai was never mentioned again. Being someone who liked Sai a lot, I wasn't satisfied. At least the times when Sai was still around was fun. I missed him. 

It saddens me to notice that Hikaru no Go is super underrated in this community. There can be many reasons why the manga turns people away. It might be because it's an old series or the idea of the manga revolving around Go. People might think you need to have a general idea of what Go is and/or how to play it to get into it. That's like saying you need to learn how to play Volleyball to enjoy Haikyu, you need to learn how to play basketball to enjoy Kuroko no Basket, etc. I would like to point out, that's definitely not true. Even though I was someone who had no clue what Go is nor about its existence, I enjoyed the manga very much. And you can always learn the basics of a certain type of sports/activity while reading/watching characters doing it. I learned a few basics of Go like the proper and improper way of holding the stone and that the person playing with black stones goes first. 

Conclusion

I don't expect people to finish the entire blog. If you did, congrats. And thank you for reading all my crap. Lol. Anyway, I do think some of your very first anime, movie and manga are very important. They're the reason why you continued to immerse yourself deeper into these mediums. Some of us may have an awful series as their first, but that doesn't mean others are as bad as well. If you're an anime/manga fan who had a horrible first experience, I'm guessing you thought not everything will be just as bad and decided to explore further. So I'll end the blog here. If wondering why visual novels and light novels aren't mentioned here, I haven't touched them yet. And also, have a wonderful day.