Monday, January 30, 2012

That one time my Dad talked to me about anime


My mother and sister are both into anime. They don't hunt out shows or films to watch on their own, but they're more than willing to check out whatever content I bring their way. I actually just got my sister to wrap up Angel Beats, which she absolutely loved. I really love sharing anime with my family members, but my Dad has always been the odd man out.

He just doesn't seem to have any interest in anime, or most animation for that matter. He likes old cartoons, but hasn't watched a new cartoon in a very long time. I don't know what it is that keeps him from checking out animated features, and I don't think he knows either. That's why I was so surprised to hear from him this weekend concerning anime.

I don't know what channel he was watching, but he happened to see a commercial for the Disney release of The Secret World of Arrietty, which is a Studio Ghibli. He caught the commercial and it really happened to catch his eye. He liked it so much that he actually called to ask me all about it. Looks like he's finally found an animated film he actually wants to see, and it's anime at that!

When was the last time you had a parent show interest in anime? Are your parents into anime or do they have really misguided ideas as to what it is?

4 comments:

  1. No way that my parents would watch or care about anime. No parent in Sweden would, except a few cases of course. They just view it as cartoons for kids because it's cartoons. They don't understand like with Simpsons, that just because it's drawn or animated it doesn't mean it's only for kids.

    My dad once sat with me watching anime and he was like "you like that? Isn't it for kids?". I said it's good for my japanese study to watch and that it has it's own style. Cause he walso said that it looks crappy and compared it to Disney cartoons that have more smooth animations.

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  2. I've always liked anime and tried to get my Dad into it. More recently, as I have grown up and realized that not everyone will like the same things as you, I've tried to tailor a suggestion to what he may like.

    To this end I showed him Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, because he loves that story. Even though it is an odd adaptation, he loved it and the art style because it was so colorful and vibrant.

    I also showed him Nausicaa, my favorite Studio Ghibli film, and he also enjoyed it because of the characters and story.

    I believe that there is an anime for everyone, just as there's a tv show for everyone, or a novel for everyone, regardless of if someone doesn't like the said activity. For every rule there is an exception to it.

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  3. I wouldn't want my parents to be into anime TBH. It would be a little creepy for me.

    Only thing my mom thinks about it, is that it's some silly cartoons :P

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  4. wild.. i just happened to check out Karigurashi no Arietti late last week, though what i saw didn't have any subtitles. couldn't understand 100% of the japanese, but even still.. i could follow along and thoroughly enjoyed it. what a sweet story. except for that bitch maid.

    can't say my family gets into animation though. maybe some old disney movies and the afternoon shows of the 90s, but that's pretty different...

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