TIME picks their top 25 best animated features of all-time, anime featured

Isn't it funny how this stuff works out?  I start an anime blog a few days ago, and now TIME magazine has put together a list of the 25 best animated films of all-time.  I went clicking through to see what was included, and was very happy to see that anime was indeed represented.

Paprika

Akira

Spirited Away

I'm ashamed to admit that I've never seen Paprika, but I promise to fix that this weekend!  I happen to own both Akira and Spirited Away.  I hate putting out proclamations like this, but I think any self-respecting anime fan should at least see both of those films.  I'm sure plenty of you will think I'm crazy for not having seen Paprika yet!  Anyway, if Spirited Away and Akira are any indication of Paprika's quality, I have nothing to worry about.

With the list being just 25 entries long, it's hard to find out what the cream of the crop is.  With that said, there are two surprises I faced while reading the list.  First off, I thought that Miyazaki would be better represented, but I guess one entry on the list gets the job done.  My other surprise was not seeing Ghost in the Shell on here.  I truly believe GitS to be one of the best anime films out there, and I know that many critics feel the same way.  Perhaps GitS was sitting on the bubble at spot #26.

What do you guys think of this list?  Check out the full 25 at the link below.  Do you think there were some anime films that should have made the cut but didn't?  Perhaps a little Summer Wars love?

Check out the full list here

Only perverts like anime!

You know you've had that feeling before.  You get uncomfortable...you start to feel a bead of sweat run down the back of your neck...you can't do anything but smile/frown at the same time.  This is the very instant you tell someone that you enjoy anime, and you can clearly see that they think less of you the moment you finish your sentence.  Anime is only for perverts!

Girls wearing next to nothing, upskirt shots galore and tons of tentacles going into places that tentacles should never go.  This is what automatically appears in a few minds when you discuss anime.  Just like people that think animation is for kids, there are those that believe anime is nothing but the animated porn for those with perverse tastes.

Thankfully, I'm talking to a crowd that knows this simply isn't true.  There are all sorts of anime features out there, and many of them don't even touch on sexuality in the least.  With that said, there are indeed features that get a little risque with their content.  Most of the time we see features with a healthy amount of fan service.  A gratuitous panties shot here, a low-cut shirt there.  What people don't realize is that this can be a very small part of a much bigger feature.

Yes, there are anime releases out there that do nothing but cater to panchira fans, but that's a subset of anime itself.  Lumping that kind of content into all anime just makes no sense.  Anime may be a bit more progressive (or juvenile depending on your view) when it comes to sexuality, and it's just not something that worldwide audiences are used to.  Some of it is classy, some of it is for the fans and some is way over the top.

You like what you like and that's all there is to it.  To say that the average anime fan is a pervert or sexual deviant is pure garbage.  It's time to stick up for ourselves and anime as well!  Anime has been around far too long to still have this negative connotation attached to its fans.

Your favorite anime intro

It's funny just how much an anime intro can get you pumped for a show.  A couple minute intro can be a really powerful thing, and it definitely sets the mood for what you're about to get into.  I've noticed that anime takes their intro and outros really seriously, which is why there are so many good ones out there!

I'm not afraid to admit that the intro to Chobits is a guilty pleasure.  The visuals themselves are nice, but I think it might be that song that puts a smile on my face.  It's just so bouncy, light-hearted and fun.  The song has a real 70s game show vibe to it, and old game shows are another one of my guilty pleasures!  You can bet that this intro song has a spot on my iPod, and the video itself always picks  me up if I'm feeling down.

Let's see what some of your favorite anime intros are.  I'm sure you have some fantastic choices!

Wait...cartoons can be serious?

I want to stress that this is not meant to be a generalization of Americans.  This is not mean to represent all American opinions or look down on Americans in any way.

Comparing animation styles between North America and Japan would take a year's worth of posts.  I'd love to go in-depth with some of those topics, and I'll surely do that at a later date.  For now, I'd like to look into what most Americans expect from animation.  It's definitely a lot different from what you get from the Japanese side of things.

Without naming names, I have a handful of friends that absolutely hate cartoons.  While I think that's a damn shame, there simply doesn't seem to be much I can do to change their mind.  They have a mentality that cartoons are for little kids, and that's all there is to it.  They may have watched a few cartoons when they were younger, but since then they've grown up and moved on.  We all know that when you grow up you have to stop doing fun things, of course!

To go along with people like that, there are also other people that believe cartoons are only goofy, silly fodder.  They expect cartoons to be bright, colorful and jam-packed with easy to understand dialog and happy situations.  If a sad or bad plot comes up, it's only because a life lesson will be taught by the end of the episode.

I want to make it very clear that I see nothing wrong with those types of cartoons.  I love animation in general, and I'll give any cartoon a chance.  While I love anime, I don't absolutely need my animation to go in the directions that anime does.  I happen to really enjoy what anime offers, but I can also enjoy more traditional cartoons just the same.

This is where the rub comes in with American viewers.  Hearing about animated programs that take on serious topics is completely foreign to them, no pun intended.  After watching years of Disney content, they just don't picture another style of animation that takes a more adult approach to telling stories.  Live-action shows that are heavy on sex, violence and crime are the big ratings grabbers in the states.  Switch that same content to animated form and you've automatically alienated a huge part of that audience.

Again, I don't have anything against people that feel like this.  That's just how things are in the states.  Serious content is in the live-action realm and cartoons are light-hearted and for kids.  Taking the approach of live-action shows in the states and mixing it with animation just doesn't compute.  Unfortunately, it seems really tough to find a good solution to getting around that issue.

Personally, I can take any method of storytelling.  Watching actors play out a make-believe murder in live-action is just as engaging as an animated cast taking it on.  I don't know if that's an adult or child-like quality in myself, but I love it nonetheless.

Do anime fans want to keep their hobby hidden from the mainstream?

My friend Lindsay was nice enough to check out Anime Your Way the other day.  I don't think she's ever seen an anime, but she's nice enough to support me in the things I care about.  She jumped over to the blog and was going to leave a comment, but couldn't get the login to work.  She ended up emailing me her comment, and I thought it would be an interesting one for discussion.

"Niche markets cater to die hard fans, die hard fans spread the word and it's this self contained mania. Things lose their appeal when they "explode" and are oversaturated. Fans find solace in taking an interest in "obscure" and "covert" hobbies, this would take away from their "secret society" of Anime Gurus etc."


I think Lindsay makes a really good point.  There might be other reasons at play for why anime is causing a quiet crazy among otakus.  Are anime fans keeping all the great content they see to themselves?  I could certainly see a mentality where people believe anime needs to stay with the true fans, and the masses need to be kept far away.  


There are plenty of instances where certain cultures, entertainment options and other hobbies end up overstaying their welcome due to millions and millions of people catching on.  For example, there are plenty of bands that had quiet followings for years and years, but those bands fell apart when they come into the spotlight.  More attention leads to more advertising, and then too many people giving input for where the band should go.  Too many cooks in the kitchen, if you catch my drift.


Again, I could see how this kind of situation would worry anime fans.  Why would anyone want to see an entertainment medium they love get driven into the ground?  Just take a look at what happened with the Dragon Ball movie.  Things came so far and so many people far from the source got involved, and we ended up with a disaster that hurts the brand.  


Is this how you feel about anime?  Do you work hard to keep your anime hobby within the 'secret society' of online otaku and convention attendees?  Is it time for certain anime followers to open up and spread the word on this great content?

Watch the anime, read the manga!

My cousin is in a very specific situation.  She has never, ever seen an anime before a few weeks ago.  I doubt she even knows what types of anime are out there, but I brought some of it into her life with Death Note.  I've seen tons of non-anime fans get completely sucked into Death Note before, so I figured it was the best anime to show a newcomer.  There's way more to the story than that, but I'll get to that another day!

Long story short, my cousin ended up really liking the anime.  We're only about halfway through, but she definitely enjoyed it enough to ask about the manga version.  My cousin happens to be a huge reader, so giving her the manga was the perfect solution.  See, we all watch the anime together as a group, so everyone is on the same episode.  It's a little hard to get everyone together every weekend, which makes it extra tough when you're dying to see what happens next.  In steps the manga as the perfect solution!

Now my cousin is blowing through the manga at record speed.  She has the lucky benefit of seeing the anime and manga in relation to each other, seeing just how faithful the anime adaptation is.  It's a really unique perspective that not a lot of people get to enjoy.  I read the manga, but not until after I'd seen the anime all the way through.  I really wish I was in the same position as her!

How do you feel about anime adaptations of manga?  Have you ever watched anime and felt compelled to read the manga it came from?  I know some people aren't into reading, but when you love an anime so much, you look for any method to get your fill!

What do you think of Durarara's Adult Swim promos?

We've featured this video once on the site before, but I haven't really discussed it specifically.  I didn't think I'd have much to say about it until I started hunting around the web for Durarara!! talk.  I'm glad to see that there's a lot of people talking about the Adult Swim promos for the show, but I'm surprised at the reaction to these bumps.

As I said the other day, I thought the Durarara!! promo looked great.  Adult Swim has a couple others out there, but I can't find them online just yet.  With that said, all of these promo bumps really got me interested in the show.  I know I can watch it online right now, but I'm trying to hold out for the Adult Swim premiere.  I really want to support Adult Swim since they continue to support anime!

So yes, I really do like these promos.  I think I might be in the minority on this one, though.  From what I've been reading around different corners of the net, some people seem to think that the pieces are terrible.  Everything from music to pacing, even scene selection has people upset.  To me, I don't see how there could be anything about the promo above to really make you hate the bump.

I'm thinking that long-time fans of Durarara!! are the ones that dislike the bump, since they know of all sorts of great things that happen in the full series.  They see Adult Swim choose the scene above, and they're left scratching their heads as to why it made it to air as a commercial.  Perhaps these people are just worried that the current bumps won't be enough to entice people to watch, and they're looking forward to the show getting a bit more positive exposure.

I'm a newcomer to the series, and these bumps have done a great job to get me more excited.  Any other series newcomers out there?  What does the above bump do for you?  Will you be tuning in this weekend to check the show out, or has this bump turned you off?