Reflections on Anime's Evolution and Its Personal Resonance

 Join me as I stroll down memory lane, sharing tales of early anime adventures with Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, and Sailor Moon. These iconic series didn't just entertain; they introduced me to the sprawling worlds of shonen and shoujo. But the nostalgia trip doesn't stop there—I also reveal my all-time favorite anime character, the complex and captivating Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. Plus, we'll explore the distinctive qualities of anime that elevate it beyond Western animation, especially its bold handling of mature themes that resonate with a wider audience.

As we chart the future course of an ever-evolving industry, I predict a surge in Manwa's popularity and a broader embrace of international markets to combat the saturation of manga adaptations. If you're new to anime, fear not—I'll guide you through some beginner-friendly picks that showcase the medium's vast diversity, urging you to see anime as a mosaic of genres rather than a singular category. And on a personal note, I reflect on the profound impact anime has had on my life, from forging lasting friendships to inspiring this very podcast. We'll also cast a spotlight on the hidden treasures within the anime universe, like "Guilty Crown," and discuss the cultural insights anime offers, particularly in depicting the nuances of Japanese school life through the lens of a Canadian viewer.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey there and welcome back to Rival Reviews. So for this week I find myself in a little bit of like a kind of I don't know. I find like a weird situation, so to speak, because right now, for the majority of the season-only anime and stuff like that, we're kind of around episode 11, probably episode 12 coming out later this week, and the problem about this is that obviously I want to have the conversation about you know how the season went and everything else like that, but that'll have to wait for probably either next week or the week after. So what I thought I would do a couple weeks ago one of the listeners emailed me a link from the website podquakecom and basically what it had is that it has a hundred what is it titled here? Best Anime Podcast Question Ideas, and there's over a hundred of them. So I figured I was like you know what, let's do it, let's just go through it. Folded disclosure, I think, like I feel as if that I've probably already answered a lot of these. So if there's one, like I'll do all the 100, but some I'll probably just skim through while I answer others. And you know, maybe you can learn more about series that I haven't talked about who knows what comes out in these conversations, because I tried not to stay too scripted. I know last week was probably a little bit different. The reception was pretty good. Obviously I think that was mainly more so for you know the respect that a Kiritoiyama deserves. But people did think that the script was okay and I might go that direction again. But for now we're going completely off book here with these 100 questions and, yeah, let's just get into it.

Speaker 1: 1:54

So first question what was the first anime you ever watched and how did it impact your love for the genre? If I had to say it like obviously, like I remember closely, like it's kind of hard obviously because I feel like I was quite young so it's kind of hard to pinpoint which one was exactly the first. But I do know that like I watched like Dragon Ball Z, gundam Wing and Sailor Moon, probably all around the same time. So I'll leave that as a three way tie. I guess it's kind of hard to answer the whole genre aspect on that question because I guess for the majority of that I guess you could say that it's shown in. I guess it was a good, I guess, introduction into the shonen sphere of things, and then I guess, like, even though I guess technically you would call obviously Sailor Moon a Shoujo, it still had some fights in it and it still had some, you know, the hero fighting the bad guy, so to speak. So yeah, I don't think I really did anything for the love of genre or anything like that.

Speaker 1: 3:05

But anyway, who was your favorite anime character and why? Kind of already talked about this, but if I had to do in 100% like who was my all time favorite, it would probably be Roy Mustang from Full Mel Alchemist. I just I like his temperament, I like the type of character he is, I like how he can be, you know, serious but caring all at the same time and, like you know, he tries to not be like a mosh ball or anything like that, but like, especially if you are important to him and you are close to him, he values you and that would probably be why he's my favorite. What do you think sets anime apart from other forms of animation? I guess, in all honesty, like I guess, coming from like obviously the western side of things, when you look at, like you know, like a Saturday morning cartoon versus like anime, anime can obviously touch on themes a lot more mature, where I find a lot of the Saturday morning cartoon aspects were more about, like you know, teaching lessons to younger children and you know something to basically just entertain them because it was colorful. Where, like you know, anime, though like, like, I find a very good example of this is that, like you see, like a four kids version of an anime adaptation back in the day versus, like you know, the new dubs that they have now where, like you know, they actually, you know, don't completely dub over the entire idea of what the anime is about, definitely shows wonders. That, like you know, for the Western point of view, for four kids they were trying to make it more entertaining. Where, you know, the actual dub was more, you know, honest, to the subject matter, probably the best way that I can put that.

Speaker 1: 5:00

How do you feel about the current state of anime industry and where do you see it going in the future? I kind of actually touched on this, I think, a couple weeks ago, but if I had to wrap up my feelings on that, I Think you know, I think they are getting to the point now where they all are finally gonna start reaching out To other means, like you know, like actually going with the Manwa and everything else like that. I know there's also been a lot of talk of them even touching into, like, the Chinese market of Manwa as well. So I think that's probably where it's gonna go, because I think it's gonna get to a certain point, because a lot of lot they've done. I, at least off the top my head, I can't think of like a popular, you know, manga that they haven't already animated. Like we're getting to the point now where, like you know, you were even like touching on to, like you know, remakes of things that have already happened. Like a case in point, you know, they've Ended ashes adventure in Pokemon and now they're moving on to a new protagonist or, you know, like they're basically rehashing the same ideas. So I think that they have to start reaching out more, like to the Chinese and Korean markets, to, you know, keep it fresh.

Speaker 1: 6:26

What would you recommend to someone who is new to the genre and why? I Don't know why they keep wording it as genre. I guess they just mean, like, anime as a whole. Either way, the top three that I usually go for are full malakumas, brotherhood, sort of online in Steinskate. I find that those three are very beginner friendly and I find that, like they're, they have really flux, a good flushed out Story and I feel like that they're, they are strong enough that, like they could get someone hooked into watching more. That'd be my answer to that. What is your favorite anime soundtrack of? Why? Again, I have touched on this beforehand, but it's definitely the fairy tale, probably. Soundtrack like the battle music, even like the music that happens when, like you know, they're doing their monologuing or or or exposition or anything like that. Like I could listen to Any of the music from fairy tale and be happy, so I'm gonna leave it at that.

Speaker 1: 7:33

How do you feel about the representation of diversity in anime and what improvements would you like to see? Oh gosh, I'm I'm not even sure how to answer this question. I guess you know I Find that like, like a lot of things, obviously, like a lot of Anime is actually based in Japan, you know. So obviously, all of the characters are going to be primarily Japanese, like you know, unless you have, like characters like the, the traditional transfer student from across the seas or or whatever. I Would say that, especially nowadays, I would say the divert. I would say that the representation of diversity, pretty good, at least in my opinion, like I wouldn't like obviously, like you can talk, like I won't get too into it, but, like you know, we talk about like in mass media, about like whitewashing and the Oscars and whitewashing and movies in the past and everything else like that. But I Think it's a little bit different, especially in terms of when you go into an animated or drawn perspective, because it's kind of ambiguous, at least in my opinion. Like it, like it's not like. Obviously you can tell by like the name and the Location of the character as to what I guess, like where they're from, but Apart from that, they all generally like it doesn't go too into, like different, like you know skin tones and different you know it like I don't know, I find that like, especially because it I'm not sure if it's done on purpose, if they try Not to touch on that aspect or not To keep it more broad, but In terms of improvements I would like to see. I honestly I don't think I'm the right person to give that opinion, so I think I'll leave that question at that.

Speaker 1: 9:45

What is your favorite anime genre and why? You know, honestly, if you go into what I Watch, it's probably a toss up between shonen. So like a good old action and is a guy, those two kind of story arcs Just hit it for me. But again, it also depends on my mood, I find, because, like I'm also okay with you know, a romance or drama or or anything like that, I would say, if anything, if I had to pick like a least favorite, it would actually be funny enough like a, like a, like a slice of life, comedy. I don't know it, I'm not sure if and again, I'm not sure if it's because of like a, a Cultural thing or anything else like that, but like I find that like if an anime tries to be funny In like a natural sense, it falls flat on me. That's just my, not not to say obviously, because there are ones like again, I've talked on this show about Mashel, I don't know how many times, and I think that that's Amazingly hilarious. But I would say, if I had to pick at least favorite would probably be comedy in an anime aspect which is funny because in real life, like in real media or I, real media, that's weird. But like not animated, I would say comedy, like comedy movies are probably like my favorite genre for like movies. Actually that's kind of funny to think about.

Speaker 1: 11:12

Hmm, anyway, how do you think anime has evolved over the years and what changes have you noticed? Like, obviously, like animation has gotten better. I guess you could also like talk about, like you know, cgi being incorporated more. Not sure if that's a positive or a negative. Really, sometimes is a positive, sometimes a negative. Yeah, I guess obviously like the animations a better. Obviously, it gets pumped out a lot faster. Like you know, we get like I don't know how many friggin new New shows coming out per season.

Speaker 1: 11:48

Like I remember, like when I first started watching anime, you know, I'd have to watch like an episode in three parts on YouTube, because that was the only source that I had to watch it, unless I could somehow, you know, find a store that actually, like you know, sold it, but unless it was like one of, like a, like a really big popular one, that was less likely to happen. So I guess, like, overall, I guess, like the Availability of it obviously has also evolved and I think that that would probably be the be the biggest thing I noticed. But obviously I think that also comes with, like you know, technology advances, streaming, everything else it's it's made it way easier to to to get it right. So, yeah, what is your favorite anime moment or scene, and why? Probably a three-way tie between Goku riding the energy wave with the kamihamiha and then blasting her in the face with it, the revenge scene with Roy Mustang like obliterating envy, and the nothing-happened scene of Zoro from one piece. Don't want to leave a spoiler, I would just say that, like, that was a badass scene, so definitely three-way tie between those.

Speaker 1: 13:11

Okay, how do you think anime has influenced pop culture and media outside of Japan? Again, like, obviously I think it kind of depends. Like, like, I find it kind of crazy that like, for instance, like the big Boom of Pokemon go was probably the craziest thing I'd ever seen, because, like, obviously, like I know that, like back when we were young and everything else like that, like there was a lot of us that played like the Pokemon games and our game boys and stuff like that. But the sheer popularity that Pokemon go gave and like the, you know the, the wanting to Get people out walking about, like I remember seeing droves of people and and like it was anybody, like it was like and all ages, like people are doing it with their kids, people are doing it themselves. I saw like people that at least they looked the ages that they would be like if they were grandparents.

Speaker 1: 14:02

And I Think, like, especially when it comes to like the bigger thing, like the like the bigger Series and stuff like that, it's obviously had a huge like cultural impact. Yeah, I Think, like you know, you can kind of like also like, look at, like you know, the popularity of, like you know, the Goku comee, ha, me, ha, and Like you know, people knowing that, people Actually calling, like when you, when you hold your arms back while you're running the Naruto run, like you see certain little Aspects of that, that like, even if they might not know too much about the series itself, there is like some impact on knowledge in a general sense. Uh-huh, I'm gonna skip a couple of these. This is a good one.

Speaker 1: 15:05

What do you think are calling misconceptions about anime and how would you address them? I think the biggest common misconception that I see is that anime is for kids. You know, off the top of my head I can think of Helsing, attack on Titan, parasite, well, chainsaw, man health paradise, like any of those I would not show my child. So I Think anybody's saying something like that, like somebody like saying that like, oh, it's a cartoon, it's for children, is just completely inaccurate, because I Find a lot of anime like it can have a lot of mature themes and like, like I know, a lot of the stuff that I just listed was more Gore, horror, dark, but like you can even like, like you know, like I've seen ones touch on on, like you know, suicide, on depression, on, you know, anxiety, everything else like that, and like again, like those aren't, those are not, that's not subject matter for children. So I say, yeah, that was probably one of the biggest misconceptions that I would fight is that it is for children, because and not to say there are obviously enemies that are for children, but I Would say a good majority is actually very much not.

Speaker 1: 16:39

How do you think in anime has impacted your personal life? Well, case in point, I'm doing a anime podcast with my spare time, so I guess that would be one way that's impacted. I've, you know, had a lot of friendships and everything else that like they didn't necessarily start with the love of anime, but I do think I've spent a lot of time with some of my closest friends watching my favorite series and everything else, and you know you from that. You, you know, have inside jokes and Subject matter you can bring up, you know to talk about and you know you both can get like excited about the same thing and yeah. So I think that would probably be the biggest impacts that I had on my personal life. Let's see, boo boo, boo boo. Yeah, some of these questions, a lot of these questions, are repeats of things, live adaptations. We kind of had a whole episode based on that. We kind of had a whole episode based on that. Oh, okay, what do you figure that? Some of the most underrated anime series or movies. I haven't watched a lot of anime movies, but I would definitely say underrated.

Speaker 1: 18:05

If I had to say I had to, if I had to choose one of the most underrated Anime series I've ever watched that I don't hear about nearly enough, it would be guilty crown, I find. I Not sure if it's because it was looked over or not, but, and funny enough, like I didn't even really like. I remember when I first got my fun am, a fun amation subscription, the, I Guess I must have been like I got, like I was fairly new, to like really, really diving in and watching anime and I just like hit the ground running and just was going through series by series and Like I just felt like, especially when I first got a fun amation account like my, it's like my world opened up to like because, like, again, like I think because that was the first time it became readily available to me that it kind of just blew my mind about how the of all these different, you know kind of one-off series that I had never heard about and probably wouldn't have if I hadn't seen it. And yeah, guilty-crown, I find is just a really cool concept, like everybody's like soul can base. Basically, the idea is that everybody's soul can kind of be pulled out and Create and like into like every, like every souls takes the form of like a weapon or like a tool of some sort and Our main character has the ability to pull these weapons out. And yeah, like I said, if you, if you have like a spare like I think it's yeah, it's only like 22 episodes or something if you have like a spare time or whatever, like you have, you're having a slow week or something and you want like a, something that you can just burn through from start to finish, give guilty crown a shot. I, I really enjoyed it and I do think that it is underrated. Yeah, a lot of these are Things I've kind of already talked about. Honestly, I probably should have looked through this list before I started, but let's see. Oh, this is a good one.

Speaker 1: 20:17

How do you think anime has impacted the way you view and understand Japanese culture? So this is super interesting to me, especially in terms of, like you know, if you think of like school life, let like like Any kind of anime that pertains to like the way that Japanese people go through school, and like just like the sheer difference between, like you know, what we do here. So, like I'm Canadian Versus what happens in Japan. And I thought the kind of the coolest one, in my opinion, was when I was watching ace of diamond where, like you know, the the teams actually like Roomed together in a dorm and then were expected to, like you know, go right from class to practicing, to dinner and Then to bed and repeat and then like that was like their lifestyle up until their you know third year, where they would have they would have to retire To spend the last year just focusing on school to get into like a college or university.

Speaker 1: 21:28

I thought that that kind of aspect book school and I also kind of thought the whole idea. The other thing that I found interesting is that, like for all schooling, they actually had to take an examination to get into said schools. So, like you know, like I guess it was kind of similar to like the ideas of, like you know, prep schools or or, or you know, private schools here when, like you know, the better tested students would you know, go. And the other thing that was kind of interesting too is, like for those like kind of more Advanced schools in Japan and stuff like that, they already have to pay tuition for school and stuff like that. We're like here it's like you know the law to go to school, like we don't have to pay to go to high school, like we just we have to go to high school, that's just something that we do.

Speaker 1: 22:25

So I thought that that was kind of interesting in a way where, like you know, the, the, like the, the importance of schooling, the importance of studying, like Not so much, not even the importance like the need to study, because, like, obviously, like I remember in high school and stuff like that, like that I would have to study sometimes, but like that would be, like you know, ooh, a big test is coming up. I better, you know, for the next couple days, really focus on what's gonna be the subject matter on the test or, like you know and again I could be wrong, I could just be taking this assumption but I've seen a lot of different animes where, like you know, they're taking like A couple hours like per night, like you know. Where I myself would be, you know, just chilling on my couch watching TV. They're at their desk Working on these workbooks that aren't even really homework, it's more just to you know, make sure that they stay up and know the subject matter. It's just is.

Speaker 1: 23:30

I would say that that is probably the biggest thing that I've learned is that is the school life is just so vastly different and the importance of education is is huge in Japan. So I thought that that was kind of interesting. So, yeah, I just realized. So I've already been talking for this long and I've only made it through 25 of these 100 questions, so I think I'm gonna save these for now. I'm gonna kind of wind down. The first thing that I wanted to bring up is, like I said, probably either Next week or the week after is when we're gonna be talking about the you know, end of this season, kind of give my wrap-up thoughts to the ones that I watched this season and Maybe even give kind of an insight as to the ones that I'm looking forward to for next season, as Well as what I'm currently reading. So I am currently reading one.

Speaker 1: 24:28

It looks like it has a couple names. It's either called teenage Mercenary or mercenary enrollment. I've seen it titled both ways. I was kind of skeptical, skeptical at first about it, but it's really good. So just to kind of give like a blanket.

Speaker 1: 24:47

Essentially what it is is that he, the main character, he was in a car or not car crash, a plane crash With his parents, when he was like 10 years old and he ended up in this foreign country. It doesn't really specify what the country is and doesn't really give any indication, but either way it kind of looks like he was like basically, essentially you stuck in a militia enforced environment and to survive he was part of this camp that essentially I guess, trained Anywhere between like adults to children to basically be mercenaries, or like basically, like you know, agents, yeah, like so mercenaries, agents for hire, or however you want to put it. And then the reason he's been doing this is like half because he was obviously stuck there, in half because in the plane crash he had lost his memory. His memory came back, he learned that he had a family back in Korea and he basically comes back and he has to try. It's kind of like a mixture of like he keeps getting mixed in with, like People from his past, but also trying to just live a normal life, because now he's back with his family after like a decade away. So, like you know, he's trying to, like you know, be a normal teenager, but he is also like this badass mercenary.

Speaker 1: 26:09

It's a fun read. I'm really enjoying it. So I would obviously, I would honestly recommend it to anybody who is down with my Description. But yeah, that's it for me this week. Hope you guys enjoyed the rival, extra views on all your social medias, review, if you haven't, and Share with your friends. If you have a friend that our anime fans, I would love to give you a touch. And again, thank you for for those who sent this Link to me. I will, you know, I'll definitely keep it tabbed. So then that way I can, you know, try and touch on some of these other questions as well. I'm looking and there are definitely some other questions that I think would make some interesting conversations. Um, yeah, so I'll see you guys next week. Bye, bye.