my anime journey
a retrospective two anime waves (and some recommendations for you!)
my anime journey comes in two waves, a decade apart. my current return to anime, such as it is, was most likely inevitable.
the first wave;
like many millennials, my introduction to anime was via a combination of dragon ball z, sailor moon, and pokemon, all thanks to cartoon network’s toonami programming block, which initially aired on weekday afternoons. every day after school, i would tune in at four for some anime, which at that point were just regular old cartoons to me, albeit more interesting and less childish. i was very young, and these were formative years, so it’s no wonder these shows imprinted on me. of the three, sailor moon became my favorite.
then came adult swim; cartoon network’s late-night programming block, with shows like aqua teen hunger force and space ghost coast to coast (neither of which I liked) — and anime! this was how i was introduced to the show that would truly guide me into the world of anime: inuyasha. my first anime, my first fandom, the first fanfic i ever read.
the series is about kagome higurashi, a high school girl from tokyo who accidentally gets transported to feudal era japan via an old well on her family’s property. there, she meets half-demon inuyasha and discovers that she is a reincarnation of his dead lover kikyo. inuyasha and kikyo seemingly betrayed each other over the shikon jewel, a powerful magical object that gives humans and demons power and corrupts them. when kagome accidentally shatters the shikon jewel and spreads its shards all over japan, she teams up with inuyasha to collect the shards. along the way, they make friends and form a little found family while going up against the demon naraku, who set all of this in motion years ago.
in retrospect it is absolutely unsurprising that i latched onto inuyasha so much. kagome is a wonderful heroine: resilient, friendly, compassionate, determined, clever. one of anime’s shortcomings is that well-written female characters are sorely lacking, but in inuyasha (written by a female mangaka) we get kagome, sango, and kikyo, three female main characters who are absolutely at the forefront of the story and are allowed to fight and grow and just, generally, be really cool. inuyasha is a compelling and endearing anti-hero, and of course there’s his half-brother, sesshoumaru, who i was obsessed with.
after watching inuyasha and jumping on the internet to explore, i began to conceptualize anime as something separate from american cartoons. the ensuing journey came in fits and starts — limewire was a thing, but i was not yet adept at it, and so i relied entirely on what adult swim chose to show, and i couldn’t always catch every episode. i have very hazy memories of random snippets from a multitude of anime: cowboy bebop, witch hunter robin, wolf’s rain, fooly cooly, gundam.
as i grew older and more adept at navigating the internet in general (and as the internet expanded), i began watching more and more anime. there were the classics, the giants (naruto, bleach, death note), and there were the random ones (scrapped princess, jigoku shoujo, ghost hunt, blood+). i also read a lot of manga during this time (thank you, queens library, for having a gigantic manga catalog).
the culmination of my anime obsession came in late high school to early college. one of my core memories is sitting at the kitchen table reading the entire naruto manga with one of my best friends, because we had run out of anime episodes. it was the peak of my obsession; i came off naruto with a sense of emotional devastation i’d never felt before.
then, slowly, my interest in anime began to peter off. it was a combination of things: i was getting older and changing, generally, becoming more aware of things like sexism and misogyny, both of of which are prevelant in anime. i started getting tired of anime humor and dramatics. i grew more interested in live-action shows; my college era is also my television binge era (watching nine seasons of grey’s anatomy in under a month as a college student remains one of my foremost accomplishments lmao).
i never entirely gave up on anime and manga, though. i was also still in the depths of of an anime-induced interest in japan and japanese culture. in college i studied japanese and wrote my thesis on japanese history. as a senior, i applied to the jet programme to teach english for a year in japan, but was waitlisted, so ended up not going. my interest in japan cooled as i began to grow an interest in my own egyptian heritage and history.
i occasionally dipped my toes into other anime. i watched the first season of attack on titan in 2014, just as it came out. my brother and cousin attempted to get me to watch demon slayer with them back when there was only one season, and i couldn’t make it through two episodes, because i just wasn’t in the mood for anime (funnily enough, i watched all of demon slayer this month and love it). and then my interest waned even more, until i wasn’t watching anime at all.
cut to: 2024, when attack on titan finally aired all of its seasons. i remembered how much i’d loved the first season, and my brother (who has his own anime journey) wanted to watch the final season with me, so i decided to watch the whole thing from the start. i loved it, but i loved it as a show, not as an anime. in fact, i was very much convinced that attack on titan was an unusual type of anime, one devoid of the usual anime humor and shanenegins (and it remains the show that i would recommend for anyone trying to get into anime; it’s a great introduction to the medium).
the second wave;
i then found myself at a strange sort of impasse: i wanted to watch more anime, but i wanted anime similar to attack on titan, as in: serious, slightly cerebral, fantastical, basically just like a western show only animated. i watched a few anime with friends that i enjoyed: hell’s paradise, jujutsu kaisen. but i didn’t really latch on.
then, earlier this year, i rewatched parts of jujutsu kaisen with my best friend, who was just beginning her own anime journey, and something just…clicked. my brain chemistry changed. nuerons were rewired. i fell hard for jjk, a kind of obsession and devastation that eclipsed even my feelings for naruto, something i hadn’t thought possible.
after jjk, i needed something to fill the hole it left behind, and so i started exploring. it was touch and go, at first, and there were times when i wondered if i wasn’t actually getting back into anime, but rather was just trying to recover from jjk. the only show that was working for me, really, was the apothecary diaries, which itself is also a bit of an unusual anime, devoid of many usual anime tropes, and is one i had been watching even before jjk. but then whatever block i had began to weaken. i just started watching everything i could get my hands on, and while at first i was feeling very meh about most shows, i also couldn’t stop watching. and then the dam broke entirely.
i am fully back in, and somehow, all the things that bothered me about anime back in the day (sexism, fanservice, etc) somehow have become more bearable (and i like to think anime is continually improving). i now find anime humor hilarious rather than grating, and i think all the over-the-top dramatics are what make anime engaging and memorable. watching anime has even inspired me to write!
i don’t know how long i’ll be here, in this weird mental space where watching animie gives me so much joy, but i’m going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
recommendations;
interested in getting into anime yourself? here’s what i suggest:
for those just wanting to dip their toes into something relatively familiar to live-action shows:
attack on titan: dark fantasy, action-packed, lots of political intrigue and heavy worldbuilding, wide cast of characters
the apothecary diaries: mostly a medical mystery with a lot of palace intrigue but also a reluctant romance, fabulous female lead
frieren: what happens after the journey to defeat the villain, two fantastic female leads, traditional fantasy setting, cozy feels, gorgeous animation
for those who want to dive headfirst into anime shanengins and occasional bullshit:
jujutsu kaisen: excellent fight scenes, wild worldbuilding, tragedy mixed with silliness, great villains, changed my life
naruto: an absolute classic, one of the anime giants of the aughts, has probably influenced hundreds of anime that followed
demon slayer: one of the most popular anime of today along with jujutsu kaisen and attack on titan, amazing fight scenes, lovable main characters, tons of anime humor, very unique animation style
cheers,
hadeer
awesome recs! JJK & AOT are personal faves ❤️