minister3333
Brigade Leader
I've searched the forums and couldn't find a similar thread... And I thought I'd put it here, even though it could be classed 'Anime Discussion'...
I thought this would be quite interesting:
I was wondering how people first got interested in Anime and Manga? In general: the whole genre from Japan? As far as I'm aware, Akira is generally seen as the Anime which brought the genre to the West and I expect some of you were hooked after seeing it. Personally, it doesn't grab me that much (despite owning the DVD) but what did awaken my interest in Japanese entertainment was when I read a couple of Japanese/Manga graphic novels in the town library, after school in the early 90's.
I remember that I'd finished a couple of Batman's, Superman's, etc and saw this strange looking, black and white, graphic novel that was rather thick. It was called DOMU and I was struck by the 'realistic' drawing, as opposed to the 'comicbook' art I was used to and had previously enjoyed. As I flicked through, I was also quite shocked that a graphic novel (e.g. a comicbook!) had such adult themes in its presentation of death, violence, etc. It felt wrong, yet I couldn't help but be impressed with the quality of the work. DOMU seemed to be about an old man and a young girl who lived in an apartment block and were engaged in a psychological battle with each other. They appeared to have mental abilities, allowing them to move objects, and thus inflict pain, on their opponent, purely through the power of thought. I was interested. As I flicked through I came across a section which concerned a teenage boy in his bedroom, holding a hobby knife, building Airfix model plane kits. The drawings were so convincing, I related to them and that was the point at which I was hooked. I turned back to the start of DOMU and read the whole thing properly.
Over the following nights after school, I also discovered in the library's graphic novel section, another book called Gon. It was about a small T-Rex-like Dinosaur. The remarkable thing about this book to me was that there was not a single word in the whole story. Yet it was so entertaining, so funny, so superbly drawn..... Gon soon became a favourite.
I only ever got to read the two Gon books the library had, along with DOMU. But that was what hooked me into Manga and Anime. I have never read them since and wonder if there are any other works related to DOMU (apart from it being created by the Akira guy)? I am sure Gon must be a franchise, or similar, by now. After all, he was featured in Tekken 3!
(Postscript: As an afterthought... I was also a big fan of Mysterious Cities of Gold and Thundercats as a child. I noticed that their animation was somehow 'different' to the regular UK fare... but it wasn't until I was much older that I made the link between them and Anime.)
So how about all of you?! How did YOU get into Anime and Manga? :?: <br><br>
I thought this would be quite interesting:
I was wondering how people first got interested in Anime and Manga? In general: the whole genre from Japan? As far as I'm aware, Akira is generally seen as the Anime which brought the genre to the West and I expect some of you were hooked after seeing it. Personally, it doesn't grab me that much (despite owning the DVD) but what did awaken my interest in Japanese entertainment was when I read a couple of Japanese/Manga graphic novels in the town library, after school in the early 90's.
I remember that I'd finished a couple of Batman's, Superman's, etc and saw this strange looking, black and white, graphic novel that was rather thick. It was called DOMU and I was struck by the 'realistic' drawing, as opposed to the 'comicbook' art I was used to and had previously enjoyed. As I flicked through, I was also quite shocked that a graphic novel (e.g. a comicbook!) had such adult themes in its presentation of death, violence, etc. It felt wrong, yet I couldn't help but be impressed with the quality of the work. DOMU seemed to be about an old man and a young girl who lived in an apartment block and were engaged in a psychological battle with each other. They appeared to have mental abilities, allowing them to move objects, and thus inflict pain, on their opponent, purely through the power of thought. I was interested. As I flicked through I came across a section which concerned a teenage boy in his bedroom, holding a hobby knife, building Airfix model plane kits. The drawings were so convincing, I related to them and that was the point at which I was hooked. I turned back to the start of DOMU and read the whole thing properly.
Over the following nights after school, I also discovered in the library's graphic novel section, another book called Gon. It was about a small T-Rex-like Dinosaur. The remarkable thing about this book to me was that there was not a single word in the whole story. Yet it was so entertaining, so funny, so superbly drawn..... Gon soon became a favourite.
I only ever got to read the two Gon books the library had, along with DOMU. But that was what hooked me into Manga and Anime. I have never read them since and wonder if there are any other works related to DOMU (apart from it being created by the Akira guy)? I am sure Gon must be a franchise, or similar, by now. After all, he was featured in Tekken 3!
(Postscript: As an afterthought... I was also a big fan of Mysterious Cities of Gold and Thundercats as a child. I noticed that their animation was somehow 'different' to the regular UK fare... but it wasn't until I was much older that I made the link between them and Anime.)
So how about all of you?! How did YOU get into Anime and Manga? :?: <br><br>
