Things you notice as an Otaku

1) THE EYES, yes the big googoo eyes which japanese anime/manga artists use to compensate for their own plight of tight slit for eye-holes. Astro Boy which was called Atom in japan (the various remakes of which we all - some us are quite familiar with) was the first anime to achieve regular broadcast in 1964). In black and white, the robotic boy-wonder Astro had large black-eyes which contributed to his child-like determined expressions. Yes sadly animation in Japan was largely Disney inspired, but took a sharp turn into forming a separate dominant identity. I first saw Astro-Boy's dubbed version of the 90's coloured remake when I was 11 on K-tv.




2) You are aware of the various terms that are used to define "ENERGY LEVELS". Reiatsu for bleach, Chakra for Naruto, HP in Pokemon, Chi in Street Fighter and Energy Levels in Dragon Ball Z. Should you make the mistake of ever confusing the terms in the wrong Anime Universe...yes your friends will never let you forget it.


3) Seals, Bankais, Ultimate fighting techniques, lay it all on us. Every anime with a hint of combat, will require an UNDERSTANDING OF COMPLEX ABILITIES, the dynamics of their limitations and progressive magnitude. You could be the biggest dumbass in Economics and have problems with graphs, but you will notice "I do not understand! How can Hitako's mushi mushi baygo be so comparatively ineffective against Shitako's Oyo Tse Chiyo, when in season 3, Seiyu's Okinawan is also a fire-based attack overpowers Shitako's Oyo Tse Chiyo which may be stronger in terms of the level of Yukai but it fails because its an Ice-based attack. It simply not logical." (Note: Okinawan is a type of doughnut).


4) NOBODY UNDERSTANDS US, a persistent theme in this note and a problem of variable significance in our lives. People just don't like that we talk about weird sounding names and use alien words as verbs and adjectives. I don't know. It bugs them. Some people just like to be preppy. Some are genuinely concerned that we get so worked up about Shinra Tensei.


5) BOOBS.


6) Point 5 HAS NOTHING to do with Point 4. Though it does get annoying when your parents suspect that you have an Asian fetish.


7) BRUISES AND BUMPS are really huge in a comic context but nobody is more adept at making cool battle damage than manga and anime artists. Pain in the former context is portrayed as squiggly vibrating lines. In the latter situations pain is portrayed through deep cultural music and omitted syllables and the subject in pain will have lush wavy hair flowing in the wind.


8) FOUNTAINS OF BLOOD are the brain child of Asian concept artists for movies. It was translated onto the manga and anime medium. The last resort attack of all anime characters who don't die in vain, they spray their enemies with pints of AIDS infested blood. Seriously make blood baby watch some anime.


9) A CONTRADICTION OF POINT 8 in older classic ninja anime. Less flashy. If you slice someone in half, they will remain intact for quite a while and manage an arrogant smirk before their next movement makes them fall apart. This applies to the modern anime counterparts as well in situations of dramatic clashes when two opponents speed towards each other. Their exact impact will be a blur. Only after they have moved past one another will the victor be determined as after a full monologue the loser will explode.


10) SWINGING THROUGH THE TREES, effortlessly for hours and having nice long conversations. Seriously they're flying by means of tapping their toes after long intervals onto branches.


11) JESUS NINJAS, they run on water.


12) STRATEGIC EVALUATION OF RENDERED ATTACKS during battle. They wont shutup. Logically speaking Shikamaru is the one who should be bragging about whichever Ultimate attack sequence that was tried and failed and set off a chain reaction to the victory of the good guys. But no. EVERY BLOODY NINJA HAS TO SPEND A GOOD 10 MINUTES WITH COMMENTARY OF THE BATTLE AFTER EVERY SINGLE ATTACK. What if the attacks actually kill them for once. They'll revive the enemy just to explain to them how and why they lost.


13) We eagerly wait for the protagonist to learn and master ultimate ancient techniques, only to find out that once they are put into use during battle, there will be SOME TECHNICALITY that renders them useless. And no matter how "ultimate" they are, there always is a better attack out there. Always. Wait for the plot to develop.


14) Same with main antagonists. AS PLOT DEVELOPS, the older bad guys seem like pansies compared to the new ones.


15) We LOVE fantasy match-making and watching it become reality. I'm still pissed that Danzou didn't get to fight Madara properly.


16) We NEVER fantasy match-make with different anime universes. We just don't. Fine let Iron Man team up with Spider-Man. Naruto meeting Ichigo? What? Ridiculous.


17) The theme songs will have RANDOM INCLUSIONS OF ENGLISH PHRASES! The perfect example is the 1st opening for Shippuden. I remember South Park parodying anime in one episode....the chorus of the fictional theme song in that episode was "Lets get fighting love!" Seriously, whats up with that.


18) How do you know when the good guys are winning? Wait for this music.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjjkHg5FOhk&feature=related