Japan [It's Bleepin' Weird]

"Japan: It's fucking weird."

This caption caught my eye and gave me a laugh. Who does stuff like this? The closest you get to this in the states is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Well, hell, I'm all about weird. We're all weird. What is so weird about anime? Okay, maybe it's a little weird. Unfortunately, Japanese anime gets a bad rap by the mainstream. Outside of Japan it's still a reasonably contained subculture populated by loyal Otaku, albeit strong and vocal. In Japan, anime is suffused into advertising through so many product lines and into the very culture itself that it just looks fun and vibrant and, well, so very weird. I mean that in a good way.


I suppose the oversized bosoms and gratuitous fan service of so many youth-oriented anime productions [MOE] haven't exactly helped the cause stateside, but there are exceptional anime titles out there old and new. Some are classics and some are classics in the making aging like fine wine. It is those you must seek, because they are vibrant, compelling and refreshingly different from standard American science ficiton fare. There are some that are really worth your time and are incredibly original. Still, weeding through the quagmire can take a bit of time.


The Sci-Fi Fanatic hopes to assist those science fiction lovers out there by presenting a series of posts going forward that will shed some light on the anime television series, films and OVAs [Original Video Animation or sometimes OAV] that might be worthy of your valuable time.

Humorous captions aside, I love Japan or at least all that it has to offer. I love Japanese women. I love the culture. I love the food. I love the animation. I love so many things about it. I've met some wonderful people from Japan over the years. Yet, sadly, I've never been and it is the one place in the world, high on my list, I hope to one day visit with plans to get lost in translation. Somehow, someway I will on get there- know that! If you recommend places to see please let me know.


I plan on visiting Kyoto and Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, maybe some of the animation studios like Gainax or Gonzo and if luck should have it even meet some of the greats like Director Hideaki Anno or Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Legend has it some of the greatest animators have died doing what they love right in those very studios. Who doesn't respect that kind of passion? If I'm lucky perhaps I'll be saddled with a beautiful kawaii-type tour guide to show me around. Japan is calling my friends. "Fucking weird" or not, I hope to find out and someday let you know just how wonderfully weird it was.