The Blue Fox Alley

It has been almost seven months since my ‘awakening’. I was a rookie back then (probablySTILL one I believe), intoxicated by the myriad of visuals that anime has to offer, and generally impatient in moving onto my next show. After my ‘awakening’, I proceeded to do what every fresh anime fan/otaku does: watch every darn show under the sun regardless of whether it is considered good or bad. It was not long before the friends around me began to notice the changes in me, from my tendency to stay at home to my complete ignorance towards TV drama series (due to my new preference to watch only anime and the news). And whenever I admitted to becoming an anime fan, I would get varying versions of a few questions.

“How the hell did you end up like that?”

“Whut is dat? Cartoons?”

And then: “You seem like a matured enough guy. Why do you want to go into something kiddy like anime?”

I know too well of that question, a variant on the questions which are typical from those who are not acquainted well enough with the form of media in focus. It signaled a discrimination not simply just towards anime but with the very notion of any form of anomaly in society. In response, I would usually smile and nod and say that I understood the aversion, but that there was – and always had been – another approach towards the unfamiliar, an approach that is fueled with the true spirit of humanity, that only through the willingness of embracing something different would one attain a whole new horizon of perspective.

 It was a pretty good attempt at justifying my obsession over Japanese cartoons convincing reply to those who questioned my hobby, I think. And although I am not sure that the people who heard me believed in my bullshit, enough of them were impressed by the extent at which I was willing to convince myself that cute imoutos, lolis and tsunderes make the world a better place.

 Six month later, while reflecting on my recent deeds, I was not so sure of myself.

With a brief skim, it seemed as if I was on the right track to embrace my otaku nature. My room has been totally transformed to the point that it is now the twilight zone of my home, spent countless of sleepless nights making up for the 20+ years of anime that I had missed up till now, and my perception is now slightly warped. Yes, whenever M.O.E shows up in the newspaper, it no longer means Ministry of Education to me.  

Time soon began to take its toll. Some of it was just a function of my ‘leveling up’, I suppose, for if you are paying attention, each successive ogling at the pretty cartoons will make one like me become more aware of possessing qualities that constantly reminds me of how amiable a person I am. With the sophisticated taste to view anime and a young heart to appreciate anime, such characters like me are deserving of being looked upon when it comes to ideal human traits  renders one recurring question with a compounding effect. Just like how an anime character from a shounen genre show would ask the hackneyed and equivocal question of ‘why do you fight?’, I am faced with one similar issue to contemplate about. To put it bluntly, what is that I seek in watching anime? What is it that has been eluding me for all these while?

The Blue Fox Alley will be my keeper of lore as I continue down this path, putting on the facade of being a smarty-pants while writing whatever comes to mind, whether it is related to anime or not. Hopefully the Alley will grow in correspond to a truth which I earnestly pray to be affirmed at being in the roots of my love for ANIMU. A truth which will confirm the fundamental decency in my soul, one that has attracted my attention towards anime, is what I desire to be true. And as I pray, my hope extends out to everyone in the anime blogosphere that it is in our collective conscience where this decency stands true! I pray that my journey will eventually lead me to confirm a set of values which binds us all together despite our differences (like being Fat Yaoi Girls, Lolicons, Mecha-Freaks, Trolls and more).

I recognise the risk of talking this way. In a community saturated with memes, cutthroat flame wars and differences, we do not seem to possess a shared language with which to discuss our views but I hope I am proven wrong in the near future of course. In such a climate, any assertion of having the same love for anime might seem hopelessly naive, if not downright superficial- an attempt to gloss down over serious difference in dogmas when in comes to our selective anime viewing and opinions or, worse, a means of muffling what may be argued to being the nasty truth in certain aspects of the hobby.

 My stand, however, is that we have no choice! We do not need a VEDA to know how the evolution of anime appreciation has diversified into many approaches, be it good or bad in the eyes of others. In fear of the community breaking into splinters due to elitism and segregation, we need a new window to gaze through. A window that can excavate and build upon the same love for anime that pulls as together as anime fans. With wishful thinking, that might be a possibility and a bonus to come true while I try to understand a bit more in regards to my hobby.

Please let me be right! It is alright for me to like anime right? Cheese is fine right?

P.S Could the anime blogosphere go easy on those esoteric jargon? It is killing a newbie like me as he tries to figure them out!