The Anime Obsession

Anime is a mystery to me. More specifically, the anime fanatics. And i’m not talking about those who enjoy the occasional anime production or so. I mean, even I enjoyed watching films like say, “Akira” and those old Robotech cartoons on Saturday mornings back in the 80s. No, what i’m talking about is what some may call the Visual Drug of the 21st Century.

So a while back, I start chatting it up with a girl in the lunch room. I forget how the conversation started (something about how our shop forman is a close-talker and has halitosis, but that will be another blog), but somewhere in the conversation, I ask her what her name is. The reply is “I go by Suzumiya”. So a split second of time goes by, but my brain just went through one of those periods when someone threw a wrench in the cogs and skipped a few times. The girl is clearly Caucasian, normal accent, blonde hair, no dark roots. Hmm, well maybe she has a distant Asian relative? Just as i’m about to ask the next question, she adds (clearly having had this response before) “It’s my anime name.” Anime name? She then proceeds to tell me all about the origin of the name, from some cartoon about a special girl who’s in high-school (yes 99% off all anime protagonists are in high-school) and only dates aliens. There was more about the plot but I think I get epileptic seizures from hearing an anime plot summary, and tune it out somehow. Anime name? I’ve heard of nick names, acting names and stripper names, but anime names?

And it doesn’t stop there! From there comes the dressing up in half naked furry cat suits and speaking the 10 Japanese words they learned from their cartoons and then pretending they speak the language fluently! (and then looking down on you when you don’t understand the name of a DragonBall Z fighting stance, no really i’m serious! They look down on you for not having a PHD in kids cartoons!)

 So what is my response the next time you ask my name?

“Conan the Barbarian”. Short pause. “It’s my high fantasy sarcasm name.”

~ by mkadlec on February 22, 2008.