Just where is the love?

It’s time for a paradigm shift. There’s just too much negative energy going around, and I think it’s about time I change my stance. I am going to stop hating anime. It’s just so easy to bash a series on pure conjectures rather than defend a worthless anime on its positive aspects. I admit I fell victim to this lazy writing style before I even realized it, and now all my posts are just so full of hate. I used to be the guy who couldn’t give an anime a thumbs down. Now I hate series based on the color of underwear I am wearing that day.

Pink with polka dots? Clearly not worth my time.

I remember a time when I was just a wee lad arguing with my friends about which Shonen Jump series was the best anime ever made. Ah, those were the times… I used to have this belief that no matter how boring or ridiculous an anime is, I would watch it to the end regardless of personal feelings or opinions. The only justification for this tremendous waste of time was to conclude that whatever I had just seen must be the greatest anime ever made. This made things complicated, because I was forced to do research and assign blame to individual members of the production staff for each minutia of detail that reduced the release from its potential perfect score. Then I compiled a list of its pros to reinforce my conviction on why it was a great anime. From there, I would head to school the next morning, armed with my wealth of useless knowledge to do battle with my potential opponents in the area behind the school reserved for the bottom rungs of high school social strata.

Objection!

One anime changed all this: Azumanga Daioh.

Watch this by yourself in a closet.

Azumanga Daioh, in all objectiveness, is a work of art. The animation is superb for a series made up of short minimalist characters. The setting was at the time a rarity: short skits and situation comedy. The gags are original and highly cultured, setting a precedence which many series imitate to this day. The voice actors fit their individual characters to a tee. The staff was full of fresh progressive individuals full of energy and enthusiasm, bringing ideas to the table which many anime still exploit. But for the life of me, I just can’t like this anime, and I have no fucking clue why.

Unfortunately, I haven’t learned my lesson, so rather than review anime calmly and neutrally, I will begin to do the complete opposite of what I have done so far. I will treat every anime as they were meant to be treated: with absolute ardor. I intend to become a weeaboo, and love everything I watch, regardless of how much I hate it. All my articles hereon will be from the other side of the fence. Ciao.