Anime increases in popularity

Over the past few months anime is becoming more popular amongst people. Anime can be traced back to the start of the 20th century with the earliest films dating from 1906. Animes have always been a pretty big thing, especially amongst teens, but now it’s become worldwide and now a lot of people are talking about it and watching it.  

Junior Kristal Cruz-Lugo is a big anime fan and  has some thoughts about why it is becoming so popular. ¨I think the reason that anime has become so popular is that we are now locked in the house without much to do because of this pandemic,” she said. “I think that what brought me to see this type of genre is the boredom of seeing the same shows on television, Netflix, or other shows. However, there is also a great boom in new anime that came out this year and last year too.” 

In addition to Lugo, GHS has a lot of other  students who like anime. 

Juniors Lauryn Edwards and Catherine Godley have watched anime since they were little. ¨I watched ´Sword Art Online´ when I was 9 and have watched the show ever since,¨ Edwards said.

 ¨The first anime I watched was ´Assassinatin Classroom´ in 8th grade, and I loved it because of the connections the characters formed with each other as they grew throughout the anime. I’m a huge sucker for character development,¨ Godley said. 

Junior Kaityln Barylski is also a fan of anime. ¨An anime that I would recommend is ´Soul Eater´ because it’s got a really cool storyline, the anime and manga have two different endings so there´s plenty to see,” she said. ¨I even own the entire manga series.¨ 

Lugo has a few animes to recommend to those who are just getting into the genre. ¨An anime I would recommend is ´Seven Deadly Sins´ or ´Demon Slayer´. I would recommend the ´Seven Deadly Sins´ because of the story it has, it’s really good. It’s about the upcoming kind of demons that falls in love with a goddess and because of it, they both get cursed by the Gods,¨ she said. 

Godley has some recommendations as well. ¨One anime that I would recommend is ´Haikyu!!´ because it’s relatable as a teengaer and you don’t have to be a sporty person to like it. It’s also nice too see the other teams´ stories, so you can root for the other people than just the main character,¨ she said. 

Although there are new series coming out all the time, those who have been watching it for awhile have their favorites. ¨My favorite anime of all time is ´The Disastrous Life of Saiki K´, I love the art style and the Asian culture shown in the anime,¨ Edwards said. 

In addition to favoriete shows, please also have favorite characters. ¨My favorite character is Tanjiro Kamado from ´Demon Slayer´, and it’s not just because of the design of the character, it’s because of his will to turn back his sister into a human since she turned into a demon. And even through his difficulties during his journey or the demons that he had too face, he still didn’t give up,¨ Lugo said.

 ¨My favorite characters are probably Koro-seinsei from ´Assassination Classroom´, Enoshita from ´Haikyu!!´, and Kirishima and Kaminari from ´My Hero Academia´,” Godley said. 

  One of the controversies surrounding anime is whether to watch them subbed or dubbed. Watching subbed anime means watching it in Japanese, and watching it dubbed means watching it in English. 

Barylski doesn’t really like to take part in the argument. ¨My least favorite thing is probably the whole sub vs. dub argument. There are plenty of reasons to watch one over the other so I don’t see why it’s a problem on either side,¨ she said. 

While Lugo loves anime she does have  an issue with a few shows. ¨The only thing I don’t approve of is how they treat women,¨ she said. ¨There are many animes where you can see the men are perverts and they touch what they should not. And there are times where it’s vice versa. But above all that I love it.¨