Anime ga Suki: I like Anime
In 1963, an animated television show called Astro Boy, the story of a robotic boy with superhuman abilities, showed up on the TVs of many people all across Japan. This was one of the very first productions that would be labeled ‘Anime,’ or Japanese Animation, a term which now encompasses an entire industry in Japan and many parts of the world, as well as a fan base which goes just as far. Anime has become less of a passive form of entertainment for many people, and is now a way of life; full of merchandising, imagination, and most of all, a culture. Much like any co-culture, anime and the people who adopt it as their hobby, or even life, are not generally understood by people outside of the culture. Nevertheless, the anime culture is a full-fledged culture that is both accepted and avoided all over the world.
