I was reading an infographic introducing Western TV viewers to Japanese anime when I came across a section about space westerns (a la Firefly). “When it comes to anime, there’s Cowboy Bebop – the classic space opera jazz adventure that became many people’s gateway anime.”
Isn’t that strange to think? That anime, that box on my desk, was my gateway anime. I remember when I would sit in a tiny room on the second floor of my parents’ house and watch anime on Saturday nights on the Cartoon Network, staying up late (sorta like I am now), doing homework and drinking bottled Frappuccinos I would treat myself to every weekend. I still sometimes have a craving for one of those when I watch anime late at night. Mocha or coffee flavored? The eternal question.
For a moment, I was transported back to my childhood. Nearly every Saturday I would walk down to the corner store and get a bottled coffee and maybe some candy or something and walk back, put them in the refrigerator and wait until The Boondocks came on. Then I’d go over to our little room at the end of the second-floor hallway and turn on that old CRT television. I’d put my homework on a tray and sit in that room for hours. Eventually I’d get the coffee and the candy and take a break from the work and just watch TV. That was anime night.
Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Kekkaishi, and a few others probably got me through half of my high school’s weekend homework in my four years. I started watching anime around the summer before my junior year, so that kind of makes sense.
Now I’m almost an adult, and I barely have any time for it. At least, I spend more time writing for various blogs and social media accounts and coursework than I spend thinking about anime. I still work conventions, but I almost don’t even pay attention to them anymore. I just do my work and enjoy what I’m really there for: the friends I work with and get to hang out with for one weekend out of every year.
But I’m here now, spending two hours looking up anime and writing about my experience of anime instead of actually watching anime. Well, I guess I’ll get back to that, then. Wish I had a coffee, though.
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