Anime: The Deadly Obsession
Anime is a Japanese animation projected towards all ages, though it is mostly targeted at the preteen demographic. It had become worldwide and especially favored in the United States when introduced in the 1960s through “Astroboy” a Japanese animation by Osamu Tezuka (www.tv.com/shows/astro-boy). Although anime has amazing aspects that shape your childhood like “Dragon Ball-Z” and maybe even teach you important values like “Wolf Children”, it can sometimes have a negative influence on you. Anime can turn you into an otaku- someone who devotes their entire being to anime. These kind of people are looked down upon in society, especially in Japan, because of their toxic devotion towards anime. It can affect you financially,
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They prioritize things like body pillows, figurines, manga and cosplay outfits (with prices that would make your grandmother cry) over food, rent, clothes and even love. “A recent survey asked a group of otakus [is your passion for your hobby so great that you would willingly choose it over love and romance? ] and found that 70.1 percent of them said they’d shun love in favour of their hobby if it came down to it.” (http://en.rocketnews24.com/) This obsession with anime turns their wallet into a blackhole that people addicted to anime have a difficulty crawling out of. Soon they drown in debt and find it hard to pay it all back, so they rely on their parents to handle the remaining …show more content…
Their addiction ruins their interaction skills with society. Often people obsessed with anime become agitated easily in crowds because they aren’t in their solitary comfort zone. For instance if they were at a family reunion, it would be difficult for them to converse with others and soon they might be outcasted by the family because they see the person as socially uncomfortable to be around because of their awkwardness around others. With anime, something that does not interact with the viewer, as the main priority in otaku’s lives it becomes increasingly difficult to carry a proper conversation because they’ve become out of touch with their social sides and that itself is dangerous, because as humans we are social creatures who need interaction with others or we run the risk of falling into unhealthy psychological and physical states. To summarize, in some cases anime can take away the bonds created with social
This book, Japanamerica focuses on how the Japanese popular culture influencing the American culture. The author, Roland Kelts take a neutral prospective in order to create this book, which is done by interviewing many significant individual who took part in establishing the popular culture in both Japan and America. Kelts investigates why the phenomenon of Japanophilia, or the “outsider’s infatuation with Japan’s cultural character” (pg.5), is occurring especially in the United States. Even though Japanophilia phenomenon arose before the twentieth century, it is increasing in number because of the anime, manga, videogames, and other medium of popular culture.
It may be hard to admit, but television has become an intricate part of our everyday lives. People children often find themselves sitting in front of the television screen for a longer period of time than before and this has evolved immensely over the past few years. In this article, “The Trouble with Television,” by the author Marie Winn, mentions that addiction of television is negative effects on children and families. It keeps the families from doing other things and it’s a hidden competitor for all other activities. Television takes place of play and on top of that kids who watch a lot of television grow uncivilized. Also, the author mentioned that televisions are less resourceful for children and have negative effects on children’s school achievement and on physical fitness. Although there are so many other types of addictions but the author Marie Winn’s points of argument of watching television is a serious addiction that our children and families have negative effects.
High exposure leads to a larger fan base and while many have no clue or interest in what exactly anime is, carefull look at the TV industry allows one to follow a clear trend, if we have 100 pokemon fans in 1998, then in 2000 we have about 75 DBZ fans who now hate pokemon, in 2002 we have around 45 lovers of Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Inuyasha, and around 20 hard core otaku who have found the world of fan and digi subs.
There are many views as to whether video game violence causes children to behave violently. Many children play violent games because that is what most people are playing and they feel that they need to do so as well. Violence is not only in video games but also in all other forms of media because that is what sells and what will make entertainment companies more money.
America, being an amalgamation of societies and cultures, has naturally had a mixed reaction to Japanese media. The younger generation, namely those in their twenties or younger, have embraced the bright and flashy style of Japanese animation. The most popular shows are the ones with the most action, but shows that concentrate on character development and storyline are also popular, especially among the female population. The older generation does not have such open minds unfortunately. They do not seem to understand the appeal of the big eyed characters yelling nonsense at each other or the fact that all animation is not just silly kid’s stuff. Not only that, but Japanese animation has been tagged as overly violent and obscene. It has been accused of causing violence and disturbing young children by fundamentalist organizations.
Do they ever make you do things that you shouldn’t, feel bad about yourself, or feel pressured to change or conform? If someone were to spend too much time watching TV, listening to media and playing video games, our behavior and attitude becomes negative, withdrawn and depressing. Just like listening to bad music, it can cause an impact on your life and others around you. To buying things we do not need to self image, it all impacts our minds and makes us think bad things about ourselves and others. Bulling is also a factor in excessive TV watching, images in magazines and media. Of course, there are other factors too; home life and how your parents raised
The continuing fascination with the zombie motif in popular culture, including literature, film, television, and video games, points to the fact that zombies are of greater significance in our cultural psyche than simple vehicles for inducing easy fear. At the same time that the zombies themselves hold this weight, the fear of zombification - the threat of losing one’s selfhood and becoming one of the undead - holds an equal, if not greater, fascination for individuals as well.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, one of the main themes surrounds the idea of defining obsession and classic obsessive behaviors. Obsession itself is a force of devastation for one’s social, personal, mental, and physical life. At one point, obsession must be a passion, of which has amazing side effects. The synonym, passion, may resemble obsession in the beginning, though the main difference between the two is that obsession consumes the life that it holds. In the end, obsession ruins us.
I interviewed M-kun whom I met through kendo (Japanese fencing). He is a fellow kendo club member from high school. We played kendo together several times and I noticed he likes anime and kendo at the same time. When I asked him whether he just liked anime if he was an otaku (nerd), he clearly said he used to be an otaku. That was why I interviewed him because I wondered whether there are any connections between anime and kendo. As I analyzed his interview, I found three interesting connections between anime and kendo. They are cool image of Japanese culture based on anime, unconscious practice of cosplay through kendo and dynamic identity change from being an otaku into a sportsman.
These individuals devote themselves completely to certain substance that allows them to forget about their reality and leads them into a world of ecstasy, one which they are unable to reach without it. Continuously, their addiction takes over their lives and turns them into "slaves" of the substance causing their lives to fall apart and eventually leads to being homeless, in jail, or dead. However, there are other forms of addiction whether is a mild addiction and not as severe as drugs or alcohol but it still falls under its definition. Some examples of addictions that we do not notice are pornography, internet, television, eating, entertainment, and money. Most of these examples have their own negative aspects. Also, others might have a dependency on unhealthy eating habits which eventually leads to their bodies suffering from a broad range of medical conditions. Others also tend to create a dependency on shopping and spending money on unnecessary materials. Lastly, some individuals also have bad habits that involve constant lying and deceiving. All of these examples are just a few of the things that fall under the umbrella of what an addiction truly is and each has a negative connotation to it. Yes, some might disagree with certain examples given but truth is we each have our own addictions we just try to hide them and point out the addictions of others instead of helping
Some people may ask what is anime, and how is it different from cartoons. Anime is a term specified for Japanese animation. How has Anime affected history, and how does it influence today's society? Anime covers more serious topics than american cartoons. Cartoons in America are considered a form of entertainment for children. Anime in japan are for people of all ages, anyone can watch anime. Most anime shows and movies are made for children, adolescents, young adults, but there are also anime that are made for the older generation of people. Anime shows are directed for any type of viewer.
I believe Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida is a must read for people who love mangas. Ken Kaneki, the main character, is first introduced as an average, shy university student. The manga is told from his perspective and documents his struggles and emotions as he is forced to adapt to a ghoul’s lifestyle after a ghoul’s organs were transplanted into him, making him a half ghoul. The fact the story was told from the ‘bad’ people’s side was something that made the plot very enjoyable for me, because it is a change from constantly viewing the events from the ‘good’ side’s perspective. The point of view had a massive impact on my overall thoughts of the manga, because it showed how Kaneki, the ‘main bad guy’, was in fact a gentle-hearted person, unlike
One could, from watching anime, notice the characters’ behavior are different and food and customs are different from American or western cartoon. Strangely, these differences in the anime, eastern media features, appeared in the philosophy of Confucius. Confucianism has played an important role in creating and maintaining the social values and order such as forgiveness, manner, respect, loyalty, and honesty since the sixth century. While Japanese society has become so much different since the early postwar era, these same principles are still highly valued as they are in some other forms. Recent shônen anime, anime for pre-teen and teen-age boys like Naruto and Bleach, is hooking their viewer with interesting storylines and action scenes while Confucian values spread. As this culture value mixed in, anime became interesting and seem to attract a wider audience every day because of its ability to make its audiences to see themselves in the show.
People who are addictive tend to obsessively go on online and follow up one of their role models or to play videos to create different characters in the virtual world. One of the mains reasons of why people become addicted to the internet is so they can escape their realities. People, who usually had unfortunate childhoods, try their best to find a way to become distracted with their own life. If they are not happy with themselves, they play videos games to create characters online or they obsessively update themselves on others that they wish they could be. Another reason why people become obsessive because it is a way for them to meet others online that share the same interest. From personal experience, my father used to have an obsession playing “World of Warcraft.” If he had the choice to, he would not leave the house and would play until he had to go to sleep, rinse and repeat. In a military family, it was common for us to constantly move around and for my father it was difficult in finding friends. My father would mostly play the game to find others that had the same interests that would keep him company. If my father didn 't realize how badly the game had corrupted his lifestyle, the addiction may have became more
To many children, TV can be appealing because they find the colorful cartoons interesting and instantly catches their attention. But, as entertaining and fun Television can be, spending too much time looking at your big fifty inch flat screen TV can eventually impact your life. It seems like if you just spend all your time sitting on the couch, you may find yourself preparing fast meals, such as a ham sandwich thrown with some potato chips on a plate or just driving to buying something from McDonald’s. But this can eventually affect your health. If we give Television too much attention it can also affect relationships with parents, siblings or a partner. It can slowly become an easy addiction to come home to, sit on the couch and spend the rest of the day watching all the shows we like. Lastly, too much Television can affect our mood which can lead to certain thinking and