We all have phases in our lives. Phases which means you do not stay with it forever. The people that you've spent your life in grade school, may not be the same group you enjoy moments in HS with. Certain interests and activities just gradually change along with the environment. The only unit that is a constant witness to all your sporadic phases or shenanigans, is your family (whether they like it or not). And I don't even think they would want to get involved most of the times, especially if it's something a far outcry from their own personalities. You don't need pity, you know. And I bet the person whom I'm deeply involved with right now together with some newfound friends, may be quite shocked that I had this particular phase in my life, for which my HS friends were chosen witnesses to.
It's just that I love ANIME.
Okay, most of us are already aware that Anime's cute. It's nice. It's fascinating. It's current, but honestly ANIME has changed barriers for me. It has changed my life. I'm not simply a identified as a random viewer anymore. I was living in that world. And I'm proud of it.
I coined the term love, and not simply like, because it will always hold a deep affinity and place in my heart. I'm a sucker for a good anime. I always believed it to be my puberty savior. For some, partying and friends made them sane in adolescent years. For some, it would be sports, art or a quasi puppy boyfriend, who would bend down to a whimsical dance of the hormones. But for me, aside from reading, ANIME really anchored to be where I am now. As Susan Howatch would say, reality and fantasy co-exist, but never mix. I needed that fix.
Some of my HS friends who knew my insatiable ANIME love, might think that Ghost Fighter or YUYU Hakusho, as the first ANIME that tickled my obsession. But I beg to defend that Ranma 1/2 was the first anime that really made me hook to the genre. I was watching it every Sundays at RPN 9 long before I knew YUYU Hakusho. I was always diligently synchronizing my watch to RPN 9's and immediately got drowned in the weekly story lines of the crazy and fantasy Ranma Saotome who could change into a red-head girl when splashed with cold water. How insane is that? They incorporate the normal ingredients of the realms of reality and twist it to accommodate the imagination. It has a unique story line. The characters are strong and focused. And the animation is darn authentic.
After gradually paying attention to what Anime is all about, YUYU Hakusho came into view. I could not even begin to think of the crazy insanities I have done to officially mark this particular obsession. Allow me to proudly list it for transparency:
1. I've bought dozens of blank VHS tapes, and programmed the VHS player and TV to automatically tape the episode every weekdays, just in case there's some wild natural incident that I couldn't make it on time. Now, it's meticulously stacked and packaged in a manila envelope, properly labeled and sealed in my boxed library, together with all the other ANIME videos I've taped.
2. I kept and maintained a PEACH Cattleya Notebook to write the details of what goes on a specific episode, the punches, the kicks and the type of power it exhibited. I just acted like a reporter. It was my crash course to journalism and my first taste of blogging.
3. Every time I go home from school, there's a manang there that sells numerous ANIME TEXTS. I usually buy not one, but the whole packet, which costs around 50 bucks, depends on the number and the graphics. So, VHS+TEXT = early tastes of bankruptcy.
4. Since I've never had interests in partying or going out, still not interested as of date, the most enjoyable 'gimick' i did have back then was a trip to Powerbooks from 1 pm -5 pm every Saturdays, free dinners and have an ANIME marathon. That was my life, and I'm damn oblivious to the world. And I liked it. I viewed corruption as a third person and not get swayed with it. It's a therapy of whatever angst I may have back then.
5. Basically I'm not an artistic person.I don't have an eye or any usable hands for art. My hands are heavy. I'm naturally clumsy and I have poor eyesight, literally and figuratively. But ANIME made me embark on a new journey of drawing. It was soon after that, art Pencils were added to my expenditures.
6. I also bought a CD, the official soundtrack of YU YU Hakusho and play it in the music room where I demanded my privacy. I played the CD in maximum volume and while I practiced drawing. I didn't care if the words were alien to me. Our neighbors must have thought that our family moved out and a Japanese family took over instead. The good thing about it was that my parents just let me be, either that or they're just too weirded out to confront me. They might think I would answer them in Japanese.
7. In our literature class, the gracious and lovely Mrs. Pengson, made us do a project. We had to submit a certain collection that we maintain and put some literary touch to it. So others compiled their selection of poems written in tissue papers and stuff. Others compiled their essays. Others brought their cooking recipes. It was practically a no-brainer. And what was I to bring? I could just compile all the scripts and unfinished stories written in crumpled intermediate pad papers. But it must be something that speaks me, something passionate I could write about and I could defend. It wasn't a surprise when I submitted my thick TEXT clearbook beacon of pride. You see, from all the text purchases from Manang, I was able to fill one thick clearbook where all text cards were meticulously placed according to episode, according to characters, and according to artists. I made a storyline of those characters as my literary piece, since I could not expect Mrs. Pengson to know these multi-colored characters with spiked hair designs. I received a good grade for it, actually. She inserted a post-it in my album saying she was that darn impressed about how unique my collection was. Told you, it was a no-brainer.
8. What else have I done for this ANIME obsession? Well, I tried to study NIHONGGO to get a Japan grant. I exchanged emails with my auntie Debbie, while she was based in Japan for a free tutorial course. Oh Tanjoobi omedetou gozaimasu. Well...tried was the best term.
9. Since Anime back then was a hit, I was able to gather cross stitch patterns from top Cross Stitch dealers. I went to Cebu for vacation and asked my dear aunt Mommy Chuck to do some cross stitching project for me...as a present for my birthday. Since my dear aunt loves..nay...obsessed with cross stitching, which is a great mystery since she's the sister of my domestically inept mother, she obliged. The cross stitch was done to perfection. It arrived via my uncle from Cebu and we had our cross stitch versions of Vincent, Dennis and Alfred. I even influenced my sister and brother to like YUYU Hakusho, but Karla exited early. As soon as the cross stitch arrived, my NANAY (Aunt Susan) bought frames for each, and now they're still displayed in our bedrooms!
10. Lastly, now this is weird. Probably the reason why I wasn't quite interested in the opposite sex at the time wherein I should be GAGA over developing crushes, was that my heart was already taken, by another plane. I honestly believed that I would only belong to KURAMA/DENNIS and no one else. I have dreamed so many times about going on dates with Kurama and him rescuing me from Geometry class. And the background of the music while he is driving or defending me from MATH wizards is TAKE on ME by A-HA. I even made an MTV via powerpoint, of all the anime slides I've gotten in the internet and cued them to the song of TAKE on ME. I literally locked myself in my room and just received ghastly remarks after my mother came home from a weekend shopping at 6 pm, bringing pizzas to a smelly yagit making MTVs in the computer.
Those were the days I say. My friends would often ridicule me, on which flatters me, that they always assumed that I have a boyfriend. It's just that he doesn't know and he's not alive, well not in this world at least. That's the power of anime, it feeds the creative drive of a person's souls and interests. It is a reflection of a higher realm that is not limited by reality. It is worth everything that I've ever paid or gone through.
Even though I'm not that obsessed as before, I think that particular phase would be on of the milestones in my life. I came out, right haven't I? And not that I just Love anime, but I owe it my life. I owe it my creativity and fond memories. I owe it my adolescent years not consumed by angst and rebellion. It could just be a fascination and genre to some, but definitely it's been a world to me.
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