The Seduction Of Escapism

Once again this blog of mine has fallen into a lull and I haven’t really written in some months. And the story is pretty much the same or close to it. These past few months have been hard financially which resulted in me becoming more self-loathing and looking for ways to entertain myself at home rather than going out to comedy shows because of lack of funds. This in turn made me become more reclusive and less sociable and I began to look for fictional and more interesting worlds to escape into. The medicine of choice these past few months have been mostly anime and manga. As much as I tell everyone and anyone  how crazy I believe the Japanese are they make some amazing fiction. I couldn’t believe I haven’t fallen into that void sooner. I had a few run-ins with anime in high school and College (the last great anime shows I saw in those days were Cowboy Bebop, Big O and Inuyasha) but with Netflix having such a large selection I started dabbling and neck-deep I went in to the anime pool.

I then came to realize that there are a bunch of sites where you can read manga and I started to read the manga versions of the anime I was watching. I came to realize that the mangas were several times better and I just kept going deeper and deeper into these fictional worlds and completely forgetting about this blog and anything else in the real world (well within reason, I still go to work and take care of all my other adult real-life responsibilities).

Anyway, long story short, I started coming out of my anime/manga haze a little and realized that it has been many months since I blogged. And I posted one or two entries since I came to that realization but it has been a chore. It so much more fun and easier to continue on in escapism. When I wasn’t reading manga or watching anime I was of course reading other works of fiction and watching other shows (I recently watched all of “Revenge” and now know what all the hype is about).

So here I am back, for now. Don’t know when the next compulsion to completely indulge into escapism will take effect but I’ll try my best to moderate it somewhat. It will be hard, no lie. Especially with all the TV premiers coming back. Anyone watch Castle or Parks and Recreation? They’ve been good thus far. Glad to see them back.

Rekindling My Love Of Anime With Inuyasha

I first got into the wonderful Japanese medium of Anime when I was a sophomore or junior in high school, with great classics such as Akira, Fist of the North Star, Galaxy Express 999 and Appleseed, to name a few. For those not in the know, Anime is Japanese animation that covers all mediums of fiction and aren’t necessarily for children. Some in fact are meant to be viewed by mature audiences because of adult content and graphic violence. Anyway, this refreshing look at animation blew me away upon first viewing. This wasn’t my childhood Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Not by a long shot.

Since that first time, I’ve tried to absorb Anime whenever I could and was an adamant viewer during my college years but for some reason my efforts have dwindled over time by many factors such as, no longer paying for cable and being preoccupied with other things. I did became aware, this past summer, that Netflix has grown its collection of anime and I have put a few in  my queue, but still I haven’t quite steered in its’ direction. Other shows were occupying me at the moment (see my previous blog entries on Mad Men and The Good Wife).

Well now that I was caught up with most of my shows I decided to give Inuyasha a shot. I had originally started watching this some years ago, back when I had cable and it used to air semi-daily on the Cartoon Network, as part of it’s Adult Swim programming. Needless to say, after re-watching the old episodes I had already seen and getting into newer plot points (well new to me anyway), I was immediately caught up in this world of feudal Japan and just couldn’t get enough. I literally have only 2 speeds with this show. Either I watch it till I pass out on the couch or I avoid it at all costs to get other stuff done (you can guess which speed I’m opting for right now since I’m actually blogging instead of wasting the night away).

Anyone who has a Netflix account and is new to Anime should definitely give this series a try. It has everything you could ask for in a show. Great characters, a long and challenging hero quest, drama, romance, comedy, great fight scenes, amazing visuals etc (I feel like I’m quoting the Princes’ Bride. Am I?). What more could you ask for? I would try to summarize it for you readers but I don’t think I would really give it justice. For this I have Wikipedia to thank:

The series’ plot follows a high school girl Kagome Higurashi who lives on the grounds of her family’s hereditary Shinto shrine. When she goes into the well house to retrieve her cat, a centipede demon bursts out of the enshrined Bone Eater’s Well and pulls her through it. As she leaves the well, Kagome appears in the Sengoku period of Japan. During the demon’s previous attack, a magical jewel known as the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls was embodied from Kagome. She then becomes the demon’s target and it tries to consume the jewel and kill Kagome. In desperation, Kagome unseals the half-demon InuYasha who was placed on a tree fifty years ago by Kagome’s ancestor Kikyo, the youngmiko of the village in charge of the sacred jewel. Although InuYasha destroys the centipede, the Sacred Jewel is later shattered into numerous shards that disperse across Japan. Even the individual shards are capable of granting great power, and are eagerly sought by humans and demons alike. Kagome and InuYasha set out to collect the shards to avoid disasters caused by Sacred Jewel of Four Souls.

So there you have it in a nutshell (thanks as always Wikipedia). So what are you waiting for? Go to your Netflix account and start watching Inuyasha already!