Once upon a time I didn’t even know ‘Astro Boy’ was an anime, but I watched and enjoyed it. Later, ‘Dragonball Z’ and ‘Sailor Moon’ were things I watched when nothing else was on. I also have to admit, with shame, that ‘Gundam Wing’ went WAY over my head when it first came to North America, as did ‘Vision of Escaflowne.’ There were anime-styled things too, but ‘Gundam SEED’ was probably the first anime I actually sunk my teeth into, along with its much-maligned sequel. And of course, there was ‘InuYasha,’ but as with ‘DBZ’ I disliked the repetitive nature of the show.
It wasn’t until I started university that I watched the likes of ‘Ranma 1/2’ and ‘Rurouni Kenshin,’ and also immersed myself in their source material, the manga (at this time I also got into ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ and other comics as well). I got hooked on the styles, the stories, and the characters.
These days there are some pretty unusual ways to get your anime hook-ups, from streaming episodes online (or getting them from the library) to watching one of the numerous ‘Abridged’ series on YouTube (several of these led me to watching the actual series they were lovingly based on, however ‘DBZA’ is now my only ‘Dragonball,’ and ‘SAO Abridged’ is the only way to experience ‘Sword Art’ with a realistic reflection of VRRPGs.
Whether a person counts ‘RWBY’ as anime or not often seems to depend on the person, but FNDM is rather vocal. They ship everyone who has ever appeared with everyone in the show, and have vociferous arguments about theories and how the show’s been taken in a completely different direction from what Monty Oum intended (may he rest in peace). But no one argues that Monty took many cues from anime in designing the series.
Long-lived franchises like ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ are still going, perhaps ever stronger than ever. ‘Gundam Build Divers’ takes the plastic models of ‘Build Fighters’ and puts them into a VRRPG world (and reflects the realities of an MMORPG better than ‘SAO’ did). It had an interesting variety of characters even as it cracks wise at its own franchise and all the things modellers experience IRL. I’ve also taken the time to watch the original ‘Mobile Suit Gundam,’ ‘Stardust Memory, ‘Zeta Gundam,’ and ‘Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn’ (because of the life-sized statue in Tokyo). This is how you do what ‘Star Wars’ was trying to do properly. I honestly believe this.
Finally, the longer I watch and read ‘Food Wars: Shokugeki no Souma’ the deeper it seems to get with its characters and plot, despite all the racy moments and (ahem) foodgasms. But seriously, if you had that food you’d react the same. Souma Yukihira himself presents as the typical shounen hero, but it’s revealed that he’s as good a cook as he is because of his own efforts, and because of his nearly 500 losses to his father. Souma is hated by most of the other students at Totsuki not for his lack of pedigree (his father was a former-2nd seat on the school’s council, the Elite Ten), but because of the fact that they only fail to do what he does because they aren’t as stubborn as he is. Souma takes all his victories and defeats and makes them a part of his next effort, but has no special talent of his own with which to face the monsters of Totsuki — and still wins more than he loses. And yes, he does lose. He also gathers friends who can help him learn what he doesn’t know, and does so instinctively, creating a group of strange but tight-knit people who all believe in each other’s potential. One of the greatest marks of Souma’s success as a cook and as a character is how much he has motivated the shy Megumi to better herself, going from someone who got so nervous at tests she was on the verge of failing to someone capable of challenging for a seat on the Elite Ten.
And there are fun and silly series out there too. One of my favourites to just relax and laugh to us a cute series called ‘Acchi Kochi’ about some of the most eccentric high school students you could ever hope to meet.