Blogpost #1 Anime, Good for Society?

When I was in my high school days, I had trouble fitting in with other people. That is until a classmate of mine suggested a show for me to watch. The show he recommended for me to watch is an anime series, called "Sword Art Online". The anime is about players of a virtual role playing game who found themselves stuck inside the game, and if they die in the game, they die in real life, and the only way out is to defeat the final boss and to finish the game. I found the show very addicting, and I finished it for only one day. And after the day I finished it, my classmate and I found ourselves talking and talking about the show, and we ended up best friends.

Let's pass forward from my high school days to my first week in college. We all know that the first days of college are hard, because you barely know your classmates. But that doesn't the case for me, see I already had a lot of friends in my first week, thanks to our similar fixation to the phenomenon called anime.

                                                                                           

Amy McNulty, author of the article The Effects of Anime on Students, stated in her article that a researcher with a Ph.D. in Science and Technology studies, Lawrence Eng, conducted a research where in he will study the effects of anime on IT students.She stated in her article "IT students, Eng says, have generally been victims of a stereotype that casts them as antisocial and unapproachable. When IT students become anime fans, they're immediately accepted by all of the other students who like anime, as well as a community of fans on the Internet. This applies to any student who otherwise has difficulty making friends.".



But her article does not only say the good effects of anime to society. According to her article, back in 2009, two Oklahoma students like the anime "Death Note", which features a protagonist who wields a powerful notebook where he writes the names of the people he wants to die, in addition, he could also write the time and description of the deaths. These two students wrote the name of their most hated people, and the way they desire them to die. Similar incidents also took place in other places in America, such as Virginia, South Carolina, Washington and  Alabama.

Though there were no casualties involved, it was still a problem because it shows that students actually want some of their schoolmates to die. The matter has been resolved by their school principal, as he intends to discipline them him self, by suspending the two students.


Another article by Amy Mcnulty, The Good Effects of Anime on the Viewers, stated that "Anime art in its highest form may inspire filmmakers and animators around the world. Creators of U.S. animated films, such as Pixar/Disney executive John Lasseter, look to anime to find new ways to approach their own work. Director Hayao Miyazaki in particular has been influential; his 2002 film "Spirited Away" won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature." .  This being said, it now to safe to say animes are not just influentional, but can be insipirational as well.


Another statement in her article says that "Anime fans, like many media-specific fans, unite around their common love of a genre. Many gather online and at anime conventions around the world. Friendships, romances and even marriages have grown out of anime fandom.". She also declared that the anime can be used for education too, as some use manga and anime art to inspire students to learn more about the Japanese history and culture.













I think there are always bad sides and good sides when it comes to certain phenomena like anime. But I think that the good side of Japanese animation easily outweighs the bad side. Anime may be a bad influence to some people, but being an anime fan myself, I find that there more good values and virtues taught by just watching anime. One example of this is the anime Naruto, the protagonist is a hardworking ninja who wants to be the "Hokage", meaning the leader of a village. The show teaches us that no matter the obstacles and challenges in life, if we have the resolve and determination, we would eventually overcome it, and become the greatest we could ever be.  I believe anime is not just good for our society, it is also needed, especially in our world today, where morale and character is very important.