How to Get into Anime

Back in the 90's, anime was all the rage. It hit a popularity level here in the States that saved the medium back in Japan, for some reason, it is in a decline. The spread of fan subs is often held responsible, but the economy itself is also a likely factor.

Like comics, anime is a wide category. As such, any newcomer may feel intimidated. Box sets aren't cheap and even the individual episodes only give you three episodes for 20, if not 30 dollars so it may not seem like a fair trade to some.

If you are interested in getting into anime, fear not as it really isn't all that complicated. Unlike comics, where the big two companies have created a huge universe with a potentially confusing timeline, anime shows are all self contained. You don't need to watch Trigun in order to enjoy Neon Genesis Evangelion or anything like that.

As such, you can put your feet in the metaphorical pool before jumping in. If you are willing to part with 20-30 dollars, you can try out anime via the film releases as opposed to the series themselves. If you're not a fan of the artwork or story lines, you can get away with having just one addition to your collection with no real harm done. I would suggest going with some of the well known anime films like Akira. Princess Mononoke is also a solid flick, though it is a bit long. I have heard that Perfect Blue is really good, so you might want to check that one out as well.

If you are interested in checking out a series itself, you aren't necessarily obligated to buy a whole box set or spend a ton of money to buy DVD's with only 3 or 4 episodes.

In this case, Netflix or another rental chain is your friend. You can check out a series you're interested in with minimal cost to you. If you are a Netflix member, you can even watch some anime series on instant watch, so you don't even need to wait for the discs to arrive or to bulk your queue up with a whole box set.

Some companies are even streaming series online that you can watch for free, and legally, which is always a nice bonus. Some sites are completely free, but others like Crunchyroll do charge a small monthly fee (7 bucks if you're curious). If you really get into anime, you can get your money's worth and then some.

I do believe Xbox Live and other online gaming networks offer anime series to download, though I don't know for sure if they still do.

The question becomes, which series do you start with? Well, that depends on your tastes. A lot of people got introduced thanks to mainstream, action oriented shows like Dragonball Z, Inuyasha, and Yu Yu Hakusho.

There is also more light hearted anime like Excel Saga, which is a very funny comedy series. While FLCL is a nice, short series (six episodes total) and it is quite funny, it is also very surreal and that may turn off viewers who aren't used to the sort of odd things that pop up in anime from time to time.

With vampires being all the rage, Hellsing seems like a natural choice, though Twilight fans may be a bit shocked by what they see here. It's a pretty violent series so be warned, it's not for the faint of heart.

You can't go wrong with Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's one of the biggest anime names out there for a reason. Sure, the last two episodes are something of a lame copout, but everything up to that point was really good. It's got action, character development, quite a bit of humor, and it's all pretty well balanced.

One of the good things about anime is that most series are only one season. If you pick up the Witch Hunter Robin set, you'll get the whole series. As such, it's a benefit to fans as they don't have to buy multiple box sets to get the whole series (with some exceptions like the aforementioned mainstream anime series which go on for a while).

It's kind of odd how anime was really popular, but now that it's in decline, manga is becoming something of a cultural favorite. Maybe fans just wanted to read stories as opposed to watching them? I don't know. Still, if you're interested in anime, I recommend checking some out. You've really got nothing to lose and it can open you up to a whole new category of entertainment that you may not have come across otherwise.