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In this recent era of streaming, there has been one added genre to most search bars that you may know nothing about, that would be Anime. Anime is a style of Japanese animation that has gained significant popularity outside of Japan, and to most watchers it is an experience of the senses and drives an array of emotions throughout their stories. This type of media had its start in 1917, when the first animation was made from chalk and was 5 minutes long, and it is still reaching new heights in animation to this day. Anime may have had the first animation in 1917, but it took off in the 60’s with Astro Boy created by the claimed “God of Manga” Osamu Tezukas  which set the foundation for the industry. Now if you are a movie watcher, like myself, then you may have seen the 2009 adaptation of the original anime film Astro Boy which was loosely based on the beloved original manga series and is a perfect example of anime’s impact in the film and tv show industry. By the 1980’s and 90’s, anime had a very captive audience with phenomenon works such as Akira, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Pokémon, and Studio Ghibli films, although most of the audience were Japanese, there was a wide international audience that elevated the artform enough to where it is now, a major part of global pop culture. With its unique art style and the often deep storytelling it allowed writers to tell their stories however they wanted with literally no limit on design or animation. For example, there is an anime called Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon and as you guessed the main character is a sentient vending machine, how crazy is that! 

Everyone has had different beginnings to anime so when you ask people for suggestions you will get a mixture of recommendations. Something you must know is that not all anime is made for everyone, just like not all tv shows are for everyone. There are a lot of options with anime, you could watch a movie like Akira or start a long series that has 1,000 episodes like One Piece or a short series that is only 12 episodes like Yuri on Ice. Some people may get overwhelmed with how many options there are with anime, but I like to ask about one thing the person likes. For example, if you like sports then there is a great amount of sports anime for them; romance, fantasy, video games, robots, drama, horror, there is a lot out there, even biology and science. Most streaming services have options of shows and movies, like Netflix and Hulu, but if you want a singular platform to watch anime then I recommend Crunchyroll. Now I can give you a lot of suggestions on what to start watching first, but I will say that if you do want to start then it would be best to watch some of the generational classic anime’s like Naruto or InuYasha. Most people will suggest mainstream anime like Attack on Titan to begin their anime journey, not saying it’s a bad choice, but in my experience that has turned some people away from anime completely due to the gory and horror nature of these anime shows  A way to curate your interests, you can read the tags and descriptions first before you start watching. No matter what type of story you choose, prepare yourself to be transported to a whole other world that allows you to take a step back from this world and truly enjoy the beauty around. 

Source of information:

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