Since I started including my kids in my anime watching experience and rewatching old series I enjoyed before most of them were even born, I've come to realize a few things I never thought about before. The series I watch with them now have so many important life lessons. Some are a bit subtle and some are right there in your face. Here's what I mean.
INUYASHA One of the best life lessons in this series is acceptance. Accepting who you are and loving yourself. Accepting others for who they are and not what they look like, who their parents were, whatever. You've got the main character who is half demon, half human. He hates his human side and wants to become completely demon. Why? He doesn't fit into either world as he is now. Or so he thinks. He meets a human girl who loves him for who he is. Their little group consists of full demons, humans, and the half demon. They're all friends, they hardly think about their differences. This is a valuable life lesson, especially now with the race wars going on in America. It doesn't matter what color your skin is. Who cares if you're mixed? Love yourself for who you are and love others for the same reasons. If only we could all see the world through these characters' eyes.
NARUTO
Who doesn't root for the underdog? This is one of those magical series that has so many positive life lessons all throughout. My favorite is that no matter how much you think you suck at something, no matter how many times others call you a failure, you can still succeed. Naruto was the absolute worst ninja of his class. Soon, he was surpassing them all. He proved that hard work and belief in yourself can take you just as far as natural talent, if not further. Never stop believing that you can achieve your dreams. Never let others tear you down.
FAIRY TAIL Friendship. That's what this series is all about. The members of the Fairy Tail guild support each other in every endeavor. The bonds of friendship are so strong that they go out of their way to help their friends, risking their lives if they must. A couple times, Lucy, one of the newer members of the guild, disappears to take care of her own personal business. And every time, her friends come after her just to make sure she's okay, to stand by if she should need them even if it's just for moral support. You'll never find stronger bonds than the bonds of loyalty and love in this guild. If only every friendship in real life could be this amazing. I hope to enjoy more series with my kids that have these wonderful life lessons. You can really learn a lot from some good family anime.
I realized last month that's it's been a year since I made an AMV. I didn't lose the desire to make them, just the patience to sit and fiddle with Windows Movie Maker's buggy ass. Incredibly, I have a lot of patience for pouring over the same video and sound files over and over again until it's how I want it. My AMVs don't turn out exactly how I want because of crappy programing but I won't get into that.
Anywho, so what's the big fuss about AMVs and why the obsession with making them? Well, as a huge fan of anime and music, how could I not want to combine two perfect things? I've been watching them for years, in awe of the skills of those who put out videos that really get to me. Whether it's action, comedy, horror or drama, I've been moved by some great pieces of video and minutes of audio.
So back in 2011 I thought to myself, "Hell, I can do that. Why not?" Boy did I suck at first. This was my first real go at serious video editing. Timing with the audio is critical and I have learned a lot over the years. I'm still a silly amateur but what's important is that I really enjoy making them, regardless of how much I might bitch and gripe during the process.
NekoCon is coming fast and the deadline for the AMV contest is next month. Wow, that is very little time to put out a high quality AMV for someone with as crazy a schedule as mine. Because it's so time consuming, I really have to make time for this hobby and late nights are becoming a regular thing. Oh, I won't win any awards or anything. I just like to enter the contests to give my AMVs exposure. It's a form of art really, it's an idea you wanted to get across. True, you are usually using someone else's source material but plenty of "artists" do that exact same thing and no one complains. You're taking it and making it your own. Like doing a song cover.
So, this is one of my many hobbies that I enjoy and put more time into than I probably should. If it's not your thing, that's fine. To each their own. Just don't hate on what makes me happy. I want to post a link to an AMV that to this day really makes my heart clench up. If you've never seen CLANNAD After Story, you may not get it but I think it's pretty powerful by itself. It brought me to tears before I'd ever seen the series. It's been passed around Youtube so I honestly don't know who had the original channel but the director is Perfect-Blue. This was an award winner in 2011 and anyone can see why. It's called "Dare To Love Again."
