Japanese animation, or anime (don't call it japanimation, that is totally not cool these days and besides it sounds really cheesy), is not just cartoons but is actually a really supercool awesome universe of stuff which you may or may not have already known the existence of, depending on your own personal level of hipness in today's funk techno Asian American culture. Japanese animation is a much more versatile medium than its American counterpart, expressed in too-many-to-count genres (do not expect cutesy little talking animals Disney style, or ugly four-color cheapo afternoon TV series like Gargoyles or even crazy ugly out-of-proportion weirdo dogs like in Animaniacs [are they supposed to be dogs? Someone please tell me]).

There are big screen movies, OAVS (Original Animation Videos), and TV series, all with varying degrees of animation and picture quality. Of course it's nearly impossible for most Japanese studios to compete with Disney's unfortunately inexhaustible budget, but films like Omoide Poro Poro, Patlabor, and Ghost in the Shell will give the big American baddie a run for its money in terms of animation quality. Not to mention that much of the anime I've seen is way past Disney in terms of depth, character development, creativity in plot and storyline creation, and even, sometimes, character design (yes, I know about the big eyes and hair, but try to get past that, okay? ... ps. btw, personally I don't think the big eyes and non-black hair has anything to do with Asians wanting to look like Western people... get that silly Westerncentric attitute out of your head, ne?).

One thing I really love, as I mentioned above, is the depth of the issues that some writers in anime struggle to portray. A theme returned to over and over again is one that made Bladerunner famous: just where does humanity begin and end? Where is the cutoff point between sentience and soullessness? Perhaps the most famous examples of this type of anime are Bubblegum Crisis and its spin-off A.D. Police.

Japanese animation also deals with many other things that Americans tend to censor, things like homosexuality (not to mention sexuality in general -- yes I know many of you think this is what anime is all about ... well it's not), violence and especially death. I've spoken to people who told me that they loved watching Robotech oh-so-many years ago because the main characters were actually allowed to change, and (shockingly to American viewers) were sometimes unpredictably killed off for reasons other than a voice actor quit and had to be written out of the script. You know that old Star Trek rule, that everything has to return at the end of the episode to the way it was before? You don't see that in anime. Perhaps character development is one of the greatest, and most important, differences. I also like the religious and cultural references and influences that permeate so much anime -- it really gives me a different perspective, and is also part of the reason I hate dubs so much.

Well, I shall kindly get off the soapbox, because I'm not very good at it and besides, you've probably heard all this before. Here's the skinny: getting into anime doesn't just mean renting a few tapes at your local video rental place (if you're lucky, and it does offer some anime that's not dubbed!); it means finding out where the local anime club is and when they hold meetings, it means keeping current with the latest anime through newsgroups like rec.arts.anime or surfing the Web reading reviews or whatever, it means going to cons and drooling over original sketches by guest artists (this gets into manga, which is on a different page) or original cels from a particular anime (like Lodoss, way expensive), it means getting hooked on all the paraphernalia like soundtrack CDs, magazines like Newtype, art books, writing tablets, posters, etc. Most of all, it means building up your own collection of tapes and LDs, commercial and fansubbed.

Sound like a lot of work? Let me tell you, you hardly notice it. This is why it's on this Procrastination web site. Excellent pastime.

The Anime and Manga Resources List is a great way to get started. There are plenty of FAQ lists and hundreds of time-wasting links to explore.

A more recent comprehensive anime site is the Anime Turnpike, created and maintained by Jay Harvey.

"Iori Yagami's Psycho Shonen Instructional Homepage" I love this site! This is a crazy place to visit. Many movie clips, cool graphics and weird text. Recently updated and spiffier-looking than ever. They love JoJo's Bizarrre Adventure (and so do I).

Watch anime at the absolute best animation club this side of the Pacific! Haven't heard of them? Get with it. The Cornell Japanese Animation Society rocks.