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The Enchanting Magic of Anime
A colourful cast, unbridled passion, and levelling up
The realm of anime was first introduced to me through the humble video rental store. Back then, my dad would take us to rent stuff every Tuesday when they had specials. I remember being able to grab four tapes for just a couple of bucks, as long as it wasn’t in the new releases. I went through a few different phases. Sci-fi. Horror. Academy award winners. Then there was the anime phase.
During the 90s, anime didn’t really have the same massive outreach it does now. A bunch of the boys at school were hardcore fans of Dragon Ball Z, while the some girls were in love with Sailor Moon. And that was it. The shelf or two at the video store was basically all the available anime in Canada at the time. It introduced me to a particular side of anime, the more cultish, mature, cerebral, and violent side that appealed to Western culture. Classics like Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, and Princess Mononoke presented a stellar level of animation far beyond anything seen in American cartoons, and some of the most complex and compellingly intricate stories too. But this was only the tip of the iceberg.
Over time, I started to dig into more anime through whatever p2p or hidden download sites in the corners of the internet. There was no Netflix, or Crunchyroll, or…
