I’m not quite sure why I’m so embarrassed to admit this.  Well, I know that I’m a grown man that likes to watch cartoons, and some people think that’s weird, but I’m starting to get old enough that I don’t care.  To tell the truth, I’ve never truly cared about what other people think, but I’ve always been introverted, which makes me predisposed to not share such information with the world.

So, I’ve always liked cartoons.  I watched them as a kid, I watched them as a young adult, and I watched them with my kids when they were young, but at some point I stopped watching cartoons.  My kids got older, and I stopped watching TV in general for a while . . . and then I discovered anime.

It took me some time to appreciate the form.  My first introduction to anime was several years ago when Sailor Moon was on American television.  My daughter watched it, and so I watched it with her.  She liked it so much that we bought her the first season on tape (yes, I said tape.  You know—VHS ).  I liked Sailor Moon okay, but it didn’t floor me or anything.  My daughter started watching other anime, but at this point she was a teen and watched it up in her room – it was the “parents are uncool” phase, or maybe we were disconnected.  It depends upon your perspective.

We connected again after high school, and I watched Pretear with her.  Again, I wasn’t blown away, but it was enjoyable.  Finally, a couple of years ago I procured a Netflix account, and I started checking out different anime shows, and realized how good they can be.  Check out Darker than Black: it is still my favorite anime series.

For me, the best thing about anime is that it is made for adults.  Not all of it—there is some goofy stuff coming out of Japan too, and I’m not talking adult cartoons, but cartoons produced with adults in mind.  I like the fantasy & sci-fi ones the most, but I like other genres as well.  Anime has helped me regain my love of cartoons without having to watch the stupid cartoon crap that’s out on American television.

So if you like cartoons, and you like a good story, give anime a shot.  There are so many to choose from, you’re bound to find a story you like.