My entry into Manga, Anime and CGI, an awesome digital reality!

The farthest that I can travel back into  my past to find the roots of where it all started is when I was in the first grade during the period I’d been abroad, when I’d been totally addicted to cartoons, being the only child then with nothing much to do.  I guess I’d always been drawn to cartoons because of how much I love to draw, read and write. The first shows I’d ever watched were DICE, Pluster World, Tsubasa Chronicles, Virtua Fighter, YuGiOh!, Martin Mystery, Totally Spies, Code-Lyoko, Galactic Football, Scobby-Doo, Tom and Jerry, and  Ben 10.  I remember being enthralled watching these and I believe I’m not ashamed  to say that I’d learnt a few things from these shows, and growing up, they were an influence on my worldview, self-perception, my sense of humour and attitudes.

Only when I’d began using a computer and the Internet around third grade that I found out that some these were not cartoons, but anime. For most, the difference seems negligible or they do not in the first place see a difference. Anime, is a Japanese term shortened from the English  ‘animation’  and refers exclusively to the animated series produced in Japan,  while cartoons refers to almost any animated show that is produced elsewhere. Anime is quite complex and has a vast scope: the content, the audience and the subculture that surrounds each has vast variations based on genre and age. There are anime for toddlers and those for adults, everyone and everything in between. They are  always culturally connected, either very directly or elements of Japanese culture are tightly woven in. The airing format follows those of live-dramas, where episodes are not individual stories, unlike in most cartoons, and are part of a series with serious attention to exposition, climax and denouement.

YuGiOh! was the first series that seriously got me interested in anime. The anime is set in a world where everyone plays a highly strategic cardgame called Duel Monsters with a disk through which
monsters materialize into live, playable beings. These games, or duels are the central focus of the story, determining the outcome of various events, and of fate itself.  The protagonist,  Yugi Mutou, solves the Millenuim puzzle, awakening an alter-ego, Yami,  the spirit of an Egyptian Pharaoh who resides within him and together, they duel their way through multiple challenges, trying to restore Yami’s memory and discovering the dangerous potential and power of the Duel Monsters. Inspired, I’d begun making my own cards, trading them with friends and actually playing them, before I’d mapped out my own unique playable card game ( due to lack of time and studies, I could not actually start making them).  My love for writing followed soon after, pumped up by my love for art. Writing and art go hand in hand for me. Story writing always begins with fully-fledged detailed character design. I cannot create a story, read or write, without images forming in my head as to how everything looks.

However, I was (and still am) a diehard fan of the sequels, GX, 5Ds, Zexal, Arc-V and Vrains. I grew up with these animes, I only as of late I realized how big a part it had played in my reality  in fuelling my intelligence and imagination, shaping my attitudes and values and  gearing my desire for learning and charging forward without fear, and for nurturing  in me a certain kind of resilience. It was directly after that I’d discovered manga, and it was a  whole new world out there! Manga are black and white, hand drawn (as all traditional manga are) or digitally drawn stories that are vastly different to Western comics in

layout, art styles, genres and target audience. The simplicity or complexity of plot lines, styles of art, detailing, and length influence readers’ decision greatly in choosing which manga to read and which will become dear.  The manga I read are often from the genres action, adventure, LGBTIQ, cooking, medical, shounen and sports and occasionally, Korean manhwa, usually webtoons, which are slightly different in terms of layout and are often in  full colour. Genres are not exclusive and often, multiple genres overlap, and therefore, I do not always limit myself to labels. I seek good, interesting plotlines that are stable, with a good flow. The type of art is very important to me, after all, a large part of manga are the visuals. I prefer clean, sharp lines, beautiful or interesting character design, good detail and tones, uncluttered panels and  speech bubbles that are not overly packed. As all manga on the Internet are scanlated (raws are scanned and translated) language is a big factor. If there are frequent grammar, spelling errors, I drop it no matter

how good the art or storyline is.

Soon, I found myself reading FairyTail, which is an extremely (I can’t emphasize this enough)  popular manga with an enormous  reader and fan base. This fantasy-adventure manga is one of the most action and emotion packed inspiring manga ever. Then I’d read RaveMaster, a manga of  similar genre, and soon followed explorations into other genres and art styles. My favourites now, as well as recommendations include Kuroshitsuji, Tantei Gakuen Q, Trinity Blood, Godchild, Jojo’s Bizzare Adventures,  Death Note, and Petshop of Horrors, among numerous others. 

Authors with great art styles (my favourites) include  Yana Toboso, Bohra Naono,  Ayano Yamane, Hiro Mashima, and Kaori Yuki.  I also read doujinshi which are a type of manga where other authors use the characters from a main manga to create pairings, explore relationships and pitch characters in alternate universes or crossovers.  The dynamics in doujinshi make sense or pique interest only if you’ve read and know the original works in which these characters feature because their backgrounds, roles and relationships are not explained or introduced in the doujinshi.  Manga highly influenced my imagination and character modelling capabilities, and my penchant for detail in art work. I began honing my pen, ink and

monochromatic art techniques after my introduction to manga, and it is my go-to style in drawing.  Gradually, exploring anime and manga artwork brought me into the world of video games, Kingdom Hearts being my first, and specifically CGI. I do not play video games, and what caught my eye were the graphics. I went on to watch the compiled cut scene movies for Kingdom Hearts, and stumbled upon Final Fantasy, another video game franchise with a massive fan base, created by Square Enix. Final Fantasy stuck, quite strongly and became my standard.  Final Fantasy is a series of science-fantasy role playing games set in different worlds where characters must battle different evils, while exploring character relationships and roles.  My favourite versions are FF-VII, FF- VII: Crisis Core and FF-XV where character design and storylines are highly realistic and complex, giving CGI an entirely new level of interpretations and implications in the context of reality and virtual reality. Movies include FF-VII: Advent Children, FF: The Spirits Within, and FF-XV: Kingsglaive.

Anime, manga, and the world of CGI,  has come to mean a lot more than mere animations, art and stories for those who are really into the three. All things we encounter has a way of ‘informing’ our reality. When these three inform the reality of readers and fans, it informs our realities and perceptions by granting a psycho-visual access into a new world where these become intertwined with our existence through the way they influence and underlie our own imagination. An enriched imagination I think is vital for any possibility to take reign. My time has not been wasted or lost with my involvement in the world of these three. It has given me impetus in multiple ways to fuel my thinking, critical and imaginative, and creativity, both artistic and literary.

Nuzla Niyas