[A.S.H.]

Well, following the adage about arguing on the internet, I will simply avoid outbursts and stick to non-inflamatory commentary.

I love anime. Whatever. It's my taste, and you have yours. Yes, the hentai is weird. But hell, it's funny as fuck at times simply for the sheer mind fucking absurdity.

Akira, better in it's original format, which is about....2000+ pages of manga goodness. Not to say that you will have all your questions answered by this Dark Horse 6 big volume whopper, but still, it leaves you with a fresher taste in your mouth.

Oh yah, the X/1999 movie was a bad idea. They were trying to make a manga that isn't even finished in Japan yet into a feature film. Way to go you fucking genius. Take the cake out of the oven before it's even risen. Now you've got a ruined cake. EAT IT! TASTE THE BITTER SPOILS OF YOUR STUPIDITY!

I enjoy anime for the reasons many men enjoy certain kinds of women, because it's different from your mom. That's right, YOUR MOM!

Okay, that was inflammatory.

The point I'm trying to get to here is that it's different. I watch anime because it breaks the natural American preconception of 'cartoons are for kids', which still holds very strongly despite the hard work of anime over probably the past twenty years. The last three animated features I saw made by American studios that had some balls to them, were American Pop, Wizards, and Heavy Metal. All of these movies are somewhere within my age range, give or take a few years. Okay, I forgot Cool World. But that's four out of about a metric fuckton of crappy American cartoons where realistic violence and blood is bad, and good and evil is as simple as "I save people, he hurts them!"

I feel I will run onto a tangant (TOO LATE!), so I'll wind it down.

Don't exclude, just be wary, and be open minded. One man's outdated 8-bit cart is anothers nostalgic bliss.