My life began with Tom and Jerry, Ninja Turtles, ThunderCats and SWAT Kats along with Ainak Wala Jin. Soon though, this pairing turned into cartoons, kids movies and cricket matches. Once the cartoons became too childish, the pairs changed again and I began watching Pakistani dramas and Hollywood movies. Still later the Pakistani dramas started feeling too boring as well and this pair turned into Bollywood and Hollywood movies and slowly TV almost disappeared from my life. Then came this present phase--the phase of anime with no equal, to be its pair, except perhaps some Hollywood movies and very few American/English TV series.
No longer do I have to watch the Shahrukh Khan's supernatural, non-existent and totally ridiculous power of a common man, true there are similar anime as well but one doesn't have to watch them there is so much more choice and anyways they are anime-characters not a common man. Or the paranoia inducing farce they show on TV which teaches you three things. One, the world is out to get you. Two, women are either very wicked or they are very stupid, I mean, innocent. And three, that there is no better thing for women to do than vying and plotting for man's love.
I am also tired of American propaganda machine which tells me that USA is the mightiest of all states that ever existed or would ever exist and it would always exist to save the world, though the world saved would have white skin and democracy only, because all the rest are either terrorists, junkies, mafias, triads or aliens. And last but not least I am bored of gentleman's game where gentlemen have decided that cricket is too brutal a game to be played on the field, its better to decide it by exchanging some money here and there.
Name any genre and you would find the best entertainment of that kind in anime. There are love stories, yes, but love does not just involve successfully running away from everything or fighting 30+ henchmen of the villain father. There are comedies, yes, but they don't just revolve around sex jokes or abusive language. The thrillers are more thrilling than terrorist-hunt stories and drama has more than just saas (mother-in-law) in it. And the anime don't just stop at these genres. Horror, sci-fi, adventure, action, romance, mystery, historical, sports, psychological, music, tragedy, you just name it! But the best thing of all is, they have stories! Which is not something I can say about most of what is shown on our TV or cinema.
No matter who you ask you would invariably get the answer that there have been a lot of 'invasions' on our culture. Invasions of all shapes and colors. There have been British invasions and American invasions; green invasions and red invasions; beard and burka invasions; alcohol and skirt invasions; there have been Bollywood, Hollywood and most recent of them all, Turkish invasions. So would I be asking for too much if I ask for another invasion--a Japanese anime invasion? And we might get over the likes of Umaira Ahmad and Sharukh Khan for good.
No longer do I have to watch the Shahrukh Khan's supernatural, non-existent and totally ridiculous power of a common man, true there are similar anime as well but one doesn't have to watch them there is so much more choice and anyways they are anime-characters not a common man. Or the paranoia inducing farce they show on TV which teaches you three things. One, the world is out to get you. Two, women are either very wicked or they are very stupid, I mean, innocent. And three, that there is no better thing for women to do than vying and plotting for man's love.
I am also tired of American propaganda machine which tells me that USA is the mightiest of all states that ever existed or would ever exist and it would always exist to save the world, though the world saved would have white skin and democracy only, because all the rest are either terrorists, junkies, mafias, triads or aliens. And last but not least I am bored of gentleman's game where gentlemen have decided that cricket is too brutal a game to be played on the field, its better to decide it by exchanging some money here and there.
Name any genre and you would find the best entertainment of that kind in anime. There are love stories, yes, but love does not just involve successfully running away from everything or fighting 30+ henchmen of the villain father. There are comedies, yes, but they don't just revolve around sex jokes or abusive language. The thrillers are more thrilling than terrorist-hunt stories and drama has more than just saas (mother-in-law) in it. And the anime don't just stop at these genres. Horror, sci-fi, adventure, action, romance, mystery, historical, sports, psychological, music, tragedy, you just name it! But the best thing of all is, they have stories! Which is not something I can say about most of what is shown on our TV or cinema.
No matter who you ask you would invariably get the answer that there have been a lot of 'invasions' on our culture. Invasions of all shapes and colors. There have been British invasions and American invasions; green invasions and red invasions; beard and burka invasions; alcohol and skirt invasions; there have been Bollywood, Hollywood and most recent of them all, Turkish invasions. So would I be asking for too much if I ask for another invasion--a Japanese anime invasion? And we might get over the likes of Umaira Ahmad and Sharukh Khan for good.
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