Hello all,
My name is Zen, a college student from SoCal, and current Vice President of the UCSB Anime Club as of writing. I have been an anime fan since childhood, although I didn’t necessarily recognize myself as one. As a kid, I’ve always thought of anime as “another one of the cartoons” that I’ve watched on TV, Beyblade Metal Fusion probably being the first anime I ever watched. I was more hooked on cartoons than any other type of media, watching for hours on end, mesmerized and entertained by the quirky and relatable characters that were shown right in front of me. It wasn’t until much later that I would start to dip my toes into the world of Japanese animation, and realize how unique, beautiful, and life-changing it can be. For me, I wouldn’t start watching anime seriously until one important moment.
I remember having a layover in Japan, coming back from a summer trip to the Philippines for sightseeing and meeting distant relatives in 2016. We boarded an ANA flight that was decked-out in a Star Wars: The Force Awakens advert (which we dubbed the “BB-8 plane), which happened to offer onboard entertainment in the form of movies, television, and everybody’s favorite plane radar. It’s safe to say that there wasn’t any shortage of entertainment on this flight. But what caught my attention the most was the plane’s selection of content that ANA curated, which included the movie Kimi no Na wa (Your Name.) Surprisingly enough, I ended up watching the movie three times throughout the long plane ride; I was so moved by the characters, story, beautiful animation, and art style of Makoto Shinkai’s films that I couldn’t help but rewatch. It still remains one of my favorite films of all time. By the time I made it back to the States, I knew that I had to look into Japanese animation further.
My sophomore year of high school was one of the roughest years of my life mentally. I was overwhelmed with the pressures of high school life, the pressure to do well in school, and plan for my future, all in a mountain town that only left me more isolated than ever. All of these factors culminated into a deep depression that didn’t go away; I felt completely lost for the first time. But there was a shining light that would help lift me out of this hole that I was stuck in. This light came in the form of Japanese pop culture and my local high school Otaku Club. I remember stumbling into one of their meetings out of curiosity, where they were just screening anime with a projector on the classroom whiteboard. I remember watching Your Name. and Beyblade, but that was all the anime I’ve watched at the time, and I felt like I didn’t fit in with this group. This club ended up being one of the most supportive and enthusiastic groups of people that I’ve ever met, so much so that it inspired me to look more into anime and attend more of their meetings (the game osu! was also a major factor in me getting into Japanese pop culture, but that’s a story for another time).
Since then, I became President of the club from my Junior to Senior years, until the pandemic hit in 2020, where I was thrust into a world of uncertainty and unmotivation. And as fate would have it, the world of Japanese anime and pop culture came in and helped me during these trying times, providing me with the right motivation to keep myself busy and motivated. Entering college, I have since learned the Japanese language, became Vice President of my university Anime Club, and interned in Japan for three months, doing probably what you’d think I’d be doing (doing every anime/otaku-related thing there is to do in Tokyo).
I think that it’s appropriate to say that Japanese anime, and by extension Japanese pop culture, has fundamentally changed the direction of my life for the better. It has provided me opportunities that I wouldn’t have imagined were out there, connected me with some amazing people, and has kept me motivated and inspired when the times gotten rough. And I hope that my story would help motivate and inspire you to go on your own cultural journey.
Your local Otaku boi,
– Zen D.
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