For my fellow American anime fans, today is Thanksgiving, a day to spend time with family, eat good food, and contemplate all that you’re thankful for…
For the past several Thanksgivings, my mom and I have been going to my (very wealthy) cousin’s house for dinner ’cause she cooks a fabulous feast. Unfortunately she’s out of the country this year, so we’ll be going to a home-style restaurant with a couple of friends for Thanksgiving dinner.
Since this is my twenty-fourth Thanksgiving, I decided to list twenty-four anime related things that I’m thankful for as a way of celebrating here on the blog:
– I’m thankful for the diverse genres of anime, from shonen and mecha to moe and shojo. They’ve all brought me enjoyment and have helped me become a more knowledgeable fan.
– I’m thankful for anime songs and the talented j-pop and j-rock singers who perform them. From beautiful voices that melt in your ears, to catchy melodies that make you smile, anime music has brought me almost as much pleasure as anime itself.
– I’m thankful for the dedicated fans who create myriads of anime fan works, from doujin games to fan fiction, that spice up the fandom and show more than anything how much we love what we love.
– I’m thankful for anime fan art and the artists who make them. I’m forever amazed at how they can create images of my favorite characters that are more beautiful and compelling than official art.
– I’m thankful for AMVs and their creators. The hours of meticulous work they put in to creating some of the most hilarious, gorgeous, and fun anime videos I’ve ever seen could entertain me for years to come.
– I’m thankful for the sometimes appalling and sometimes wonderful thing that is the anime online community, especially the blogsphere. My fellow bloggers and online friends have taught me more about anime than I can tell.
– I’m thankful for anime seiyuu and how their talented voice acting can magically evoke sympathy, laughter, and fangasms in 2D characters.
– I’m thankful for the often unfairly overworked and underpayed anime animators, artists, and character designers. Anime would be nothing without them and the visual style and character expressions they convey in their works have touched my heart more than anything.
– I’m thankful for American anime companies, particularly Bandai, Crunchyroll, and Funimation, and how they’ve been providing us English speakers with legit copies of the latest anime as best they can despite these difficult financial times.
– I’m thankful for the many dedicated cosplayers and how their innovative, beautiful costumes continue to impress me at the conventions I go to.
– I’m thankful for Pokemon, my most favorite video game series that has been a big part of my life for over a decade. The franchise continues to amaze me and the amount of happiness I’ve derived from it over all these years can’t be described in words.
– I’m thankful for Haruhi, my most favorite anime and light novel series. From Noizi Itou’s lovely character designs, KyoAni’s gorgeous artwork and clever promotional tactics, and Nagaru Tanigawa’s unique style for weaving an intriguing plot and characters, nothing about this series ceases to engross me.
– I’m thankful for anime character goods, my favorite things to buy, from figures and posters to artbooks and pencil boards. The variety of anime stuff Japan can come up with can satisfy any fan.
– I’m thankful for online companies like CD Japan, YesAsia, and Hobby Search, that will ship the above mentioned anime products to those of us in the U.S. who have no other means of getting them.
– I’m thankful for Japanese-English translators, from those who make subtitles for official companies to those who translate anime news on a personal blog. English-speaking would be lost without you.
– I’m thankful for the many amazing original creators of manga/novel-turned-anime series. Since so much of the best anime is based off of their works, we would be lacking a painful amount of creativity in anime fandom without them.
– I’m thankful for the diversity of creative, detailed anime stories and plots that the aforementioned original creators come up with. I can’t imagine any other entertainment medium having the same kind of interesting stories as anime and manga.
– I’m thankful for the tons of lovable, well-developed anime characters that touch my heart time and time again. I never knew I could get so attached to fictional characters until I discovered anime.
– I’m thankful for Akihabara, the town that’s an anime fan’s dream come true. I only wish it was closer to me…
– I’m thankful for anime conventions, especially Anime Expo, and how they bring together so many anime workshops, industry people, and products to buy, for fans to whom these things would be otherwise inaccessible. They also provide an indescribable sense of kinship among fans that all of us should experience.
– I’m thankful for my mom and all other parents who don’t shun their child for having anime as their hobby. It makes a world of difference when people close to you respect the thing that you’re a fan of even if they don’t share it themselves.
– I’m thankful for my favorite anime web sites – ANN, MyAnimeList, pixiv, AnimePaper, Anime Nano, and Pokebeach just to name a few. Without them, my knowledge of the anime world and my connections to its fans would be little to nothing.
– I’m thankful for all of my anime-loving friends. Being able to share my passion with others who are respectful and caring means so much to me. You guys are great.
– And lastly, I’m thankful for people like you who read my blog and share in my fandom ^_^ Thanks so much for commenting on my posts and giving me more to think about with each one I write. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving~
That was a lovely post. I, like most of your readers I’m sure, also share your thoughts on the aniblogosphere, seiyuu, subbers and translators etc. Hope you and your fellow countrymen and women have a great Thanksgiving, and thank you for the read!
Thanks so much~
I’m thankful for Book Off, without which my CD collection of anime music would be much much smaller than it currently is. Mostly because the prices it charges are fair and the one in Costa Mesa is pretty awesome.
I’ve been to Book Off once…nice store. Though Kinokuniya is my main place XD
Sora no Oto was not bad. Their foreshadowing shows that it won’t be a K-ON Season 2 Rather we have a doemnic winged beast that razed the land with fire and a baneblade with missile launchers. Hm But it could turn out to be tea parties and music for 3/4ths of it for all we know, but hey it might end up being like Utawarerumono. Also, Rio looking like Mio, nah. She looks more like Chihaya Kisaragi, just with a chest J.C. Staff is continuing Railgun, hell we might reach the SISTERS arc at this rate. 26 Episodes.Pro IG is doing Halo and Dante lololololAlso you can’t forget about that Nanoha Fighting Game on the PSP Orange-kun.Ookamikakushi looks interesting Katanagatari I’ve heard good things about so I’ll pick it up.
I thankful for the readers who read my blog and the anime I watch. Hopefully the future will be a good one…
I agree. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!
I’m thankful because you have written this post so that I don’t have to do it. But most of all, I’m thankful for Haruhi as well.
LOL, thanks~ Hopefully we’ll have more Haruhi anime/novel chapters before the next Thanksgiving comes around XD
I appreciate that this post is the ‘thank you’ post for those who spent their few years and more to anime
I thank anime for giving me a good diversion when times a bit rougher to me…
Definitely, I’m thankful for KareKano and Runouni Kenshin for putting me on this spot right now as a fan of their antics.
Lastly, I thank anime for somehow, I find my peace of mind that I never had years ago.
That’s lovely…thanks for reading =)
Great post. I’m thankful that there are anime and manga out there that can brighten up my life and cheer me up, and I’m also thankful I have a fellow anime fan/friend like you. =)
Me too! ::hugs:: Looking forward to more good anime and good times with fellow fans in the years to come ^^
i’m thankful because you had one piece as your post main picture album. nice blog you have.
Thanks. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, there are no anime Thanksgiving pictures around. So a pic of anime characters having a feast is the closest I can get XD
Aww, it’s so good of you to remember all of the effort that goes into the giant structure of the anime fan community that we all love! I am also thankful for my anime, manga, and game-loving friends, very obviously and gladly including you, because I wouldn’t have been able to get through so many things without the daily dose of fandom/geek that never fails to make me laugh, cry, smile, etc. that comes from all of you!
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day, and that you had lots of delicious food and tasty sweets! ^o^
Great post