Ange Marcel-Kassi, our Year 12 work experience student from City Academy, chats to us about the awesomeness that is anime…
How did you get into it?
When I was younger, I was never really into anime that much or into any type of tv show in fact. My love for anime or the feeling that I have towards anime only came during secondary school around year 10/11. I had heard about anime and knew about some popular anime like Dragon ball Z or Naruto, but I didn’t really start watching them until I saw my friends gather around one day and were discussing the previous episode of Naruto that they had just watched. It sounded really good, like honestly, for real, you would actually want to live in that world. So I asked what episode everyone was on and they all said, “Episode 230”! Some anime have been going on for a long time and still carry on till this day. So you could imagine how shocked I was, that didn’t stop me though because I started watching about 10-20 episodes each night till I caught up. What I’m trying to say is, it opens up a whole new area of discussion. You can meet a new person that can relate to because of anime and that’s what got me into watching it so much.
“Then all of a sudden you’ve watched 22 episodes and it is now time to wake up to go to school or work.”
What do you like about it? Why would you recommend it?
I love anime and would recommend it because it can bring you into another world and it’s made for anyone to watch. There are so many categories that you are bound to find what’s right for you. What I love the most is that you lose track of time when watching it. You may say you’ll just watch just one episode tonight and go to bed around midnight. Then all of a sudden you’ve watched 22 episodes and it is now time to wake up to go to school or work.
What’s your favourite anime and why?
My favourite anime that I am watching right now is, Kuroko no Basket. This anime is about basketball and it is based on a group of players called the generation of miracles. They are basically the best players of their generation and beyond but they are only in high school. I like it a lot because it actually goes through things that you and I would go through and as I play basketball myself, I am especially able to relate more with the emotions that the characters portray. It will make you feel how the characters feel. That’s not just in this anime, but in all other anime.
“Theatre will learn a lot from anime because most anime always has a way to teach us life values in some way.”
Do you think there are any links between Anime and what theatre is or could be? Could theatre learn anything from the world of Anime?
I think there is a sort of link between theatre and anime. This is because they are both story tellers, they both portray a sort of story to the audience and make sure that the audience can be engaged with them through the characters. I think theatre will learn a lot from anime because most anime always has a way to teach us life values in some way. For example, Naruto is there to protect his friends and family, in Kuroko no basket they try to be the best but face many challenges and you see how they overcome them.
Hope you all have a go at watching anime!