I first really got into anime the summer of my 5th grade year. My cousin had the first VHS of Gundam Wing and liked to watch Toonami on Carton Network. Before then, I had only watched anime without knowing what it really was. I had seen the most common ones: Poke'mon, Digimon, Yu-gi-oh, and a couple Sailor Moon movies my neighbor owned. That summer I got caught up in the worlds of Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, and Inu Yasha.
When I returned to school my 6th grade year, I got introduced to magazines like Animerican and Shonen Jump. I learned my friends were also into anime and manga. Soon I was actively looking for new things to watch and read at my library, Borders, and Barnes n' Noble. My first mangas were Tokyo Mew Mew and Naruto. I started to treat TOKYOPOP's manga titles like a ready-made 'to read' list.
Then, I found that Hollywood Videos and Blockbusters had an anime DVD section. I ended up trying out Nightwalker and watching the movies Millennium Actress & Yu Yu Hakusho: Poltergeist Report at a sleepover with some of my girl friends. As I continued to keep my eyes open for new anime movies, I stumbled upon Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki and Castle in the Sky. I instantly loved his fantastical and heart-warming stories.
Shojo Beat! jumped onto the scene next. I wasn't as thrilled with the magazine as much as Shonen Jump, but I took to God Child and started exploring the sea of shoujo manga. It was shortly after that that I learned about BL. My first introduction was through the manga Gravitation. Initially, I disliked it, but was willing to give BL a second chance. Only the Ring Finger Knows won me over.
During the spring of my 8th grade year, I ended up checking out Sakura-con. It was mind-boggling amazing. My family and I pre-registered for the next year promptly, and the convention was all I'd talk to my friends about for months. The following year I went in cross-play as Naraku. I convinced as many of my close friends to come along too. Once that year's festivities were over, we all swore Sakura-con was like an early Christmas.
It was while I was in high school that I discovered the wonderful advantages of the internet. I started reading fanfiction on Fanfiction.net, diving into Gaia Online's community, reading scanalations on MangaFox.com, and finding great fanart of my favorite anime and manga on DeviantArt.com. I also began to feel more comfortable exploring past the fluff category of BL. When I found a fellow BL enthusiast my senior year, we almost egged each other on.
I discovered Gackto Camui during my high school years too. It happened as I started looking further than just the anime and manga aspects of J-pop culture. Within short order, I became interested in Japanese lore, history, and culture, as well. I ate at more Japanese styled restaurants and visited Japanese gardens in the area. I researched such things as yokai, the different eras, Shinto, Buddhism, and the history of anime & manga itself.
College gave me access to high speed internet. I believe it was then that my fujoshi self really got a chance to flourish. Not only did I start watching more anime online at places like animefreak.tv, but I also decided to read through all the complete four stars or more BL on MangaFox. When I finally reached the end of what MangaFox had to offer, I looked for more, and discovered AarinFantasy.com.
I was occupied by AarinFantasy for a time, but soon burned through what that site had to offer too. It was then, that I rediscovered Fanfiction.net, and was introduced to this wonderful concept called slash. I've been thoroughly residing in that section of the internet ever since. It is quite the glorious place. In the last couple years, I've added AO3 and Tumblr to my slash habits, as well. I've yet to get bored as slash seems to perpetuate itself.
So, if you're looking for someone to talk anime, manga, BL, slash, writing, cosplay, or art with, feel free to send me a message or drop a comment. It's always great chatting with like-minded people. If you just want to stalk me, feel free to lurk around my tumblr blog: riot-eousness. Lastly, if you've got any recommendations of anime, manga, fanfics, books, movies, or video games with slashy undertones, dark themes, and shocking plot twists, I'm all ears.
Thanks for stopping by~
Purple Hyacinths
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All Comments (2) Comments
Does that make me shallow? XD Or just more of a fujoshi LOL