Nerdhobbies – Anime

In the second part of the column “Nerdhobbies” I want to confront you with my very personal favorite: Japanese animated series or simply: Anime!

Similarly, as a few years ago on the topic of gaming, anime fans are still confronted with many prejudices today. This starts with rather harmless things like “Anime is just for kids, after all they are animated series” and escalates to absurd, hurtful, and very thoughtless statements that anime is universally “virtual child pornography.”

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None of these people have engaged with such a series for more than two minutes or even deigned to watch an entire episode to perhaps understand what the interest of so many people is all about.

But as the saying goes in the countryside: “What the farmer doesn’t know, he won’t eat.”

Of course, there are also fundamental differences in anime regarding target audience, seriousness, and quality, just like in any other TV series. As a child, I was already fascinated by series like “Pokémon” or “Sailor Moon” (despite the fact that RTL2 even trimmed the plot and entire story arcs are missing in the German version).

Today, these two series would not captivate me anymore, yet I still hold on to anime and spend many hours each week on it. I would like to briefly introduce you to a handful of series that are worth watching.

Just choose one of them and give it 2-3 episodes to get excited about it, and you will realize that an exciting, complex plot can also be wonderfully realized in animation and in some cases even completely overshadows its “real-life” counterparts.

Please keep in mind that the short summary only outlines the beginning of the plot and the starting scenario – each of the mentioned series is at the top of my favorites list.

Sword Art Online

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama

In the future, it is possible to immerse oneself completely in computer games using a high-tech helmet, creating an even more intense gaming experience. The teenager “Kirito” is among the first to log into the MMO “Sword Art Online” in this way and enjoys his first day in this world – until the “Log-out” function disappears.

From then on, Kirito is trapped in the virtual environment with many other players, and the only way to freedom is, according to the game developer, to defeat the final raid boss. But there is a catch: if a player dies in the game world, he also loses his life in reality.

Death Note

Genre: Mystery-Thriller

Yagami Light is an elite student who is about to start his studies, hates violence and crime but has resigned himself to the fact that he can’t change the corrupt world… until one day a book comes into his hands. According to the instructions, every person whose name is written on its pages dies. What first sounds like a bad joke quickly turns out to be the truth, and Yagami begins to systematically write all criminals into this “Death Note.”

It doesn’t take long for the police to notice this mass murder and start investigating against it. Thus begins a thrilling game full of intrigue, on one side Yagami Light, who wants to rise as the “god of his new world” by becoming “justice” himself, on the other side the police and some top detectives who want to uncover the type of murder and catch the perpetrator.

Attack on titan (“Shingeki no Kyojin”)

Genre: Action, Fantasy

For a long time, humans have lived in a last great fortress, which shields them from the rest of the world with high walls. Behind the wall, giant humanoids known as “Titans” wander around, from whom humanity hides. For almost 100 years, none of the residents have seen such a titan, until the false peace (who would have expected it!) is suddenly broken by an especially large titan looking over the wall.

Eren and his sister Mikasa must helplessly watch as a large part of their hometown is destroyed by the titans. After the shock has subsided, Eren decides to join the “Scouting Legion,” the only military unit that dares to venture out of the walls of the city to take the fight to the titans.

G.T.O. – Great Teacher Onizuka

Genre: Comedy

The 22-year-old Onizuka has set himself the goal of becoming a teacher. What motivates him to do this? The pretty girls of high school! After all, what could be better for a man than to surround himself with beautiful women all day? Of course, his plan doesn’t work out entirely, and he gets assigned the worst class there is: the students know exactly what rights they have and how they can get their teachers into trouble without suffering any consequences.

Thus begins Onizuka’s struggle for recognition and the attention of the ladies, during which some biker gangs are beaten and some laws of physics are broken.

The Devil is a part-timer! (“Hataraku Maou-sama!”)

Genre: Comedy

As in an epic saga, the heroes storm the demon lord’s palace and defeat him, leaving the fallen lord of darkness with no choice but to flee to another world – unfortunately, this happens to be present-day Japan. Even worse is the fact that the dark lord has lost all his magical powers during the journey and now has to make ends meet as an ordinary human.

This starts with the rent he has to pay, which forces the former ruler to work as a burger flipper at “McRonalds.” The situation doesn’t get any easier when one of the heroes also travels to this world to finally snuff out the demon lord’s life…

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