I have got to hand it to two of my roommates. Before this year, I was adamantly a non-anime person. Possibly because the only exposure I had to anime was through the cutesy crowd and those not socially skilled enough to sell it for me. It didn't help that all they were interested in was what my roomies called "fluffy anime". I missed the Sailor Moon boat as a kid. It just wasn't happening.

Then I went to college and met some awesome friends of mine. They're smart, snarky, friendly, and they like anime. Last year it through me for a loop. I was all, "So anime isn't the life-sucking nerd factory (I'm one to talk) I thought it was? Trippy." It was quite the paradigm shift.

This year, I'm rooming with these people and finally getting to the anime they adore so much. And like the aftermath of seeing WALL-E in the theater, I came to realize that it's the story that's important not the medium, or the language, or how many times I have to have the plot explained to me. So, here are some fruits of the Japanese film industry I've been introduced to and enjoyed:

*Rurouni Kenshin: I'm still at a loss as to how it can be cute and cool at the same time. Sano is hands down my favorite character. Also where I learned about aforementioned zanbato.



*Samurai Champloo: Whoever was like "Hey, let's combine 17th century Japan and hip-hop" really had an eye for rule of cool. The episodes we watched were alot of fun and had flippin sweet character design. I think I like Jin best.



*Cowboy Bebop: We saw the movie, and it was very hard not to picture it as a crime drama/comedy set in New York/Paris/Istanbul with spacecraft. Quite a trip. Favorite is a toss up between Spike and Ed.



*Ergo Proxy: My views on this piece of awesome have been advertised. Some of the deepest, smartest, most powerful animation I've ever seen. Vincent is the most awesome in my mind. Say any different and he will beast mode on you.



*Princess Mononoke: And I thought Spirited Away was epic! It reminded me strongly of the older fairy tales before people started editing the danger out of them. The Wild was a scary place and its Keepers dangerous. You had to be respectful and clever to survive. Favorite character- the Kodamas of course!