This bit is out of topic with the rest but I wanted to mention it. UTAU Users: I don't know if anyone will find this useful but I made a Romaji CV to VCV converter. [link]

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There was a time when I updated my journal slightly more frequency but nowadays I barely have anything to say, however a thought came to me today because of something that I saw a few days ago.

I first found out what anime was when I was in the 3rd grade when some friends introduced me to Sailor Moon.  Now this was not the first anime I ever saw, far from it, however it was the first anime that I saw being aware that it was made in Japan and not in the United States.  And really can you blame me? at the time I was mostly exposed to Spanish dubs of shows, there was really no reason for me to be able to tell the difference lol.  Anyway, since I first started watching Sailor Moon I slowly began to get more exposed to anime whether because it was on TV or because a friend lend me her VHSs of her collection or even gave me the first volume of a series that later I would be hooked on.  Also I always loved to draw from the time I was really little and it was really no surprise to me that I would prefer to draw cartoon characters based on anime because they were prettier than most American cartoons for children and not to mention they had five fingers in each hand!  This does not mean I didn't enjoy other cartoons, oh no! I really loved the Powerpuff Girls, Swat Kats, Batman and Superman the animated series, Batman Beyond, Static Shock (just to mention a few and this doesn't include the really old cartoons like the Looney Toons etc!)

Now, why do I say I was kind of a weeabo once? Well I've been on deviantart for 8 years now and if you notice my username has "chan" appended to it.  Obviously at that time I thought it was cool to have a honorific added to my nickname.  Now to be fair, the other reason why I did this was because yesi was just too plain and I didn't want to keep using my nickname and last name as I had done for my email, Elfwood and okeaki accounts. So it was also a matter of hiding my identity a bit because I was young and I don't trust the internet all that much.  However, when 2000 came along, I did see a decrease in shows produced by American and in general just Western companies that suited my tastes vs all the anime I was being exposed to at the time.  So it was only natural that I would think those animes were superior to most of the cartoons that were coming out especially since most animes have a story and Western shows tend to be more episodic.  I thought anime was cool! It had a good story, it spoke to me! and as a consequence there was a time that I would think I wanted to go to Japan and learn all about the culture.  So sue me, I was sort of a weeabo back then but have you noticed that most weeabos tend to be teenagers?  I certainly have.  In fact it's really rare for me to meet a weeabo that's older than 18.  I'm sure there are but at the same time I believe most are just young teens with a dream! So I think let them do whatever they want. They are young and they'll learn soon enough!  I know we make fun of them now but seriously I believe most of us that do were once sort of weeabo-ish ourselves.  Let's let them enjoy life but I suppose it's a good idea to teach them to be proud of their own culture instead of fixate themselves on another.  Yes we should teach them this but we shouldn't be too hard on them because they are just young and don't really know any better. When we are young we get super excited about stuff!

That said, I bring this up because I saw a youtube video and in one of the comments someone was making fun of weeabos not to mention some people think westerners shouldn't cosplay as anime characters because they don't look right.  Well I think people should cosplay as whoever they want but they SHOULD be proud of their own country.  Also if you will cosplay you might want to find a character that does match your physique more so you don't ridicule yourself.  Yeah I don't really cosplay 'cause I'm terrible at sewing and buying the costumes are too expensive plus I don't really think I can cosplay as anyone.  Also I do like Westerners shows and cartoons (I mentioned a few really good ones before) although it makes me sad that there aren't as many good ones as there were before.  However I do see a growing trend of more mature cartoons like Young Justice and that Thundercats remake. And I hear Clone Wars is good although I've never been a huge fan of Star Wars so I feel like I would get lost watching it.  I think we should be able to enjoy whatever we want however nothing really is superior to anything else.  I see now that it's not really fair to compare an anime with Western cartoons.  I also see now that there are probably just as many crappy animes as there are crappy cartoons but there are also really good series for both styles!  Also despite the fact that there were increasingly annoying cartoons that I didn't like, I still did enjoy some shows like Kim Possible, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Danny Phantom, just to name a few.

I don't know if anyone has really noticed or if it even shows, but I do try to play around with different styles and not always draw manga/anime style.  Why do I mostly draw that style? Well it IS easier for me to draw but that's because I started drawing it when I was young.  I did draw Disney characters when I was younger too but the anime style just stuck with me and it just became a lot easier to draw.  Plus it doesn't seem to have many restrictions in anatomy and stuff which I should say is kind of a bad thing since then it's so much harder to draw other styles.  Yes anime style is very pretty and I noticed most of my watchers prefer that I draw that style, however I do wish to improve my art skills and I will occasionally try to draw in other styles even if I might not always upload my work.  And really who can blame me? Whenever I try really hard at another style people just don't really care because it's not anime.  That is actually pretty sad and it might prevent the growth of other artists (I know a few that don't break away from the style because of their watchers).  Well you guys enjoy whatever you want but remember to appreciate your own culture and try to reach artistic grow in many styles not just anime or Disney or whatever it is you have chosen!

Lol it seems I wrote a lot about a lot of different things.  Sorry to have taken your time! xD

~Yesi

By the way, as you probably guessed I have no problem with the Japanese culture.  In fact I believe we should try to respect all cultures (I say try because to be honest "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist"-Avenue Q)  I just think idolizing any culture because of some tv shows can be a little unhealthy...