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Anime is really great! It is very good to see that after nearly ten years of my life spent enjoying it and trying to promote it, it has evolve a lot, enough to become quite popular. Also, this year is bringing a lot of very good titles. Anime is not great only because of its popularity or its quality. Neither because it has become my (quite lean) livelihood. Not only because I am in love with the Japanese culture and that it is bringing some animation to my life too. No, it is great because it is an excellent medium of communication. That is what brought me to anime in the first place: it is a great medium to tell science-fiction story (you can really show what is happening in a story, and the special effects don't cost millions). And that is what is keeping me interested: it is a wonderful medium to tell story about human nature, to warn us (or the younger generation) about the multiple danger of our civilization, or to simply carry moral and social messages. Getting educated while getting entertained. We cannot avoid it, education or knowledge is the key to success, even to survival. War, racism, violence, mediocrity are caused by ignorance. Because of its nature, animation is a great educating tool. I just wish it would be more used in that way (if only people would stop thinking about anime as either kiddish or too violent).
Of course, not all animation bear a message. Some are just plain entertainment (and not always of good taste). However, many more anime than we could imagine are telling more than their story. We just have to think about the ecological message of NAUSICAA or the peace and anti-nuclear message of BAREFOOT GEN. Most of Miyazaki have messages. Many anime plead for peace, social justice, etc., some have an historical contents (GREAT CONQUEST, TALE OF GENJI), but most just illustrate a philosophical reflection (like in Mamoru Oshii movies), a dark side of humanity (AKIRA), or a possible dark future to make us think. Not all messages are positive. However, anime are as many window opened on the realities of our world. I still can appreaciate an anime for the beauty of its art, the entertaining quality of its story, but I'd rather watch an anime that is telling me more.
This issue is offering you a feature on one of the latest and hot TV series by Gainax: NEON GENESIS EVANGELION (which is telling us that man should not play God!), along with the second part of the SAILOR MOON episode guide, an anime story on the new 3X3 EYES, a Japanese Language Seminar on Adjectives, two anime world articles by Miyako Graham, and lots of news & reviews. I hope you will enjoy it.
Claude J. Pelletier