General anime thoughts Part 3

     In 2018, a book called Anime Impact was published.   This is a book composed of several

contributors, and the author Chris Stuckmann, that talks about the influence of certain anime series

on their lives, as well as on our lives as a whole (the latter is mostly done in the introduction and 

conclusion of this book).  The purpose of this writing is by no means a review of this book, but a 

response to it in relation to what I attempt to do with my Analyzing Anime class (which may be

thought of as a review anyway).

     What I like most about this book is what the introduction and conclusion of it offer, which is a 

history of anime in the introduction and an explanation of why something like anime is important in

the conclusion after several personal examples of why this is so in both the introduction and

conclusion.  What I focus on in the anime class I teach is more of an explanation of why something

like anime is important with personal examples than the history of anime itself.  This focus has a lot to

do with how I like to analyze anime, which is based on what I like in terms of anime, as well as the

other things I like and do, which is explained in the introduction of the writing for the class.  What I

would like to do before this introduction is offer a reflection of having done this anime class before the

creation of Anime Impact.

     Before the book Anime Impact was published, I had already done this anime class for two years.  

In the first year, I only offered one section of this class without really knowing what I wanted to do.

I also thought I would use the book Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder edited by Joseph S.

Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin, which didn't really work out because I couldn't get enough hard copies

of the book for the class (we didn't even use it - it also seems pretty advanced for teenagers, so I would

consider using it if I taught this class at a college level).  I also figured that if I wanted to talk about

anime I like, including why I like it, then writing my own "book" for the class would be the way to go,

so when I did the class again the next year, besides offering not one, but two sections of it, I used my

own writing as a way to help me with this class.  Even though I had a better plan going into the class,

as well as my own "book" that I wrote for it, I didn't follow this plan completely, which includes using

all of what I wrote (this also happened again when I did this in 2019 - starting in 2020, I plan to do

only one section of this class again without doing another different class).

       So would I use the book Anime Impact for it now?  After taking some time to think about it since I

got the book for Christmas last year until recently when I had to submit the information for this class to

our Dean of Faculty to do it again this year, the answer I came to was no.  This is because I already

have something written based on what I want to do (and can change it without worrying about having

to get a new book), not because I don't think you can get anything out of other anime books like

Anime Impact.  In fact, I plan to use the introduction and conclusion of the book Anime Impact to help

me with this class (and the Martial Arts class I help with in the Spring - starting this year, it's a class

about the history of martial arts and anime).  The title is certainly important too, and is definitely

something that I'm mindful of with this class, but in a different way.

     The main thing I notice in the personal reflections of the book Anime Impact is that they mainly

focus on what anime series is being discussed (what it is) and why it is important to the one writing the

reflection.  In other words, it mostly seems to be a book about information (I use the word "seems"

because I actually haven't read all of it - at least not yet: I don't know when that will happen, if it

does).  I consider what I write in the posts for my class (and the ones I do once a week) to be more

about formation than information, meaning I focus on how anime can be seen.  There is nothing wrong

with either approach (or any other approach based on these two).  What is wrong is thinking the

approach to anime you take is the only approach and that any other approach is not only wrong, but

also foolish, which seems to be the problem of the various anime fan groups on all forms of social

media (the word "seems" here probably isn't necessary, but I use it anyway - it's also the reason I'm

currently not part of any).

     This point about how anime is approached is one that I cannot stress enough.  Even though I also

talk about this point in my own introduction and conclusion, and is also why I use the introduction and

conclusion of the book Anime Impact, this is something I believe is important about anime, like

anything in life.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I don't see why anime should be an

exception to this.  I have many more about anime, but my other anime opinions can be seen as this

writing continues.  If any aren't seen here, then that means I talk about them in this class (you can

usually count on adolescents to have questions and/or comments).  I'm not like the author and

contributors of the book Anime Impact in terms of wanting to be known for my work (although

appreciating it is important, which is why I subscribe to the youtube anime channels I use in this class

for the videos I show).  I'm a monk that likes anime and teaches a class about it (and helps with another

one about it in relation to martial arts, which are both similar in terms of the meaning behind them).

       Before getting into my other writing (yes I said that already - as you can see, I like to write when I

have the time to do that: getting a Master's online, which I am currently doing, helps with that), there is

one last thing I would like to do with this Foreword - like post.  Usually in Forewords, people are

thanked for what they do in relation to what the Foreword is written for.  Everything I write for the

class is written by me.  That doesn't mean I can't thank anyone.  It means I would also have to do this

differently, meaning I would mostly thank the people for letting me do this, like our Dean of Faculty,

who lets me do this class (she seemed more excited about it than I did when telling her about this idea

for a class) and the monks I live with, who just know that I teach at this time (I wouldn't expect them to

know and/or understand what I'm talking about here).  And I should also thank the students I get since I

wouldn't have classes without students (they can be difficult to deal with, but they have to deal with me

too).  Besides also dedicating this writing to them, which is also what books do, I would dedicate this

writing to anyone interested in anime, including anyone interested in everything else I write here.

What I write here might change over time due to what happens (examples: youtube videos and other

experiences), but the important thing is to keep doing it (more about that in conclusion).