Ahhh, I remember back in my college days. Skipping class, pulling all-nighters in front of my PlayStation 2 and GameCube, eating cold chicken wings and tuna fish sandwiches for breakfast. Those were the days! As jealous as my 31-year-old self is looking back at that young man, I know I couldn’t keep up with that lifestyle anymore.
One pizza later and my acid reflux kicks up like an angry race horse!
I also forgot about the staple of my college experience: anime! I broke free from the bonds of Dragon Ball Z during my final years of high school and plowed my way through all of the favorites of the time: Rurouni Kenshin, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, all great stuff that I’d like to pull out again if I ever get access to my enormous DVD collection back in the States. When I went to college, I was shocked to find that others shared my hobby, and we turned it into a weekly affair.
For three years, anime became the highlight of my life. I consumed every franchise that was fansubbed into English throughout the early 2000s, so much so that it eventually became a chore. I burned myself out by 2006, just before my first trip to Japan. The last series I watched to completion during those early weeaboo days was Samurai Champloo. What a cool series this is also. All the attitude and high-quality animation of Cowboy Bebop, but done with a samurai era setting in Japan. Hip-hop music, fun characters, great, episodic storylines that make you both laugh and cry…
Check it out for yourself! FUNimation has the entire series up on YouTube, absolutely free! Naturally, because I’m in Japan and have no VPN, it is blocked for me, but for you, the dubbed versions are all available for absolutely nothing.
Give it a watch. I know the old anime farts, like myself, like to say this, but they really don’t make ’em like they used to. I stopped watching anime after experiencing the “real Japan” for the first time, about the time that silly Haruhi Suzumiya show was on the air, and I haven’t looked back.
Well, that’s not true. When it comes to anime, I only look back, and Samurai Champloo is usually my cut off point. Anything that came out before it, I’ll happily watch again, starting here.