Memory Essay

I wake up. It's 7:00 in the morning. I don't usually wake up this early. Before I can wipe the debris from the cracks of my eyes, I'm greeted by the cold wind being pumped from the air conditioner. I face the television only to be blinded by its bright screen. Its light with the help of dawn crates a dark, blue, relaxing tint on the walls of the room. After about fifteen minutes of trying to regain my sight, I patiently watch paid programming, waiting for the usual Saturday cartoons to come on. Fox Kids, WB and all that. There were missing buttons in the television. One had to change channels by sticking something through the holes where the channel buttons used to be. As I reach for the nearest ink pen, something catches my attention. What?! Is this a cartoon about to come on? Cartoons don't come on Sci-Fi channel. This was the moment I discovered anime. The show was called Saturday Anime. Ever since that day, I watched that show every Saturday up until the day it was cancelled. All of the movies aired were raw. Anime wasn't well known in my early childhood. Back in the day, I was used to Superman and the X-Men disarming bombs before it blew up a building. In the opening scene of Akira, an entire city is blown away by a child. It wasn't just the fact that a city was blown up and no one saved the day but that the scene was so realistic. Each background in that movie looked like a renaissance painting. Akira takes place in a make believe yet believable reality. No one saved the day, no to be continued and something stops the destruction. Nothing was sugar coated. When I watched that, I was thrown into a state of confusion. I assumed that no matter what, the people always had to be saved. I was always nervous when my parents were around when I was watching Saturday Anime because of the graphic nature of certain movies such as the 80's Vampire Hunter. I miss having anime to myself.