Responding to Nostalgic Worlds

Responding to Nostalgic Worlds

            My first experiences with anime, gaming, and Japanese culture were through Pokémon and Sailor Moon when I was in Kindergarten and Elementary School. I can still distinctly remember a birthday in which all of my gifts were Sailor Moon themed and I would wear my costume of the eponymous Sailor Scout as often as possible, not just for Halloween, but running around the house and the yard. Just like Sailor Moon longed to be like Sailor V, I longed to be Sailor Moon, or my other favorite, Sailor Venus. I had the Sailor Moon wand that lit up and glowed, dolls of the characters, plush toys of Luna, and a collection of only one VHS tape of the final two episodes of the first season of the series. At the time it was not clear that there were other episodes of Sailor Moon, or that the two episodes I had were the finale and not a film, but I watched them repeatedly in the living room, on my mom’s bed, and anywhere else we had a TV until I had memorized the theme song and nearly every second of that VHS tape.

Sailor Moon Wand Toy

            Pokémon came to me as a gift for graduating Kindergarten. I received a pink Gameboy and a copy of Pokémon Red, which I still have, and which I still have not beaten even to this day. I am notoriously bad at video games, even if I love them, and I still struggle to finish even games marketed towards children. The game introduced me to the vast world of Pokémon movies, merchandise, and trading cards. When Pokémon: The First Movie was released in theaters here, my parents took me to see it, and were shocked at some of the violence and the moments of desolation the movie had. Including one very shocking scene of Ash turning to stone, upon which I promptly cried and they refused to take me to any future Pokémon movies. My love of anime and video games began with Sailor Moon and Pokémon, and briefly ended with them until I began high school, but my interest in anime has always been sparked by those early memories of watching the two series or collecting the toys, which I wish I still had around, because they were my introduction to something that eventually went on to shape my time in high school and my continuing interests in college.

Pokemon Red

            When I became interested in anime again my Freshman year of high school, I began with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Death Note and continued on with what was available to watch online at the time, and what came with a recommendation from my friends. My first anime convention came soon after, as did my first cosplay, of Mikuru Asahina from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and my first serious cosplay, Hatsune Miku from the series of Vocaloid programs that created music digitally and have continue to become more eerily human sounding over the past few years. I went to AnimeNEXT in New Jersey, then Setsucon at Penn State where I made my first convention friends through cosplay, and then Otakon. I became immersed in the culture of anime and cosplay and, although I have not cosplayed in a while, they remain a distinct part of my time in high school and early college.

Vocaloid Cosplay at Otakon 2010, Myself on the Far Left

Without the nurturing of my somewhat geeky interests as a child, and later as a teen, by my parents I doubt I would be taking classes in Graphic Narratives or Game Studies, or that I would have a tattoo of Totoro on my thigh, or a network of friends across America that I met at conventions and still see from time to time. I would not have an already-purchased badge for Otakon this year, my last hurrah of convention going for the foreseeable future, and I wonder what I would be like or what my interests would be. Anime was a reprieve from some of the hardest and most stressful times, and the nostalgia of returning to familiar worlds through the new series like Sailor Moon Crystal or newer games like Pokémon X, can take me back in an instant to memories of loving them as a child and every time I have returned to them since. Something that these ongoing series bring with them is an ability to keep returning to their fantasy worlds as frequently as the viewer wants, and for that experience to grow and change with them as the series adapt to more modern technology and tropes.