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Japanese anime craze spreads like wildfire Date: 3/12/2005 |
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By Hans Kam Han-Yuen Kuala Lumpur, Mar 12: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like most women, Chew Lu Wee loves dressing up. Today, the 27-year-old graphic designer is wearing a maroon blouse, a brown skirt and a cape. This garb, in another world, radiates a holy aura, has some resistance against demon attacks and gives her partial protection against shadow monsters. Chew is an acolyte, a character from the medieval fantasy game Ragnarok, which has been made into a cartoon series. Chew is a member of the Malaysian Cosplay Club, which has seen its membership 'explode' in three years from just 50 friends in 2003, to 955 registered members today. They are just a few of the fans of Japanese-style cartoons, or anime. Spirited Away, an anime feature film about a young girl's adventures in a fantasy world, became the highest grossing movie in Japanese history in 2002. Last year, another film, Howl's Moving Castle, scored big returns in Japan too. Despite being viewed by many as a juvenile genre, anime's writers explore a broad range of topics, from simple hobbies such as fishing and cooking to philosophy and spirituality. Mamoru Oshii's melancholic tale of cyborgs and hackers examined what could be considered a soul in his 1995 Ghost in the Shell. The sequel TV series last year, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a current hit with adults. These animations have sparked off a craze among young Malaysians and professionals in their forties. This demand is reflected in the growing number of shops carrying titles on VCDs and DVDs, and the selling of accessories from toys to cushion-covers. Anime had been here for more than a decade, but started becoming popular only in the last few years, when Astro satellite television's AXN channel began screening such cartoons, said Anna Saw, 28. Saw is the manager of Anime Tech, a chain of shops in the Klang Valley which specialises in anime and related merchandise. "Our customers come from a wide range of age groups, especially teenagers and young adults. You do see a lot of thirty-year-olds coming to our stores as well," said Saw. |
| Source: New Straits Times |
