Why do people like anime?

Everyday, millions of people watch anime. They watch your Full Metal Alchemists, your Sailor Moons, and your Cowboy Bebops. While that is all well and good, some even go beyond that. A minute percent of the world's populace dwell in a world we call cosplay. Cosplay is, simply, dressing up as one's favorite anime/manga character. Despite the sickened looks of co-workers, spouses, friends, relatives, and random encounters on the street, these "cosplayers" go to extremes to show their love for Anime. Obviously, an act like cosplay requires as much devotion as it requires time and effort. What creates such as devotion? What is it that attracts so many people to anime?

To answer that question, you have to look into the age groups that anime touches. When I was in high school, I had a friend who was really into anime. He was, much to his dismay, quite serperated from most of the people in his class. However, this didn't stop him from reading into mangas like the little boy in "The Never — Ending Story". I remember going to his room one time and being shocked at the whole anime scheme. Posters all over the wall, DVD's of the Tenchi Muyo series, and Gundam Wing action figures on his nightstand. He even had some hentai work hidden deep inside his closet. This friend of mine is merely an (Editor's note: extreme?) example of adolescent youths who are addicted to anime. I've seen kids playing in my street, yelling out attack names of their favorite Dragonball Z character. It would seem, on the surface, that only kids are drawn to anime, but generally over-looked are the people that actually write the stuff.

"Oh yeah, them.", is the usual response by the casual anime fan when reminded of the writers and artists of anime. When you look at the artists, you'll find that not many of them are kids. They're middle-aged men (usually) who have had a dream of magical monsters caught in strange contraptions. Sound familiar? Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of the former-fad Pokemon, reportedly had a dream about these little critters on made a game about it (despite the ramblings of anime fans, Pokemon was a game first). The ties that all these middle-agers have seems to start and end at employment. You generally don't see successful businessmen watching the movie "Tenchi in Love", unless they became successful businessmen producing the said anime. Even the elderly are sometimes drawn to the "magic" of anime. My grandfather, who is 73, is an example. He loves the Yu Yu Hakusho series. I don't know what possessed him to watch it initially, and I'm sure he doesn't either. He doesn't have to, "as long as he gets his 'Hakusho'". While my grandpa and probably others can sometimes be attracted to anime, they're only in a minority.

All of these people seem to have one thing in common: a desire for a fantasy world different from their own. This part is obvious. Who doesn't want to be able to be a part of a ninja village and, in effect, be able to go at superhuman speeds? Who doesn't want to be able pilot gigantic humanoid machines? Although cosplayers might be going a little bit overboard, these people, like all anime fans, love a good story. It doesn't stop there, either. While artists of all kinds can appreciate the hard-earned outcome of these animes, the artwork alone isn't what seperates anime from other works of art. Nor is it the excellent pieces of music that are used as background themes or openers that seperate anime music from mere cartoon jingles. It's the deep meaning of a plot, or the sheer silliness of the situation, mixed in with some fantasy, that makes anime fans, fanatic or casual, get lost in their own world.