The most significant cultural differences are often the smallest things. Something as simple as a greeting can reveal ideas and societal behaviors that are worlds apart. Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, an adorable short anime about a little Japanese girl “lost” in the city of Paris, does a nice job of highlighting some of these details of life. [1]
I have often thought what separates an anime watcher from an anime fan is that the latter has a frame of reference for her tastes within the medium. She can tell a good anime from a bad one on a deeper level beyond entertainment values. Perhaps even… a connoisseur of the arts. [1]
“The connoisseur might be defined as a laconic art historian, and the art historian as a loquacious connoisseur.” - Erwin Panofsky
Tastes and history. I like to think those are the things we—the fans of anime—have over the average watchers, who have only ever seen Spirited Away once at the theater, or Sailor Moon as little kids. We have built for ourselves a context that is more specific than, say, all visual entertainment, such that we are able to compare, distinguish, appreciate, and judge anime with an anime-specific standard. Utena, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Madoka, Totoro, and countless other favorites have shaped our expectations and tastes, and have elevated us to connoisseurs of anime (or maybe of a specific genre of anime).
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As kids, ideally and realistically, we were taught that the prince should always be the one saving the princess and not the other way around. And even in harem genre, regardless of how pathetic the male character is, for some reason there’s always that monumental moment wherein the guy rescues the female lead. Come to think of it, it doesn’t seem natural if the prince is the one being saved by the princess. Isn’t it?
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Love is a strange thing, indeed. From the charming confessions to ginger kisses to steamy sex, love acts are widely varied and allows us to express our feelings in so many different ways. All these cute (or sexy) displays of affection tickle our hearts or make us go d’awww all over these interactions, rightly so. However, there seems to be one basic act that seems to have gone unnoticed and under-appreciated in anime: holding hands.
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