Twitter Thread: The Trials And Tribulations Of Getting Into Anime And Manga

It's hard to explain the rise in popularity that manga and anime have seen in the last 20 years. What could be described as "big headed, doe-eyed high schoolers fighting monsters" is not necessarily inaccurate and could be used to describe a pretty fair chunk of a lot of the medium. But hey man, people like it, and if a lot of people like something that usually means there's some value in it. Except for Ska. There's no reason that ska should exist. Just listen to surf rock and call it a day.Maybe for a lot of us it all started with seeing Goku go Super Saiyan for the first time. Our child eyes didn't know how much we needed to see a golden man scream. For some of us it's all the seductively drawn women that one can fill their life with in lieu of having an actual girlfriend. Not me though, definitely not me.As this peculiar brand of Japanese animation enters the mainstream, the people who like it are left with the cold realization that they're going to have to explain to their friends why it's a good use of their time to become invested in the fictional lives of pirate kings, teenage bounty hunters, and amnesiacs with lizard heads who kill wizards to find out their past. Seriously, watch Dorohedoro it's weird and amazing.Alex Blechman explains the struggle.