Inspiration

My dream is to be a manga-ka (manga artist). It wasn't always like this though. Once upon a time I wanted to be a basketball player in the NBA. That sprung from an early inspiration from Michael Jordan, as well my childhood best friend that pushed me to play everyday. But once he moved away, and I didn't have no one to play with that dream slowly died. As I grew older things began to change and I developed an enjoyment for writing fiction. One thing consistent in my life that inspired this was anime. Anime is Japanese animation, put simply Japanese cartoons. But they weren't anything like the cartoons in America. These cartoons had story lines and sub-plots. They had character development and intense situations. They had build ups and climaxes that made you feel like you were going on this journey with the characters. It was truly nothing like anything I had ever experienced. I can vividly remember the first time I watched Dragonball Z. I was five years old. It captivated me from the very first episode. Growing up with happy go lucky shows like the Rugrats and Ah Real Monsters, watching something so serious made me think "can they really show this on TV?" As I grew older my taste in anime evolved. As I grew deeper into this I found more and more friends with the same interests. There were kids I played Yu-Gi-Oh with, and kids who would pretend to be Z fighters, practicing their moves for upcoming battles. Some of the "cool kids" thought we were weirdos. I just felt we had active imaginations. As I grew more comfortable with it, so did the so called "cool kids" around me that I associated with. I believe if you take pride in whatever you do, people won't have any choice but to accept it. They do. I tell everyone that asks me what I want to be what I dream about. I can't escape it, even if I try to run. Literally, my dreams are constantly ringing in my head as if they are my reality. They will never go away. This is who I am and I am proud of it. The only thing I hope is that America makes a decent live action adaptation of Death Note (that's my favorite anime) and don't destroy it like they did to Dragonball Z. (That's an inside joke LOL)