I never really cared, and since I'm pretty much a free man I don't have to worry about my Parents, or individual Parent, liking Japanese Animation. I remember when my Dad was around, when I was younger... that he never really liked it, and used to dismiss it as childish. This was around the time of Funimation's Dragonball Z being shown on British Television.
Before that, when I was even younger, Sci-Fi UK... a cable channel, used to show a lot of various animé from like, midnight until 4am. Most of this was basically the usual Manga Entertainment run of movies, with the odd few hidden gems. Sometimes, they'd show creepy hentai movies and stuff, too. So, it was pretty varied.
The first experience I had of this sort of stuff was stuff like Battle of the Planets, or G-Force. I also saw the Lupin the Third movie, "Mystery of Mamo" once upon a time, which really got me into Japanese Animation on a whole. You have to remember, Japanese Animation was pretty much an underground, almost punk rock sort of interest back in those days... and nobody had ever heard of Lupin the Third, back then. I believe, nowadays, that some American company has released a series of it in English vocals. "Mystery of Mamo" was strictly a seventies spy movie, very dated by the standards of Japanese Animation today, at least.
It almost felt like a taboo thing at that time, watching these sort of sexually charged, violent animations. When you grow up in a society that has you watching such tame cartoon shows as a kid, you begin to wonder about the reality of things. Animation, simply put, is not strictly for children. It has simply been used in the children's market much too often over the last decade, for example, look at Walt Disney.
For the record, I've never really known a lot of people in my actual life that have an avid interest in Japanese Animation. I do, and I simply keep it as a discussion between close, personal friends. It's not the first thing I'd share with someone, and I suppose my upbringing made me believe that Japanese Animation was for kids. Despite all the sex, gore, and bad language that was on show in the mass market releases of them in the U.K. Aside from this, the emotion, the life experiences discussed, the romance... something that I believe young children should be educated on from an early age. There's way too many problems with stories about mixed-up, crazy kids that get into situations that were simply avoided in discussion with their Parents. For example, drugs, sex, violence... all issues that in most Japanese Animations are simply discussed without care, on usual occasions.
Nobody ever really got it. But, my opinion is that you shouldn't really give a damn about what everyone else thinks. Even your own Parents.
Life isn't about looking at every negative aspect of something, I suggest to anyone who is hung up about their Parents not sharing their interests to talk with them about it, because you need to. Your Parents should take an active attitude with their children, and be proud of them, whatever their interests. My Dad never gave a damn about what I was interested in, because all he cared about was Football, War, Westerns and Detective Stories.
Ironically, things that have been portrayed in animé form to no end. I'm actually on quite a buzz of most of the above subjects, as of late... which is really odd.
I'm not telling you to be a rebel, I'm simply telling you that you shouldn't feel bad because no-one is taking an interest. You'll meet friends who do, and that will make up for it. I mean, the only place I can have a decent discussion about Japanese Animation or Comic Books is here, online. And since I don't get to do that very often anymore, I relish the chance to do so.
Besides, I have a few close friends who keep me satisfied, too. That should be enough for anyone, right? - But to tell a positive story, I did spend one afternoon watching episodes of "Slam Dunk!" with my Mum, once. That was really spooky, since she was actually really into it... and she wanted to go and watch basketball matches, after that, too.
I'm sure, if you find out what sort of movies that your parents are into, find a suitable series that they might be interested in and recommend it. I mean, if my Dad were still alive, I would've recommended watching Captain Tsubaba with him, or something. Heh.
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