Everyone reading this probably already knows about it, but I wanted to make a post about how much KyoAni affected my life.
The first anime I saw from KyoAni was either Lucky Star or Haruhi, I actually don't remember in which order I watched them. But both of them were really influential in my life. I'll start with Lucky Star since it was clearly the one that inspired me the most, and the one I watched the most often too.
Lucky Star is really really good. It's pretty episodic, so you can just watch any episode any time and enjoy it, you don't really need to watch it every time in order. I used to describe it as a like a Simpsons episode, pick any episode, it's going to be funny, you're going to have fun. But Lucky Star was also the first inside view into real Otaku life that I saw. Konata, and Patty to a pretty big extent too, probably helped shaping the Otaku I am today. I re-watched it in the plane while coming to japan for my first trip, to note which shop were important to visit in Akiba, used it to prepare mentally to the Comiket hell. My first Seichi (holy sites) that I did a pilgrimage to was Washinomiya, the Temple were the Hiiragi sisters work, and where the Toori that Kagami is dancing in front of used to be (rip). I idolized Konata and Patty as being the perfect Otaku all my life, and also got influenced by them in my daily life, though, I don't have the money to do the "buy 3 of everything" thing that Konata does. The series is one of the main reason I moved to japan too.
Considering how important that series was to me, it's no wonder that the first doujins I made were about Lucky Star. I met a lot of great people in the Lucky Star fan community, people that I consider my friends now, that were also devastated by what happened 5 days ago.
Haruhi had a less direct influence on me, but it was just my favorite anime at that time. The story was very well made, the animation was great. The voices were awesome. I've often joked about how Haruhi is the true goddess for Otakus. I've wore Haruhi's logo on me for many years. and probably would have done for more if stuff actually fitted me (the hoodie I had was self printed with the print on thing that were in the DVD boxes). It's also what made me become a super fan of Hirano Aya. So while it didn't have a direct effect on my life, this work touched me a lot, and I still to this day, think it's one of my favorite anime. The movie being also in my top of all time movies. Nagato was my Waifu for a very long time too, she was my first Dakimakura. She's still my second favorite character all around. And ... while saying this right after this incident might seem bad, I still think that Haruhi S3 is the sequel I am hoping for the most out of any series.
I love K-On!. I did a full post on this already so I won't spend too much time talking about it here, since another post on K-On! is actually coming soon. But you know this is a work that was very important for me too. actually got me into drumming. Yui is so cute. Ritsu is so cool!
A Silent Voice was such a great movie, it brought me to tears right there at the theater. It was the best movie of that year from my view, and comes about at the same place as the Haruhi movie in my favorites. I have not yet done a pilgrimage for it, but I'm still planning to do it in the near future.
Of course there's more, I loved a lot of their other shows, but I just wanted to talk about the most importants to me.
Last week-end to pay our respect to the fallens, we went to the site of the arson, and prayed. There was a big media presence, of course as Gaijin we got interviewed. But everyone was pretty respectful, and the solemnity of the moment was respected by everyone.
I don't like to see people fishing for the deceased names on the internet, Kyoani was a studio that poured love into their work at every level, and all the lives that we're lost were equally as important. I do hope the studio can get back on it's feet after this terrible incident, and wish them the best.
