Manga and Anime

Prior to my arrival at Ringling College, I hated anime. Not just disliked. Hated.

I am a strange case of western-brainwash. I enjoyed TV episodes of Pokemon as a kid, and later enjoyed Miyazaki films as inspiration. But somehow, I kept these aspects of my childhood in a separate category.
My cynicism became more so in high school, when surrounded by people who only drew anime. As an artist who worked hard to develop my own observational drawing skills, I was offended by these artists who could draw in this style that could be picked up simply from a "how-to" book. Iwas trying to develop my own style, while they seemed to just copy one, and I because I was pushing through uncertainty to find my originality, my pretentious high school self saw myself as above anime-drawers. I worked tediously to train my skills classically, the way I should according to my art teachers and college recruiters, and I found it personally insulting that someone could call themself an artist just by copying this style.
Just like any work that I have read in this class, I do not like every anime work I read. In the past, I would have quick to attribute my dislike of one particular manga to the entire genre: "its the aesthetic, " "It's the story," "I don't like this, and since all anime looks the same there is nothing else I can read that can change my mind." What I read of Battle Angel Alita did not grab me, I found it difficult to even get through half of the first book, the story just moved too slow for me and the stakes presented were confusing and therefore I couldn't get sucked in. However, when I started reading Ranma, I breezed through it, and I actually enjoyed it. The characters were endearing, It was entertaining to read how their personalities played against one another. You immediately knew what the personalities of Akane and her sisters in one panel. The charm of the giant panda who accompanies Ranma was what particularly drew me in. I just found the character so appealing. I was surprised and entertained by the various conflicts presented in the story, such as Ranma being a girl. And the story questions that emerged from said conflicts kept me reading more. Something I didn't notice about anime before was how the characters would go off model in order to enhance a character's emotions. Many anime works do this, but I was so entranced in the story that I never noticed it, and didn't judge it.
Our discussion in class made me think about the whole anime taboo in art school. Professors seem to fear what I had so much disdain for: this style of drawing characters with round faces, big eyes, and small noses that is so easy to replicate. But when I thought about it, anime is the only style that is excluded from "list of styles that can be copied." For instance, probably more than half of my friends look up to Disney animator Glen Keane and his charming, well-stylized characters.
My teacher last year put it best, "I don't mind the anime style, it just depends what you do with it." Is that not the case for everything?
I still struggle to fight the initial cynicism when first presented some work of anime. But I try to remember the core of its spirit: its entertainment. I cannot deny that I am entertained by some anime. And like all comics or film or TV shows, I will not like everything I see. But the genre is not to blame.