Re-watching your past fav anime: Yay or Nay?
Lately I have been reminiscing about my favourite animes from when I was a teenager. This started when CC Sakura was finally getting a follow-up season a few years back. I watched it when I was in elementary school and thought to myself, I loved it back then, let's see if I still like it. I rewatched everything and I still loved it! I felt so nostalgic the whole time, I felt 12 again! Not much has changed though in 2 decades, I am still a child.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime I thought was brilliant. I watched it when I was around 14 years old. It came out on Netflix this year and I thought, YES ok let's rewatch this. I am a person that doesn't like rewatching stuff that much, unless it is ab-so-lutely brilliant (I have rewatched Akira and Kung Fury for like a gazillion times). Well, Neon Genesis was mind-blowing when I was 14, it would probably still deliver almost 2 decades later, right? After starting the first couple of episodes, I was frankly quite bored. Even though the music gave me chills again like it did back then (that opening will forever be a classic). And the fight-scene music is also impressive still.
The fights were still good, and I still liked the animation. Reaching the end the story got a little bit more exciting, but then the whole psychology shit I was really confused by back then, didn't really deliver. I just saw a bunch of confused young teens. Also, there were some changes, such as the ending theme. Where is my 'fly me to the moon'?? And some of the translations just made me lose my focus as I was bothered too much about how it was translated. Maybe this version kind of made me feel like the old feeling was 'lost' to me?
After the series there were, of course, the movies. I was so. incredibly. bored. I don't know what happened to me! Why did I think it was so brilliant the first time? Was it my own psychological state that was close to these teenagers being the same age and all? If that's the case, it would mean I probably had more tolerance against such behaviour. Was it the difference in 'feeling' such as ending theme and translation issues that I had? Was I getting distracted by insignificant things that turned out to be very significant to my memory of it? It didn't feel as nostalgic and 'authentic' to me anymore, somehow.
I got this uneasy feeling. What if I 'grew out' of other anime as well? I wanted to remember them fondly and not have it shattered the way it did with NGE. There was one anime that was on my list that I didn't remember quite well but was curious about revisiting: Scrapped Princess.
I thought this anime had everything and a really good story: magic, mecha, technology, dystopia, friendship, amazing characters and just a good plot to work with. The plot was simple: Pacifica is a girl that is the 'scrapped princess': it has been foretold that on her 16th birthday she would 'end the world'. So the government, church, royalties, knights, common people, 'wizards' and whatever you can imagine are after her. She doesn't have powers but she has a big brother that's an amazing fighter, and a sister that is good at magic (and is also my favourite character). Although annoyed by Pacifica's behavior, I really enjoyed rewatching it! I even remember being annoyed with her voice/behavior when I watched it the first time. It's interesting to revisit these same exact emotions and feelings I had watching it the first time. I guess in my core, I do like the same things. I guess I don't like it when it changes, even in the slightest like music or translation.
Watching these 'revamp' shows kind of made me feel differently about things. I never watched the Hellsing one. Now, after more than a decade, I am in the middle of watching it. It's not as good as the first time. I don't like the animation style but I still like Alucard. Hunter x Hunter is still good, story wise. However, I liked the older version's animation style better. Watching all of these just made me realise: I really like the old, 'darker' style of animation of the 90's. It really gives these shows a better feeling and delivers on the darkness. I also feel like the literal blood, sweat, and tears of still drawing a lot really translates to a more authentic feel (instead of a lot of CGI/3D). This is the reason I never watched the newer version of Berserk: I loved the old one so much, I don't want to spoil my memory. In the case of Full Metal Alchemist vs FMA Brotherhood, because I already knew the sad parts, it didn't deliver the same as it did watching it for the first time (you know which scene, don't make me say it..).
One special shout-out to live-actions: Just staph. Y'all know who you are.
In conclusion, don't fiddle too much with the originals! Yeah, yeah I know, I sound like an old hag now. And a salty one to add. Although, I am very curious about how other people feel about this. How did you feel about rewatching your favourite anime from your youth or a new adaptation of an anime you already liked? Is there any particular version that you especially liked? Or any Live Action that you really loved? Leave a comment and let me know!
#saltyoldhagout
~Written by Devi~
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