of pirated dvds and anime

This might sound weird but i’m gonna say it anyway : I fell in love with anime at the ripe age of twenty-seven. Hehehe. Last weekend, Makati cinema square became my hunting ground for pirated dvds. Initially, I had hard-to-find art films, oscar winners and some off-the-mill commercial offerings by Hollywood as part of my day’s agenda; with no idea whatsoever of crossing over to geek street.

So i had Amelie in my basket, The Kite Runner, and a couple of horror movies . Like a busy bee flying from one flower to another, I went from one stall to the other, browsing through the countless titles that soon had my head spinning with a severe case of indecision. So many dvds, so little money! Hehehe. I raided the shops with eyvicat that afternoon, as he himself planned to replenish his stock of titles for his weekend viewings. We are supposed to meet with the bulldog for merienda and dinner later at the greenbelt-glorietta area. With browsing time ticking to its sorry ending, we walked aimlessly, not really looking forward to having another go with the shops.

Just when we were winding down, the shop sort of magically appeared from nowhere. Unlike other shops with sales personnel shouting at the top of their lungs for a bit of attention from the shoppers, this shop quietly sat, nestled it seems at the center of all the hustle and bustle. What separated it aside from its quietness is the presence of a laptop sitting on a glass-covered counter; and a thick folder which, upon closer scrutiny, turned out to be a comprehensive listing of anime titles spanning the genre’s fairly short span of history. We asked the store owner how things are in terms of the price department. He said, being that episodes were downloaded from the internet and copies made are high quality ones, an episode costs at Php 7.00.

I’m usually not the one to gush on things like this. Back in high school when every kid wished for a goku hairstyle, i’m lost in my own created world in my head. I didn’t give a damn on how to navigate one’s way with the Street Fighter videogame—i’m just as fine without knowing that information. In college, you would see me digging musicals rather than spending my allowance on buying the latest issue of comics or manga. It was only sometime upon meeting shattershards, when he introduced me to Avatar, his guilty secret at that time, that I was initiated into the world of anime and the giggling effect that comes with it. Hehehe.

And so I found myself inquiring on avatar episodes with the shop-owner. Needless to say, I was sold with his sales talk—being that the episodes are .avi files and could be played with any media player—and bought the whole of season 3. Most of the pirated copies I bought previously had missing episodes or were poorly transferred that, most of the time, I end up disappointed. Not with this. I gorged on 2 episodes that night, before willing myself to sleep, otherwise i’d be late for work the following day.

Before going home for the province this weekend, I found myself going back to his shop, buying this time, 26 episodes of Samurai 7, an anime title I recently googled, and found many good reviews about. I also ordered Spirited Away, a critically acclaimed anime movie, scheduled for pick up at his shop sometime next week. Adik noh? Hehehe.

For the past two days i’ve been feasting my eyes on the fluid animation and great story-telling that this entertainment genre offers. I’m very happy falling in love with anime at this age, as I am able to appreciate more the things that come with it. It’s more than just a form of entertainment, its high art.