Anime That Made Me Wanna Write! A Guest Post by Jaclyn Dolamore

Anime That Made Me Wanna Write!

Today, we have author Jaclyn Dolamore to give you a list of animes that made her want to write!
And, now, onto Jaclyn!

Final Fantasy IV

Okay. It’s not actually an ANIME, it’s a video game. But it was my first exposure to Japanese storytelling, because when I was a preteen, as far as I know, there was no anime on TV. Not even badly dubbed anime with some of the good parts cut out. So when I first saw a Final Fantasy game, I was ALL OVER IT. The story seemed so magical! It had crystals and paladins and a girl who could summon monsters and an amazing soundtrack! My mind was further blown when I saw the original character designs by Yoshitaka Amano. In the US, video games, comics and cartoons got no respect and were barely considered art at all. In Japan, they had amazing composers and artists working on these things. This shaped my entire attitude toward the art I was creating as a kid and a teenager.

Studio Ghibli Movies

Well, seriously, who can watch the work of Studio Ghibli and not be inspired? My second book, Between the Sea and Sky, was heavily inspired by Ghibli movies, especially the adorable, thoughtful teenage romance of Whisper of the Heart, and the flying scenes of…nearly every movie they’ve made. Howl’s Moving Castle has been a general inspiration for everything, especially my Magic Under Glass series. And I have a book in progress about a witch and her familiar that is most definitely an homage to Kiki’s Delivery Service. From the magic, to the strong female characters, to the quiet little details interspersed throughout, and the charming settings inspired by both Europe and Japan, it is hard for me to write anything without thinking of a Ghibli movie at some point!

Fushigi Yuugi

This was the first anime series I got really hardcore obsessive over. Fushigi Yuugi is about a normal Japanese schoolgirl (of course) who gets sucked into a book and finds herself in a version of ancient China with a lot of beautiful and/or quirky boys with tragic pasts. I’ve always been a sucker for beautiful and/or quirky boys with tragic pasts. My Hidden Lands series draws from a lot of influences, but certainly one of the images I keep going back to are beautiful Chinese emperors in magical palaces with weird hats, especially with book 2 and all the tradition and pomp of the Palace of Blessed Wings, and that’s all thanks to Watase Yuu.

The Works of Ai Yazawa

I’ve always been a fantasy writer, but one with a serious love for intimate, relationship-driven conflict over WOWIE ZOWIE MAGIC stuff. So sometimes I want to write contemporary, but then it seems too boring. Where is the magic? Paradise Kiss and NANA are, to me, perfect examples of writing contemporary stories that feel utterly magical. Everything is a little larger than life, but the emotions still hit home. And the fashion illustrator in me is just plain envious. Whenever I think of writing stories in the real world, I want to capture the feeling of Paradise Kiss and NANA. (Also, one of my characters is totally George. And no, it’s definitely not my character who is named George, haha.)

Legend of Galactic Heroes

Legend of Galactic Heroes is a long, long series that has never been released in the US and can be hard to find. It’s an amazing space opera, although I have a hard time recommending it to people because iIt’s really long, and gets into a level of historical and political detail that can be very confusing at times! The payoff, though. OH MAN. When a certain character died, I cried more than when I had to put my cat to sleep. That is a LOT of crying. I was just so invested in this story. So anyway, I was watching Legend of Galactic Heroes while writing my fifth novel, Glittering Shadows, which was a difficult book to write because it involved lots of politics and battles and I don’t usually write that stuff in such detail! Part of what helped me get through it was the inspiration from this show, and in homage, there are names from LoGH peppered throughout the novel. Luckily the names worked because the world of Glittering Shadows is based on 1920s Germany, and one of the warring forces in LoGH is based on Imperial Germany!

This was so fun to think about, and I could go on and on…but now I feel like I need to go watch some anime and see if I can find my next inspiration!

About Jaclyn

Jaclyn Dolamore has a passion for history, vintage dresses, David Bowie, anime, drawing, and organic food. She is the author of six YA novels, including Magic Under Glass and Dark Metropolis. Her new series, starting with The Vengeful Half, also includes manga-inspired comics in the narrative. She lives with her partner and three weird cats in a Victorian house in western Maryland. 

Blog: http://jaclyndolamore.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jackiedolamore

Mailing List: http://tinyurl.com/JaclynDolamore

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3009541.Jaclyn_Dolamore

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The Anime and Manga Fantasy Readers Would Love: A Guest Post

The Anime and Manga Fantasy Readers Would Love: A Guest Post

Today, I have Amy McNulty on my blog to talk about anime and manga fantasy readers would love. Check it out!

Fantasy is my favorite genre to write. There’s something romantic about setting stories in magical places with shades of medieval- or Renaissance-era cultures from around the globe. Quests become more epic, characters go through greater hardships, and magic spells and creatures are often part of the picture. As a fan of fantasy stories in literature, in film and on TV, as well as a long-time anime and manga devotee, it’s a given that the fantasy genre makes up some of my favorite anime and manga series. Whether you’re new to anime or you’ve watched a number of shows in the past, check out these series if you count fantasy as one of your favorite book genres.

Fushigi Yuugi

A teenage girl and her best friend open up a book and are transported into a medieval Chinese-inspired kingdom ruled by four great gods with the powers to grant wishes. It sounds like a book lover’s dream, and it would be, if poor Yuuki Miaka didn’t have to deal with so much hardship on her quest to become the Priestess of Suzaku and get three wishes to end a pending war. To gather the seven Celestial Warriors necessary to summon a god, Miaka must scour the country and face obstacles at every path in the form of enemies from another nation trying to summon the god Seiryuu first—people who’ve, unbeknownst to Miaka, taken her best friend Hongo Yui to become their priestess. Even when Miaka seems about to succeed, it’s really just the start of Miaka’s hardships. There’s also a romance between Miaka and one of her Celestial Warriors (as well as some one-sided angst from other men interested in her), but it’s the dissolving friendship between Miaka and Yui that provides the series with so much emotional turmoil.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fantasy with a steampunk flair based on the Edwardian period of Europe, Fullmetal Alchemist is a story of magic and its tragic consequences. Abandoned by their father and raised by a loving mother, young brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric break the ultimate alchemy taboo when they attempt to resurrect their mother after she dies. They don’t succeed, and instead, Edward loses both an arm and a leg and Al loses his entire body, although Edward just manages to seal Al’s soul into a nearby suit of armor. Now the two travel the world to unlock the ultimate alchemy secret and figure out how to get Al back into his body, but there’s so much more to the world’s magic than they ever dreamed possible. There’s not one but two versions of the anime to enjoy, as one aired long before the manga ended and the other much more closely adapts the manga’s ending. Fans debate which is better, but I’m actually quite a devotee of both.

Berserk

Often gory and at one point disturbingly full of sexual violence not appropriate for youngsters, Berserk is nonetheless one of my favorite fantasy anime, even though only one large arc has ever been adapted (twice—once as a TV series and once as a series of films). I haven’t read the manga that’s mostly set after the events of the anime, although I hear that’s great, too. The anime, set in a medieval Europe-style setting, is about a wandering solo mercenary, Guts, who finds himself joining a mercenary group, the Band of the Hawk, despite his solitary inclinations. However, he, like the other Band of the Hawk members, is won over by the group’s charismatic leader, Griffith, a man with a dream to rule his own kingdom one day. Guts goes on many adventures with the group, often itching to go out on his own but he’s always pulled back in by the strong bond he feels with Griffith, who has a dark connection to evil forces. The anime story comes to a head when a disastrous sequence of events puts the two on opposing sides of a catastrophic battle.

Attack on Titan

Few anime fans haven’t heard of Attack on Titan, and with the sense of ever-present danger and post-apocalyptic mood even despite the vaguely medieval European-ish setting, it often has more in common with The Walking Dead than traditional fantasy. However, the fantasy setting is part of the show’s appeal. The last of humanity lives inside one large country broken up and protected via three humongous walls. It’s been about a hundred years since humans last saw the titans—giant, deformed people who destroyed most of the world’s population and drove the remainder into hiding. At the start of the series, the outermost wall is breached as the titans attack again. This inspires three young friends, Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert, to join the Survey Corps, the military branch that vows to take the titans down once and for all.

These are far from the only fantasy anime and manga out there, and many series cross genres but still feel as epic and magical as the more typical fantasy fare. My honorable mentions include Slayers, The Heroic Legend of Arslan, The Vision of Escaflowne, and Record of Lodoss War. What are your favorite fantasy series? Comment below!

About Amy McNulty

Bio: The author of YA fantasy books The Never Veil Series (NOBODY’S GODDESS, NOBODY’S LADY, NOBODY’S PAWN [2017]) and FALL FAR FROM THE TREE, Amy McNulty is a freelance writer and editor who reviews anime for Anime News Network. In her down time, you can find her crafting stories with dastardly villains and antiheroes set in fantastical medieval settings.

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