Creatives – ever watch anime for inspiration?
Not that I have much time to watch anime.
I’m a fan of mermaids and shiny things.
So anime that’s focused on a crystal – or anime focused around mermaids, I’m all for.
I’ve watched Mermaid Melody in recent months – beautiful music, by the way.
So here’s some takeaways.
(1.) Challenge. The struggle of balancing the universal agenda with daily life.
Sailor Moon and her friends are students by day and Sailor Scouts by night.
Same goes for Cardcaptor Sakura. Mermaid Melody, too.
(2.) The formula is similar to a fantasy novel.
A chosen one lives an ordinary life. The chosen one learns that their world is threatened by some dark force and gets invited to pursue a quest to help save their world from danger.
And so the story begins.
(3.) Video is faster to process than a book.
Video gives us more than just text on a page. Music, colours, imagery. Different mediums offer different experiences.
Anime combines various mediums into this experience.
(4.) Music.
My favourite part of any anime. Whether it’s theme songs, songs characters sing in the shows, or instrumentals, music can play a huge part in creative writing inspiration.
Melodies from anime are beautiful inspiration – heard the theme from Mermaid Melody? Gorgeous song.
Legend of Mermaid ballad from Mermaid Melody.
(5.) Action scenes
Action scenes – battle scenes in particular – are a great way of showing action. This can teach those of us who don’t feel naturally great at writing battle scenes how to write action-focused battle scenes.
Anime provides escape.
Anime fuels dreams.
Anime introduces us to creative possibility.
Anime inspires our creative muse.
If you ever need a multimedia experience to help your creativity flow, look to anime.
What anime do you like and why?
Monika Weatherly 