The sign I chose was from an anime store in Flushing called “Anime Castle”. I chose this store because I often go to this store to buy anime related goods especially manga. Just like every other store they have their store name “Anime Castle” big and right in the center. The background is hard to notice but they do list many series in English as the background in very light white color. I actually never noticed the background until I started looking closely to do this essay. Under the store name, there is three sets of characters that are in Chinese and Japanese. On the right to the left, it’s “anime” in Chinese, “anime” in Japanese, and “manga” in Chinese. Even though anime is a huge part of the Japanese culture, the size of the community overseas is way better than it is in Japan.
Some things people should know first is that anime to many people just means cartoons from Japan but that gives a very big misunderstanding. While there is anime for children, most anime are from authors, light novels, and manga where the audience around the whole world is mostly around teenagers to people in their forties. Basically anime is equivalent to novels, television shows, and stories in America but instead it’s animated. The Chinese and Japanese characters doesn’t not mean the store is for Asians because these character are part of the term “anime” itself. This store actually is meant for English speakers since all the light novels and manga are in English.
Since the location is in Flushing where there is more Asian people, this store kind of aims for customers in this location. But the truth is that there is a lot of people from all over New York to come to Flushing to buy manga because most anime stores don’t actually sell manga and light novels. And also, all the light novels and manga are in English. This is basically a small underground anime store that sells accessories but mainly light novels and manga.
Overall, it’s not easy to open an anime store because most of the stores eventually don’t profit as much. The Anime Castle is one of those who survived and supporting the anime community in New York. The characters in Chinese and Japanese on the sign is just part of the anime itself so it’s for everyone and not just for a certain group. They actually hired all people who like anime to work there and they are not just Asians. This is one of my favorite stores because I like anime myself and goings here is how I kind of support the anime community.
- Do you think I gave a clear explanation of “anime”?
- Were you able to imagine the sign from my description without looking at the picture?
1. I think you gave a somewhat decent description of “anime”. However, I think you are supposed to give a description of the store sign itself, instead of anime in particular. Also, in your second paragraph, you put a double negative, “The Chinese and Japanese characters doesn’t not…” is a little confusing. Perhaps you can also talk about the character on the sign with the “otaku” necktie… Is it from an anime/manga like the posters on the window? Or is it just the store’s own mascot?
2. No. You didn’t really describe the sign much… You mentioned the white text, but you left out all the other colors and the character to right. I think including those in your description would help someone get an idea of what the sign would look like without seeing the image. I hope this helps!
1- I think you gave a decent explanation about anime but i think you should give more information about the sign itself and the location of the store.
2- since i have some knowledge of anime, I was somewhat able to imagine the sign and have an idea of how you described it.
William, I agree with Scott and Amhed – you have to give a more specific description of the sign itself – make sure to check the comments and the site. Regarding your analysis, review the rubric in order to make sure that you explain how the different layers of meaning connects to the sign and then connect the sign to the neighborhood (here your analysis and interpretation is more general – economic, social factors could be taken into consideration).