Seeing this speech from the movie Good Night, and Good Luck, based upon a real speech by the great reporter and man Edward R. Murrow, immediately I thought about how this applies to anime.

The easy answer is that anime is all entertainment, and that all this “moe crap” or whatever is insulating people from the world, that it is providing them comfort.

But then I think about the fact that I have been inspired and informed by anime, on multiple occasions, not the least of which is Genshiken (remember, I watched the first season in anime form before getting to the manga). So many shows, while they have been a comfort, have caused me to set out and try new things, think new ideas, expand my horizons mentally, emotionally, and sometimes even physically.

So this post isn’t condemning or praising anime for being an agent of insulation or information. I look at even the simple shows, the simple ideas, one might even call some of them shallow, but then I know that for every person that is perhaps kept complacent by a show, there is another who may take the next step towards greatness.