How Bug Inspired The Greatest Anime

 It’s no secret that bug catching has been a phenomenon in Japan since the 60s and even before that where it wasn’t as popular, so this obsession with insects has captivated a lot of people to the point that even anime itself biggest franchises have come from a kid who just wants to catch every bug there is.

What series could that possibly be, you say? Well, the most popular and widespread anime influenced by catching critters is none other than the legendary Pokemon series.

Pocket Monsters

If you’re young or even generation z, you may not be familiar with this hobby, as even I myself as a kid had a book filled with critters that you mark off if you see or catch them, this was around the early 2000s which I myself loved. Then when I got a Gameboy color and a copy of pokemon emerald from a family member in 2006, I fell in love with the pokemon world and game. Every night before bed I would play emerald; levelling up my Blastoise and nothing else. I played it so much I think I must have had 2k hours on that game alone before any advanced technology, so I was lucky to see how monumental this silly game has become and I must have to mention the man behind it.

The man behind this beloved anime is Satoshi Tajiri, who had the habit of catching bugs that one day he was nicknamed “Mr. Bug” because of the place he lived where it was in a very rural area. This obsession became the inspiration to create his own creatures and concept of catching these monsters that go in your pocket, hence the name pocket monster shortened to pokemon later on. It’s crazy to think that if he didn’t wasn’t born in that area then #pokemon may have never existed. So, we can thank the genius of his for making it. Since Satoshi actually was a pokemon trainer in real life before he made it, Ash in Japan is named Satoshi after him; which is incredibly cool if you know the backstory of the series as it makes sense and is perfect for the anime. The incredible genius of Satoshi who made the first 151 pokemon from just something so simple that was a pastime as a kid, that he knew would be a hit as he wanted to share his passion through a game that so many generations around the world have grown up on.

We can be grateful for Tajiri for making this idea that has with luck that insane was able to be so successful in making the games forever immortal for millions of kids and adults to enjoy based on kid’s imagination. Some say that even may have had autism which is why he was hyper obsessed with bugs, and because of this he was able to not only able to create a game for it but also illustrate 151 pokemon for the card game and all the information and moves, every detail was because of the result of one obsession that has made billions. I love these games and I wish I could have played all of them as a kid but I grew up poor and couldn’t even afford to get it from my parents, but that was okay because I collect the cards and play pokemon stadium with my friend. So, it is super smart that it has many mediums as everyone can enjoy the series from the games, card, or tv or even reading it and because of this has maximised the amount of people who love the series and has made the world a little better because of it.

Hunter x Hunter

Well, Pokemon is not the only thing out there that was made by the obsession with bugs but also the legendary mangaka Yoshihiro Togashi who made the masterpiece known as hunter x hunter.

If you have seen the anime, you know that Gon is seen to be very close to nature and fishing, which is close to where bugs are. However, what you may not know is that Kurapika was based on Ohmu from Nausicaa, yes a giant eldritch abomination which so happens to be a giant insect and said let's make that into an anime boy. It’s crazy how creative the mind of a mangaka is as they can look at something you may not even understand and make a whole character out of it. Kurapika is obviously the best character in #hxh which inspired other characters in the same genre such as Sasuke which ties back to Ghibli, so Miyazaki’s props grows even strong because of this and even though he is nihilistic as hell on anime he inspired a lot of it. Now, I would talk about Miyazaki and all that but that’s for another blog. Later on in the series, a special arc that people either love or hate is the Chimera arc and I don’t how anyone hates the greatest arc in anime or one of them but they are obviously misguided.

Now I could talk about #hunterxhunter forever but I’ll stay mostly on topic for this while describing one of the most legendary arcs in shounen and in anime in general which is the chimera arc. In this arc, Togashi took his mind to the thinking booth and made the most craziest idea of having insect humanoid things that have their own king to take over the world, all from the obsession of bugs and created the deepest saddest relationship in anime and the greatest anime fights with Gon and with Isaac. Both of them being in the same arc, it was like togashi was on fire; back to back-to-back writing genius. If you stopped at the beginning of the arc, you are literally that meme of the man mining of diamonds but turnt back just before reaching diamonds, now people who have seen and tasted those mind blowing diamonds know the Hunter x Hunter goes down in anime history as one of the greatest anime in history. Even though it was short of 140 episodes, the manga goes even crazier after with Kurapika and his vengeance; too bad Togashi has slowed down because of his health because hxh could have been the next one piece better without the mundane stuff. The true top 3 is hunter x Hunter, hopefully we get something anime related for this anime as people will stop memeing about hiatus x hiatus and the hxh fans will rise to the top :smile:.

Osamu Tezuka

Some honourable mentions of bugs, Osamu Tezuka otherwise known for his creation of Astro Boy.

That created the anime we know and love or hate today, also had this obsession with bugs too that he made where he made whole manga’s of bug related topics where humans turn into bugs. Kind of like Togashi’s arc, I wonder if he was inspired by Tezuka and if so it just adds to how much Tezuka created for anime and I will talk about him more in depth in a future blog as few know how important of a role he played to create anime, yes he actually create the first modern anime known as Astro Boy so now you’re more big brain and if you want to more smart read my other #comaaablogs hehe. After more research, I have discovered what I was crafting in my mind was correct and Tezuka loves bugs and this must be the source of this autistic power as the greatest entertainment from Japan comes from this. He loved them so much that he even incorporated them into his name with smart wordplay with kanji (osa-mushi tezuka) so this guy’s genius is insane and we can thank him for being the grandfather of anime starting with #astroboy

Junji Ito

Another mention I must add is Junji Ito, a different side to insects where they are used for horror as I guess in Japan the culture differs from ours and bugs are not so gross as they seem to us to the point that even some Asian cuisine consists of eating bugs so it’s no surprise that it’s been glorified for younger audiences. However, Junji Ito must have had a eureka moment when he realised that not many mangas out there was making insects to be disgusting and scary so this man did exactly that and he probably knew in the west of the world that people would relate to being creeped out by them so his works become a success and even if you don’t read manga but love horror you must know of his name. As his horror mangas are so creative with his drawings that even the most veteran horror enjoyer will see it and be creeped out by it, the masters of horror are of course the Japanese as you can see from their horror films they incorporate suspense and don’t rely on cheap tricks like jump scares to scare or even frighten you. So, it is so smart for Ito to make this work in a manga form, where you can’t use music or animation, so to craft a super spooky story with manga makes him one of the genius minds.

Now we’ve seen these legends of the industry that all have stuff in common just from being fond of insects where most people hate them, so I think that have this unpopular opinion made them think differently from others; in turn making them be able to create such great works of fiction and have an obsession or a hobby makes more dedicated to succeed. So the moral of the story is don’t give up what you love or are obsessed with using that drive to achieve your dreams just like these heroes.

Thanks for Reading!!

Source - Osamushi Tezuka