I have long been a fan of well written science fiction. Though I was consciously unaware of this at the time, as a child and young teen I deeply enjoyed and was drawn to the story line of clasic science fiction. As I child, I understood the concept of heroism and to a lesser extent social justice and these are two elements common to all good scifi, and quite often, they are present via subtext rather than overt symbolism and methaphore. In the late 1970s through the 1980s, a number of examplary science fiction- some drama, some action, and even a few, like Red Dwarf, were comedy. But science fiction as a vehicle for social and political comentary and satire seems to have decreased over time. The 1990s had some, I thought DS9 and the tail end of Next Generation were good, though one was dark and cynical and the other overly sentimental, both represented the primary reason I was drawn to science fiction in the first place: the reflexitivitytowards our social and political environment. Whether the messages was given by direct dialogue and plot, or through symbolism, metaphore, and subtext, the more relevent the message, the more poignant the message, the more I enjoyed the episode, the more I enjoyed the series. But it has been a long time since I have enjoyed a a science fiction series - the one was Firefly - which is, by the way, the single greatest show ever. Angle ended around the same time. I have had some other recomended to me by friends and co-workers, but none have really kept my attention. Hence, in the intervening years, I have relied on reruns and DVDs of shows I have already seen, though still enjoy.

But recently, I have started to watch anime. This came about primarily because I don't actually own aTV. Mix that with the fact that as a second job, I work a grave shift at a minimum security treatment and housing facility for mentally ill kids and teens. So, at work there is really not much to do, the kids are pretty heavily medicated and sleep hard through the night. However, I am usually pretty tired already from my primary job, so at times I have to keep mindful of my energy level, keep myself occupied. Well, my work place as a TV and basic cable. Not too bad. However, after midnight, when my shift begins, the pickin's are very slim, so to speak. Between 2 and 4, the barrage of infomercials begin. My god, talk about a black hole for energy and alertness - not to mention how absolutely atrocious these commercials and products are - you have your basic choice of three: make money via a pyramid scheem, male enhancement - wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more - or GrilsGoneWild. Oh, as a sort of intra-text post script, to any of you guys who have purchased or want to purchase low grade porn on TV, let me tell you something, they're called boobs...now get over it. Sooner or later, you'll have an opportunity to see somein real life - so act like you've seen a girl before. Jeez. So, anyway, on the west coast of the US, I am stuck with the ESPN channels and Adult Swim. All the other great chanels - Discovery, History, Comedy Central - go dead at 4am.

Anyway, one Sunday this past March, I had seen enough successive reruns of Sports Center on ESPN and Mike&Mike isn't on Sundays, I changed the channel to Adult Swim. It just so happened at that fateful moment, a new show was just starting,Blood+ (which is, after Firefly, the second greatest show ever). Wow, I was blown away by Blood+ and I was lucky enough to catch it from the firt episode. Strangely enough, it was doing a google search of Blood+ that brough me to tv.com. Right after Blood+, another very good anime was on, Ghost in the Shell. Prior to watching Blood+, I had thought that all anime was marketed for children, so I would not have considered giving it a shot. Bood+ opened up my mind to what anime was. Shortly later, I watched Elfen Lied which opened up my mind to what anime could be. After watching a few successive episodes, I was intregued by the depth and poignancy of the subtext of these animes. Over the following months, I gave a variety of othe animes an shot...some were hits, others were misses. But the common feature in all the animes I have enjoyed is the presence of socially relevant commentary and symbolism. What is absent in contemporary sci-fi, I have found in mature oriented anime.