Escapism is a mental diversion in which we avoid reality by being immersed to a variety of forms of entertainment, such as music, movies, and TV shows. In the article Negative Mood and Its Effect on Watching Anime, written by an anonymous author, there he said that watching anime offers two sides of escapism. Both sides have different perspectives, but it both has similar effects. The light side is that watching anime serves as an escape from the problems of the world, while the dim side is regarding the world of anime as the real one.
As he said, “Watching light and peaceful anime awarded me an obvious route of escape for all the problems of real life and when watching dark anime, it also counts as an escapism of sort in a way that I can regard the dark world in the anime as a reflection of my real life societal enemy, and seeing the characters fighting against such a world gave me strength.”http://deluscar.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/negative-mood-and-its-effect-on-watching-anime/).
One good example of the light side of escapism is when one is really tired about the problems he or she has in the world, and he “escapes” from his bitter reality into the fictional world of anime. In the article Escapism: The World of Anime & Film, written by samabardeen, there he discussed that escaping to anime can be a really relaxing and relieving way of forgetting our problems, but not to the extent that he forgets his real world, basically he gets immersed into the world of anime just to get inspired.
As he said “Escapism being the key word here. Sometimes, it’s nice to kick back, switch on a good show or movie, and simply bask in the presence of a new world with characters you can grow to love, or immerse yourself in situations that leave you clinging to the edge of your seat. The wonders of being a consistent fan is endless, and as the years go by, you continue to dive into new worlds and meet new characters that span universes, dimensions, and alternate realities beyond your wildest dreams” (http://pandemimeprime.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/escapism-the-world-of-anime-film/).
It is really rare to see one person regarding the world of anime as his own, so the dark side of escapism is pretty bland, one may even believe that is doesn’t really exist. The main goal of anime is just to inspire and help its viewers.
Escapism is an unavoidable condition when watching anime, but its effects are not really that severe. Seeking escapism is natural to human beings, since humans get tired of the conventional reality that is this world, some people revert to escapism habits such as watching anime.
ANIME Club 