10 Clean Anime-Themed Activities to Try Over the Summer

Well, I'm in the U.S.  Have I mentioned that yet?  I finally got here.  My family's going to be traveling around the country visiting relatives and raising support soon.  That's a thing missionaries have to do.  :[  To be honest, there are some pretty fun parts to it.  I'm really happy with the ~1 week streak I've been keeping up for posts, so let's see if I can keep it up.

Guys, this post is a bit of a duplicate of the Kpop-themed Activities post.  I thought some people may be interested in anime-themed activities rather than Kpop, so the posts are very similar–the main difference is just based on which interest you prefer.  If you like Kpop and anime, then you can pick and choose your favorite activities from both posts, I guess.

#1  Create Anime Fanart

What’s great about drawing anime/manga characters yourself is that you can have them doing whatever you want, in your own style.  You have freedom to get as creative as possible.  You could draw characters throwing a tea party, riding a cow, joining the army, or becoming presidents of their country.   You could even create a crossover where characters from one anime meet characters from another anime.  Dang, I’m getting excited about this now.

Beyond drawing, you could create art in other ways if you wanted.  Paint a picture of the gorgeous scenery from Howl’s Moving Castle.  Sculpt a bust of Yor or Loid (or both!)  from Spy x Family.  Color coloring pages of My Hero Academia characters.  Create an animatic of Tatsu from Way of the Househusband getting into a brawl at the grocery store–now that would be interesting.  :D

I included some video tutorials, art, coloring pages, etc. as examples in case you didn’t know where to start, but you can feel free to look up your own stuff--or just draw from scratch (ooh, exciting!). 

This is different because I consider arts & crafts separate.  Why else would there be a phrase “arts & crafts” when there could simply be the phrase “art?”  Besides, my previous suggestion is more of finding a creative outlet.  This suggestion involves creating something that can be used and not just looked at.

For those of you who like knitting, I want to see some anime sweaters.  I also wanted Kpop sweaters in the other post, but that’s because sweaters are the best, just saying.  I almost bought a MHA sweatshirt recently because I was so excited to find one in the US.  It’s easy in Thailand with Uniqlo and lots of small export stores, but moving to the Midwest will probably change that.  Back to the topic of crafts, you could create your own anime action figure.  I feel like Tanjiro and Nezuko would be cute figurines, because their outfits are so cool.  There are a ton of other crafts out there you could try–embroidering, origami, pottery… 

#3  Listen to J-pop & J-rock (or other Japanese music)

This one is great if you’re interested in Japanese culture beyond anime/manga.  You’ll also look cooler to your peers (hopefully :| ) if you are an expert (self-proclaimed, in my case) in a foreign culture.  In general though, it’s great to explore beyond a specific area of interest (like watching K-dramas or reading manga) because you may find you like other aspects of the culture.  In this day and age, it’s really helpful to have a more international worldview.

There are other comics/animated shows like mahwas (Korean) and manhuas (Chinese), so if you prefer those over Japanese anime & manga, then you can apply my suggestions to Korean or Chinese culture and listen to their music.  I’m just going to focus on Japan, because that’s where “anime” comes from.

*I'll probably make a post in the future which will recommend clean J-pop & J-rock.

#4  Learn Japanese   (or another language)

This one’s similar to the last suggestion, but will take a lot more time and effort.  Beyond the positive reasons from the last suggestion that could also be applied here, if you already like anime/manga then learning Japanese will be a lot easier for you than some other people.  As you learn, you will be constantly exposing yourself to the language & culture through the content you consume.  If you watch English dubbed anime, then I would encourage you to switch to subtitles so you can hear the language more.  If you read manga, I would encourage you to try reading the original Japanese versions after learning Japanese for a while.

Also, if you’re planning to attend college/university in the U.S. and want to study Asian languages, a lot of places offer Chinese or Japanese course.  Japanese would be a great language to learn just to boost your attractiveness to schools and workplaces.

In the post about Kpop, I offered to do a post with advice on learning Korean, even though that’s not the type of content I typically post.  Although I haven’t been learning Japanese like I have with Korean, if y’all wanted it I could still try that out.  There’s a ton of material about learning Japanese on the internet already, so you really wouldn’t need it.

For those of you that like exercise, why don’t you try a workout that characters from anime have done?  I, personally, think that sounds fun. :[  Well, there’s not much else to say for this one.  I think even if you don’t like exercise, it would still be cool to just try out a workout and see what it would have felt like for the characters to do it.  You’ll be able to relate to them on a deeper level after this.  And who knows, you could become a super powerful ninja or hero like them!  You'll never know if it works till you try.  (oTωT)o

#6 Watch the Classics (Studio Ghibli for the win!)

This one I feel a bit guilty about because it's recommending you to sit in front of the TV and keep watching anime.  You could have done that without my advice.  However, watching the classics of anime is still a great way to understand your interest better.  ✨

This is part of how I fell down the anime rabbit hole to the point where I tentatively self-proclaim myself an expert.  After first getting hooked on a few shoujo anime shows, I began watching classics to get more of an idea of what anime is.  I especially liked watching videos that analyzed the movies & shows to help me understand their full meaning.  Most Studio Ghibli movies are clean, but I don't know if I can advocate for other classics like Cowboy Bebop.  I've read some of Bleach as a manga, and it's really entertaining and mostly clean.  The main thing I would warn about for it is violence.

#7  Anime Trivia Games (Online)

If you want to test your knowledge as a fan (or self-proclaimed expert, in my case), then this is a great activity to try.  You don’t even have to do it alone, I do stuff like this with my friends all the time when we’re bored.  Obviously, the best effect of playing these games is that you will become the anime master.  I actually made my own trivia game for my family, which I think I’ll post some time in the future.  Look forward to it. ;)

#8 Style Anime-Inspired Outfits

This is a similar idea to cosplay, and if you like cosplay then you could try that, too.  However, I think it’s more fun to style an outfit that’s inspired by a character rather than trying to dress exactly like them.  I don’t know if there’s another, more concise way to describe this.  The basic idea is to create a look for yourself that gives the same vibes as an anime character of your choosing.  What’s fun about this form of cosplay is that your character-inspired outfits can have additional themes.  For example, I could wear an outfit meant to look like how Bakugou Katsuki would dress in winter.  In this way, I have a lot of free reign for creativity.  :)

#9 Cook Japanese Food

Food is amazing, and with this activity you can try the same food your favorite characters eat.  You’ll be able to understand them better when they talk about food, and have your own opinions about which foods are good and which should have never been invented.  Cooking is a great skill to practice, too.  Almost everyone’s gotta cook at some point in their lives.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#10 Go Out to Dessert Cafes & Ramen Shops

I know this one is similar to the other one and I’m sorry.  However, there is a difference in cooking the food yourself vs. experiencing it at a restaurant.  In many anime, the characters go out to ramen shops or dessert cafes, so this activity offers another way of sharing an experience with anime characters.  I also think going to a pet cafe would be so cool.  To be honest, I never went to a Japanese-style dessert or pet cafe while I was still in Asia, and I’m a bit worried I’ve missed my chance.  :’)  I have been to a ramen shop, which I might recommend if I make a post about family-friendly places to visit in Thailand.

What I can say for sure after this is that my watchlist has expanded.  (^～^;)ゞ  I'm gonna be so busy this summer binging and trying out these activities.  I've never styled an anime-inspired outfit, but it sounds fun.  :D  If any of you guys end up in Thailand, I 100% recommend trying Ozawa Ramen out.  It's a chain that you can find in cities like Bangkok, Pattaya, and even Chiang Mai.  In my city, it was a really nice place that always had customers.  The prices are reasonable and the food is amazing quality for a chain restaurant.

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