Wellness Wed on Empty Streets: Effects of Watching Cartoons

I love cartoons. I am an addict when it comes to animated features, from popeye - to the modern cgi anime shown on tv channels such as animax and cartoon network. Watching them helps ease my mind from the tension I have felt during my day and help me unwind. Some of them even help me feel good. But when I started to delve a little more into the topic I found that there is much more to watching cartoons than what I have just mentioned. :)

here are some fun things that I have learned from animes hehe ;)

War sucks.

You CAN have too many women.

Smart people wear glasses.

Music foreshadows plot.

The less you care about sex, the more opportunities you'll get.

(Inversely, the harder you try, the less you'll get.)

When you die, make a long speech, and don't finish the last sentence.

Snow means love.

The best teams come in fives.

In space, you can hear everything.

There's always room for flashbacks!

When in China, listen to your tour guide.

The good guy always has the BLUE glow.

Speak quietly, pilot a big mech.

Believe in goddesses.

Teachers have excellent aim with small objects.

Vengeance with a mallet is the sweetest revenge of all.

Honor is sexy; villainy is irresistible.

Women are attracted to losers; men are attracted to ANYTHING.

The coolest weapon is still the sword.

The hero is never really mad until they hurt his girlfriend.

Female androids are sexy; male androids are....male androids.

The green-haired alien girl will always betray her people for the man she loves.

School uniforms are cool only when the collar is open.

A show without sexual tension isn't worth watching.

Love knows no race, species, or logic.

If it's homemade but tastes bad, grin and bury it (discreetly).

Never trust a huge corporation.

Romance never comes simpler than in a triangle.

Never fall for the girl who names her mech with a French name.

Never fall in love with a psychic.

You can never have too much hair.

Sweating is a sure sign of stress.

Daydreaming leads to accidents.

Everyone wants to conquer Japan.

The cute, fuzzy creature isn't what it seems.

Cherry blossoms mean nostalgia.

Always take gravity into account.

Settings and faces are self-generating.

Losing your temper can be therapeutic.

There's nothing sexier than high heels on a mech.

You can never have too many subplots.

If she sings, she's doomed.

You always remember the sad endings.

Double suicide is romantic.

Outrageous vehicles only make the hero cooler.

Nothing delays romance like unruly neighbors.

Fancy ice cream is for girls only.

The most virtuous character will die.

Hot water has innumerable benefits.

No matter how much blood is lost, no one can die by a nosebleed.

(The same theory above applies to vomiting.)

The girl with the curly hair is always the seductress.

If a sister falls in love with her brother, somewhere down the line you will discover that they're not blood related.

The guy in the baseball cap is always more powerful than he seems.

All demons/monsters have enormous genitalia.

All young children can pilot mecha, you just need to give them a few days.

It is possible to incorporate martial arts into any aspect of life.

All high school kids in Japan have parents that are away on extended business trips.

The oldest sister is the nice one, the youngest sister is the brash one.

You can do anything to the human body as long as you hit the right pressure point.

Consuming enormous amounts of alcohol daily will never have ill effects.

All major villains either want to take over the world or blow it up.

When someone paints up their face, they mean business.

Everyone in Japan has excellent singing voices.

No matter how many times you rebuild, Tokyo keeps getting destroyed in a massive fireball.

The martial arts expert is always defenseless against a slap from the girl who loves him.

TAKAHASHI'S LAW 1: Food is a powerful motivator.

When women are sent out to fight the bad guys, there's always a hunk busily watching over them, often in secret.

The longer it takes to say what your punch is called, the less effective it is.

"Baka" does not mean a student going for his baccalaureate degree.

The more possessive a woman gets, the less likely she will end up with the man of her dreams.

TAKAHASHI'S LAW 2: The two-foot-tall old geezer is someone to be feared.

No matter how big the mech/labor/mobile suit is, if it runs around the corner, the guy chasing it loses the trail.

Extraterrestrial, demons, time travelers, etc. all want to alter the course of history by letting Oda Nobunaga win.

The fate of the planet rests in the hands of the seemingly normal high school student.

The heroine must shred her clothes while transforming into something to fight the bad guys.

True evil can never be destroyed, only banished to some nether realm where it awakes after a few hundred years.

TAKAHASHI'S LAW 3: When being hit on the head, it's the most natural thing in the world to tuck your third and fourth fingers in while keeping the others extended.

Even the bravest souls can be made weak and helpless by the sight of a cute little puppy or kitten.

Never love a Gundam pilot : you're just destined for disappointment (or a funeral).

All persons under the age of 50 can do a ten foot vertical jump from a standing position.

Never trust a guy with shiny teeth

ESP causes more trouble than it solves

The vampire isn't _always_ the bad guy

Nice things can come out of video stores that appear from nowhere

Idiot captains win battles against impossible odds

Order takeout at every opportunity--you might get lucky with a wrong number.

The police are never anywhere there is a large amount of property damage.

All high school principals in Japan are clinically insane.

All people with esper powers give off multicolored auras.

Just about any outer space villain has his sights set on destroying the Earth.

No other planet in the universe will be able to stop said villain except the Earth.

Any character can make a leap of 300 ft or more if given a good running start.

A samurai sword can cut through anything.

All characters over the age of 60 shrink in height in direct proportion to their age.

When uncovering a fabulous treasure, the thing will be large enough to completely destroy any surrounding structures.

TAKAHASHI'S LAW #4: An anti-climax is a good climax.

Anime villians have the best deaths.

Any love interest will always be possesed by a demon.

Mallets can be stored anywhere on anybody.

If the anime has the word "idol" in the title, then you know that it has to be good.

Takada Yumi really does sing that bad, and people still buy her CDs.

If you make enough porno movies, eventually you can get famous enough to star in commercials. "Iijima Ai desu! 'Manga manga no mori mori!!'"

There is no such thing as a public anime showing without heckling.

You can spot how popular a show is by looking at the number of H doujinshi it has.

The smartest people on r.a.a. never post, which is why the conference's overall IQ is so low.

If the lyrics to the OP song are printed on the screen, then you're watching a show that's not for your age group.

The sexiest girls are drawn by artists whose last names start with "U".

The English words in Jpop songs are put there only because they sound good, since they don't make any sense with the rest of the lyrics.

If you post on the MLs more than Hitoshi does, then you probably post too much.

The hero always loses the first fight with a new enemy.

The guys with two earrings are from the Negaverse.

Don't trust the guys with two earrings.

Any truly evil person who changes sides for the woman he loves will die in that episode.

You CAN do it, but only when it's funny or REALLY important.

You can never have too many carrots.

Hair comes in every shade of the rainbow - and we do mean pink, purple, blue, green....

The song "Cry Me a River" takes on a whole new meaning.

A woman's persuasion can involve a kitchen knife.

A 10 year old kid can be a teacher

Only the past is 100%

Sword fights last a lot longer in anime

People can get slashed as many times and won't die by blood loss.

Cheap shots are fair.

Blood can come in many colors, even blue.

You can't run from something that flies and shoots lasers.

Time goes 20 times slower in anime.

You can live without a nose.

No matter how they like and confess to each other, the main characters always get together in the end.

In every anime with a guy surrounded by girls, one girl will always end up to be the guy's childhood friend.

Whenever a guy confesses, the heroine will always reject him but ends up with him anyways.

When the heroine confesses to the guy, they automatically become a couple.

However tough and an asshole a guy can be, he can miraculously change because of a girl.

When a hero is going for powerup he always shout or say something.

Usually when a hero is going for powerup we can see sparks or some glowing lights (ki,chakra,etc).

No matter how many times you hit a guy, he'll never go done for good.

Girls are alot prettier in Anime then real life, they got bigger boobs too!

if you can sing the main and ending song to your favorite anime you have taken a step in becoming a fan

one thing is for certain in all fighting animes there is always a bruce lee like character

one must lose to a overly strong character, train and then beat the crap out of that character in a later round

where there is one cool mech there are 10 more awesome mechs latere in the series

the more overpowered an foe is the easier to beat him

any time a character clothes get torn(male) its from the chest up with stratches on pants, on women its always the skirts then the blouse to the bra

Hehe - I know that it sounded like a serious topic at first but heck that is the point of animation stories - take you away from what is serious into something where fantasies and dreams exist to help you escape the real world - even for just the duration of the show.

Keep smiling always - but remember if your kids are watching cartoons or anime, please sit through the show with them and explain to them what they are watching. Most especially in pointing out the good and bad side to what they are watching. It will help them bond with you and grow a little wiser.