Anime
Anime is a term used to refer to Japanese animation. It's not clear when Chris first discovered Japanese cartoons, although it's safe to guess that Pokémon was the seed. He was a big enough anime fan by 2004 to attend the Anime Mid-Atlantic convention in Richmond, Virginia.
He didn't start giving the characters in his comic an anime/manga look until the fifth issue of Sonichu, though, in a bid to please his gal-pal Megan Schroeder, who was into Sailor Moon at the time. Practically speaking, this involved giving his characters huge, saucer-like eyes, which make them look more stoned than animu, or "upside-down U" eyes. Needless to say, despite the radical artwork style change in his comics, he still was cockblocked.
Since his relationship with Megan deteriorated (eventually blowing up in his face), anime hasn't been so obvious an influence on Chris’s artwork, and he hasn’t gone back to an anime convention since 2005. (Possibly he realizes how much attention his Internet infamy would draw to him at a con, or possibly he doesn’t realize this.)
Chris still rips off characters and story concepts from anime left and right, though, and he still watches some newer anime series. His PSN account shows that he downloaded several episodes of the "harem" comedy-drama Shuffle! in 2009; given that it stars a hapless twit who finds himself surrounded by willing women for no very good reason, Chris probably loved it. Shuffle! is also based on an eroge (hentai dating sim), although it's uncertain if Chris is aware of this.
Anime Chris has ripped off
Like every other form of entertainment he enjoys, Chris views anime as a rich source of ideas that he can swipe and integrate into his own "original" works. These are some of the shows he’s abused.
- Cutey Honey
- Dragon Ball Z (possibly indirectly)
- Excel Saga
- Inuyasha
- Fist of the North Star (indirectly)
- Macross Frontier (indirectly)
- Pokémon
- Pretty Cure
- Sailor Moon
- Samurai Pizza Cats (name only)
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (indirectly)
- Urotsukidoji
- Yu-Gi-Oh
End of Evangelion
Ivy got Chris to see End of Evangelion as inspiration for finishing the comic.[1]
Chris's summary: A generic tale of a boy's struggle for acceptance...a lot like him.
Chris thought he saw: Symbolism (IN MY EVA?)
Chris's favorite parts:
- The Misato and Kaji sex scene (where you saw only feet), because it made him feel that he was a big man and that he was watching no-kids cartoon.
- The Rei Angels that were kawaii.
- The internal struggles of Shinji.
Chris didn't like:
- Everyone turns to orange tang juice
- Rei Angels getting turned on by stabbing themselves.
- The doom and gloom end.
- Asuka freaking out (I don't wanna die).