Nostalgia for anime that hits you at night (or morning).

I was browsing pages through people's links pages and found myself several clicks down the road, and staring at an anime screencap of what looked like Rurouni Kenshin. And I was hit with what I can only describe as a deep pang of nostalgia and pain. The kind you're only supposed to get when an old boyfriend calls up.

I miss that show. I miss many shows, and what's stupid is that those were some of the lonelinest moments of my life...college. I know I'm somewhat putting anime in a bad light here because I'm perpetuating a stereotype of some sort, but I really loved those shows. I got into them because I had a long distance boyfriend and no friends. Because I was unhappy at NYU and I was glad to be immersed in Japanese language escapist craziness. I had so few friends, but there was solace in running to AnimeSuki and looking at newly translated stuff I could delve into and get lost in. Some people in college did it with Jell-O shots and clubhopping in the village; I was an otaku homebody with an IT job.

And people wonder why I'm so sensitive about their fantastic Time of Their Lives college experiences.

I won't leave you hanging with just stupid achey nostalgia for a realistically-terrible-time-of-my-life. Here are the links of some of the fabulously geeky and talent-laden places I wandered to.

• Zac Gorman illustrations and blog
• my favorite: By Your Side
• I Draw Nintendo tumblr
• Mare Odomo 
• in particular, check out Letters to an Absent Father