Anime & Self-Realization

Why Anime is Worth Your Time: Part 1
[A series journaling my path through depression, addiction and how anime saved me]

Anime, that’s Japanese kids cartoons right?
For many if not most people the word “Anime” instantly conjures thoughts of fancy Japanese cartoons. The majority would likely also consider them as stuff for kids and teens. While this view is somewhat understandable with the amount of exposure anime has had in the west (examples being Pokémon and what was aired on Cartoon Network) this couldn’t be further from the truth. The fact of the matter is that many if not most anime (while oftentimes depicting kids and teenagers) is really geared towards adults. If I had to guess, I’d venture to say that the demographic (at least in the US) that watches anime regularly is somewhere between 18-35 years of age.

So What's it All About?
Anime in general cover a spectrum of genre and subject matter ranging from slice of life to Sci-Fi Horror and everything in between. Many have surprisingly deep character development with multi-layer plots from multiple perspectives. In a way, they are like books on philosophy in the sense that the deeper you’re level of intellect and understanding, the more you will get out of it. That being said it’s also true that there is no shortage silly slap-stick fan-service either (because sometimes you just want to laugh or enjoy the obligatory boob-flash).

There’s something that I find intriguing and captivating about anime that keeps me coming back series after series and that’s the ability for us relate to its stories, characters and themes on a deep emotional and spiritual level. As for me, I’ve found that anime has this tendency (as most good stories do) to parallel or allegorize past, present and future events and life issues we face in the world everyday (granted in a somewhat over-the-top and stylistic fashion).

Example Story: One Piece
Take for example Luffy and the Straw Hat pirate’s constant interactions with the World Government in the Series “One Piece”(Which you’ll have to forgive me here for lack of details as they story is way too long to try to convey in its entirety in this blog segment ). But in short summary, in this story the world is split into 3 main divisions or groups of people; Pirates, the World Government (Marines and Navy) and the rest of the population (people going about their daily lives). On the surface the pirates want to live a free unrestricted life in search of fortune and adventure while the W.G attempts to regulate and control every aspect of society, with the word “Justice” embroidered on the backs of their uniforms completes their belief to rightfully do so. It paints an all-to familiar picture of a Government that’s supposed to be protecting the people of the world, yet because of greed and ambition, allow aspects of the Navy and Marines to become corrupted tools that serve their true controllers (from the shadows) the World Nobles or Celestial Dragons (a group of “Royalty” that live above the law due to vast wealth, power, knowledge and geographic location). The show has a way of highlighting issues that hit close to home in our own reality. The W.G. allows for certain pirate captains “Warlords” to do as they please so long as they are available at a moment’s notice to aid in and conflict that should arise around the world. Because of this atrocities like drug trade and human trafficking go intentionally unnoticed by the W.G. at the Warlord’s benefit.

One of the things I love about this show and a lot of anime in particular is how they show a conflict from multiple perspectives, so that you can’t entirely hate the “bad guys” or love the “good guys” because they go into depths to show and explain how the characters came to do and be what they are. There’s a level of understanding at play that makes sense. You get the idea that “Yeah, maybe I’d be a bad guy if I witnessed my family murdered and everything taken from me too” and while you don’t necessarily agree with them, you gain an understanding of why they are what they are. I see this to be a general theme with most great anime and something I find lacking in western story telling. This was a main motivator my seeking out anime in the first place, in search of story with substance and meaning.

How Anime Helped Me:
Much like a great soundtrack to a movie anime acts like background music to your life’s story. One thing that came as a pleasant surprise from my watching the long (currently still) running “One Piece”, was watching how they experienced the ups and downs and struggles of life both on a personal and societal level and their ability to overcome them. Ironically enough, many of these situations paced right alongside similar events in my own life, so in a way I was able to see my own life and my choices from a detached observation.
I found myself many times coming home struggling to relax after a day in the corporate grind machine and feeling stagnant, unable to see a way out of the current situation and not knowing how to move forward. Thanks in part to series like “One Piece” I was able to better understand my own situations with multiple points of view and in doing so, creatively come up with ways to fix, improve or overcome them. On a deeper note, many anime leave the ending/overall theme open to your interpretation, so what you get out of the story is what it means to you, and allows for a cool, detached self-introspection.

Closing Thoughts
There are tons of anime series out there, one for just about every possible situation or scenario imaginable, some a great, some alright and some outright terrible. Part of the fun of this genre of shows is in the discovery of them, like finding a hidden treasure few people are aware of. They’re fun and entertaining but also have the ability to help guide and heal us through some of life’s more trying times and circumstances.

So if you’re anything like me and bored with the superficial substance that occupies most TV in the US, are seeking novelty or perhaps something with more substance and genuine appeal, give it a try. Worst case scenario, most are only 20 minutes in length so you won’t be out much time. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up falling in love with these crazy Japanese cartoons like I did.

Where to watch it?
There are a plethora of sources online [both with subscriptions and free] where you can watch tons of anime series and movies in their entirety. Two of my favorite Premium sites are Crunchyroll and Funimation:

Crunchyroll is currently (At the time of this blog) $6.95 a month and Funimation is $7.95 a month, which is definitely affordable, especially considering how much content you get for the price.
You can use a platform called VRV to get both for only $9.99 (This is the route I went personally).

*Images used here were found on google and not my original work