Author’s Note: Hello! This piece was for a writing assignment for my ENGL 327W – Creative Non-Fiction course. Specifically for this assignment, we had to write it in the format of a personal essay. I decided to write about how much anime has influenced my life. There is definitely room to improve on visualization and making the reader feel rather than me telling. Still, I hope you will be able to enjoy this piece and in a way resonate with it.
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Anime. It is a specific type of Japanese film and television animation aimed at adults and children. The genres and variety are very large and expansive. Anime has been around for a long time now since the 20th century and has now accumulated an international following. I first got into anime by accident as I watched cartoons growing up on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Pokemon, Yugioh, and Dragon Ball Z were the first introductory animes I watched as a youth. People watch anime for various reasons, for the suspenseful storytelling, for the crisp and clean artwork, and/or the iconic music (Seriously, some of the music that is composed is top tier). All I cared about when I was younger was just the cool action scenes and didn’t bat an eye at the plot, stories, or lessons that accompanied the anime. It wasn’t until I got into my first year of Junior High School that I began to pay closer attention to the animes I watched, that was when the fun began.
One thing that surprised me over time in watching different animes is the life lessons that are taught to the viewers. I know now that the animes I watched greatly influenced my way of thinking as the lessons I learned from those shows I applied to my life. Not all animes are created equal as some are better than each other so following the ones that are popular isn’t always the best choice (Also, keep in mind that this is 100% subjective so if you end up disliking my three favorite animes, that is totally fine as well). With that said in no particular order, my three favorite animes are Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Haikyuu, and Violet Evergarden. And here are three life lessons I learned from my three favorite animes. Let’s start off with Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and a quick back story.
Released on October 6th, 2007, and ended with its second season on March 29th, 2009. Gundam 00 is set on a futuristic Earth in the year 2307 AD. Due to the depletion of fossil fuels, humanity was in search of a new source of power. Three superpower nations fighting each other for control of new energy sources would lead to the formation of a group called Celestial Being, a paramilitary organization whose goal is the eradication of conflict and war with unique and technologically advanced mobile suits known as “Gundams.” (Think of it as a Transformer that has a human pilot in the middle of their body in a cockpit). The Gundam series is notoriously known for its giant robots piloted by adolescents and young adults fighting each other in wars and conflicts they get dragged into. Warfare is a huge theme and Gundam 00 is no exception to the trope in this series.
The lesson I learned from Gundam 00 is that war rarely is caused by irreconcilable disagreements among people. It mostly involves the people in high positions with power that abuse it for their own gain. Humans are not known to be rational creatures as people will end up going to war for the pettiest reasons. This leads to the regular people that suffer the most due to wars and conflicts as collateral damage. The moral lines of good and bad are extremely thin and narrow because depending on the perspective you’re viewing from, one action can be seen as both right and wrong. The world is very cruel, and the level of cruelty is sometimes hell on Earth (It made me aware that everyone is fighting their own personal war too, even those who are lactose intolerant sitting on the toilet). I am naturally a pretty positive person but due to the unfortunate circumstance of growing up in a toxic dysfunctional family, I knew early on how cruel the world can be. That is why I related intensely to the lessons in Gundam 00 because I was fucked over by the world as collateral damage too. It was an anime that helped validate the feelings I had and that was what I needed most in my life.
Moving on to a less violent and depressing anime, we have Haikyuu, which is a comedic coming-of-age anime about volleyball. Debuted on April 6th, 2014, Haikyuu follows rivals Hinata and Kageyama’s first year of volleyball together at Karasuno High School. Hinata is short and lacks volleyball experience but has incredible athletic reflexes while Kageyama is a born genius on the court with complete command of the sport. The anime is currently still in production gearing towards its final arcs and seasons (Which I’m very conflicted on as I hope I don’t get disappointed like season eight of Game of Thrones).
The year that Haikyuu debuted was also the same year I had just got done in my first season of playing volleyball for Chico High School. Haikyuu fed my volleyball cravings so well that I dreamt that I was on the court with the Karasuno team. One lesson I learned from watching Haikyuu is that being weak means that there is room to grow. I am a highly competitive person, I just don’t have the skills nor am I good enough sometimes to back it up. Losing would make me feel frustrated because I hated how it felt (It was also because we got our asses kicked for the majority of the volleyball season in my Freshman year). I just had a negative perspective on failure because there was no room for me to fail. I held onto that for many aspects of my life in my adolescent years, failure was not an option and that was how I survived. It wasn’t until I watched Haikyuu that my mindset and perspective changed. I began to enjoy the journey more than the result. I truly embraced what it meant to be a learner, learning both the positive and the negative. I enjoyed my classes more, my growth in volleyball was accelerated, and I became happier, even if it was for a brief time. And finding happiness in life can be quite difficult.
Just ask Violet Evergarden. The title is both the name of the anime and the main protagonist that first aired from January 11th, 2018 to April 5th, 2018, and concluded its story with a film in 2020. Working as an Auto Memory Doll, someone who writes for others as the majority of the people in this time period is illiterate, the story follows Violet’s journey to reintegration into society after spending the majority of her young life as a soldier (She’s 14 when she begins working as an Auto Memory Doll). Her reasoning for becoming an Auto Memory Doll is to understand the words “I love you,” the last words said to her by her mentor and guardian, Major Gilbert. Getting to know how the story of Violet Evergarden ended in 2020 was one of the few highs of that year.
2018 was the year I began to explore my creative writing and watching Violet Evergarden while that was happening made the experience even more fun and exhilarating. One life lesson I learned from Violet Evergarden is that reflection is important to truly progress. Whether it is about the journey that was taken or coming to terms with our decisions in the past. In one way or another, our past and our present are connected (A few decisions from the past always decide to come and stab us in the back just when we’re not expecting it). The only thing that changes about the past is how we feel about it in the present. One outlet for figuring out those emotions and having intentional reflection is through writing. Reflecting is difficult for me as an adolescent as I tend to not want to remember my early years as they weren’t colorful like skittle rainbows but more like piano keys, black and white. Being able to come to terms with a reflection in asking the important questions of why and how can help with the healing process.
War is hell and the world is cruel, failure does not simply mean weakness because it also means room for growth and improvement, and reflection is key for true progress. Those are a few lessons I learned from watching anime over the years. I’m sure I’ll learn more in the future as new animes are always in the works. Anime is great and more people should give it a try (I also recommend these three animes I mentioned if you’re ever bored or want to try something new).
Hello, I would appreciate it if you would give me feedback on what you enjoyed and what you didn’t. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to comment or email me too! Thank you.
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