In order to get by in life, we look to others to guide us. At the same time, we also compare ourselves to said others. We place ourselves in a hierarchy to see where we stand. While it’s important to know one’s place in the world, this can hinder someone when it’s apparent that the place may not be the right one for them. With the 1st part of Attack on Titan Season 3 finished up, the anime finally showed a key information dump that brings up issues of inferiority and envy that hurt us. It’s something that we can learn from today due to how people perceive things to be zero-sum. 

Right after an uprising to overturn a corrupt government and before the expedition to retake Wall Maria for good, Eren Yeager wanted to know more about his father, Grisha. He learns from absorbed memories (due to Titan inheritance) that an old instructor of his, Keith Shadis, met and saved his father at some point. Eren, along with the Survey Corps, confronts Shadis. Shadis then tells the group about how he met Grisha as a member of the Survey Corps. He also goes on about his insecurity over being an average person who couldn’t save anyone compared to Grisha. That insecurity would lead him to try and sabotage Eren’s attempts to be a member of the military way back in the beginning, only for the strategy to backfire on him and confirm his own belief that he was powerless to change anything at all. 

What Shadis goes through is pretty normal. Social comparison is a big part of how we live our lives. We want to see how we’re doing among other people. We want to see if we can copy someone to improve our lives. We all want to show that we’re better than someone who is worse off in certain areas. However, we may want love from those who may be worse off. You can say that love and envy can go hand in hand.

Shadis liked Grisha after rescuing him. He was fascinated by his lack of knowledge regarding life inside the walls. However, he begun to see Grisha’s successes as a doctor and his ability to start a family with a sense of inferiority. During Grisha’s wedding, Shadis straight up left after seeing him. At the same time, he wasn’t fulfilling his role as Commander of the Survey Corps. Shadis would later by replaced by Erwin Smith, whose creativity in setting up expeditions with minimal human loss made him a better choice for commander. He would take out his frustrations on Eren’s mother, Carla, about what it means to be an average person versus a great person.

Shadis made endless comparisons with others to the point to the point where he felt useless. As a young recruit, he was envious of his superiors and wanted to prove them wrong. But in the end, nothing changed for Shadis. Shadis was obsessed with the word “special.” Grisha once said Shadis was special for even attempting to go outside the walls. That compliment made him feel special people can change the world. Endless comparison leads to a lot of unhappiness. You can see this with regards to social media and the issue of FOMO (fear of missing out).

It’s possible that Shadis was very afraid of being disliked by others. That’s why he wanted to feel special. We want to own up to nice things people say about us. But sometimes, compliments are just meant to be compliments. Reading through Shadis’ flashback again makes me think about praise. There was a study in 1997 on a type of praise that can backfire when you use it. Basically, if you’re saying something like “You’re so smart,” “You’re amazing!”, “Good job!” to someone, that person ends up feeling pressured to live up to those labels.

This is what Grisha told Shadis when they were getting to know each other.

“You’re wiser and braver than anyone else inside the walls. The existence of the Survey Corps is living proof that the human imagination and soul are free. You’re the pride of humanity.”

The first part of this statement is fine and the praise is indeed genuine, but Shadis had low self-esteem from the beginning. In one flashback sequence, Shadis saw his superiors making snide comments about the Survey Corps and shows his desire to be Commander to show people up. So after hearing the words “pride of humanity,” it empowered him. It seemed like Shadis always wanted to live to Grisha’s ideal of him. When Grisha decides to transfer his Titan powers to Eren in order to avenge Carla, Shadis asked Grisha why Eren as he didn’t look special. Praise can have an unintended effect of forcing someone to live by another person’s vision of them and not their own. This in turn leads to self-loathing and possible harm to other people.

Praise works in some cases, but for anyone who’s felt neglected and desperately wants to be liked, it may not be the best solution. Hange Zoe criticized Shadis for not saying anything about Grisha’s last moments to the Survey Corps, as that information was important to the fate of humanity, due to his obsession with being special. Though as Levi and Eren wanted to point out, it’s not exactly his fault. There were no signs of encouragement for Shadis to challenge himself or re-think his way of thinking .

We treat life as some competitive game where winning is the only thing that matters. But as Carla once told Shadis about being average,

“Do you really have to be special? Do you really need people’s recognition? I don’t think so. At the very least, not when it comes to this child (Eren), he doesn’t need to become great. Why would he have to be better than anyone else? Just look at him. Don’t you see how cute he is? He’s already great. Because he was born into this world.”

Attack on Titan is all about spreading the wings of freedom. But as time goes on with the series, it’s also about having the courage to be disliked. Without that courage, like Shadis, we’ll be nothing more than bystanders.

“Why? Why am I so confused right now? A normal girl would be happy to hear those words (”Will you marry me?”), right? I’ve seen it over and over again in TV shows and manga. When the man proposes, the woman cries with happiness. So how come I’m not crying?”

For many of us who’ve have fallen in love with someone and tried to confess our love to that person, more often than not, we get rejected. After processing all the bad emotions associated with the rejection, we move on. There’s ton of advice on how to deal with rejection. But what if you were the one who did the rejecting? After finishing up Princess Jellyfish, I was reminded of the perspective of the person who has to put up with a love confession by someone they aren’t interested in.

Near the end of the series, Tsukimi Kurashita goes through an ordeal where she ends up at Singapore to study fashion in order to save her friends from being homeless. After Kuranosuke Koibuchi rescues and brings her back to Japan, Tsukimi runs into the one guy she was interested in from the start of the series, Shu Koibuchi, the older brother of Kuranosuke. Shu just came back from Italy to get a jellyfish ring there as a way to propose to Tsukimi. When Shu gets his big chance to propose to Tsukimi, Tsukimi doesn’t know what to think at all. After some deliberation, Tsukimi rejects Shu’s marriage proposal saying that she still has things she wants to do.

Throughout the early-to-mid parts of the series, there was a big focus on the potential romance between Tsukimi and Shu. Both had extremely different personalities, but they found out each other attractive and their inner strengths admirable through multiple dates. However, during the attempt to save her home of Amamizukan from being sold, Tsukimi tried to reach Shu via phone. However, Shu dropped his mobile phone in the water. That led to Tsukimi’s lone journey into Singapore. This lack of communication between them around this time created a huge literal distance between the two that doomed the future of their relationship.

One can argue that this change in plans for both characters threw the traditional script of a destined couple awry. This scriptlessness is part of a psychological phenomenon where people think they’re happy if something good happens to them, but they get a negative reaction instead. I heard about this idea of scriptlessness from a podcast episode about the growth of BS jobs. It was a discussion about how certain jobs are supposed to make you happy, but can end up making you miserable if the work there makes you feel like you’re not contributing to something bigger than yourself.

There was a brief part where unrequited love was compared to BS jobs.

“Q: You argue that there are even spiritual consequences of b.s. jobs, and one of them is something that you call scriptlessness (ph). What do you mean by that?

A: I remember being very impressed by a psychological study which looked at people in - you know, sort of looked at times they’d been in love or people had been in love with them when they were teenagers and how they’d managed to integrate the experience or - especially unrequited love. And what they found out was that, you know, if you are in love with someone who does not return your feelings, well, you know, it’s difficult, but you can come up with a story about it. You know, you - people would come to terms with it. They almost remember the incidents fondly 20 years later. 

It was the people who had other people who were in love with them, who didn’t actually feel the same way about them, who were still kind of hurting. They were really confused. They felt guilty, but they felt indignant. And they just didn’t know how to feel.

And one of the reasons why, they suggested, is because, you know, if you’re in love with someone who doesn’t love you, you know exactly how you’re supposed to feel. There’s, like, 2,000 years of literature telling you exactly how you’re supposed to feel, how you’re supposed to behave, what’s appropriate, what isn’t. 

Whereas if you’re on the other side, you’re pretty much at a loss. You know, there are no novels written from the point of view of Roxane instead of, you know, Cyrano (from the play “Cyrano de Bergerac”). And so those people didn’t have a script.”

Tsukimi was Roxane. She was somewhat at a loss over Shu’s proposal. Many girls would be ecstatic if the men they loved wanted to marry them. However, there’s a lot of societal pressure about marriage and for women to just settle down despite all the opportunities women have gotten over the years. That societal pressure leads to guilt. If they are the rejectors, they may get criticism via statements like “Why did you reject him? He looked like a great guy!” That starts to sting since the rejector is technically the main source of of the rejected’s pain. There’s really no real manual for it all because since being rejected is an universal feeling that’s more easy to talk about. 

I did find that study on unrequited love and it’s quite the read. Rejectors don’t get portrayed often in media and when they do, it’s not well. They’re viewed as villains. Not many people want to understand rejectors’ perspectives because they view them as being selfish. Rejectors may also decide to be quiet about rejecting someone out of fear that their “interest” might retaliate with anger. Think about the bad relationships that women and men continue to foster due to their fear of being socially shamed.

Tsukimi did the right thing in telling Shu how she really felt. She did love him at one point, but her desire to accomplish something meaningful herself was greater. Shu’s love became unrequited over time. To be fair, he was worried that Tsukimi’s jellyfish obsession would make her out of reach for him. There’s also a huge age and social class gap between the two.

There’s an argument made that clarity is valued less than ambiguity in dating these days. Shu’s marriage proposal was clear and blunt as hell. It’s also a huge shocker because no one knows what life would bring. Loss is bound to happen more when relationships become more intimate. Shu is noted to be very naive when it comes to romance as he grew up mostly studying and trying to get into politics. He doesn’t fully grasp the many intricacies romantic relationships bring.

Tsukimi became more willing to embrace a certain level of ambiguity after her experiences in Singapore. She started to see there were things more important than just romantic love. Even though she’s in full-on fashion designer mode by the end of the story, Tsukimi knows how important Kuranosuke is to her. She might love a guy at some point whether it’s Shu again, Kuranosuke, or someone else. She might not. 

As Akiko Higashimura noted in the end, Princess Jellyfish is a neo princess story for the 21st century. Romantic love shouldn’t be the only type of love that matters. Also, more importantly, loving something/someone also means saying “no” sometimes. I wish more people realized that. Saying “no” doesn’t make you an ass. When done with politeness, assertiveness and respect, it makes you look good in front of others. Think about it - no one wants to be around a “yes” person who keeps doing things to please others and ends up disappointing them (and themselves) over and over again.

Saying no is an act worthy of being worshiped royally like a prince or princess.

On a side note: Princess Jellyfish was a fun read. I remember talking about starting it with one of Kodansha Comics’ people at Anime NYC last year. Now that I finished the series just before Anime NYC this year, I can see why Princess Jellyfish was popular in the U.S.. There’s a good amount of quirkiness that makes it stand out. Some parts were a little over-the-top and the hiatuses hurt the series a bit, but I recommend Princess Jellyfish to anyone who loves a silly romantic story that tries to convey a strong message about being beautiful.

Earlier this year, I got a chance to interview a non-profit organization that’s been trying to make a impact on mental health with anime.

6 months since that interview, Anime for Humanity is looking to expand across all borders to reach fans who may be going through struggles they can’t talk about with anyone. They’ve re-tooled their website, build more online channels for community purposes, and have gone out to more conventions handing out resources as needed. Anime for Humanity has the numbers to back this up.

They’re now looking for volunteers throughout the world to help promote their message in various geek conventions. Anime for Humanity wants volunteers who can help set up a booth presence, speak on their behalf, and hand out resources to fans.

I just signed up to be a volunteer for next year’s Anime NYC (if things work out). I really think it’s time that what Anime for Humanity, myself, and many others want becomes a bigger thing - mental health awareness among the anime community. A lot of young anime fans will be going through so many mental health struggles compared to previous generations. Many children will be diagnosed with a mental disorder. I also feel that fan communities are strong motivators of going forward, so let’s push this. 

I want people to believe in the people who believe in them and vice versa. 

Here’s the link: Anime for Humanity - Become a Volunteer

If you can’t volunteer, AfH gladly accepts donations and invitations to do fundraising events for them too. The many ways you can help are listed at: Anime for Humanity - Get Involved.

I finally decided to attend an anime convention this year and it was technically the last major one of the year. But boy, was it something I don’t want to forget for a long time to come. Anime NYC came and went with a lot more people coming in the 2nd year. While I did have some concerns about the con going forward, I was not as stressed as I was last year and had a lot more fun.

It was also the 1st time I decided to do genderbent/crossplay at an anime convention. And I think it helped me heal when it mattered most.

I only went to the convention on Saturday and Sunday for 2 major reasons - the manga panels and a con-officlal Persona photo shoot. Both days I decided to do the following look.

The character is Joker/Ren Amamiya/Akira Kurusu/P5 MC from Persona 5. This look is from Persona 5 Dancing Star Night and it’s a DLC costume known appropriately as “Punishment Cop.” I remember first seeing this costume earlier this Spring and told myself, “I WANT TO DO THIS COSPLAY.”

So I got the outfit and other required stuff around early October. There were a few mishaps along the way, but I was well-prepared for the con or so I thought.

As soon as I got into the con and dressed up in Punishment Cop gear, my mind just became overwhelmed. I was dragged down by the large crowds. I wanted to go home. I didn’t know if because I was tired or whether my desire to not want to go to cons (being middle-aged does things to you sometimes) was getting stronger. Thankfully, when I ran into a friend at the Yen Press booth, we both went to the manga panels we wanted to go to. 

I know it’s fun to go to a convention by yourself. It’s refreshing. I know because I did it at Crunchyroll Expo last year. But it can be pretty hard to make new friends when you’re alone and I truly believe that it’s friends that make one’s con experiences worthwhile (which I’ll get back to later in the post).

The manga panels I got to attend were fine, but who decided to pack them all on the same day and the most-packed day of the con, Saturday? Kodansha/Vertical and Denpa Books (though there were technical mishaps that hurt what was a fun intro to them) went alright. The Viz Media panel was filled completely and there was almost a fire marshal warning due to slight overcrowding. I skipped Yen Press and while I’m not a huge reader of their titles, they really go all-out with their licenses and I respect that.

(Also Viz picking up Beastars (which is a fucking great manga), yay.)

I also started to have problems with my costume - mostly my skirt. I wasn’t used to wearing pantyhose and adjusting the skirt to fit a tanktop I wore underneath. The belt for the cosplay was also pretty finicky. I think only a few people managed to take photos of me or recognized my character. I did see a few friends, but I was feeling really out of it by 5pm on Saturday. I left around 6pm.

Although I did get into the ball pit - the slime pit. I would have died from cuteness overload at the Bananya pit that Crunchyroll put there.

On Sunday, I went out to the con in full cosplay. I made some adjustments to make sure my skirt was fine. The weather was cold outside, but manageable. I also had to adjust myself to not spreading my legs a bit because I was wearing a skirt on the train. You ladies have all my respect for the stuff you have to do sometimes regarding the clothes you wear.

The Persona cosplay shoot was pretty fun. I think I accidentally flashed myself while doing poses to some photo-takers due to my lack of “lady-like” behaviors. There was a really funny moment after the con where a group of Persona 5 fans yelled my character name and wanted me to do a kabedon-ish video with them regarding Joker and Goro Akechi (the Kaworu Nagisa of Persona 5). I did it with them because why not. 

I also learned that I have nice legs and I can be hard to recognize in the outfit if you don’t look hard enough. The comments about my legs opened up my eyes on how much women compare themselves. All I can say is that I make it an ongoing process to treat my body well.

Before the photo shoot though, I did something important. Last year, I wrote about an ex-friend in my life at Artists’ Alley and how seeing her last year almost gave me an anxiety attack. I went back up there by myself (didn’t want to involve my friends who were at the con) to look for stuff. 

I saw her there working a booth at Artists’ Alley. I walked around a bit near her and looking around the other booths. I paced back and forth until I decided it’s now or never. I looked down at her table for a bit since there was some cute stuff I wanted. I asked how much was so-and-so. She responded, I bought something, paid her, and then looked up face-to-face.

We talked. We both said it was good to see each other. We even complimented each other’s costumes.

When we were talking, my entire left leg was shaking most of the time.

We asked how we were doing and then I decided to ask if she wanted to see a project I was working on. She said sure. She actually liked an idea I showed her and it got a cute reaction out of her.

I did leave due to the Persona shoot coming up, but I think we hinted that we’ll talk again when the time comes.

When I went on my way, I was about to cry. I don’t know if I did the right thing. All I knew was that I was so sick and tired of feeling helpless. I was tired of not having the courage to speak up and stand up for myself when I had to. 

Back then, I told a few of my friends about her after our fallout and they had good intentions sticking up for me. But you know, I really fucked up on my end too. Sometimes, arguments/conflicts are never truly one-sided. 

I don’t know what to feel right now, but all I know was that crossdressing for the first time gave me enough courage to do what’s important in the face of anxiety.

I think back to my readings of Princess Jellyfish and a scene in the manga where Kuranosuke tells the girls of Amars to dress up and “don their armor” because society continues to judge on looks and they have no choice but to rely on dressing stylish to build the strength they need to save their home. 

Being the Punishment Cop put me on equal ground with my fear and that was more than enough. Being a woman saved me from myself.

I probably am going through my Kuranosuke moment as I found a bunch of fujoshi friends who are kind of like Amars, but they aren’t NEETs. I had dinner and dessert with them the Sunday of the con. I’m very grateful to find some new friends that I really needed while appreciating the ones I still have (and haven’t disappeared). 

This year’s Anime NYC felt like the culmination of 2 years where I had to re-define myself as a person and what I wanted to be.

I don’t want to walk around like I’m the happiest person in the world. I don’t want to walk around like I’m the saddest person in the world either. I could walk in-between where night’s about to fall. But to quote a certain Kingdom Hearts character, I’m walking the road to dawn.

(And oh yeah, I’m totally doing more androgynous cosplay going forward.)

For a while now, I and other mental health/anime fans have been promoting how to use anime and manga to improve mental health for other fans. But wait - what if it’s possible to learn from fan communities to help the field of mental health care itself?

A recent article in the NY Times called “When Will We Solve Mental Illness?” highlights a possibly eternal struggle for biological psychiatrists to understand how mental illness happens and what causes it. There has been a movement to get away from ideas such as sexual desires/motherly problems (Thanks, Freud!) to diagnose someone. Now we have medical labels and a manual of mental disorders to make things simpler, but in reality, nothing’s changed as people are still bound to get a mental disorder at some point due to various circumstances.

The article does say that 2 solutions might change things. One would be to pinpoint specific kinds of genes instead of observing behavior (i.e. how someone with depression reacts to situations may be different from another person with depression) and to further understand why and how some people become better, when others don’t.

Both solutions come down to a big problem that mental health researchers have - a disconnect between them and the people they’re supposed to help; those who have symptoms/signs of mental disorders and are waiting to tell their stories. 

Now how does this relate to anime? Well, with regards to how the anime industry is now thriving overseas due to conventions, it comes down to conversations with fans.

I was reading an Anime NYC convention report and this one covered what went down in the inaugural Anime Business Conference, a day before the convention started. There was a big discussion (entitled “Real-World Marketing (Conventions and IRL Events) for Media Companies”) between some of the most important figures in the U.S. anime industry about how the industry’s changed over the years and one thing they all agreed on was that fandom is what keeps anime and manga going. They dictate what lives and dies in the industry.

One mental health researcher in the NY Times article said this about talking to individuals with mental disorders: 

“When people have an opportunity to engage in ongoing, in-depth conversation with others with similar experiences, their lives are transformed. We start with a person’s own framework of understanding and move from there.”

“We have underestimated the power of social interactions. We see people who’ve been in the system for years, on every med there is. How is it possible that such people have recovered, through the process of talking with others? How has that occurred? That is the question we need to answer.”

The social experiences within anime/manga fandom provide material that mental health researchers could learn or take ideas from. Anime and manga has become ubiquitous with the internet, but why did Crunchyroll start their own offline anime convention in 2017? Real-life interactions still matter in getting important feedback. The internet isn’t always real life in this case.

Granted that there’s still some hiccups with fandom at times, social interactions still matter so much. I realize that folks with severe mental illness are still ignored over those who may not have it as rough. Where’s the outreach towards them? What’s getting in the way of this outreach? How do you reach those folks in a way that’s non-judgmental and protects their privacy?

I feel like fan conventions have the outreach down for the most part. This is one of those cases where researchers can learn from the communities behind whatever hobbies they have. Find innovation outside of what you know. Then make a concentrated push with help towards promoting the unorthodox solution that actually does something.

Get to know your audiences like Japanese guests do when they go to conventions. Listen to what they have to say with intent. I sometimes wonder if the curse of knowledge is in effect for many mental health researchers because the smarter you get, the more likely you start to think that you know all the answers.

 If there’s one thing anime fans and people with mental illness have in common, we often feel cast aside due to hierarchies (anime in overall geek culture, mental health in overall health). 

It’s time to take the friendship trope outside of anime/manga and use it to bring everyone together to help each other thrive.

mangatherapy:

“Not that long ago, the two of them seemed like a father and daughter. Now they look like a mother and son.”

Now that the anime series has concluded and the manga caught up to the anime (what an interesting twist for once, huh?), I want to talk about the relationship between The Ancient Magus Bride’s Chise Hatori and Elias Ainsworth. Yes, the allure of the two is that one’s a human girl and the other is inhuman. However, their relationship progress is similar to that of a modern-day married couple. Both characters have to deal with a challenge familiar to many couples - developing their own identities while developing each other’s identities.

Keep reading

One of my favorite posts I wrote from earlier this year as I just re-read the series these past 2 weeks. There’s still a good amount of promotion for The Ancient Magus Bride as Crunchyroll gave out stuff from the series at Anime NYC 2018. This is still a brilliant tale of what happens you have signs of mental health issues and are venturing into a world of dating with those signs.

BLEACH Soul Society Butlers at Garcon Cafe in Harajuku

Ladies, would you love to be served by these lovely gents dressed in black kimonos?

Last month, I wrote an article for the Japanese pop culture site, Yatta-Tachi!, on Kingdom Hearts and how one of its central characters, Riku, was a character worth looking at for his journey in-between light and darkness. It was a refresher look into what got me into Kingdom Hearts and why I still follow it (despite the story being hard to follow at times). I even went a bit in-depth on what I was going through when I was diagnosed with clinical depression. 

I recently read a child development article talking about how cartoons and fiction don’t always translate well into success for a child.

Now I wonder - how can you make anime/manga work in ways that actually help someone in real life.

This article I found has researchers making an argument that pretend play (involving superheroes & fantasy elements) isn’t worth much when compared to actual real-life activities. They also criticize society for not giving adolescents anything useful to do that contributes to society. The researchers make a distinction between Western culture versus other cultures where children can do the dirty housework that their parents do (including wielding knives to cut things). All society does to adolescents is tell them to just go to school and if they do well in school, they win at life (which isn’t exactly the case). The researchers even go in-depth on cartoons and explain that children’s executive brain functions don’t work as well when watching cartoons when compared to watching real-life TV programming.

Now I know that anime is often considered to be mature and more thought-provoking compared to most American cartoons, but anime ARE cartoons in a nutshell. They have extravagant worlds and characters that can be hard to believe. It’s really easy to get caught up in anime and manga because of how imaginative Japanese creators are.

I’m going to quote a passage I wrote from the Kingdom Hearts article that sprung to mind after reading that child development article.

“There was a part of me that wanted to be happy at all costs, as I have had major depression since the start of my college years. I hung around friends, hoping they could save me from life’s troubles, but they never did. I just went about my life with no worries. I did manage to do okay, but it sometimes felt like my heart was all over the place. I took comfort in my hobbies, but didn’t gain or grind for the experience that I really needed. At the same time, I hated and blamed myself whenever something bad happened that I couldn’t control.

How many of us have criticized ourselves after something goes wrong on our end? How many have retreated back to hobbies out of comfort, only to tell ourselves that, despite feeling good, we’re worthless? I know I have.”

I’m going to add an addendum to this. For starters, I dropped out of college in my first year. I just consumed the internet all day, every day. I didn’t bother finding a job. I was so scared to work. I also lost contact with many of my friends from high school. Even when I did go to college and got some work during and after that time, I actually believed the terrible mantra that if I did well in school, I would be set after college. All I wanted to do was play video games, read manga, and watch anime. Nothing else.

(As a kid, I used to do Dragon Ball Z moves. I even did a Kamehameha wave in public during my high school years. My sister once reminded me of this.)

I recently read Ogiue Maniax’s post, “The Pressure to Morally Justify One’s Fandom Tastes.” He talks about certain fans’ needs to have all of their fandom views validated or else their favorite series will never satisfy them. Here’s a part from the “pretend play” article that will tie into what I’m going to say next.

“Meanwhile, other studies have found that children prefer to end stories in a realistic rather than a fantasy way. Children also learn new words less well from cartoon drawings than from photographs. Thus, all the fantasy to which we expose children might not actually be good for them. It is worth remembering that the human brain has evolved for the real world, and when we give children cartoons and images about worlds that don’t exist, we are not developing sensory capacities that are geared to processing the real world around them.”

I now wonder if fans who have to justify their tastes to everyone have absorbed too much fantasy than required just to gain approval. How do fans know when they’re about to cross a thin line into a mindset that’s hard to get out of? As children, we’re obviously a lot more optimistic and full of wonder. But the passage to adulthood teaches us to doubt ourselves all for the sake of order. That self-doubt leads to a possibly endless need for approval because we all need to be validated to a certain degree.

I’ve been through that self-doubt phase and somehow got out of it because I had the self-awareness to see what it was doing to me. Anime/manga wasn’t saving my life in that regard.

I’m all for anime and manga being involved in children’s lives, but responsibly. Librarians, manga bloggers, and thoughtful otaku parents have been helpful in that regard. I’m also thinking about how to incorporate Montessori (work that helps to achieve a goal) education and anime/manga. That actually helps young fans have fun while actually learning to contribute in a meaningful way. 

If you think about popular series with training segments like Naruto and My Hero Academia, the training the students in the schools from both series undergo is Montessori-like education and teaches them how to be hunters/gatherers in their own way. We need more of this.

I do get that pretend play involving fiction isn’t the right way to go due to heavy promotion of the stylish and action aspects in many series. Blame marketing. Play should never be the complete solution to life’s problems. A lot of misinformed parents just throw media at their kids to consume due to society’s mixed messages on raising kids. Which in turn leads to kids feeling bored with life. It’s sad. 

Children want to be recognized and be able to master something in life. I think that’s why I loved video games as a child so much because I didn’t feel like I had opportunities to contribute or my parents were just like “Whatever.” Video games make you feel like you’re doing something important despite the fact that they aren’t always the best motivators. That really cost me in my young adult development and it’s only been until these last 2 years where I felt like I’m contributing to something bigger than myself. 

So to parents whose children are getting into the worlds of anime/manga and/or are in-depth into those worlds, keep an eye on whether anime/manga starts to interfere with your kids’ abilities to handle real life. Take a minute to have a private talk with them and tell them any signs you picked up that may be harmful. 

Also, listen non-judgmentally. Yes, you may want to give them a solution to solve the problem. But the conversation then revolves around how you’re feeling. This is about them. Listen to their thoughts and feelings. Help your kids whenever you can without enabling them as well. 

I want to stress the “without enabling” part because it’s so easy for parents to give in to their children’s demands. In the Ogiue Maniax article, there is mention of how fans feign outrage to get the reaction they want. As someone with mental illness, I’m guilty of using my depression in the past to justify not wanting to do important things because I was ill. I even told my parents that they didn’t want to see me well when they tell me to try new things and they told me “We’re so sorry. We just want to make you happy.” 

I’ll admit that I never met anyone with mental illness who managed to do well despite their circumstances at the time, but it was still no excuse. You can say that I was acting like a fan who wanted validation for their opinions at any cost. Looking back, I think I guilt-tripped people because it was comfortable being miserable.

Parents, it’s okay to have boundaries and teach your kids why they’re important. You can use anime and manga to give lessons on setting reasonable boundaries. There are so many good examples to learn from. 

Let’s all continue to pretend play and enjoy what anime/manga have to offer, but let’s also pretend to be role models for an otaku community that needs them.

Just a quick plug for a manga that I discovered a couple of months ago and it’s a really funny series.

If you’re into anything involving yakuza and humor, Kosuke Ono’s Gokushufudou (Way of the House-Husband) is a title I highly recommend.

The story behind what’s become a popular web-manga is about a prominent ex-yakuza known as “The Immortal Tatsu” and his new life as a househusband. His wife works as a designer, while he partakes in all kinds of housework and duties to help support her.

You can guess the punchlines behind this series. They mostly involve Tatsu’s appearance/behavior/mannerisms in settings that are more reserved for people who don’t associate themselves with organized crime. There are some really good scenes combining yoga, doing laundry, flea markets, bargain hunting with police officers, fellow homemakers (who are all housewives), and other yakuza members. It doesn’t get old when Tatsu hints at something that sounds frightening and it turns out to be cute instead. The artwork is clean and the writing is top-notch. Gokushufudou is another great example of how far web-manga have come.

I also recommend the manga because I considered myself a househusband type. I like to cook and clean (might be thinking of doing gardening next year).I like working as much as people do, but I’m starting to question how much should be enough. There’s some research suggesting working way too many hours at your job lowers your cognitive abilities. Some of that time can be better spent taking care of home stuff regardless if you have a partner or not. Plus it’s neat to see the psychology of a tough man getting in touch with his feminine qualities that help keep him grounded.

Gokushufudou is a fun take on what it means to change one’s identity and still be the same. It reminds me that with how life is portrayed in the media, it’s nice to step away and just live your daily life the best you can. May the way of the househusband bless us with what it means to feel connected in ways that don’t harm others.

You can read Gokushufudo at Kurage Bunch’s official website.

Whenever I hear advice on how to get other people to notice you, there’s a very important tip that gets emphasized even though it’s not easy to do. That tip is to promote others. Another important tip that’s also hard to do is to encourage others as well. Both those suggestions are hard to follow because we’ve been taught to talk about our own qualities versus those around us.

However, in one manga series I just finished, there’s a teenager who’s helped to encourage the people around him and promote them as well. I jumped into the their world. The world of a kid named Hajime Machida and his love for people touched my heart. 

Let’s talk about Yuki Ando’s award-winning The World of Machida-kun and its touching reminder about being kind as needed.

The World of Machida-Kun’s Hajime Machida isn’t a protagonist with any outstanding features. He isn’t smart, athletic, or the most attractive guy in his school. Machida sometimes gets pity from those who try not to criticize him and often puts himself down. Yet his most endearing quality is his ability to talk to people and see the good in them. The manga covers Machida’s experiences helping random people he meets in his life come to terms with any emotional angst they’ve experienced. It also has a subplot involving a female classmate named Nana Inohara, a social outcast who gets charmed by Machida and begins to develop romantic feelings for him.

What I like about Machida is that he’s promoting himself to others in a way that most people have forgotten as they grow into adults. He genuinely is interested in the lives of those he meets. Machida wants to do what he can for people who need help. There are some great moments in the series like

- Helps a female classmate rejected by her boyfriend to get back with him after she tries to hit on Machida in an attempt to make her ex jealous.

- Helps a young kid who’s friends with one of his little brothers comes to terms with why he has a “bad personality” and calls anyone who isn’t smart like him an idiot (it was mostly because he cares about people and felt it was better that they didn’t come near him).

- Subtly helps a male office worker realize that his complaints about people not being considerate of others were just hiding the fact that he himself wasn’t considerate about his girlfriend’s feelings about him working all the time and not spending enough time with her.

- Convinces an arrogant classmate who dumped Valentine’s Day chocolate from a girl in the trash to appreciate his own feelings more in order to appreciate other people’s feelings.

- Helps a former middle school classmate get over his jealousy of Machida’s popularity and his fear of not being liked for who he is.

- Manages to convince a heartbroken, middle-aged woman, who was rumored to be a “witch” among her community, face her emotions over her heartache and step out into the spotlight once more as a prolific artist after 4 years of isolation.

- Befriends a mother who’s stressed out from parenthood and reminds her to ask for help as needed.

- Teaches a lost young girl who criticized people who aren’t her parents the basics of empathy as he was helping her find her parents.

What’s amazing about Machida is that he is a very humble kid. He believes in the potential of others to become better. Of course, Machida’s naivety is a big problem, but in the case of helping that one arrogant classmate (who would later become his friend) and his lack of appreciation for people’s feelings, he can stand up with resolve as needed. 

Machida doesn’t seem to suffer from an inferiority complex as he doesn’t feel a need to prove himself to others. There’s a problem we have with teaching kids how to be humble and it’s that they have to also learn how to be self-confident at the same time. Kids often have a tough time dealing with the in-between, so they start to bash themselves whenever they mess up or say they aren’t better in order to get others to notice them. In a way, it’s pretty much humble-bragging.

Machida does good things not to be recognized by others, but because he has a genuine interest in the people around him.

After finishing Machida-kun, I wonder what’s the best way to teach kindness and compassion. I don’t think empathy is enough because understanding something/someone doesn’t mean one takes action. Plus you will never truly understand the full picture of things around you. There also has to be some limit to make sure that kindness and compassion don’t burn someone out.

For starters, we can:

1.) Be willing to experience difficult emotions and thoughts (Machida often gets curious about subjects like love and why people behave the way they do and expresses his often-deep thoughts with confidence)

2.) Staying true to a core self that makes up the best of you regardless of the situation around you (Machida keeps on helping people, even when he sometimes messes up in school and home)

3.) Practice self-compassion (Although Machida wonders about himself and how he seems to do poorly in school, he doesn’t berate or guilt-trip himself. He knows everyone around him has their own struggles to deal with.)

4.) Identify your core values and taking steps to follow them (Machida believes in the best in people (the core value that makes the story memorable), so he takes every step to help them whenever possible with no expectation of a reward. That also means he does back off as needed. This was the case with an old friend of Machida’s and his struggle to help one of Machida’s sisters if she ever got harassed by anyone. Machida inspires his friend to go forward and doesn’t interfere when that friend finally got a chance to redeem himself.

The World of Machida-kun is a manga that really should be read by all. It made me think about what happened to people who went from kids able to speak their minds and be kind to adults who doubt themselves and hurt others. What exactly are we teaching youth now? Machida is a very charming protagonist that should be talked about more. We can all learn from his everyday courage to be vulnerable and able to re-frame various unpleasant experiences in a better light. 

The “different world” that fans dream of so much in anime should be the world Machida wants - being there for one another to make reality a “different world” worth living in.

This is my last post of the year. I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season and spend it with people you love and trust. If it isn’t possible, treat yourself to something pleasant. I’ll see everyone in 2019!

How many times have you heard this throughout your whole life? You can’t depend on anyone but yourself. While this is true, there are a few people in your life you have to trust. However, this gets problematic real quick if you don’t have many close friends. Over the holidays, I got a chance to finally read the 1st volume of Nagata Kabi’s My Solo Exchange Diary. It’s still as honestly brutal and heavy as Kabi’s previous memoir, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness.This work focuses more on Kabi’s desire to connect with other people and I want to talk about one theme that this volume highlights - how relying on others makes you more independent.

Throughout the book, Kabi talks about her fixation with her mother. Even though she tries to move out on her own, Kabi seems to end up doting on her mother. In Entry #9 of Volume 1, Kabi reflects on her connection with her mother after living on her own for a while. She felt that their relationship was too one-sided in favor of herself. Kabi notes,

“Well, now that I think about it…I assigned too many roles to my mother. An independent person would have a bunch of different people to turn to, but I loaded everything onto my mother. That was cut off now, so a hole popped open. I was just barely connected to people by my work.

I really do have to get more people to rely on! More people, fewer expectations of each of them!! In other words, independence!”

What stands out to me is Kabi saying that an independent person would have a bunch of people to rely on. But wait a minute, can’t someone who’s independent take care of themselves just fine? Sure. It’s just that they’re able to have relationships that helped them become self-sufficient. They know that making friends grants opportunities and they have different friends for different situations.

I sometimes worry when people who mean well tell others to fight back against anyone who’s oppressed them or depend only on themselves. This is fair in some situations, but if that fight or flight behavior is left unchecked, it creates barriers to meeting people who really want to help or care about them. Having emotional outbursts as you get older isn’t good when making the connections you need.

Last year, I read a New York Times article called “In My Chronic Illness, I Found a Deeper Meaning.” It detailed a rabbi’s struggle with a chronic disability as he strived to take care of himself. He realizes that he can’t and says,

“I had to come to terms with the necessity of interdependence.We are born needing care and die needing care, and I am no exception. At brief moments in the middle of life, we hold the illusion of independence, but we are always driving on roads we did not build, eating foods we did not pick or raise. Allowing the illusion of my own independence to drop away unmasked a fundamental truth of being human.”

The rabbi talks about how he found better connection with sick people than those who are healthy due to the wide stigma against anyone who’s sick physically or mentally. There’s an unconditional love based around justice and loving relationships for all without expectations among the unhealthy.

I’m not advising anyone to go out and get sick in order to meet new people, but in the end of the day, we’re not gods. We can’t do everything ourselves.

The more I read about Kabi’s experiences, the more I can’t help but think about the level of control that everyone wants and what happens when that control is gone. Kabi’s mother was a controllable crutch that didn’t help her due to Kabi’s desire for control. It’s not her fault though because she believed (like most people in today’s “I’m independent!” obsessed culture) that one should be able to handle everything in life and get it together. 

There’s a paradox effect of being independent where the stronger you get, the lonelier you get. This happens due to the fact that no one wants to feel vulnerable, even though it’s what makes us alive and brings people together. Even though friendships in anime/manga are full of tropes, they do make someone stronger.

Kabi makes note about this in a previous chapter while she realized that handling all her moving-out process by herself and not calling a moving company was unrealistic,

“I want to be someone who gets help from people and repays it, who’s built up relationships with people outside her family. I want future me to be an independent person who relies on others appropriately and can be relied on the same way.”

I will repeat this over and over until the end of time: people can’t live alone. Like Kabi, I agree that you shouldn’t rely on family all the time, but I hate how the culture we live in today seems to tell us that “You’re the best. F*** everyone else.” Prominent communities (good and bad) grow due to people working with each other to build something better for themselves. People who fought back against oppressors with power had help from support behind the scenes.

Let’s not just exchange words with ourselves, but with others who can make our lives more worthwhile.

If there’s one stereotype that seems to be a major one for otaku, it’s social anxiety. We get anxious over making friends and dealing with people outside of the internet. Although the anime only just introduced this character for a bit, the Wotakoi - Love Is Hard for an Otaku manga goes right in on Ko Sakuragi, a young woman who lives most of her life through games. But unlike main character Hirotaka Nifuji (who is a hardcore gamer himself), she struggles with social anxiety or has symptoms of it. Not only does Wotakoi depict what being an otaku in their 20s’-30s’ is like, but I feel it describes a person living with social anxiety well.

Readers get introduced to Ko as Hirotaka’s younger brother, Naoya Nifuji, talks to her during his job at a cafe about a MMORPG game he got wrecked in. Startled by the reaction, Ko runs away, but drops her homework at the cafe. It turns out both Naoya and Ko go to the same university. Naoya gives Ko back her homework at school and asks her to be his friend. Naoya and Ko start to grow closer together as they played the MMORPG game side-by-side. However, Naoya doesn’t know that Ko is a girl due to her boyish looks and height. One day, both were hanging out with friends at an arcade. While Ko runs off to the women’s restroom, Naoya happens to be at a vending machine near that restroom. He catches Ko coming out and she becomes distressed to the point of tears. After Ko rushes out of the arcade, Naoya becomes distressed and asks Hirotaka and Narumi Momose for help to repair his friendship with Ko.

Social anxiety is a pretty common mental health issue. Having that kind of anxiety means you have worry and fear about how you are around people. For example, you try to mean well with someone you’re close with, but then you start to over-think that you did too much or too little. You stress over being observed and judged. We all have cases of social anxiety, but how does it become a problem that interferes with someone’s daily life? If it lasts more than a few weeks and/or months, then that anxiety needs to be addressed.

For Ko, she struggles with making friends in public. She speaks softly, gets too self-conscious, and feels overwhelmed with emotion a lot. When Naoya asks to be her friend, Ko assumes he wants her gamer ID to play the MMORPG game with. While the two got together for a gaming session, Ko expressed desire to play with Naoya again despite the huge contrast between the two (Ko being a hardcore gamer, Naoya being a huge casual player). At the arcade, Ko actually smiles at Naoya telling him to not get stressed out over being an inadequate gamer. Ko then freaks out over what she said, even though she does say it’s important to play with friends. 

Before the restroom scene, Ko ruminates over whether Naoya was really having fun with her. She started to believe that Naoya might be accusing her of looking down on him. Ko thinks back to her past where a few guys in her life rejected her over the fact that she wasn’t a man. She even yells at herself for comparing her past to her present. “Self-reflection”, which is considered to be Ko’s main skill, as a socially anxious person is a horrifying experience. 

What I like about Ko’s portrayal is how Fujita highlights what happens when a socially anxious person tries to handle apologies from those who genuinely like them. After the incident at the arcade, Ko decides to skip school and play PC games all day. Although video gaming is a good solution to help with social anxiety, Ko was, as she quotes, running back to her “default mode” to hide from her insecurities. However, she starts to note how much she misses having contact with someone in a game. 

Naoya finds her via the MMORPG game they play to apologize, which freaks Ko out. She knew she wasn’t upfront about her biological sex to him. Ko didn’t know what to say, so she replied with a deadpan message saying that she was the one at fault and implying that their friendship was over. This is a normal reaction for someone with social anxiety. Ko wants to be friends, but her fear leads to her believing that it’s all her fault to begin with and therefore she doesn’t deserve friendship. However, after teaming together to deal with a tough monster in the game, Naoya tells Ko that playing with her is the best and Ko agrees with a smile on her face.

Ko was worried that Naoya was going to judge her for being a woman like the guys she once knew. She couldn’t help but react the way she did. It’s also hard to blame Naoya for feeling like he did something wrong. Ko didn’t realize that people often like you more than you think. To be fair, we do have to be cautious of people at times. There’s a huge gap that needs to be addressed though and it’s the “liking gap.”

Basically, if both people in a conversation like each other, they perceive one another to be pleasant. However, if one person likes someone more than the other person likes them, there lies a huge sense of awkwardness in-between. Hence the gap in liking someone. Next thing you know, the person who’s stressed in the conversation start to stress over what they say or how to act around their conversation partner. They don’t realize they already made a great impression on their partner.

There was a liking gap between Kou and Naoya and I liked how the manga illustrated this to a big degree. People with social anxiety, like Kou, really want to be liked. She knows that not everyone will treat her badly. But her mind acted like an overprotective parent in the worst way possible when real kindness came her way. 

As I noted in Wotakoi, relationships are a lifelong battle manga. Ko still has trouble being around people at times, but Naoya is there to ease her into friendships. We can argue about various solutions to social anxiety, but we can all agree that the process has to be gradual. Let’s build one’s “default mode” to be one filled with enough courage to accept all emotions and face them head on with love.

I still remember the year I discovered Dragon Ball Z. It was 1994 and I got exposed to it via a friend back in junior high. After watching a few episodes on VHS, I began to see action figures of the characters in Chinatown. One really stood out and it was Super Saiyan Broly. At the time, he was the largest figure I saw out of all the Dragon Ball Z characters. I did catch the 3 movies featuring him and saw why he was popular due to his character being one of the Legendary Super Saiyans.

25 years later, I saw Dragon Ball Super: Broly and it was a fun trip back to the early years of my anime fandom.

The movie was fun and full of fan-service for longtime fans of the series. After the movie, I heard some fans in the theater begin to debate who was stronger: Jiren (Son Goku’s last major opponent prior to the movie) or Broly. 

Hearing this debate was funny after going through debates of best girl/boy these past few years. It was funny because I remember a time where I was obsessed with power levels and such. 

After getting into Dragon Ball Z and discovering the glory of the early internet days, I remember looking at power levels for all the character, post-Frieza Saga. I was curious to see how strong each character was during the Cell Saga and Majin Buu Saga. Now why was I that curious to begin with? 

Maybe because I wanted to make comparisons. I want to put things in a hierarchy. My mind  couldn’t make sense of a fight between two characters if it’s so ambiguous. I wanted a clearer picture of things to put my mind at ease. That power level obsession continued on as I got into BLEACH and wondered about how Ichigo Kurosaki and Soul Society would fare against Sosuke Aizen and the Espada.

When I saw those fans talking about Jiren/Broly, I thought about all the psychology podcasts and articles I researched through the years on comparisons and creating order in one’s life. People generally don’t embrace ambiguity. I do wish people learn how to because a lot of things in life are usually both good and bad. Multiple viewpoints really do open the world to someone.

But you know, hearing those shonen strength debates for that one night was so refreshing after a whole bunch of drama I heard about within the anime industry community. I know shonen fandom does get a ton of crap because they generally don’t follow series that aren’t full of action, but their appreciation and enthusiasm for simplicity can be contagious. I sometimes wonder about whether my growing knowledge on manga made me forget the important point of being a fan - to have fun over the same thing with other fans. Being an expert can make you appear snotty and hard to get along with if you’re not personable. 

I just smiled inside my head because the whole DBS: Broly experience was a trip to one of my past selves. I wanted to smirk every time Vegeta did something cool or was blunt. I’m not ashamed of that past self because it shaped a big part of my personality for better or worse. I want fans who have felt guilt or shame over any interest that isn’t considered “normal” to know - you can learn to forgive yourself and accept that it’s a part of you. Self-compassion and self-acceptance are a more powerful duo than Goku and Vegeta.

I also realize that keeping things simple is a part of my acceptance of multiple viewpoints. And to sometimes revisit your own past to create a better narrative for your life and others. To quote the last lines of Daichi Miura’s Blizzard (the theme song for the movie), 

It is my right to be free
Cuz the future’s only made for you and I
And the story will last forever more

Make that past into a story worth something to you because we all deserve a chance to own the past on our terms and power up with it to help others shonen-style.

(Side note: That Blizzard song is so good. Daichi Miura is a really big deal in Japan and I can see why he was chosen to do the theme song.)

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” - Edward Abbey

Ever since Cells at Work! took anime fandom by storm, I always wondered how fans would react towards the chapters/episode where cancer is shown to be a sympathetic villain. There were experts that were praising the series’ portrayal of how cancer works while fans found the Cancer Cell character itself to be fascinating. This was mostly due to the character being a victim of being born with bad genes to begin with and how he felt he had a right to live despite taking down tons of cells that help the immune system.

It’s just unfortunate that the anime didn’t have a chance to show off the 2nd arc involving the Cancer Cell because his re-appearance makes me think about the possible dangers we do to our minds for the sake of what we deem as progress.

Cells at Work! Volume 5 was a volume-long arc that culminated in the return of the Cancer Cell. After dealing with an incident involving good bacteria versus bad bacteria, White Blood Cell, Memory T Cell, and NK Cell go on to confront the Cancer Cell. The Cancer Cell managed to have the protection of Regulatory T Cell, as she treated him like as a regular cell in the body. During the battle, Cancer Cell tells White Blood Cell that he intends to create a world where no cell has to kill or be killed at all. There will be nothing but constant growth until the body dies. White Blood Cell does kill off Cancer Cell, but realizes that both of them have more in common than he thought.

I wanted to talk about this arc because of a 2016 Guardian article on the myth of time management. It talked about how time management was supposed to be a savior for workers everywhere, but turns out it only adds more work. We try to take on whatever we can for the sake of being productive and then see that nothing’s really changed. It doesn’t help that outside factors (company policies, work culture, support of corporations, etc.) don’t try to take their share of the blame for making work the way it is for most people.

How does this relate to the 2nd Cancer Cell arc? White Blood Cell started to question himself over his role of killing cells. He saw the power of the good bacteria and a normal cell that housed them in Volume 5 and realized that they were worth something. White Blood Cell starts to have some reservation about killing. Cancer Cell realizes this and tells him that no cell should die. He also considers himself a “friend” of the White Blood Cell.

“Are you more worried for your friends than yourself? I like that about you. Along with all of the contradictions you carry inside. You can only live for others, but you were born a cell who can only kill others. I find you so pitiful, and awkward, and amusing.”

A trapped White Blood Cell tells Cancer Cell to fight him, but Cancer Cell replies with a somewhat somber smile,

“No. Because I like your contradictions. You’re just like me, struggling within a fate that was decided for you! I don’t want to kill a friend.”

I think struggling with a perceived fate is something we can all relate to. We feel that our lives have little-to-no meaning. We may not know what the brighter side of things is like. So we work to get there. We work to fight back against whatever limits we have. We work to feel important. But after reading the Edward Abbey quote above and the Cells at Work! manga, I can’t help but wonder if we’re trying to grow without thinking about who it benefits.

Are we becoming Cancer Cells ourselves? We hustle to fit in. We want to believe that being busy is what will keep us alive. But how much of it helps to better the world? How much productivity is helping you to become better in connecting with the outside joys of life (which is usually relationships)? Why are most people becoming more depressed and anxious despite filling their days with work to do?

I’m not sure what the right answers are, but one solution that the manga would suggest is to be like the White Blood Cell and accept all of life’s contradictions. If you realize that taking breaks aren’t as bad as you think despite being a hard worker, that’s a start. 

Cancer is terrible and we don’t want it to be spread. I just wish we ourselves can be a kind-hearted killer (what the Cancer Cell calls White Blood Cell) and end a psychological cancer that does just as much worse harm.

“No. I’m the real me.”

21 years ago, a then-unknown anime director took the anime world by storm with an animated feature on the dangers of the cult of celebrity. It was a tour-de-force that showcased what happens when reality and imagination come together to create a horrific vision for anyone suffering its grasp. Satoshi Kon’s psychological horror classic Perfect Blue, which was re-released to audiences in American theaters on September 2018, is a film whose tale holds up today in a society obsessed with fame. 

I won’t focus on the celebrity aspect of the film as many other recent articles have ventured into. Instead, I want to talk about the film’s usage of mental health with regards to certain specific disorders tied to its theme.

Warning: Heavy spoilers will be discussed here as I will go in-depth on certain incidents that happened.

Perfect Blue centers around a young woman named Mima Kirigoe and her road to becoming a mainstream actress in Tokyo. After performing in a idol group for some time, Mima announced to the media that she would become a full-fledged actress. However, this displeases many fans of her idol work and the movie’s beginning shows an anonymous fax sent to Mima, labeling her a “traitor.” Mima later discovers that there’s a blog with her name on it called “Mima’s Room.” The blog details every aspect of her life and what she does when not working as if Mima wrote it herself. At the same time, several murders involving Mima’s entourage happen around her while Mima begins to see a hallucination of her pop idol self taunting her in real life. Real life and fantasy go in and out throughout the film as Mima starts to wonder about her sanity. In the climax, it was revealed that her manager, Rumi Hidaka, was behind “Mima’s Room” and the murders. Rumi believes herself to be the real Mima and chastises Mima as a fake who’s in the way. A violent chase scene occurs and ends with the two of them in blood, but still breathing. In the end, Rumi is hospitalized and Mima achieves her dream of making it big, but it is unclear on whether Mima is considered to be mentally well.

I first saw Perfect Blue about 18 years ago and I still remember the Rumi revelation all too well. I thought she was jealous of Mima as I forgot almost everything else in the film at the time. But after seeing Perfect Blue again last week, her reveal as the true culprit is central to a theme involving Mima’s first acting role. Mima starred in a crime drama called Double Bind, where she portrayed a young woman with dissociative identity disorder (DID). The character had multiple personalities. Mima goes through some rough acting moments (including the filming a rape scene where she was the victim) and the film has you believe that her role became her real life. The character Mima portrayed switched to a personality which made her a murderer in order to suppress uncomfortable feelings. The people dying around Mima became a mirror image of the crime drama itself. Rumi becomes an unfortunate victim of DID herself as her “Mima” personality took over her psyche.

Hearing about dissociative identity disorder in Perfect Blue as a now full-fledged mental health enthusiast was a bit uncomfortable to me. It’s because of a 2017 film called “Split” that portrays a person with the disorder as a murderous individual. There was also this article I read about the stigma against anyone who has multiple personalities. Those with DID can’t talk about their condition to most people. If they did, their lives can change for the worst. Having depression or anxiety is nothing compared to living a life where you can’t remember what you did because of a sudden personality change and you’re trying to figure out what happened.

I just felt that the movie reminded me of what I still face sometimes when I talk about my depression and the suicidal tendencies I have to someone. I’m afraid of getting labeled crazy and dangerous. I don’t want to be locked up. Granted that times have changed since the year Perfect Blue originally debuted and mental health awareness is now a thing, I just hope that fans do understand that not everyone with multiple personalities is Rumi.

I also want to discuss another condition called folie a deux (French for “madness of two”), which is known as shared psychotic disorder. The concept behind it is that anyone with a psychological disorder can spread their beliefs and hallucinations onto someone else due to close proximity and vice versa. In Mima’s case, this seemed apparent with Rumi. Before the climax, Rumi would come check in on Mima often at work and at home. Rumi also helped set Mima up with getting her internet set up, which led to the discovery of “Mima’s Room.” If you go by the folie a deux concept, it can be used to hint that Rumi’s own mental instability leaked out to Mima after Mima’s announcement to the public to be more than a pop idol. That instability would became the basis for the pop idol Mima hallucination Mima sees throughout the movie. Rumi was the one person against Mima becoming an actress. She seemed unable to cope with her displeasure of Mima’s actions (there was a moment during the filming of the rape scene where she got up and left crying) and wanted to keep her preferred image of Mima intact. But as the more famous Mima grew, the delusions only kept getting worse for Rumi.

There haven’t been too many cases or studies of folie a deux as it is considered to be a very rare condition. However, there was a large case in India where 11 members of a family all killed themselves as part of a ritual this year. An article I found that talks about folie a deux hints at the possibility on why psychosis is shared is because of our (very human) desire to connect with one another. Although we talk about self-improvement, we’re reliant on other people for feedback and love to help improve ourselves. This seems to be case with families or communities that are built to be like families. Mima and Rumi had a familial-like bond that kept them going in the often-horrible world of making entertainment. We sometimes take on the characteristics and traits of the ones we love. There is a lot of horror that can come of this when it comes to cults and abusers. Think about how many abusers were victims of abuse growing up. Think about the brainwashing that cults do on its members. We all want to worship and be worshiped at the same time.

There was a interview with Satoshi Kon (which is up on YouTube) shown at the end of the remastered showing I went to where the interviewer asks Kon what message was the film trying to say to its viewers. Kon says that it’s best to look at the film as a story about losing reality. He goes on to say that there are times where you can’t tell whether things are real or fake. In the end, you can only rely on yourself to find a place where you belong. There will be bumps on the way, but if you’re able to go through them and learn more about the world around you, you might have the identity you want.

I thought about what Kon’s words meant in the scheme of mental health. A lot of folks with mental disorders have felt let down by people and with good reason. Their support system disregards their well-being as nothing serious to worry about. People who mean well say the wrong things to them. There’s a lot of discrimination from anyone who doesn’t understand their condition they face on a constant basis. I wonder if Mima was used as a proxy character that viewers live through to better understand the perspective of someone who suddenly experiences signs of a mental disorder. Rumi can be considered a proxy character as well as she’s an example of someone not taking Kon’s message to heart as she was started to become beyond help.

I do think that Perfect Blue portrays how the modern world affects mental health for the worst. Small communities with tight bonds all around are demolished for larger communities with people who are often alone together. The setting of Perfect Blue is one where citizens all walk around Tokyo, but live to gossip about one another with apathy. The movie covers the dilemma of surrender vs. autonomy when you need both to thrive. You can give yourself to those you love, but you must still be able to do your part in living life yourself. Mima and Rumi are both victims of the vicious modern conflict between being yourself and trying to fit in. This conflict destroys the intimacy that humans need and creates boundaries that can become self-delusions as you can see in the film. You can’t place sole blame on the individuals when conflicts like this happens because our cultures have played a role in such developments in the way they enforce norms on communities.

20 years later and Perfect Blue is still a disturbing reminder that feeling blue shouldn’t be the end of everything and it’s what many of us should remember and appreciate more - that feeling blue means you’re perfectly human.

This past weekend, I went to a youth mental health first aid training workshop in my area. It was part of a recent initiative from my city government to look out for those who have signs of mental illness. While there were many things I already know due to my constant readings on mental health and psychology, I learned a good amount of information on how to approach young people from the ages of 12 and 19, who are the most vulnerable to developing mental illnesses.

I want to talk about something that I never thought about until after the workshop and two articles I saw from Anime News Network that covered 2 stories containing mentions of suicide.

The first article was titled “Erotic Manga Artist Who Left Company Describes Poor Pay, Rejection.“ It focused on a manga artist wanting to end it all after going through so much stress from work and not getting paid well for his works.  The artist in question tweeted about their troubles to the attention of the Japanese culture blog, Yaraon!, 

The second article was titled “Russian Official Claims Link Between Anime and Child Suicide.” It talked about a Russian organization looking out for children’s interests in their own country and their claims that anime can cause a child to think about and attempt suicide. This organization talks about how anime romanticizes death to viewers.

Both ANN articles had a warning to readers that went like this:

“Warning: this story contains statements relating to thoughts of suicide. If you or a loved one is in the U.S. and in need of help, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255“

I’m starting to have mixed thoughts about this warning mostly because of my experiences in the youth mental health workshop I went to. Let me explain.

The topic of suicide was brought up during the end of the workshop and the instructor showed the class a video of a young man who attempted suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The man described his mindset at the day he tried to kill himself. He wanted to die, but at the same time, he wanted to live. His father asked if he was okay and even suggested that he spent time with the man, but he said that it was okay. The young man went on his day until he went to the bridge. He was distraught beyond belief and made up his mind after a woman talked to him - only to ask him to take a picture of her. The man jumped, but realized he wanted to live so bad. He survived, but he broke a lot of bones in the process. 

The man said something that made me think - he wished his dad asked the following questions - “Hey, are you having thoughts of suicide?” and “Are you thinking of killing yourself?” The man believed if he was asked those questions, he wouldn’t have jumped off because he would have felt comfortable talking about such a heavy subject due to the questions being normalized to a degree.

There is a huge myth that talking about suicide will encourage and lead to suicide. In reality, it doesn’t. When you talk about suicide with someone who has thoughts about it, you’re recognizing the pain in the other person. You’re giving them the validation that they really need. I’m not going to lie that it’s a tough subject to talk about because we’re not used to talking about death as a whole, but if you really want to help someone, you got to lower all expectations and try to talk down to their level.

It makes me realize a lot of suicides could be prevented if we were able to talk about death as easily as talking about our interests. Life is really stressful for many of us. Not only that, life is isolating so many people from the joy and meaning they want. I also think that more important than talking about death, we arm ourselves with resources to show anyone with mental illness that they can still thrive.

I get why sites like ANN and many others will give warnings about suicide mentions, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like those warnings. I also know that anime won’t always save fans’ lives. Anime and manga hasn’t always helped me. It took a great support system and outsiders with kindness to do so. That’s why at least now I want to point those fans somewhere to places where not only can they continue to enjoy being otaku, but enjoy living in a world where they get to do so.

I won’t leave anyone hanging, so here’s a document listing some great ways to start being there for someone with emotional pain, courtesy of The Scudder Intervention Services Foundation, an organization committed to suicide prevention.

Here’s another document, but for those who have emotional pain and want to know where to start on their own end after gaining hope from others.

I hope this helps everyone! Let me know if you have any feedback!

For many Tokyo Ghoulfans, one of the most iconic moments they can name on the top of their head is the moment in the original series where Ken Kaneki embraces his ghoul side and has his hair turned snow white after horrific torture at the hands of the ghoul Yamori. It brought new tension into a series filled with non-stop tension between ghouls and humans.

In a recent interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun (one of Japan’s most notable newspapers), Tokyo Ghoul creator Sui Ishida talks about the significance of the scene in his own life.

This is the part of the interview where Ishida elaborates on the kind of thinking he has after reflecting on the Yamori/Kaneki sequence.

“Kaneki speaks for others

Q: I feel sorry for Kaneki. He was born as a human being but changes into a being that can only survive on human flesh. It’s so tragic.

A: It was really hard to depict him when he was actually speaking for me. There’s a scene where Yamori, a sadistic ghoul, abducts and tortures Kaneki while telling him “the reason for all the bad things in the world is just the incompetence of the individual.” That phrase fascinates Kaneki. To be honest, there was a time when I agreed with that idea, thinking things like “people who are not happy are just not trying hard enough,” or “they’re just spoiled by their surroundings.”

Q: You’re talking about the “take responsibility for yourself” idea that’s been around for some time?

A: Yes. But such words definitely drive people into a corner, don’t they? For instance, I’m not producing my manga alone. I can do it because of my staff, the editors — people I can seek advice from. I just happen to be fortunate.

When I started writing the series, I took on all the burden and was really stressed. But then I realized self-pity isn’t cool at all. Kaneki is an irresponsible person, but I think our way of thinking synchronized when the story was coming to a close.”

Yamori’s line about how people have no one to blame for themselves for their problems rings true to many people who go through mental health problems. They’re told that their conditions are their faults. For me, I hated myself for being worthless, weak, and vulnerable. I also made a mistake in victim-blaming others who went through bad situations where they had a chance to get out of them earlier and didn’t make the decision to do so.

I’m not going say that we shouldn’t be responsible for all our actions. We all have to own up on our end with what we can do in the moment, but the world isn’t so kind. Why does the “take responsibility for yourself” idea continue to persist in cultures that value such beliefs?

Some psychologists suggest that the idea persists because people believe in a just world - a.k.a. the “just world” hypothesis. They want to believe the world is fair and that good things happen to those who put in effort. We deserve what we get, so to speak. In a way, this kind of thinking serves as a defense mechanism to help people who blame victims cope with the idea that bad stuff can happen to them too. The mind wants to come up with reasons to make sense of things. They don’t want to believe that they can be victims like they ones they complain about. 

There’s more fascinating research on the subject of victim-blaming as it’s a natural response to the fear of having something terrible happen to you. The way we say things about a victim compared to what we say about outside forces that hurt them go a long way in whether victim-blaming is used as a way to get through our own insecurities.

I’m glad that Ishida brought up the fact that victim-blaming is such a judgmental idea that doesn’t take into perspective what the victim is going through. The fact that he admits how much help matters in a stressful job like the one he has is amazing. Many people are often reluctant to credit their support system for their success. 

The brief talk about blame ties into some of the last lines Kaneki says in the end of Tokyo Ghoul:re as he says the world isn’t right or wrong; it just is. People in general struggle with the idea that the world simply just exists. It doesn’t care if we become rich. It doesn’t care if we lose everything. The world just looks on. Everyone is the same via the eyes of the planet.  Blame isn’t often just on one party. That perspective is lost on many.  That’s why awareness and compassion towards people matter. 

There’s a stigma on getting and/or asking for help. No one should be driven into corners as Ishida suggests. A big way to stop the blame game is to make it okay to ask for and accept help. Remember - we’ve all gotten help from peers/mentors to become independent and functional human beings. Getting help doesn’t mean you’re inferior. It means you’re willing to do what it takes to get better. 

I hope his words in this particular interview help fans understand, a la Tokyo Ghoul’s theme of unity among people who are different, that there are wonderful people on the other side who truly want to help. And perhaps more importantly, if you want to help someone overcome their difficulties, it’s best to learn how to help the person themselves instead of waiting for them to ask. 

Hey, like our tragic hero himself, there comes a point where we’re tired of being helpless, right?

A full link to a translated version of the Sui Ishida interview (the bold text I copied is from the Japan News website, which deletes old articles as time goes on): http://kenkamishiro.tumblr.com/post/177230432547/ishida-suis-interview-with-yomiuri-shimbun-full

Just to let everyone know that I’m now a certified Mental Health Aid First Aid responder for both Youth and Adults in the United States, though mostly in New York City.

My role will basically allow me to support someone developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. That doesn’t mean I’m a therapist/psychologist as I can’t diagnose people (which, by the way, is unfair to someone who’s suffering). All I can do is pick up on signs and symptoms. 

More importantly, what I’m supposed to do is to make sure the person and myself will be okay from suicide and/or harm, listen without judgement, reassure that I will stay by them and give them helpful information, point them to the right professional help, and encourage self-help and support from other people.

I realize how it takes a group of people to really help someone. One person can’t shoulder all the responsibility, yet I see them get all the blame for not being a one-man army to change someone’s life. It feels like small groups of people are phased out for large groups that don’t have a sense of connection with each other. 

I’m not sure how much I can apply this training honestly, yet I’ve had some conversations online with readers and fans who poured their hearts out to me. I’m grateful to those people and it felt like talking to me helped give them relief. Now that I think about it, I may have done a better job than most in those situations since I’ve been through the worst of depression.

All I know is that a lot of us fuck up when it comes to talking to people about their problems sometimes. We can do better. I’m trying.

I won’t be able to help everyone. I’m not a My Hero Academia hero, but I want to let you all know that I’m here to listen and will always try to point you somewhere to get you proper help that you can go to.

If you are really interested in helping anyone (especially children) going through mental disorders, I highly recommend taking mental health first aid training. Although we will never be heroes to the public, even someone like All Might will say that we’re the real heroes. 

This is a venture worth being first in more than beating up bad guys ever will.

Mental Health First Aid Training (USA) has more information at https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/. International readers can look at http://www.mhfainternational.org/

4 years ago at New York Comic-Con, VIZ Media had a panel called “The Future of Weekly Shonen Jump.” At the time, the days of Naruto and BLEACH were about to come to an end. New hit titles like Assassination Classroom, Nisekoi and World Trigger were the rage even if their runs wouldn’t be lengthy (or become uncertain in the case of World Trigger). There was discussion about what would come for the magazine as international barriers continue to be broken and access to manga was becoming easier for overseas readers. One Japanese editor saying that they want to continue impressing global readers with stories they’ve never seen before.

All I can say today is that Shonen Jump’s as vibrant as ever and not just because it’s celebrating 50 years of publication. I look at today’s lineup of Weekly Shonen Jump titles and I think it’s one of the more diverse group of titles out there for a wide variety of readers.

This is a list of what’s being published (not counting anything that started publishing in 2018 or is on hiatus/published irregularly):

One Piece
My Hero Academia
Haikyuu!!
Black Clover
The Promised Neverland
Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
We Never Learn
Dr. Stone
Hinomaru Zumo
Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs

On the American version of Weekly Shonen Jump, you have titles like Blue Exorcist, One Punch-Man, Seraph of the End, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V joining the fray.

This is an amazing time to be a Shonen Jump fan. There’s a good reason why it was voted the 2nd best manga magazine in the 2018 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, a magazine that takes a look at what manga is popular among Japanese readers nationwide. Shonen Jump right now has something for everyone. Mainstream hits, romantic comedies, suspense thrillers, fanservice, off-the-beat action titles - Jump has all of these.

What I like about the direction Jump is taking is the continued promotion of present titles that are unique. Although there is some usage of old tropes, there’s some new tricks involved. The Promised Neverland and Dr. Stone,2 of Jump’s popular unorthodox titles, have taken readers by storm with their unique takes on shonen storytelling. 

Shueisha seems to focus on what they can do now with the manga titles they have. A lot of us focus so much on the past and/or future. We always wonder “What if..?”, “How/why did this..?”, etc. People want to make sense of things for the better. We want to be able to control life when we can’t. We make excuses because we’re afraid to fail. It just gets in the way of what we can do now.

There probably was a time where Jump went through a phase of uncertainty. After Naruto and BLEACH ended, there was some concern over what could be the next breakout mainstream hit in Jump. It took some time, but we finally have a successor in My Hero Academia (and Black Clover to a lesser degree). Jump saw the potential in My Hero Academia after seeing Kohei Horikoshi’s improvement over his previous short-lived failed series in Jump. The lesson is to notice the little moments in life and also seeing what can be done to address things that need attention.

That’s what I get from seeing Shueisha promoting current titles that are doing fun things with the shonen genre. They noticed what was taking off with today’s fans via their reader surveys and having the Shonen Jump editors work hard with their respective mangaka to create a more cohesive vision that benefits the mangaka. I’m not going to tell everyone to totally ignore the past and the future, but it’s important to keep your eyes in front of you. There are people who want to be loved and could use a friend. You might be acting in ways that worry others and they are letting you know that.

Give those moments attention because like Shonen Jump, they can help you leap towards victory for yourself and everyone around you.

For a fun visual look at Shonen Jump in 2018, check out “The Current State of Shonen Jump 2018″ by Super Eyepatch Wolf.

Growing up as children, we’re led to believe that we can all get along with one another. Adults tell us to be kind towards others. As we get to adolescence, we start to separate into certain groups as we try to find ourselves. That period sets a tone in how we live the rest of our lives. We start to try to find a place/community where we belong. At the same time, inter-group conflict becomes an issue since outside sources can threaten the livelihood of communities important to us.

I’ve been reading Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish and the relationship dynamic between its 2 main characters, Tsukimi Kurashita and Kuranosuke Koibuchi, have me ponder about and given me hope on whether 2 vastly different groups can create something magical together.

The premise behind Princess Jellyfish centers around Tsukimi’s life as a NEET (not educated, employed, or in training) otaku girl. She spends her time living with a group of female otaku just like her known as Amars at a place called Amamizukan in Tokyo. Amars follows a philosophy of sticking to your interests and not involving themselves with most of society in general, especially those who are stylish. Tsukimi enjoys her slow life until a chance encounter with a stylish lady takes her on a newfound journey of change. While noticing that a jellyfish at Tsukimi’s local fish store was about to die and Tsukimi being unable to warn a store employee due to social anxiety, the stylish lady helps her and brings the jellyfish to Amamizukan. The lady ends up staying over at Amamizukan for the night. Tsukimi then discovers that the lady is a man named Kuranosuke who likes to crossdress. The two become entangled in a wacky story involving fashion, romance, politics, and what it means to be a beautiful person.

The introduction of the story focuses on the contrast of the 2 worlds that Tsukimi and Kuranosuke inhabit - Tsukimi being a jellyfish otaku with a huge fear of social situations and Kuranosuke being the charismatic son of a well-known politician. Kuranosuke finds that the circles he hangs out in were obsessed with sex/fashion/music. He tells himself that Tsukimi’s jellyfish talk is more noteworthy. Tsukimi notices that Kuranosuke is someone she wants to try to be (but can’t due to self-hatred and fear of ostracism from Amars) - beautiful and confident. Tsukimi’s mother died while she was young and it had a great effect on her current way of living. Tsukimi admits that a part of her stopped after her mother’s death - her desire to move forward without fear. Kuranosuke’s presence renewed that desire.

There’s a popular psychological theory running around regarding intergroup relations and how to prevent conflict between them. It’s known as contact theory. The theory states that the more someone has in contact with someone very different from them, the less likely they become prejudiced towards them. You can apply to cases of diversity between races (whites vs. people of non-color). There’s also another theory called threat theory, which suggests the opposite - the more contact you have with someone different from you, the more you become wary of them.

In Princess Jellyfish, Amars warns its female residents to not interact with men, not be involved in romance, and not become fashionable. Tsukimi follows these notions to a huge degree as she is the youngest of the group. But due to Kuranosuke’s involvement in her life, she begins to question herself and Amars’ way of living. Kuranosuke found politics to be boring and grew up being ignored by his family while he was young (mostly due to being born from an affair). After having a hotpot meal with the ladies of Amars in his first interaction with them, he decides to take on the challenge of making them noticeable to society.

There came a point where Kuranosuke wanted to stop interacting with Amars after seeing Tsukimi being attracted to his older brother, Shu Koibuchi. Shu is noted to be very smart, but lacking in knowledge about romance. Kuranosuke decides to go back to his original lifestyle of partying, but when the ladies of Amars come after him one night in Shibuya and his stylish friends criticize them, he defends Amars by saying they’re his friends. Tsukimi wonders why Kuranosuke would consider a group of anxious women who are afraid of people “friends.” 

I liked how Kuranosuke defended Amars after spending a great deal of time with them. Although they had some traits that irked him, Kuranosuke saw potential in them. Amars were real people with varied interests. All the girls Kuranosuke has ever met in his life were the same to him - all obsessed with popularity. Amars was very close-knit like a small family. That novel contact with a different world helped him see that even though it may not be coherent with what he thinks, that world is still a world worth being around and contributing to.

There was a new study that came out and explored more of the contact theory in general. It focused on diversity and how white people viewed people of color. With contact theory applied, the more contact with diverse folks, the less prejudiced white people were towards them. What the study found was that the effects of contact vary widely in certain settings. If both whites and POCs lived in small communities, contact does help reduce prejudice and whites would support immigration. But if they are living in large areas (ie cities), contact makes matters worse and whites start oppose immigration.

Reading reports on this study made me think about Kuranosuke and Amars because while their connection started in a large environment like Tokyo, it grew when they were together in Amamizukan, a small residence inside the big city. Tokyo is wide and otaku aren’t as greatly accepted as one would think. Kuranosuke’s friends, who have little contact with otaku and probably based their conceptions of them via mass media, joked at Amars’ fashion styles and one even asked Kuranosuke why he was hanging around with otaku, which pissed him off. 

Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine NEETs/otaku getting along with anyone involved in high-end fashion or even groups with extreme differences banding together in real life sometimes. I do can take one thing from the fun relationship between 2 different worlds in Princess Jellyfish - it’s that young people hold the key since they are more tolerant of different opinions and that we shouldn’t be too critical of them. This isn’t going to be easy because people change their minds about others all the time or we won’t change all that much.

I do think that establishing shared goals with one another and engaging on a level that calls for a mutual agreement towards something is a start to get rid of bias. Thanks to Kuranosuke, Tsukimi wanted to make jellyfish-themed dresses. Kuranosuke wanted his mother to wear a unique dress that he helped make. Both of these shared goals (the dresses) were part of something bigger - to save Amamizukan from being demolished at the hands of real estate developers (the mutual agreement and a big plot of the story). 

Two worlds colliding doesn’t have to be destructive.Even after the initial destruction, we can always point out the next step - making creation that’s beautiful and never goes out of style.