Anime Philosophy

I believe that in American society, Anime is considered a childish cartoon that only nerdy guys with thick glasses and pimples watch. Anime is a cartoon; however, i don't believe that people understand the complexities of anime. I know a lot of anime is geared toward younger audiences; however, there are many anime series that deal with very mature topics that the general public overlook. I do not believe it is right to generalize anime as a childish show at all. Most people would argue that it is a cartoon and cartoons are strictly for kids and leave it at that. I argue that generalization with two anime series i have recently watched.

Gungrave
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Gungrave is basically a story of a man, Brandon Heat, who worked for a syndicate. He and his more active partner, Harry Macdowel, quickly climbed to the top of the syndicate. However, Brandon was betrayed and killed by Harry and Brandon was brought back from the dead to take his revenge. There are so many mature themes in this series...i think it's impossible to think this is a "kid series." This series deal heavily with loyalty, betrayal, and death. After watching the series i cannot help but think of the theme of death. The series basically says that life is a giant circle. Kids obtain innocence and these are the golden days. Then adolescents kicks in and power is gained. Finally, power drives the rest of the life and the powerful wish to go back to the time of innocence. To complete the circle, the powerful adults die to be reborn as children to reobtain their lost innocence. I can't help to think that this is a powerful theme...i don't believe anyoen can deny this fact. As a very young adult, i think back to when i was jaded and spoiled and i kind of wish to go back to the time when my troubles were so simple. As i grew older i was given more responsibility and more power. Now i kind of wish to go back and maybe death will grant me hte ability to go back to when i was a child. It's a very interesting theory and it does make sense...i recommend picking up or downloading this series if anyone is interested. It's a very violent (gun heavy) series but very philosophical. It's a great thinker series and it really does touch on a lot of very serious topics.

Gundam Seed
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Big robots fight it out. This series is all about war and everything that results from war. Man-kind has split into two "species," naturals and coordinators. Naturals are humans born naturally and with unaltered genes. Coordinators are humans who's genes have been manipulated to give them greater potential than Naturals. Coordinators are by nature stronger and smarter than Naturals. Conflict occurs and the Naturals fire an atomic warhead into space stations that house coordinators, PLants. Then a war begins...
This series really hits the common theme about humanity's behavioral similarity to viruses. One man believes that men must be purged of this universe because humans are basicaly viruses. Humans only consume and when they exhaust their host, leave to infect another host. What are the people's counter-argument? I see similarities and i can't help wonder if it's really true...how are humans part of nature's cycle? As much as i know...humans have only polluted the planet and risen to the top of the food chain.
Another huge theme is war and peace. How can peace be obtained through war? Is the process of war and peace an endless waltz through time? Even today i don't know a good argument as to how war leads to peace. I wish that technology hasn't become so advanced. I remember that back in the day, wars were fought through valor and strength. HUndreds of thousands of people would die in battle and the mass deaths would send a message to the people that war is terrible. Now war is so impersonal. War is fought through sniper scopes, tanks, and airplanes. Sure the loss of life is minimal; however, how will the world attain peace if there is no signal to the people that war is bad. People will remain apathetic. Look at the news, i don't see as much hype over the soldiers giving their lives to safeguard American ideals. I think of the soldiers a lot and i could probably never do what they do, which is to risk and sometimes give their lives for people they've never met. I would fight if my family or friends were endangered, but i wonder if i'm brave enough to fight for my country.

Back to the point of this mini essay...Anime is obviously not a kids series...i don't believe this at all. I kind of get angry when ppl say that i'm always watching cartoons. I think cartoons carries around a common label as something only little kids watch. I believe now that Anime carries the same spectrum of maturity as normal tv...i don't understand why people think that watching regular tv is any different, from a maturity stand point, to anime.