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.

Love is Weird

Something weird that i've been observing is the phenomenon known as love. Love has been ridiculed and appreciated by the entire world. Some people believe love is just a misguided feeling and that no such feeling exists. Other people believe love is what binds all living things together. What i did not expect from love was the fact that love can make people defy common sense. I've recently observed that even though a person knows his or her partner is flawed...he/she still continues to be with her. Even though it is obvious that the partner is selfish and cannot think of other people that might not be directly related to him, he/she does not leave him. This defies my perception of common sense because this is a huge character flaw. I don't quite understand how this action or lack of action is justified. I guess love is the most powerful emotion a human being can feel; however, what does that mean about love's evil cousin, hate? Is hate not love too?

Hate- a : intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury

Love-strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties

The two are polar opposites yet maybe the two are so far apart...they couldn't be anymore close. If two objects on Earth try and be infinitely apart...they're basically next to each other. This could be crazy talk of course if you don't know what's going exactly inside of my head. Everything in life is so intriguing because i cannot break it down to its base units and describe the exact process to lead to the end product.

A side topic is about computers...i can't understand how this hardware works. What function do the semiconductors in the hardware have in the machine? How does the computer send and translate information at blinding pace from bits of electronic impulses into an image on a computer screen? How does the internet or bluetooth work? I don't understand how electronic signals can be made into images...it all seems so complicated to me. I think it'd be great if I could design a real version of the SeaQuest hahah! i want to learn; however, i'm afraid the path is too hard to walk. Hardware knowledge is all about engineering and i'm no good at sciences and it's sooo much work. So many questions unanswered...it's amazing how everybody in the isn't feeling the same curiosity i am!

WoW.....no posts in a month!?

Hey all, i just noticed that i haven't posted in a month! holy crap life has really gone by quickly! Spring break was really relaxing since my friends hadn't come back till the last two days until i had to go back to school. I played with the neighbor's dog and went hiking with my parents! I feel a lot better with myself and life has been going very smoothly. I am not going out as much as i used to primarily because i feel i've gotten a lot more mellow. THere are plenty of things i can do by myself at home so i dun have to seek outside things to do. Sure if my friends call and i'm up for it, i'll go out and i have been going out from time to time. I'm pretty content at the moment with just playing games. I find that it's really stressful to have to go out all the time. I've come to accept more things about myself. I've accepted the fact that i do think a lot. I think about the little things in life and how they relate to the world. For example, in Washington there has been a big anti smoking campaign in the city of Seattle.
There are a lot of signs on buses in seattle that have a picture of a doll and her face is bloody and the doll is holding a rat in her hands. Basically the doll took a bite out of the rat and the motto of the whole story is, "Kissing a smoker is just as gross." I really ponder to myself if this is some type of discrimination. Of course this isn't literal discrimination since the definition does not apply but the ad is discouraging ppl from associating themselves with smokers since they're all probably people that eat rats. I believe that the world's methods of filtering out what it dislikes is becoming more and more subtle. At first glance i think ppl will just think that we shouldn't smoke but the ad also says that we shouldn't associate ourselves romantically with smokers too.
On a more happy note i've been playing a lot of computer games and class hasn't been too hard so life has been doin gpretty well. Everything is starting to become routine and i'm a lot happier hehe. Although i haven't talked to Nicole in a few weeks....=---/ Gimme a call sometime Sis! I hope all of you are doing well and keeping busy! I need to pay attention in lecture...i've been blogging almost hte entire time hahah! Sorry Dad, your tuition dollars at work ^_^ jk!