megalith

Messages in Anime

For the past few years, I've started to become more particular about the kinds of anime I do and don't like.

In my development as a person, I've also come to realize the difference between mangaka and directors who have a particular purpose and message in their works and others who appear to create for entertainment only and how these have even been incorporated in my personal belief system.

Not that anime that is just pure entertainment is a bad thing, but I've discovered that to me, I can't enjoy an anime without an underlying, analytical theme or some form of social/ethical/religious commentary on the same level as I can with ones that are face value.

For this reason, anime like Rahxephon, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ichiban Ushirou no Daimao hold a particular place in my mind, while others can be fun and comical, but never the same.

I think on that note, I'm going to make anime lists for people who may share the same sentiment or want to watch something that may altar or make them evaluate their own situations.

What I have in mind for my lists are based on the particular theme, message or emotion that they are supposed to invoke and so far I've come up with:

Animes that evaluate or criticize true love/romance

Animes that evaluate or criticize institutional religion or (misguided) worship

Animes that comment/evaluate or criticize personal reality or consciousness

Animes that provide social commentary about what it means to be successful, youth or the reality of adulthood.

Animes that (critically or beautifully) elaborate/criticize or attempt to define what it means to be a human or the condition of the world

What particularly made me feel this way and inspired me to do so is the amount of poignantanime that I've seen that have provoked a strong emotional response in me or left me stunned and even contemplative about who I am.

One of the very first ones that did this for me was Trigun and since, my moral code has been similar to his. It may be sometimes hard to determine whether or not an anime does have an actual, intentional or moving message, but to me, that's just part of the fun.