Since I started including my kids in my anime watching experience and rewatching old series I enjoyed before most of them were even born, I've come to realize a few things I never thought about before. The series I watch with them now have so many important life lessons. Some are a bit subtle and some are right there in your face. Here's what I mean.
INUYASHA
One of the best life lessons in this series is acceptance. Accepting who you are and loving yourself. Accepting others for who they are and not what they look like, who their parents were, whatever.
You've got the main character who is half demon, half human. He hates his human side and wants to become completely demon. Why? He doesn't fit into either world as he is now. Or so he thinks.
He meets a human girl who loves him for who he is. Their little group consists of full demons, humans, and the half demon. They're all friends, they hardly think about their differences.
This is a valuable life lesson, especially now with the race wars going on in America. It doesn't matter what color your skin is. Who cares if you're mixed? Love yourself for who you are and love others for the same reasons. If only we could all see the world through these characters' eyes.
NARUTO
Who doesn't root for the underdog? This is one of those magical series that has so many positive life lessons all throughout. My favorite is that no matter how much you think you suck at something, no matter how many times others call you a failure, you can still succeed. Naruto was the absolute worst ninja of his class. Soon, he was surpassing them all. He proved that hard work and belief in yourself can take you just as far as natural talent, if not further. Never stop believing that you can achieve your dreams. Never let others tear you down.
FAIRY TAIL
Friendship. That's what this series is all about. The members of the Fairy Tail guild support each other in every endeavor. The bonds of friendship are so strong that they go out of their way to help their friends, risking their lives if they must.
A couple times, Lucy, one of the newer members of the guild, disappears to take care of her own personal business. And every time, her friends come after her just to make sure she's okay, to stand by if she should need them even if it's just for moral support. You'll never find stronger bonds than the bonds of loyalty and love in this guild. If only every friendship in real life could be this amazing.
I hope to enjoy more series with my kids that have these wonderful life lessons. You can really learn a lot from some good family anime.
Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's anime time!
That's right folks! I took a hiatus from anime for a while there but then in December I decided it was time to start watching some new shows. Well, maybe not new but new to me. I'd watched the original Fullmetal Alchemist years ago and I was excited to watch the next series that was kind of a remake: Brotherhood. It had been on my Netflix list for quite some time and once I started watching it, my kids started watching it with me.
We got half way into season two when Netflix decided to take it off streaming. The day I was scrolling through my list over and over, growing more and more anxious as I just couldn't find it, yes, I think my neighbors may have heard my howls of rage once the truth finally washed over me like a stinky wave full of seaweed and crabs. It was gone. Who knows when, or if, they'll ever slap it back on there.
Feeling dejected, I thought, "Hey, if the kids want to watch with me, we can watch another series a bit more age appropriate." So I went to my anime shelf and pulled out Inuyasha. Now, the only real anime my kids have watched religiously are Hayao Miyazaki movies cause, let's face it, Studio Ghibli is like the Disney of anime. (Probably why Disney bought the rights to their English dubbed movies. They knew it was worth gold.) So when I brought out Inuyasha, my oldest only having vague memories of me watching it when she was a baby, they seemed interested enough.
You may not know this but Inuyasha is a super long series full of filler and almost as many flashbacks as Naruto. Yeah, that many. 167 episodes in the original series, 4 movies and another 26 episode ending series. That's a lot of Inuyasha! I figured a few episodes in and they'd be bored and ready to move on to something else, especially my six year old who has a short attention span.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Every day after school it's "Can we watch Inuyasha tonight?" and "Is it time to watch it yet?" and "When do we get to the movies?"
We've watched two seasons and the first movie together so far and I couldn't be happier. You have no idea of the joy I feel to have my kids share one of my "nerdy" hobbies. I could never watch anime with my parents or siblings cause it was "too weird" and "stupid foreign crap". Now here I am watching it with my own kids and loving every minute of it. I love seeing the surprise and joy on their faces with every plot twist. I take pride in explaining any small details the youngest may not have caught. Thanks Inuyasha (and Rumiko Takahashi of course), for bringing me that much closer to my kids.
My old email for years was otakuqueen and I used that handle a lot back in the day when I watched several hours of anime a week. The watching may have slowed down now but I still love my Japanese animation. I'm still an otaku and proud of it.
And maybe I'll teach my kids what that word means. If things continue on this track, I may have to.
