The Shrine

But apparently most Anime wants you to think the world they're in is perfectly equitable. Naruto got to where he is by hard work, Luffy was just an ordinary kid, and there's absolutely nothing special about Ichigo. Of course Naruto turned out to be an elite amongst elite (heritage-wise), Luffy has connection to basically every powerful entity in the world, has the rarest aura type abilities, and can convert ordinary meat product into life force (I'd say this ability is far more insane compared to the rest), and Ichigo is obviously no ordinary human.

I mean, is Anime supposed to teach us a life lesson that if we all work hard we can throw fireballs like Goku or end up with 35 girls? Not that I have a problem with these characters, but why even pretend these guys are pretty much the most talented and luckiest individuals out there? Miyazaki's films all have a communist undertone to them (nothing good ever happens to the capitalists, even the good guys end up having their shops burned to the ground and so on) because he was part of the communist party in Japan. Is this supposed to be a hidden American 'land of opportunity' agenda where if you believe in yourself you can do anything?

I think most anime, like most every fiction of every genre in every medium, attempts to accomplish transporting you into a fun world to forget about your own life. Its outrageous, funny, and not at all like the real world. That time to escape from bills, boredom, relationships, and your general mind wanderings, is all they want to do. Not living your own life is addictive. Anyways, i think they do want to sprinkle in a lesson or two, but dont try to take the whole thing for any sort of masterful sage advice.

I always assumed they want to say 'this could happen to you too!', but some of the stuff is so outrageously unlikely that nobody could possibly think it can happen to them. This isn't about how wacky the fictional worlds themselves are. If you're in the world of Naruto and you're reading about the story of Naruto, you'd still come to the conclusion that Naruto must be some super lucky guy that was destined for greatness. He certainly isn't an Average Joe in his universe.

Dear Don,

You are everyone's favourite.