For as long as I can remember, I have been absolutely fascinated by the vast world of pop culture. For some people, pop culture is simply modern popular culture and favored practices, objects, and beliefs that are relevant to society at a given time. But for me, pop culture encompasses so much more. To explain, I like to distinguish pop culture from folk culture, which largely represents a simpler lifestyle that supports the traditional ways of doing things. Consequently, folk culture is stoic and not compliant to change. In short, folk culture promises stability, whereas popular culture generally aims to look for something new or fresh. This distinction establishes pop culture as having a rebellious edge and as providing intrusions and challenges to folk culture. I think what initially drew me to pop culture was this underlying rebellious edge laced within its roots, and the cross-cultural capabilities of such a widely loved phenomenon.
In particular, anime really stands out to me as a fascinating and diverse aspect of Japanese pop culture. Not only do I enjoy the bright and exciting art styles of anime, but I absolutely love the diversified characters scattered across multifarious plots. At the end of the day, I’m a sucker for well thought out, diverse, and thought provoking characters with relatability. I find that the characters in Japanese pop culture are stark and refreshing when compared to characters in some western comics, who are depicted as black and white heroes and villains supernaturally enhanced and raised to god-like standards, such as Superman and Batman (No hate to Marvel though, Marvel heroes are typically more human that god-like). Anime characters almost universally share a duality of human quirkiness and spiritual strength, gaining their uniqueness from within themselves and thus earning their abilities and individuality through hardship and toil, rather than by luck and chance. With tons of different animes out there, it’s remarkable how diverse the characters continue to be. We have characters like Alibaba and Ja’Far from Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Rin Okumara from Ao no Exorcist, and Bakugou Katsuki from Boku no Hero Academia that are unlikely heroes due to questionable morals, dangerous parantages, and dark pasts, yet even so they prevail to reach their goals. Many animes do an extremely good job of not being afraid of depicting deeply flawed characters, illustrating the beauty and uniqueness in imperfections. Beyond including flawed characters, anime also contains characters with unparalleled determination, and many of these motivated characters have the wisest, smartest, and most powerful quotes that are simultaneously relatable and encouraging. The following quotes, for example, perfectly illustrate the wisdom and willpower of these characters:
“It’s more important to master the cards you’re holding than to complain about the ones your opponent was dealt.” – Grimsley, Pokémon
“Sometimes I do feel like I’m a failure. Like there’s no hope for me. But even so, I’m not gonna give up. Ever!” – Izuku Midoriya, Boku no Hero Academia
“If you don’t like your destiny, don’t accept it. Instead, have the courage to change it the way you want it to be.” – Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto
“The moment you think of giving up, think of the reason why you held on so long.” – Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail
“If all you ever do is look down on people, you won’t be able to recognize your own weakness.” -Bakugou Katsuki, Boku no Hero Academia
Even with the worst odds set against them, these characters just never seem to give up.
Anime also poses uncomfortable questions about the gray areas of morality and character, and promotes conversation about what we consider to be right and wrong. Anime such as Tokyo Ghoul entertains the idea of empathetic criminals while Deathnote, a supernatural thriller, challenges widely accepted ideas of justice and identity. Then there are shows that deal with very adult plots that contain intense violence and gore, such as Hellsing Ultimate and Attack on Titan. In contrast, we also have popular sports anime like Haikyuu!!, Kuroko no Basket, Free!, Yuri!!! on Ice, and Hajime no Ippo, and superhero anime such as Boku no Hero Academia, Sailor Moon, and One-Punch Man.
All in all, I believe that anime is unique in its ability to challenge what we often accept as the truth without even looking beyond for other possible ideas and reasonings. Anime has the ethos of a friend reaching their hand out to you, ready to pull you along on all sorts of wild, enlightening adventures. I think the adventurous and diverse nature of anime appeals to so many people in a way that cartoons from other countries don’t because anime has the potential to reach so many different audiences. In Western television and film, animated entertainment, such as Spongebob for example, is mostly geared towards children. However, anime is entirely different from cartoons and can provide entertainment for diverse audiences. The only thing that anime and cartoons have in common is the fact that they are both animated. In anime, there is a genre, character, and plot for pretty much everyone. And, if we’re being honest here, many anime characters are just so pleasing to look at that we can’t help but love them, often even falling in love with the characters we’re probably supposed to hate. Yes, Dabi, I’m looking at you.
Needless to say, anime also provides the opportunity for people from all different walks of life to meet, build friendships, and bond over a shared love for this unique aspect of Japanese culture. With social media now being a prevalent constant in modern life, it’s extremely easy to meet other anime fans in the community. These connections from around the world every day, providing a bridge across different cultures and bringing together people from many different backgrounds. Being involved with pop culture, in general, is an amazing way to start making connections with people all around the world. These connections help to cultivate understanding of cultures different from one’s one, educating people one step at a time. Personally, I’ve gained many amazing friends from across the globe simply by just being involved with so many aspects of pop culture. Whether I’m fawning over k-pop, chatting with friends in the anime community, cosplaying my favorite Marvel heroes from Western comics, or revisiting the Harry Potter series for old times’ sake, being involved in pop culture has allowed me to not only meet amazing people, but to also expand my knowledge of the cultures behind the shows, books, movies, and artists I love so much.
Never be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and do the same!
About the Author:
Kaleigh O’Leary
Hey everyone, I’m Kaleigh! I have always viewed travel as a capsule for personal enlightenment and understanding of cultures different from my own, and so I have grown up wanting to learn more about how we can connect with each other despite our diversity. I’m a huge connoisseur of all things pop-culture, and I strongly believe that different forms of entertainment and pop culture enable people to make connections from around the world every day, building a bridge across different cultures and bringing together people from many different backgrounds. I currently go to school in Connecticut, where I’m mostly focusing on filmmaking, writing, music, and media design. When I’m not fangirling, sleeping, watching anime, jamming out to music, or going down the rabbit hole of social media, you can probably find me actually working on various writing projects, engaging in humanitarian projects, or just making my fifth iced coffee of the day. I love chatting with new people, and I can be reached at kivakbo@icloud.com or, more reliably, through instagram @kaleigh.oleary.
The Big Duck 