Precursor, “The world is a mirror / Life is a box.” This article is a result of comments left on that post.

I’ve been rolling these thoughts around for some time now. In the previous post we hit on a topic that is close to many anime fans whether they would like to believe it or not. That topic being the core reason why many anime fans delve so deeply into these arts.

There are many reasons we enjoy the many anime sub-cultures and the medium itself. It could be the style or the colors. It could be a reverence for Japanese culture. It may be that one finds solace in sitting in a dark room with no worries other than the next chapter in a story. The list could go on because there are so many aspects to anime fandom. Or as Michael stated in comments of the last post, “In my experience a lot of people use anime as an emotional buffer between themselves and the real world.”

He was spot on in his analysis of why some people choose to watch anime over doing what the rest of society would think of as living a normal life. There is another dynamic to this that lends itself to the way it is used, the way some use it as a “buffer.” Most anime fans learn very quickly that they can’t bring up anime in casual conversation with most people. Most of us learn the hard way, and that is by trying. Others are warned before hand. Because you can’t talk to just about anyone with regard to said subject the result becomes more of a consequence than an effect of being an anime fan.

Does being an anime fan push you away form people? That’s the question raised from the last paragraph, to put it bluntly. There are tons of emotionless news sites on anime. You can go to any publishers/distributors website and get content that is aimed at selling you the “product.” It’s all blanket information with no real purpose other than to sell. And we buy, don’t we? We consume at a rate that has caught the attention of capitalist and brought even more of what we love to our feet. Spend, Spend, Spend. And for gods sake try not to make eye contact with anyone while you doing so. The question still begs to be answered.

Or should I say download, download, download.

Anime does bring you away from people, in a way. How many reading this watch anime with friends, most probably don’t. As a matter of consequence, I don’t. It is a means for many, which is a convenient escape from the realities of actual life. I feel I should question their motives.

No, animation does not push people away from each other. That is easily accomplished without the need for anything other than sorrow. Many do not understand themselves. Many understand pain as a cause and effect relationship. There has to be something that affects the individual in order to cause pain. There is sorrow without cause. We all carry a bit of emptiness within us. Its part of being human and it’s inescapable.

The person, the individual, has a tendency to only see the immediate. That is a willingness to not see past the horizon. What’s causing it pain now is the only thing that causes pain and the source of all suffering.

Not true. Ones suffering is farther reaching than one would at first think.

Do I have answers for you? No. All that I can offer you is questions built upon questions. This is not about a simple distraction. It’s not about anime, it never was. This is about you and I. You and the world. If I speak to you, if I can see you it’s only because I can see myself.

The world is a mirror.