Chibi no Nothing – Self Referential Explanation #96
I was thinking about writing another post on Welcome to NHK. I expect that I would have gone the more normal route and talked about the characters and their attributes. I even thought about limiting the dialog to Misaki. She is actually one of the more interesting characters that I’ve watched in a recent anime series. There is so much that I would like to write with regard to her.
I don’t think I will do that. I feel that I managed to “say” what I wanted to with the previous post in regard to her character and the story.
If you didn’t read it: My previous post on NHK
I’m hesitant to explain to you how that post should have been read because that is not what I want to do. I don’t want to “tell” you how to interpret what I write. If I wanted to clearly state a point then I would have tried something as simple as stating it flat out. I know that I risk (read: do) come off as odd because of the things that appear on this blog. I’ve been weird my entire life. On the other hand, if you are reading this you’re probably a little strange yourself by proximity.
I wrote a post “On Perspective and Interpretation” a little over a week ago. In that post, I repeated something that I have been writing since the very start of this blog and even far before the existence of this place. I wrote that people use all of our forms of communications such speech, body language, etc to express what we feel. What we cannot say in words is exactly what we created words to express.
You may take anything from the previous post that you wish, that is yours. However, what I wanted to give you wasn’t a story about a sad boy. I wanted to give you that which you felt by reading it. I really see little value in the words themselves.
This was my little project with regard to NHK.
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For those of you that would like a little bit more information about the “story.” It was derived from a short story that I had written a few years ago, people I’ve met, and of course a little personal experience. As for the short story, I never actually got around to finishing it. I lost interest.
Just to be clear. When I’m posting things that basically equate to me rolling around on the grown shouting “MOOOEEEE!!!!,” there is no deeper meaning there. There is no meaning in fanboying. It’s existence is inexplicable, odd huh?
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I wish that more of your regular readers would comment on your posts, especially these more interesting half-personal/half-editorial pieces that you do.
A common theme that resonates in Japanese arts is loneliness, or disconnection from others. The most prominent examples: Evangelion, the literary works of Haruki Murakami, the music of Ryuichi Sakamoto. The status of being a hikikimori, or NEET, is this theme taken to the extreme – at which point the disconnection is no longer simply a matter of metaphor or feeling, but is actual physical fact. It’s something that everyone deals with, although some can connect with the specific instance in NHK to a greater degree than others. The difficulty inherent in understanding other people creates an environment rich for storytelling – on that note, I wish you’d written more of your short story.
I would like more comments as well. Usually the remarks of visitors help me understand how they interpret the posts. One of the reasons I feel that I need to write an explanation post after the fact is because of the lack of feedback. I suppose it isn’t too much of an issue since this blog doesn’t have a huge readership.
Maybe I need more pictures?
The shows that I enjoy watching the most are the ones that cause me to really put some thought into the entire experience. NHK while being a little far out there had aspects to it that brought back some forgotten memories and events. The kind of things that make me knock on my head and say, “stupid.”
NHK hit a little too painfully close to home. While, I have no fear of going out and dealing with people, I’m loathe to actually do it. In fact, rather than commute to finish my master’s (granted its a two hour bus ride) I’m finisihing it over the ‘net. How’s that for being a hikikimori ;)? An interesting thing about writing is that people have to rely heavily on words as we lose the body language and inflections of the voice. Your comment about what we can’t say in words is why we created them reminded me of some debates I’ve had with friends in the past. Which is more important? The word or the event?
And I don’t think being a fanboy is odd or inexplable. Just look how people go crazy over some musician or actor. Or in my case, a Kanon fanboy. What’s inexplicable is wearing a cheese hat to a football game. Yes, been there, done that.