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Anime as a gateway/life changer


RZ.

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It's a typical evening, lying in bed, getting ready to sleep and I decide to listen to the piano version of Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude.  I glance up at my End of Evangelion poster (the one with Asuka and Shinji looking over the LCL ocean with giant Rei on the horizon) and perhaps unusually, gain a sense of tranquility and calm. 

Neon Genesis Evangelion was one of my first animes and changed my life permanently. It sparked an interest not just in anime, but in psychology and more pungently, philosophy. Without NGE I would have never discovered the works of some of my favorite philosophers like Schopenhauer, Cioran, Nietzsche, etc (OK, I might have found Nietzsche unaided :D). I would also have never been able to reconcile many of my negative feelings of social anxiety, loneliness and the depression that can accompany them. Despite the month of emotional turmoil that proceeded my first viewing, I know feel happier, more certain of myself and more at peace than I did before.  

Has anybody else had this kind of intense life changing experience after watching a particular show? Or at least has an anime introduced you to a subject you otherwise may not have stumbled across? (history, politics, science, etc)

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Interesting story and interesting topic!

Although I have heard similar things from others as well as you describe about Neon Genesis Evangelion, I do not know why, but it didn't have as much of an impact on me as on many others. I still think the symbolism of the show is uniquely interesting in quite a few ways and it captures inner mental turmoil in an intriguing way, but it did not resonate as much with me personally. This might be because I only got to watch it a year ago, i.e. after I have had my fair share of experience when it comes to psychology and especially philosophy, and am already old 😂 

The question is quite difficult though. I can't say that an anime has had a sudden/discrete impact on me compared to unexpected events such as the death of a friend. But at the same time, I think there are many anime that have had an effect over time. Something that got me to think about something in a different way which later led to more substantive changes. This does happen quite a bit since I tend to over-analyze anime or at least see this as an example to a more general philosophical question which on the face of it is not related to it.

To give you an example. I watched a part of Attack on Titan (I didn't continue it since it was too much gore for my taste). When I saw the whole Titans eating humans thing, I did start to think about vegetarianism and cannibalism. Now, vegetarianism is something I had thought about before quite a bit because of a colleague who has worked on it, but cannibalism not so much. So when I now think about cannibalism (which granted does not happen too often unless I think/read about lab-grown meat), Attack on Titan might be one example for it.

Apart from that I would say that all of my favorite anime resonate with me in one way or another and have influenced the way I see or think about things for years.

Edited by Illusion of Terra
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20 hours ago, Illusion of Terra said:

Interesting story and interesting topic!

Although I have heard similar things from others as well as you describe about Neon Genesis Evangelion, I do not know why, but it didn't have as much of an impact on me as on many others. I still think the symbolism of the show is uniquely interesting in quite a few ways and it captures inner mental turmoil in an intriguing way, but it did not resonate as much with me personally. This might be because I only got to watch it a year ago, i.e. after I have had my fair share of experience when it comes to psychology and especially philosophy, and am already old 😂 

The question is quite difficult though. I can't say that an anime has had a sudden/discrete impact on me compared to unexpected events such as the death of a friend. But at the same time, I think there are many anime that have had an effect over time. Something that got me to think about something in a different way which later led to more substantive changes. This does happen quite a bit since I tend to over-analyze anime or at least see this as an example to a more general philosophical question which on the face of it is not related to it.

To give you an example. I watched a part of Attack on Titan (I didn't continue it since it was too much gore for my taste). When I saw the whole Titans eating humans thing, I did start to think about vegetarianism and cannibalism. Now, vegetarianism is something I had thought about before quite a bit because of a colleague who has worked on it, but cannibalism not so much. So when I now think about cannibalism (which granted does not happen too often unless I think/read about lab-grown meat), Attack on Titan might be one example for it.

Apart from that I would say that all of my favorite anime resonate with me in one way or another and have influenced the way I see or think about things for years.

I had a similar ponder about vegetarianism and the meat industry when I first started watching Seraph of the End. Sadly the show didn't really explore the aspect of humans as "cattle" as much as it could've, going down the root of Human vs Vampire instead. I haven't read the manga so maybe that's a different story. I've had similar philosophical thoughts about Psycho-Pass, Lain, Ergo Proxy, Shinsekai Yori, etc too, so it isn't uncommon. 

This is probably why NGE sits so highly for me as an oddity and a masterpiece. I've never come across another anime or piece of media in general that has had that level of impact. Not that I'm a total fan boy though. The show has a lot of problems that I'm just good at ignoring :D

Edited by RZ.
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