I HAVE to confess that, even at my age, I am still a sucker for animé. It was something I picked up in grade school that never left me. So if someone manages to steal my laptop, they would probably stumble on to my “animé secret stash,” feel embarrassed for me, and return the laptop with an admonition for me to get a life.
I enjoy good stories. Watching animé reminds me of the power of friendship (even if it’s overexaggerated), and the journey of the main character. One of the prominent figures in most main characters’ life is usually a master, or sensei, of sorts. Naruto had his Jiraiya just as Luke Skywalker had his Obi-Wan Kenobi. For me, that’s very reflective in a sense that most of the readers of this article (including myself!) are still pretty young and need to be actively guided to be decent human beings, hence the need to find a master and to be discipled by him or her. I am fortunate to have a few of those in my life, people I can meet up over coffee to have a “therapy” session with. If we look inward all the time, you see, we can get very negative or very positive. It’s always good to have someone else look at what we do and balance our perspectives out.
Finding this master in our lives can be pretty challenging; it’s not easy (or socially appropriate) to go around Cebu, knock on everyone’s door, and ask them to be your master. However, in animé, even the random overpowered main character (who ends up beating everyone by turning around and whispering a catchphrase) usually has some sort of master figure. This may not be a physical figure; it can be a set of rules that they grew up by (and was therefore passed on to them by someone) and would uphold to their dying breath. We don’t necessarily have to limit ourselves to physical masters; there are plenty of options for us to now choose from. One such way is through listening to podcasts or YouTube videos of some people you really admire. Try to make them your “virtual mentors” and use them as examples (within context, of course). There are many streaming networks now that offer lessons in just about anything, if only we are willing to dig in our pockets a bit and sacrifice monetarily.
At the heart of all this is humility, how willing are you to set your pride aside and say you need to be enlightened more? As young people, that can be hard to do. The advantage we young’uns have is that we know how to exhaust all means if we set our heart to something (like watching movies and series for free, *cough* *cough*). So, if I’ve sold you on the idea, why don’t you try to find yourself a master?
Maybe he’ll even teach you the Sexy no Jutsu like Jiraiya did for Naruto.