anime is trying to hurt me
maybe it's like... confirmation bias, but it feels like every anime I've watched and loved in the last few years has just been out-of-this-world emotionally intense. it's all fun and games until we get three seasons in. then we're suddenly mired in some kind of deep-seated family and/or national trauma. like what business does it have, being this way? why is it trying to hurt me?
anime trauma ratings (a non-exhaustive list)
fruits basket: tohru is a recently orphaned teenage girl who meets the soma clan and discovers that they're possessed by the animal spirits of the zodiac. this is presented as a cute little slice of life shoujo manga/anime, but everyone in this series is deeply traumatized. as the series progresses, tohru helps heal their emotional wounds (as well as her own). 10/10, extreme emotional damage, may feel comforting to anyone dealing with complex trauma.
ouran high school host club: this one is about a high school scholarship student who accidentally finds herself in a "host club" working alongside ultra privileged boys to entertain their female clients. it's solidly a romantic comedy, but it's so sunshine-y and ridiculous that when the family trauma comes around, it hurts!!! 6/10 traumatic. it's a pinch and then it's over.
hunter x hunter: from a fun little hunter exam arc to... bio-warfare. I remember re-watching the last couple of episodes a few summers ago, watching komugi with her perpetually runny nose, with snot running down my nose too. 1000/10 emotional pain, I will never get over it. (top 3 series for sure.)
my hero academia: similar to hunter x hunter, you go into this series thinking you're just watching a gaggle of young high school kids learn how to be heroes. there's fighting and competition and stress, but it's nothing you wouldn't expect from an elite school environment. this goes on for ~four seasons – the battles get harder, but nothing crazy... so tell me why, when we get to season five, I'm crying at every episode for the remainder of the series. did I bawl this much at hunter x hunter or fruits basket? I don't think so! $175/10 traumatic, which is what my therapist charges without insurance.
anyway, I really only made this post because I wanted a place to drop a few lines from blue lock (which is not traumatic at all, but did have some surprising wisdom and depth to it). both of these are from season 1, episode 23, luck:
There's no doubting that luck was the determining factor in that game. But even if you were to have luck on your side, if you stood by and did nothing, the opportunity would go to waste. Because of course it would. You'd lack the mindset to respond to coincidences. That lucky moment would pass you by before you could think how to react. Improve so that you're ready to grab that chance when it comes around. Figure out where the chance might fall, then wait for it there.
So are you going to carry on crying about it being a lucky break? You're second-rate if you let yourself be at the mercy of luck. If you've done all you can, hold your head up high. Learn to accept the outcome of coincidences and etch them into your mind.
two parts of a whole. both things are true, and I like that this show acknowledged it.