My Top 3 Life-Altering Animes

Ever since the Guilty Pleasure Challenge where I wrote two articles about two of my favorite animes, I've been itching to write even more articles about anime. Although I didn't win anything in the challenge, I explored myself and found another topic I can write a ton about.

I've been an avid anime watcher for quite some time. I watched my first anime in grade 1 (though I forgot the name of it) and began watching Naruto as my first mainstream anime in grade 6. In middle school, I found others with the same passion as me and began watching animes that they recommended.

I watched a ton of different animes throughout my life. A lot of them were good, some of them were bad, but only a few select changed the way I see the world.

3. Attack On Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin)

In my first article I submitted to the Guilty Pleasure Challenge, I talked a lot about Attack On Titan. Attack On Titan is an anime that speaks to the consequences of war.

The anime starts out as an anime where humanity fights against titans for survival. The first season is the most gruesome season. It contains the most deaths with every death animated bloodily and vividly. All the death scenes are filled with blood, tears, and screaming as you watch titans eat humans alive. Then when you watch how every person in the anime is affected by these deaths, your heart feels like it's getting crushed.

The anime is heart-wrenching for a reason. There are no winners in war. There is no glory. War is only sorrowful and painful.

As the anime progresses, it becomes less about how there are no winners in war and more about why we fight. The anime portrays our reasons for war and killing as idiotic. Should a nation's pride really take precedence over each individual's life?

It's a very interesting topic to think about especially during season four where the attacked become the attackers.

All the philosophical topics presented in Attack On Titan are hugely relevant in today's world. Our World Wars may have ended, but the fighting keeps going. Whether it's the war on terrorism or racism, it never stops. A character in Attack On Titan, Erwin Smith, once said, "Humanity will never stop fighting each other until there are one or fewer humans left."

At this rate, it seems like we are destined to that fate in the real world. To find a solution, we must be able to stand in each other's shoes and work together peacefully.

2. My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected (Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru)

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, abbreviated as Oregairu, is an anime about a cynical loner, Hachiman Hikigaya, whose high school teacher forced him to join a service club.

In the service club, he is paired up with a girl who is a fellow loner and later on, a cheerful girl also joins the club. They work together to solve problems other classmates are experiencing.

What made Oregairu a life-changing anime for me was the questioning of every high schoolers' actions and whether they were genuine.

In the real world, many of us are actors even if we are not actors by profession. Most of us are always acting in a way that we think others would like. We act based on what society, our parents, and the people around us expect from us.

With so much acting, we often lose sight of our sense of who we are. When everything is fake, it's soul-crushing. You never have motivation and you never know what you really want to do.

There's one particular scene in the anime that really got me thinking. Yukino Yukinoshita's sister was drinking one night and began talking to Hachiman Hikigaya. She talked about how she was drunk, but not really. She could see herself being all flustered from the alcohol, but one part of her will always remain sober and in control.

Being drunk is an act for Yukino's sister. Early on in her life, her parents had her go into a career and life path that she didn't necessarily choose herself. Now she's in a situation where everything feels fake.

Hachiman Hikigaya and friends experience the same situations all the time. People want something, but because they don't want to mess up what people think of them, they shy away from saying what's on their mind. It becomes a struggle where these high school students don't express what they want and fail to get what they want.

As the anime progresses towards the end, it's all about the high schoolers eventually finding themselves and saying what's on their mind.

Ever since watching Oregairu, I have been asking myself if my own life is genuine. Why do I blog? Why do I try so hard to make money?

It made me realize that often the things I desire are not my own wants, but what I think everyone else wants me to have. It's a real struggle working towards something that I don't necessarily want. Thus, I need to find what I do want and adjust my life towards it.

1. Haikyu!! To The Top

Haikyu!! is one of the best animes I watched. It's a volleyball anime that follows the story of Hinata Shoyu.

Although I don't play volleyball, I do play badminton competitively. I could relate to pretty much everything in the show. What I like the most about Haikyu!! is the idea that everyone's talented. Everyone has a level playing field. It's hard work and playing towards your strengths that allow you to win.

I used to want to be a pro badminton player and play against the best in the world. I still do, but it's more of a distant dream than a realistic goal now.

People told me that I wasn't talented enough. I didn't have the skill or fitness to play badminton at the highest level. "Badminton is just a hobby," my parents told me.

I didn't believe it at first. But once you lose enough, you start believing all the negative talk and lose all motivation to continue.

Haikyu!! is the show that told me I can. Hinata Shoyu is short and had never played volleyball in his life. His passion, determination, and resilience, however, has allowed him to become a volleyball player that people consider to be talented.

We only describe people as talented or genius because we don't know how much work they put into it. Everybody is on a level playing field. You just have to work harder and smarter than the best to be the best.

Haikyu!! has reinvigorated my motivation for training. Although I may not be as experienced or skilled as other badminton players, I do have my own talents that other people don't have. Let me play to those talents and work smart and hard to fix my weaknesses, and I will become a top player.

Give Those Animes A Try

If you're looking for something to watch, definitely give Attack On Titan, Oregairu, and Haikyu!! a try. Those three are my top animes that changed the way I look at life.