I’ve enjoyed watching anime since I was about 12 or 13 years old, and I’ve connected with a lot of characters from different shows. A lot of shows have a story about the main character being sort of an outcast. Whether it be someone who is cursed, someone who wasn’t born with powers, or even someone who is seen as mean just because of their face.
For example, Naruto, the main character, gets shunned by his classmates, and he is known for being a jokester, and even the adults treat him badly and as a threat. If you ever felt that way as a child, then you can understand how badly that character feels. And when it came to Naruto, he was not liked right away; he had to learn to accept himself, train hard, and eventually he was accepted and even encouraged by his classmates to go after his goals, which, luckily, he does.
Now we have all connected to characters from TV shows, anime, movies, and even video games for all different reasons, and when you can see one struggling, whether it be with peers, parents, things completely out of your control, or whatever, it makes you feel seen. Feeling as an outsider is never fun but I know for me when I connect to a character it gives me hope. That I would be accepted too.
I felt like an outsider growing up; with family, I never felt like I belonged because I didn’t play sports, and I had all of these different health issues, and even as an adult I don’t feel like some family members accept me. I liked things that they had no interest in. When in school, I had friends, but I still felt left out and like an outcast among people who I thought were my peers.
When you are young, you strive for attention and support from people who are supposed to support you, and when you don’t have that, you feel lost. I look forward to a day when children who are different are not looked down upon and I hope that they too can find inspiration in the characters, like the ones I’ve grown to love.
