MORALS FROM ANIMES.

   Now it will be a crime if you are reading this and in your 20s and you still look at cartoons or animes with cynicism. Let me then arrest you with this information and my warrant is you are missing.

I am still quite new to the anime world but I have always loved cartoons for as long as I can remember.

I've got a twisted arm, a scar on my forehead to prove to you that its not possible for you to fly like Superman by just believing. or Spiderman by letting a spider bite you.

Rewind back to my elementary school days I remember running home from school when you see light at the house where you usually check for light because they usually leave their outside bulb on.

Which is the norm in Nigeria, its even in the constitution there must be that house

    You rush home with the speed of light, fling your bag on the bed put the TV on and switch to STV where either Rugrats, Redbeard, Biker Mice, Zeta, Spider Man and His amazing Friends, Superman, Batman, Justice League, Dexter's Lab, Silver Hawk,Samurai Jack, Yu GI Oh ,Tom and Jerry, Pinky and The Brain, Donald Duck, Anaminias, X Men, was waiting or to MiTV where Teletubbies went again underneath the laughing sun, Channels usually showed one cartoon from 3 to 5 in between Newstrack and I watched them all.

   
  

   

    These where the foundation of our childhood. These were the things you dare not know about. These were pick up lines in making friends as you had your own fan fiction of how your favourite superhero was going to save the day

We wore shirts with polo of Superman inside so we could open our shirts and run off to nowhere.

To our parents, we were just being hyper active and behaving like children. but cartoons gave us courage, and taught us how to endure.

   
And I want to be the first to say thank you, for all the creators of cartoons and Artists and the cartoons them selves for being a source of inspiration to me.

     As we grew older so did cartoons, as they stopped being a collection of jokes inspiration and laughter but also portray deep sense of didacticism and morals that help us in our daily lives

One of those early cartoons for was Pocahontas, Spirit (The Stallion of Cimmarron),Mulan, Ice Age and others as they taught us a little about the world around us, and see what people and animals go through daily by reenacting them in cartoons targeted at educating a younger audience.

Cartoons only formed the bedrock, of my knowledge as the bulk of it was gotten from  animes especially Japanese animes. So much so that these days I don't enjoy animation unless they are speaking Japanese

Moving over to animes, My first was The Last Airbender the first season was the truth. I remember not being able to hold Biro in class just because I wanted so bad to be a fire Bender, poor match sticks.

I loved Zuko because I saw myself in him his voice his charisma, everything. The height of it was when I stood atop my house one day Rain was falling and begging lightning to strike me so that I could redirect it like General Iroh. thinking back at my level of seriousness then I thank God it didn't.

Anybody who saw the Last Airbender can't forget in a hurry Azula, The Firelord,Bumi, Aang, Katara, Toph and  Soka.

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I swore that there was no anime like this and there will never be until I crossed part with Naruto in my university days and I went senile. The Akatsuki are so cool I almost bought their uniform on eBay.

    For it isn't just an anime anymore it became a lifestyle a religion. As Jiraiya and Orochimaru made me wish I could live inside their world. I personally love Orochimaru. And my username on narutobase is UchihaOrochimaru and I'm still a genin.

Was it the war, the episode titled "Uchiha Madara" where a man fought like a god. The height was when I tried to mold chakra with my hands, and in between my palms was a poor candle I was hoping to melt. While my roommate laughed at me and distorted my concentration.

I swore again that nothing better could exist till I watched one Piece and I saw luffy fight crocodile and God Enel,saw fights like the Alabasta arc, Dressrosa, Impel Down, Marine Fold that I knew what It meant for an artist to use his anime to bond with the soul of his audience as I felt real pain and sympathy when what happened happened in Marinefold ( I don't want to spoil it)
Attack on Titan the same thing.

I was surprised when I saw Lupe Fiasco posting clips from attack on Titan on Instagram saying that he can't wait for season 2. For your information Lupe is a big anime fan listen to Mural to confirm.

    Over the years I have seen Akame ga kill, Kuroko no basuke, Hajime no Ippo, Parasyte no Maxim, Hunter X Hunter, Full Metal Alchemist,Death Note, Naruto, One Piece,Gintama, Bleach, Akame ga kill, Fairy Tale, and whole lot yeah I'm this close from becoming an otaku.

But this is the point. With this you might be reading the words of one of the weirdest people you will meet but I have learnt a lot about love, selflessness, heartbreak, death, disappointment, life, humanity ,and the world around me in general and guess what I'm not alone.

What are those things you can learn from animes?

Firstly a little Japanese here and there. Without going to any place to learn Japanese you could learn simple phrases like Ohaiyo, gomenasai, Mina, Aho, Baka just fom watching anime, which means you laughing and learning at the same time.

Animes have  acculturate and naturalized me to Japanese culture as animes like Gintama explain every phrase,word, idiom or action peculiar to Japanese culture carrying you along.

Animes/ cartoons bring emotions to live as things that aren't possible, but are literal description of inner most feelings are dome in animes

For instance when you are very surprised in your mind you should feel jaw dropped but that's not possible in the real sense but animes blood the line lacing it with so much fun. Whereby there are no distinct line differentiating between reality and imagination

Is it the way the characters are drawn to reflect the perfect representation of what our perception of a heroes is.

We draw strength from animes as they teach us what it is like to lose everything and the value of friendship which is forgotten in our society today.

Animes teaches us about the idea of loving someone so much you are willing to sacrifice everything just for the person. Itachi killed all his clan comprising his parents, his girlfriend, and his friends just to spare a younger brother

If you are interested in watching some of my watched anime's go to websites like

soulanime.com ,chia-anime.tv , animeflavour.com or torrent sites and download them.

And to all the manga artist, like Kishimoto,Goda and others I say Domo Arigato

Written by Victor Samuel Of Uchiha Clan