Anime: Beauty Easier To See?

Hello everyone!

I am back to writing on Anime Thermos because with the acquisition of more time and inspiration I am ready to get back to doing more of what I love!

                                                     An Image To Symbolize Renewal


In recent times I've been facing a variety of struggles. In trying to finish up school while also seeking meaningful employment, I have found that the two problems exacerbate one another and so on top of the problems each one gives independently, they together produce further challenges in tandem that they would not produce if contended with separately. But upon looking at a beautiful clear sky for the purpose of spacing out and relieving my mind of daily struggles I came to a realization. A realization of how hard it is to see the greatness, epicness, and heroism of ourselves especially in our most dire straits.

Notice the wheelchair;notice the greatness and beauty.

Notice how special this image is.

I often watch anime with a sense that I am watching something that expresses my deepest and most beloved ideals, dreams, and aspirations. Like someone reached into my heart, took all of my best materials and started making the great collection of entertainment called Anime. 

The thing about anime is that the artistry of the animation, the intelligence of the script writing, and the emotional power of the story telling give us a sensation of grandness and awe as we witness the characters live out their adventurous lives. I've noticed to myself that when I watch anime I often see parallels between what the characters are going through and what I know real people like myself experience on a day to day basis. And yet...the feeling often seems to be very different. When a character struggles with his or her weaknesses and failures and resolves to push forward it feels inspiring and looks awesome. They're heroes for the way they face adversity like that! 

One anime I love is Habun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora, it's a lesser known anime consisting of only six episodes...or so I remember. It's about a boy and a girl who meet in a hospital together and fall in love. Let me tell you, for a six episode show about two sick kids in a hospital it is a pretty great story. There isn't even any magical power or science fiction crap in it. It's a pure romance story. Yuichi is hospitalized for having a fairly serious yet totally treatable condition and comes across Rika, a girl with an illness that will in all liklihood cause her to die very soon...the way it killed her father before her. 

I understand the feelings that go along with this fear of imminent death. Not long ago I had a bad cancer scare with my mother sitting in the waiting room...waiting for the surgery to be over...waiting for the doctor to tell us...was it nothing? Or was it the worst possible thing? Will she be okay?

When facing such a challenge as the reality of my mother's mortality I could have been compared to an anime character like Yuichi or Rika. But if you would have made such a comparison out loud to me I probably would've been gravely offended. I was in no mood for making light of such a situation like that!

And yet when I watched this anime I was drawn in and inspired. Feeling like: "Yes, this is how you face adversity...this is how you rise to the occasion against all odds! Go Yuichi! Go Rika! Pursue your love! Support each other even though you known Rika may not have much time at all!"

I love anime for giving me this kind of inspiration. And yet so very often when my adventures come to face me. And whenever I have a challenge to test me...I don't treat it like my own anime adventure. I don't treat it like an anime heroes chance to shine. I treat it like a burden instead. I treat my adversity like I just think that life is kicking me around for no good reason at all.

Because very often that's exactly what I think. It's so easy to cheer on a fictional hero who manga writers have trained us to count on when it comes to pulling a victory out of their asses. Using sheer will power!

But when we look at life through our own eyes and see our own trouble, our feelings get the better of us so that we often forget what we hoped for and what we believed in at the start. Sobered up by the ugly truths of life. We're really not so very different from anime characters...er um supernatural powers notwithstanding of course. We just think differently watching a show or reading manga then we do when we're doing...how shall I say it...our business of life. Work, school, surprises, etc. etc.

Anime and manga forces you to think differently. The way it focuses all attention on a single character's life and experience. Nobody's doing that for you in real life. Look at this pic for example: 

Hell, look at any of the pics on this post and really admire them. Now tell me, is there any reason why real people couldn't recreate the scenes in the pics I'm using in their normal lives? I'd wager that the average person could totally do any of the things the above characters are doing here. But how many of you, while working as a waiter or waitress could feel like you're beaming and shining the way Kaoru Tanamachi is? How many of you could stand under a beautiful night sky overlooking a city and feel like there is elegance and meaning in your lives while facing a life threatening illness? How many mothers can push around a crippled young daughter and smile and laugh with her like life is going to be ten times better in the future despite her disability. 

Waitressing is a hard job, a crippled daughter with her mother makes for a harder life, and a lover with a deadly illness makes for one of the most difficult lives and deaths of all...but these are things many of us go through. Those of us that haven't may be in for a shock later because you never know what might happen. I mean just yesterday as of this writing there was an active shooting at a mall near my house!  A mall I've been to many times!

We love our anime heroes and cheer them on. We want them to persist and even when they fail we still love them. Yet we count ourselves out far too easily when we face the same storms they did. We let our positive and strong anime minds revert back to our negative and weak "realistic minds". 

I wanted to share these thoughts with you because, for one I think many people feel the same way. And for two I think that this is something we need to be conscious of in order to get better at life. So I'm going to offer some slightly different things in this post than I have in any previous one. I'm going to continue talking about anime and having fun. But I'm also going to try to inject practical and useful stuff in here to try and help all of you who read these posts. Hopefully I can provide tangible and useful support rather than just the typical emotionally sensitive yet vague and lofty support you often get from writings about idyllic lives!

Advice Section 1-Forming Groups

1 Tea Club)There are a number of realistic ideas for forming social groups that I've learned about from anime.

From Amagami SS I was quite fond of the Rihoko arc due in large part to the inclusion of Rihoko's tea club and it's two interesting and funny upperclassmen Manaka and Ruriko. As simple as the premise was the presence of interesting characters that could always provide an entertaining afternoon actually got me pretty well on board with the idea of a tea club. Now I know legitimate Tea Clubs in Japan do a lot of highly skilled mixing of serious tea brews and have a lot of rules about specific ceremonies. If you have the discipline for that then more power to you! But you could also just make up your own ceremonies or games you could play. But the important thing is to build your group identity around a common bond so that the group becomes passionate about what they do and thus will build trust, loyalty, and group customs. In fact if you invented your own ceremonies that would make the bond all the stronger as it would be something unique to your gang!

2-Lost Arts Club) Anime often depicts ancient Japanese styles of combat, ceremonies, mythologies and the like. I've often thought to myself that if would be fantastic to organize a disciplined group around martial arts, especially with respect to the old Bushido code and the honor and trust of samurais. That kind of thing could probable do a lot of good in our world and would make all its members feel proud, strong, and happy.Plus developing skills our world typically doesn't get to see would be incredibly exciting! And for those who are not so physical, you could take on an ambition like one that I still hope to achieve. Once I can afford the resources and learn the techniques I'm going to try to make my own old-style Japanese clothes like Kimono, Hakama, and Yukata. 

Advice Section 2-Self-Improvement

1 Training) I have good news for you! YOU ARE NOT PERFECT! I hope you understand what I'm implying when I say that. There is so much out there for you to learn and do! I personally would have a lot of respect for someone who mastered archery or marksmanship. If your good at sewing clothes I'd appreciate a few pointers. The thing is, your going to have to have faith that you are a great person for diligently working of tedious things. Concentrate on honing your craft and you can go far and live an epic life. Life right now I'm honing both my writing skills and my public relations skills as I post blogs that entertain and hopefully assist people. As for your tedious and hard training think of it like...A Time Skip! Sawyer7mage is an anime enthusiast youtuber of whom I am a casual fan. In one video he's advising about what to do in the face of rejection  and it simplifies his advice by say that you essentially have to go on a time skip. So when your dealing with what you think of as boring and tedious crap, just imagine that this is the part of the anime that you don't see. The time skips and the spans of time between where the scenes are cut together for a great show. These parts may be unseen and not very grand but they are an invaluable part of the whole show. They will set you up for greatness!

The Final Words

2 Look For Beauty) Anime and Manga are designed so you can easily see the beauty of what's happening even during the hard times. But in your own life you have to deliberately look for the beauty in your life. Be thankful for the existence of your life and your loved ones. Admire a starry night sky every once in a while, and take time to savor your meals. You have to appreciate yourself and everything you have, even if you don't have that much. Find something to hold onto and keep going. Find the beauty in your own life and hold on to it!

Anime Thermos Developments!

Hello everyone!

As you may or may not have noticed Anime Thermos has been on a lengthy hiatus. But fear not!

It is not dead yet! Though I don't know how long it will truly be able to live I am determined to put out some new material soon! I'd say in the next couple weeks.

Stay tuned!!!!

Anime:Failing Tests and Acing Life!

This'll be my first Poke'mon reference!

I was involved in a discussion recently in my summer class with a classmate and a teacher about how tests that you have to take in school are really unreliable in terms of determining whether or not someone is qualified to actually do something. My teacher as it turns out, agreed very much. You see when you have to undergo formal assessments in life like written tests, interviews, applications, probationary periods and other such things, those assessments are designed more so for the convenience of the test giver often to the disadvantage of the test takers.

The ultimate goal of formal testing is to filter out the hordes of applicants vying for some kind of position. But unfortunately, as efficient as this process is it comes at the price of not being able to accurately judge individual skill and ability and passes judgement on people based on a few general factors. Believe it or not a lot of resumes get thrown out without even being looked at because at first glance they just didn't seem interesting or special...

Anime helps encourage our psyches' when we have to face this terrible reality however. Like with the cases of Ash Ketchum. Tell me, how does Ash win a lot of his gym badges? Think about it. He won on a fluke with Brock when the sprinklers broke, Misty's sisters just gave him a badge out of gratitude, Sabrina gave Ash a badge because he made her laugh when her whole life she never even smiled, Erica gives him a badge for putting out a fire Team Rocket started even though it wasn't clear he was going to win the gym battle, and with Giovanni well I don't really remember but he got it under some bullshit circumstances...

So what the hell?! Ash won like two gym battles and yet got all eight gym badges! That's not how the system is supposed to work!

                                          I bet he earned every one of them properly though!

I'm sure many of us have this nagging feeling that I have that we're being underestimated. It's been said that we judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, but others judge us by what we have already done. Which is damn right, and damn ridiculous because everyone of us starts life out having done absolutely nothing...then we have to prove ourselves on a pre-existing standard that is based on someone's interpretation of how skill and potential ought to be tested.

So yea, we don't really like the way we're assessed so harshly because we all know the world could be so much better than it is. Everything that should be yours could be yours would be yours if they only knew!

The world is so unfair...

Black Lagoon give another example of this with Rock being a peon who got into college a year later and got his ass kicked by his bosses on a daily basis. His only grip on sanity being the hope of rising to the top one day. But true to the arrogant nature of the system, his company throws Rocks life away to protect the special interests of the elite superiors. Rock is totally a failure of life's tests here. He obviously couldn't manage to do what his bosses did to get ahead and now his life is as good as lost. But, then something exciting happens! Rock hits his breaking point, becoming enraged at how everyone thinks they can just get their merry way at his expense. Well Rock decides he's had enough of this shit, and do you know what he does? I'll tell you...get ready if you're sure you want to know I'm about to say it...

Rock starts Acing life: After a bit of arguing with the Black Lagoon crew he manages to come up with a brilliant and insane strategy to take on a gunship that's preparing to make Swiss cheese out of the Black Lagoon and it's crew. They basically decide to charge headfirst at the enemy chopper and drive the torpedo boat right off a sunken ship turned stunt ramp to launch right up to the helicopter and blow it away with a torpedo turned surface to air missile! 

About here is where I got hooked on the show.

And how could I forget Naruto. Both the titular character as well as Shikamaru both prove that even if you're not too good in school you can still kick life's ass. Naruto went into the Chuunin exams dumb, deaf, and blind. Without knowing what he was in for he insisted that he wouldn't cheat (missing the point of the first exam) and that he would move forward full throttle to the tenth question despite not having answered even one of the previous nine. As it turns out Naruto's inspirational determination was the correct answer to the tenth and only important question in the entire test. As a result Naruto and the remaining group all pass the first exam!

Now a part of me called bullshit on this whole thing, especially in light of Ibiki musing about how he passed a candidate that didn't answer a single question. But on the other hand I felt a sense that this bullshit was actually serving justice, because it was giving a foolish underdog a fair chance to succeed in life based on the merits of his determination and positive character.

My father took an entrance exam for a technical school called Chubb Institute a long time ago and he BARELY made the cut to get in...yet during his whole time there he made straight A's. My mother who did not go to college was stifled in her previous job when she was lied to about receiving a management position she was promised and had it given to someone else and then some college graduates took up the positions of manager and director of operations...mom later left that place and got her management job at a smarter place who could appreciate her ability. 

So in my life I've have plenty of experience with people not getting the credit and opportunity they deserve simply because they don't meet the FORMAL BS requirements. That's why I get all warm and fuzzy inside whenever my heroes of anime can get past the failed tests and ace life itself. Even better than Naruto's example was Shikamaru who apparently only did poorly in school because it was a drag for him (I tend to agree...) but when his intelligence was tested under the guise of a game it turned out he was a genius and he proved it in the Chuunin exam battle segment! Now on that note I'd say that there's an idea they should incorporate into real world tests. Similar to how the Chuunin exams test real world ninja skills, real life tests should actually allow you to demonstrate your abilities in action rather than relying on paperwork and applications. 

I say that people really need more opportunity in life to show everyone what they're capable of because we are so much more than what we are given the chance to reveal. That's the message that I think anime communicates and it's one that I want to reiterate. Give people the chance to be the best they can be, and let's find out just how far we can push the limits of life. 

I like the idea of being in such a position as picture here. ;)

Anime Thermos News

Not ready to post another blog just yet. I'll keep going as long as I can but I want to have the best stuff possible.


Thanks!

Anime Thermos Mission Part 2

 Well things have been going well I'd say. Though I still have a long way to go. I've made a few changes to my attitude and made a few decisions about what I'm going to do with my life. First I'll address the objectives I laid out last time in this blog.


As far as acquiring a kimono I did some searching around and determined that there is a severe lack of good looking men's kimono's available. It seems to me that the market focuses on making gorgeous feminine kimono's for the ladies and gets a bit stingy when it comes to making the men look good. So, I've decided to resolve this problem by going back to the old project of just making my own Japanese style clothing.

I'm shooting for an image like this guy...yea.

 On the next point I've found a very good way of introducing the spirit of anime inspiration by way of tried and true Japanese philosophy. I've advertised to family and friends recently about the high respectability of the Japanese culture. I cited to them a documentary I watched on the making of the Katana which was really great. The discipline and meticulous pursuit of perfection and reliability in everything they pursue. It takes half a year for a team of highly experienced experts to produce one single katana blade.


 I also like to alert people to the legacies of the Japanese. There is actually a Japanese inn that has been run by the same family for 1300 years! Not only that but while there were five sword schools in Japan in the 14th century, there are still only those five standing today! The discipline, the legacy, and the dedication are astounding. By points like these I can truly make a case that the inspirations I've gotten from Japanese made entertainment in manga and anime are not simply childish fantasies.

Anime features Katana wielders so much because of the greatness they are and the greatness that gives birth to them!

Also, I've made a decision about myself that is of the utmost importance. I have to train myself to be a far better human being if I am going to have any hope of success in rising above this world...

By my calculations the man I am now is only one one billionth of the man I need to be. The problem is that there are serious obstacles and opponents to overcome in order for any subculture to rise to prominence and be at least tolerated and hopefully respected. Unfortunately there is no hope of this unless strong men and women rise to the challenge and can manage to hold confidence in the face of adversity. This can only be accomplished if said men and women can build enough strength to bear the burden. I intend to be the first of these fighters. The dream life can't be lived unless the nightmare battle is fought and won first and foremost.

 Recently I have been inspired with some heroic visions that make me feel that I can do it after all.

Ultear

Ul from Fairy Tail has become on of my favorite anime characters in spite of the fact that I'm only on episode 18 of that anime. She earned my respect so quickly because of the few short flashbacks in which I saw her raise two kids and seal the darkness of the traumatized Gray along with the great monster Deliora by making a badass and epic sacrifice of turning herself into an Iced Shell and doing it with a missing leg replaced by a prosthetic Ice one. I love this character immensely. It says a hell of a lot when a character can give so much quality with such a short amount of screen time.

Such quality... ;)

 I'm also rapidly coming to identify with and love Rikuo from Nurarihyon no Mago in both his incarnations...

Mostly the badass demon incarnation but I do like both...

 Great strength, rationality, and gentleness with a concern for his allies even though they are subordinate to him. Actually, because of the bad taste authority has left in my mouth through my life I tend to like any character in authority who is kind and caring to his/her subordinates.

 I am now engaging on a mission with three main parts to it. Number one is that I must build my strength in body and spirit and intellect to the highest caliber that I can achieve as long as I am living. Number two is that I will seek out true friends who will be my trusted and beloved allies in the adventure of life who will be by my side and I at their side as we build ourselves up to greatness. Finally, number three is that this group once formed is to embark on a life long quest to liberate the world from stingy outdated rules and regulations and advance the world on a creative, fun, and meaningful path with friendship, love, and family.

The goal is actually quite simple, but it's challenging because it requires a courageous step into unknown worlds. 

 I have written out carefully thought out principles that I hope will serve as a personal guide for me. Hopefully if they are good enough they will serve others as well. I have them laid out here:

Values (Operationalization)

Honesty, Integrity, and Trust: It is necessary for people to formally agree in direct, clear, and personal communication upon the standards and demands of one's relationships to others and responsibilities for ones position(s) in the community.

Discipline: We believe in decisiveness. we live by the decisions we make or fail to make and all decisions and promises must be followed through with maximum energy and effort.

Humility: We are all vulnerable to both failure and misfortune, to proclaim otherwise either publicly or within ones heart is to embrace a self-comforting yet ultimately unhealthy illusion which spawns arrogance and instills in people contemptuous and rude attitudes towards one another.

Compassion: Humility is understanding our own weakness' and vulnerabilities, while compassion is understanding weakness' and vulnerabilities in others. We must confess recognition of the challenges that our fellow humans must face, and help and forgive them insofar as it is reasonable to do so.

Zeal and Zest: We must decide to spend all of our time in healthy, productive, and fulfilling pursuits which promote happiness and love. We must always look for a way do survive and thrive especially after having failed at something!

Simplicity: We must maintain our health and the positive mindset needed to be the best we can be and so we must never push ourselves too hard or too fast with excessive complexity and overly numerous or strenuous tasks. If stress is a part of your life that is normal, but if stress defines your life it is too much. Success achieved by losing more than what is to be gained is simply a waste.

Unity:Individuals are of great importance, this is true of all individuals and so we must care deeply both for ourselves and those whose lives we connect with. People shall speak and act for the most positive possible outcomes for everyone including themselves.

Legacy: Whatever we know and learn will be passed down to newer/younger members of our family to carry on after we are no longer able to.

Spirituality: A reverence for the Universe and a belief in power within the soul. We assert that life must have meaning and value and that some higher power is at work in our lives. For who can account for the meaning of life without invoking some supreme universal force? The universe has a soul!

Statement of Purpose

We will work hard to learn as much as we can and build the highest quality things that make life of the greatest achievable quality. Furthermore, we will bond with one another through mutually beneficial speech and action that creates shared memories. Finally, we confess recognition that every reward demands a sacrifice and that this is an inescapable dilemma of life that serves to give our lives meaning. We will sacrifice what we must to reap the rewards that are of greater worth!

I've begun with the summer class I'm taking now, the CLEP test I'm taking in Spanish at the end of this month, and the surge in ebay selling I've begun doing. All of this developed within the past two weeks in accordance with my claim on this blog back then!!!

I'm going to learn Spanish and I'm going to do serious research and writing in my class. On top of that I'm starting to rekindle my profit making ability with my salesmanship. On top of this I am additionally going to restart my martial arts practice. I've got five years of formal training but then fell out of it for economic reasons. But now I'm taking it up again as a hobby on my own time with my own creative training methods. 

I am so very proud and excited that I've managed to work up the nerve to set forth on this endeavor to rise above my usual mediocrity. I pray that in time I will have a life that grows brighter and brighter with each passing day, with my happiness and power seeping into all who are around me!

Let's see this become reality!

Wish me well everyone!

Anime Thermos On A Mission!!

Oh my GOD...I have no idea what to talk about this time around.

 You see I'm feeling the tug of real life dragging me into stuff that I really need to take care of but really wish I didn't have to. Somehow it seems my favorite anime heroes have the most convenient possible circumstances for their insane ambitions. For example, there is this really nice unclaimed wooded area right in my neighborhood. For years now I've fantasized about setting up some kind of clubhouse or something right in there. I could just chop down a bunch of the trees there and use them to build. I'm sure with a bit of digging I could have a nice foundation or even a basement...a giant basement where I can have combat training sessions and barbecues!

And read shonen jump magazine!

 The only problem is that I really couldn't keep it a secret for very long. And when people found out they would be sure to give me a lot of grief over it. Building without a permit, probably building code violations even though I'm sure it would be a safe structure even if it doesn't follow the normal rules, and guess what... my town is managed by an association which is really stingy about how clean and nice everything looks and how it all affects the prices of the houses. The construction of a golf course a couple miles away shot the price up by thousands and we don't even use the damn thing! On the flip side, my clubhouse of dreams would probably drive house values down and piss a lot of people off...they're such sticks in the mud!

Come on Suzaku the rules aren't that important!!!

 I feel like I live in a world filled with Suzaku's...no really everyone has this love affair with following the status quo and many of them will even make themselves out to be heroes for defending those damned rules.
Unfortunately, I tend to go around acting like Suzaku too. It's too easy, to just fall into the narrative that the world likes to tell you. All about working hard and studying hard and sacrificing yourself for the good of society and if you do all that you'll be a hero rewarded with wealth and popularity and beautiful mates for the choosing.

 Here's a list of some of my favorite anime characters: Haruhi Suzumiya, Haruka Morishima, Lelouch vi Brittania, Saito the familiar of zero, Kisuke Urahara, Ichigo Kurosaki, Yoruichi Shihouin, Naruto Uzumaki, Hashirama Senju, Shunsui Kyoraku, and I could go on and on.

Not only would I like to be one of these characters but I would really love to have a dream team that is full of them. Really the only reason why I can't live the dream life of anime is because instead of being surrounded by brilliant weirdos I have to cope with a community of excessively sensible and average intellects...

Yea...I wish.

 Imagine now if I went to the local government and gave a rousing speech about the importance of anime and the sensibility of insanity. I would be laughed out of the town hall or where ever we would be for that!
I wonder now if maybe there might be a way to ease into it. You can't really shove crazy into people's faces too much or you'll traumatize them and make them turn on you.

Suzaku got mad about my inappropriate blog post about liking girls body parts but no worries, Lelouch won't give me up because he's a cool anti-hero. ;)

Sooooo, here's what I'm thinking. I'm going to start with some building blocks of anime crazy. In order to pull this off though I can't be bashful or shy about it. I have to confess that I usually hide my love for anime from people in my life. I've also been trying the geta and kimono projects in secret. I do this to avoid the ridicule. But maybe I can tap into my psychology knowledge and experience here. I'm going to try to give people ever increasing exposure to anime and on top of that I can sell it to them with the best advertising of all; the promise of happiness

 Ads today play on your desire for love and family and friendship to sell you things that won't get you even close to any of that. But I'm confident that anime inspired living can achieve that happiness. I'm sure of it because that is the underlying theme of many of the best anime's to have ever been made!

Love :)

Friendship :)

Family :)

 To make certain I succeed I'm going to define my first objective right here and now and I'm going to give myself until July 14th, 2013 to post a blog reporting on some manner of progress/adventure I have had with regard to the overall mission of bringing anime spirit into the general world.


Here's my definition of success for objective number one:

 Acquire a kimono and openly wear it for anyone to see.

 Meet people new and familiar with an open communication of my love for Japanese things.

 Refrain from being too crazy until comfortable rapport can be built.



Unfortunately by necessity I find I will have to be on fairly good behavior while I try to convince people that it's okay to be brilliant weirdos. I'll outsmart these normal folks with their own normal boring chatter and confuse them by infusing just a tinge of anime silliness at a time.

These fools will never know what hit them...hahahahahahahahahahahahahha!

Just sitting here at the computer looking normal while I slowly make the world more exciting. I even have a black rock with Japanese inscriptions I painted on it. Haruhi's pyramid thing there inspired it.

So there you have it. In roughly two weeks I'll be reporting to you guys with some manner of progress I've made with this undercover mission to save the world from dullness and anime from suffocation under the weight of that dullness.

I hope I'll make you guys proud!

Anime Thermos News!

 Sorry guys, but as with any hobby there are times when things impede my ability to post on this blog!
So I won't get anything up until Monday July 1st. Don't worry though I haven't abandoned this thing at all!!!

Thanks Guys!

Damn that's nice...