Most people would have thought that anime's are for kids alone. My parents often commented about my anime watching habits -- thinking it is too childish because the characters were mere hand-painted only. What they were oblivious about is not every Japanese anime were made for the pleasure of the 13 below age group, considering some of the subject dealings are mature and grownup to begin with. I am not talking 'hentai' here okay. Basically some of my favorite anime's were pretty much on the slice-of-life type; filled with allusions on science, psychology, religion; expressions of life, death and love, although the last one is placed recurrently in the Shoujo category.
Take for example is "Ano Natsu de Matteru". The characters are high school students in cute school uniforms, and yet I have found a sense of awakening on love through their very own complicated love stories. The pragmatic would just shrugged off their shoulders and tell you that that is not real life. However, if you disregard the sugar coating and the "alien" premise and instead look closely in the feelings of each characters, I dare you you would tell me right away that that is real life. The five characters were all involved in a love pentagon, all except for Remon (the petite girl in a different school uniform). I won't give in the details about who is in love with whom, but if you have been in an unrequited love before you would relate to the story.
I have come to realized that the most luckiest people in the world are those who had been in love with someone who also loves them back. That doesn't happen all the time you know, that's why there are words such as "settle", "conform" and "compromise". Chances are, the one's that caught our eye would always fall into the unreciprocated box. Love is not a feeling that you can force feed in to somebody else's heart no matter how good of a person you are. It only works on parallel ways. And if you are lucky enough to be in love find the courage to tell that person what you feel because you owe it to yourself to have a peaceful heart and mind. Rejection is inevitable; fear is a basic human emotion. Let yourself be heard -- although the outcome might be unfavorable -- and you would be surprised and overwhelmed by the kind of power and strength that love has rewarded you. Our courage releases us from the pains of what ifs and the what might have been. It is also through courage that we regained the freedom to fall in love again. So tell that someone what you feel, cry a little, and do not regret ever saying it.
