Values in Anime

I've been watching a few anime lately. I've noticed that there is a strange hyper emphasis of values that I don't often think about otherwise. Like HONOR and DESTINY and WILLPOWER and DUTY etc.

All the lovey dovey anime I watch reach into the mind of a particular character, and explore his/her thoughts on destiny and fate. Episodes would go on and on, and the character would spend most of that time wondering if their love was meant to be and if some unseen force would magically bring them together. I guess thats was romanticized anime are about, but does anyone honestly think like these people?

lol Actually I believe they do... as absurd as it sounds. I wonder about if some loves of mine were meant to be. Or I would go through that phase of wondering if he love me or not... Yea, I must say, I'm a believer in fate and destiny... but loosely. If something was meant to happen, it would definitely happen... but nothing is quite fixed. Sometimes you have to work for it too.

I guess my concept of destiny is like one of those "choose-your-own-adventure" books. Depending on what you do and decisions you make, you will hit upon different destiny points in a spider web of fate. You wont hit all the destiny points in the web... but some things are meant to be... and some things arent. Iono how to explain my concept of destiny very well, but if you did understand, then you get 9000 points! :)

Another virtue commonly emphasized in anime is duty, honor, and self-worth. Of course, a lot of these anime revolve around bushido or ninjutsu and the honor system of feudal Japan. But its awfully mystifying to think about people... devoting there lives and energies simply for honor or to maintain their sense of responsibility.

Some people know I joined the army back in high school. Not a lot of people know why. It was actually pretty random. Im full of spontaneity. But one of the driving forces for me to actually really sign a bunch of those military papers and go in for real was the idea of honor. I wasnt in there for money or for a career path, although it probably would have helped me if i did stay in the army in those respects. I wasnt in there for the hot guys or to become some buff soldier. I did it mostly for the idea that i should challenge myself and prove to myself that i am of worth... of honor. Before joining the army, i had a conversation with one of my good friends, Leo Hilken, about why he was enthused about going into the army during such a time when war moral was sooo low and the Bush administration was to be doubted. He explained to me that from a very young age, he aspired one thing and that was honor. I guess that was quite inspiring to me. However, after all that, after graduating basic training and some drill at my unit... i voluntarily outed myself to discharge myself. There were a lot of reasons why i discharged myself, mainly due to a lot of internal strife... conflict with integrity and honor and lying to myself and my identity as a "homosexual".  I felt like i wasnt being honorable hiding myself in the military, yet leaving the army, i felt like a coward and a failure... giving up... and ultimately i still lost honor. Its a self inflicting blow that im still trying to get over. These days, i feel like i need to prove my worth again, but i have not yet found my path to doing so...

Anyway. Anime... more than just cartoons. Its art infused with philosophy and virtue.

P.S. At the moment I'm trying to start Naruto, but one of my favorites of all time is the romantic comedy Maison Ikkoku.