Anime is a Japanese word referring to animated films. The people of Japan are in love with them. For example, more than 430 anime studios exist in the country. In 2004, these studios earned more than $40 million in sales within Japan. However, the popularity of anime spreads beyond this South East nation. More specifically, anime is popular throughout the Western world.
For example, it was worth $2.74 billion in the US in 2009. Interestingly, Italy was the largest importer of Japanese anime in the 1960s. People would not love anime unless they benefited from it. Here are 4 benefits to watching anime.
1. A Powerful Dose of Inspiration
My Hero Academia is one of the most inspiring anime productions in recent times. It focuses on a kid considered a nerd by his schoolmates. Most of them said that he would not amount to anything in life. However, Izuku had a dream that he could become the greatest superhero worldwide. Izuku pursued this dream. He became a superhero surprising his enemies and helping his friends. Children struggle with the same feelings. Their schoolmates bully them at school telling them that they will never amount to anything in life. They need inspiration in life and anime supplies them with it. This inspiration helps them to strive for greater heights in life.
2. Relatable People & Situations
Sometimes, people go through a lot of pain and despair. They look around and they see that no one understands what they feel. What they need is someone they can relate to and anime provides them with this person. For example, did you know that a police officer raped Revy Rebecca? Rebecca is a character in Black Lagoon. Many women have gone through similar ordeals. They can relate to Rebecca’s experience and struggles. Other relatable characters in anime include Atsushi Nakajima in Bungou Stray Dogs and Tomoko Kuroki in Watamote. Atsushi is an orphan while Tomoko suffers from social anxiety.
3. Creating a Virtuous Society
Japanese culture revolves around a code of honor mostly developed by the influential Samurai society that lasted for hundreds of years. The name of this code is Bushido and it consists of eight principal virtues. These virtues are righteousness, compassion, heroic courage, and respect. The others are honor, honesty, duty, and self-control. Most anime productions reflect Japanese societal values. That means they reflect the Bushido code as well. For example, Mumen Rider is a C Class Hero making him too weak to fight powerful villains. However, he still fights them despite his weakness. That is heroic courage.
4. Learning the Japanese Language
Japan is the third-largest economy worldwide. It is also a popular tourist destination hosting more than 28 million tourists each year. Therefore, learning Japanese is an excellent idea because you might do business in Japan someday. Traveling to Japan as a tourist at some point is also possible. Did you also know that Japanese is among the top ten most commonly spoken languages worldwide? Anime helps you learn this language practically supplementing your theoretical coursework.
More specifically, you will hear the characters speaking the same words that you would learn in a Japanese language school. Hearing these words in anime productions would help you understand how to use them in different contexts.
