Anybody that knows me knows that I am deeply influenced by anime. I often cite my ideal leadership style as the Strawhat Pirates [which can be understood best through this clip here] and often feel like my individualistic style is molded significantly by the archetypical shonen protagonist.

Such qualities of the protagonist tend to include:

1. Being kind of a bonehead.
2. Having deep faith in large dreams.
3. Unflinching authenticity.
4. Deep reliance on the team.
5. Often some distance from biological parents [typically because they are dead and/or also great figures].
6. Magnetically charismatic.
7. Pretty shit at thinking through things.
8. Goofy.
9. Kindness, love, and loyalty as huge ideals.

The best shonen anime, like One Piece, are incredible at interweaving different character archetypes that complement and round out some of the qualities described above. In analogous ways, I try to work with people that are different. Though it is hard.

Growing up, anime was not cool. I was not a popular kid. Still, among my core friend group, very few people actually watch anime. That seems to have totally changed. Across Tik Tok, YouTube, fighters, celebrities, rappers, entrepreneurs - basically the entire cultural zeitgeist has shifted towards anime being the primary medium for culture.

But it never really hit till I saw this:

EVEN THE JOCKS ARE ABOUT THIS LIFE NOW?!?!

This is going to have an impact on how our current generation, and the one to come after think. It makes sense that anime is having its moment right now. Anime is often about love, faith, and hope. An idiot kid overcoming incredible odds and accessing an internal strength he never thought he had. In a culture consumed by doomscrolling, deep cynicism, and lack of agency, anime presents a shining beacon of how one can live. The archetypical characters are vaguely recognizable and the relationships they have with each other are ones that we all crave.

There will be a cost though. Anime tends to not deal with emotional maturity and nuance super well. Anime characters are often single-minded with an indomitable will which is often why they succeed but does not translate well to the lives we live every day.

Working with people is hard. Not everyone is going to automatically believe that you are the chosen one. Having a family is hard. Having friends is hard. There is often deep emotional trauma from our childhood. Sometimes, you need to be a professional instead of a cavalier artist. Most of the time, things won’t go your way multiple times no matter how much you want them to.

I don’t think anime does a good job of exploring the contradictions inherent in an individual. The deep emotional complexity it takes to work with people who all see themselves as the center of the world. You lose the art of nuance and critical thinking.

This is a fair price to pay. Our world needs more people that dream big and have a deep-seated faith in their ability to accomplish those dreams. We have big problems ahead of us and we need inspired teams to tackle them. Cultures deep in emotional maturity, like Europe, seem quite stagnant with cynicism being synonymous with intelligence and the only hope for progress being political. Lame. I wonder if we see the impact of anime in Europe less than in other geographies.

I owe anime the confidence to dream big and have faith and for that, I am ever grateful. But as I enter this next phase of my life where I actually need to execute, I know that I need to let go of living entirely by the ideals I learned in the past and really try to be honest about the world. I don’t see this as a rejection of anime, but rather an evolution from it.

And this is how it is supposed to be. Shonen anime is for teenage boys who need to be instilled with that confidence and curiosity. Seinen anime gets much deeper into the grittier aspects of life.

I am excited for the next generation and how anime impacts their lives. I’m also excited to personally evolve past it and execute in the world today.

This post is a part of a sequence of smaller articles I will be writing around ideas I have every day. They will not be as polished. Please forgive any typos and errors!

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