Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder by Josef Steiff & Tristan D. Tamplin

Author:Josef Steiff & Tristan D. Tamplin
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Television, Politics & Social Sciences, History & Criticism, Eastern, Philosophy, Other Eastern Religions & Sacred Texts, Movies, Eastern Philosophy, Humor & Entertainment, Religion & Spirituality, Movies & Video, Shows
ISBN: 0812696700
Publisher: Open Court
Published: 2010-04-09T23:00:00+00:00

Tsuyoku Naritai (I Want to Become Stronger)

One of the basic principles of Smith’s theory is that the extent to which we can compete (and improve) is related to how much we can specialize. People who focus their attention on learning and practicing a specific task will come up with better ways to do that task. Someone who is constantly cutting things with a sword will develop better and more efficient ways of cutting, while someone who is playing Go constantly will figure out better ways to trap their opponents and escape traps set by their opponent. We can see this philosophy evidenced in the fact that Zoro is trying to become the best swordsman, not the best fighter, and certainly not the best swordfighter who plays Go. Effective “powering up” requires narrow attention to the capacity you’re trying to develop.

Improving on one’s skills by focusing one’s training is something that we see in abundance in fighting anime. Consider the early training of Son Goku in Dragon Ball. Although he is superior to a human in speed, strength, and so on, it is his constant training that equips him with the techniques to beat “inferior” human fighters (as well as fighters from other planets). In the beginning, he just attacked his opponents with a rapid series of blows. When that proves inadequate, he learns the Kamehameha, and later King Kai teaches him other ways to channel his chi in a fight. He eventually learns to channel not only his own chi, but also the chi of those around him into the devastating Spirit Bomb. Throughout his early training, Goku’s focus is on developing fighting techniques that best utilize his abilities. Each new move is a better way of doing what he had done before.

We see a similar development in Yusuke Urameshi in YuYu Hakusho. Much like Goku, Yusuke’s fighting prowess is not enough for dealing with the tougher opponents he encounters, and he has to learn how to channel his energy in order to defeat stronger opponents. Koenma teaches Yusuke the rei gun technique—allowing him to fire a concentrated blast of spirit energy once a day. As the series progress, Yusuke improves upon the rei gun, so that he can shoot it up to four times a day. Then he learns the rei shotgun, which allows him to shoot lots of little balls of spirit energy so that it is harder to dodge. Eventually he develops the ability to fire two rei gun blasts in a row to create a more powerful blast. Finally he learns to shoot the rei gun at point blank range (his Spirit Wave) to create a devastating attack.

Both Goku and Yusuke are “powering up” their existing abilities by constantly challenging themselves. If Yusuke didn’t have to fight higher class demons, he would not need to be able to fire a Spirit Wave. Heck, if he had never become a spirit detective, he would have been happy to beat on his classmates with his fists and not developed his capacity to channel rei energy.

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