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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Anime heroes

I admit it.  As much as I'm sure this would disappoint the sages of old, I don't sit around and read philosophy in most of my free time.  I read other things too, including Japanese mangas, and I watch animes made from those mangas.

This isn't a total waste of time from a philosophical perspective, though.  On the contrary, to a Stoic, these can be pretty interesting.  Take the ninja Naruto, one of the most beloved fictional characters in the Japanese manga / anime scene.  He has no fear of death, and his devotion to his friends trumps every practical consideration.  On the other hand, he often makes rash pledges to accomplish some task (notably to rescue his friend Sasuke), which the Stoic would never do.  Not that the Stoic ninja (if such a creature could exist) wouldn't try to rescue friends, but he would not give any guarantee of victory.  The matter of victory is not in his hands, that is up to fate.  But the Naruto-like will to be of service to others, to help those in need of help, that the Stoic could easily pledge to.

In the One Piece manga, which is the most popular manga and anime right now, the hero Monkey D. Luffy has a pretty un-Stoic-like goal: to become King of the Pirates by obtaining the legendary One Piece treasure.  Stoics are not known for their treasure hunting.  The Stoicism comes in with his attitude towards death; Luffy seems to be the remarkably unconcerned about dying, which is a character trait the series dwells on.  Notably, his philosophy is that if you truly want something, you should be happy to die in pursuit of it.  The Stoic wouldn't put it that way, I think.  They would say only that you shouldn't mind dying, and it shouldn't interfere with your judgements on the morally correct way to live.




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