Seishun Buta Yarō (aobuta) 01-03

https://www.funimation.com/shows/rascal-does-not-dream-of-bunny-girl-senpai/

finally getting around to watching this show. denpa recommended it to me, and I never was against watching it, but I saw mai won the best female character award in some 2018 anime awards something or other.

now that I am watching it, I am glad.

This intersection of “real magic”, quantum reality, intention, (jungian) individuation is right up my alley.

I can see why Mai won this award. She’s simultaneously a true anime gal while having realistic characteristics.

The juxtaposition of her playful, sarcastic, honest, mature, innocent natures – the paradoxical self.

My new catchphrase.

psst here’s a secret. i enjoy when my head is patted too.

studies have shown this to be true. misattribution of arousal. The classic bridge experiment.

Dean Radin’s book Real magic does a pretty good job bringing these elements together. The key point of the book is that the essence of magic is the application of intention and attention and modulated by belief, imagination, emotion, and clarity.

This connects well to core existentialist modes of thought and I purport with the Jungian concepts of individuation.

The flow.

Re: Correlate with Jungian and sociological concepts of collective consciousness.

But in the end, it is the intentional act of the self to seek the Self.

This is a major reason I love anime – such common placements of such topics – with such depths to be explored.

The Rising of the Shield Hero – 01

https://www.crunchyroll.com/the-rising-of-the-shield-hero

The first half of this show as such fodder… the show really starts 3/4 into this double length episode. The other world – RPG like – hero motifs are there, but we do get the added rejected anti-hero type, which gives it the flavor needed. Everything about the show gets darker 3/4 of the way in which is done very subtly.

This show finally piqued my interest. I will attempt some amateur Jungian analysis as we go.

Anima – the collective feminine aspects of a male. It is an unconscious aspect of the self in which a man pursues to complete their self (i.e. soulmate).

Naofumi projects heavily to Myne, as she plays the part perfectly. She offers help, support, experience, class, and femininity to a lone man in a strange world. The signs are there (perhaps more clear for the watcher than to Naofumi). Naofumi’s anima projection shattered as he realizes the true Myne to her the idealistic portrayal he had in his psyche.

Naofumi then meets this slave girl, opposite to Myne in every single way. Naofumi, though, projects Anima onto her, albeit in a very different way. But in this case, Naofumi is already wary of anyone and is able to psychically differentiate between this girl’s true self vs the anima projected onto her (as far I can see). Based on the song animation afterward, it seems that there will be an Individuation process for her and him.

We always get a piece of the Individuating process in hero stories, but this anti-hero status already brings in flavor of the Shadow, the detested parts of the psyche, which typically is needed for a man to approach the Anima in sincerity.

I’m not sure if it was final fantasy x that started this linked status/ability trend, but it does work really well.

Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunōsen (hence forth kaguya-sama: love is war) – 01

i thought it was supposed to be on crunchyroll…

The basic concept of this show is not THAT interesting – well to do high school’s male president and female vice-president are revered/idolized by the student body. They are also in love with each other but do not want to reveal this outright – they want the other to confess their love instead.

I have two reactions:

First

Jean Paul Sartre’s concept of “being for others” and “the look” as described in his book “Being and Nothingness” . I think this show perfectly describes this idea. By confessing, the confessor becomes an “object” and the one who is confessed to becomes the “subjective” by relinquishing the possibility of the freedom of their existence to the other. That is, the desire to “not be embarrassed by confessing” is an existential crisis of negating one’s freedom and control to another.

Second

Seeing this from Carl Jung’s concept of the Anima (for Miyuki) and Animus (for Kaguya). Miyuki has projected the psychic energy of his inner and collective femininity to Kaguya while she has projected the psychic energy of her inner and collective masculinity to Miyuki. They each try to subjugate the anima/animus – but this is counterproductive to the process of becoming a conscious individual (individuation). But that’s the point of this story – they are not able to integrate and channel their anima/animus, but try to overtly overpower it. I.e. they try to consume the great unconscious power of the anima/animus by limiting it and then trying to be the “winner.”

i sound pretty smart in this post and as if I know what I am talking about. I probably do.

I wouldn’t mind if this blog became entirely (or mostly) about the existentialism and jungian interpretations of anime.