Seeing things through: A Hikkigaya case

      Perhaps one of the more interesting animes, albeit underrated, is "I knew my high school love comedy isn't real."  The anime follows the life of a self-proclaimed loner extraordinaire, Hikkigaya and his experiences in high school.  The other characters that played a more prominent role in this anime were Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, they provided a clear contrast between a loner, an egoist and a vocal person.  Throughout the anime, we could see the gradual change in Hikkigaya as he embraced the idea of being a group person but towards the end, we could see that Hikkigaya's compassion towards others simply wouldn't allow him to do so.  Don't get me wrong, in terms of cognitive ability, Hikkigaya outshined all the others and because of this, he could give valuable advice and opinions in the most crucial moments.  However, all these were done at the expense of his own reputation.

     The anime's usage of background music, setting and cast was excellent!  All these gave the anime a very humble atmosphere while maintaining its vigour.  The anime doesn't contain any action scene, so if you're a fan of action animes, then I'd suggest you sit this one out.  Nevertheless, a few valuable lessons could be reaped from this anime and perhaps the most important one is "you have to see things through", like literary.  Hikkigaya truly portrayed that quality as he helped those in need and saw to that he kept all his words.  This may be less important to some people but to me, this quality defines a person whom you can truly confide in.  We could also see in this movie that sometimes the most outgoing person may not be the most helpful, endless facades and enactments in society could be observed in this anime as it exposed human's most derogating behaviours.  

      The plot by itself was very solid too.  No sudden "power up" or "misconduct" was visible throughout these 12 episodes and I must say, for an anime veteran like me, I was truly impressed.  If there's one complain, then I guess it would be the one where the main character didn't get the recognition he should have gotten otherwise in the end.  It is truly disheartening to see that people who stood by their principles get shunned by the society and not even given a chance to explain himself.  Then again, this anime is based on the Japanese culture, so whether it holds true to the other cultures in the world is still a question mark.  

     All in all, I would definitely recommend this anime for anyone who wants to watch something that is close to the heart and has excellent story telling.

"Some scenes from the anime"

Worth of a person

    Every so often, I hear people condemning others in front of me and not surprisingly, usually those who hold a higher position in society are the greatest offenders.  Just the other day, I heard someone of such status comparing and derogating the worth of my friends and I.  At that time, I thought to myself that this person probably doesn't understand the phrase "worth of a person".

     Every person's worth is different, depending on the circumstances and the environment the person is in.  For instance, a burger may cost around $10 in any fastfood outlet but, try imagining you are on a plane and suddenly, you have this craving for a burger.  You find one on board but it costs $20.  Most people will not think twice before purchasing the burger just to satisfy their desire but at that time, the worth of the burger has changed.  Although this example is quite clumsy and not very detailed, but I think you get the picture here.  As educators whom I believe everybody here is capable of becoming, we must not commit ourselves to the sin of depreciating a person's value, especially our children's, so that we can properly harness the potential in each individual.  Even the gangsters on the streets have worth, because of them, people understand the true value of peace and harmony.

      I will not dwell much on this subject as I believe that this is something we all need to experience before we can draw our own conclusion.  I just pray that you will not end up becoming one of the villains who undermine a person's worth.  Think critically, observe objectively.