What anime permanently shaped the way your brain works and the way you act and react to the world around you?
Tell us, user-kun
Aiden Cox
Jace Martin
John Wright
The movie specifically or the whole series?
Brayden Campbell
Elfen Lied: fucked me up mentally for a solid month after finishing it. Now I can kind of take a step back and realize how objectively shitty the plot is, but it’s exemplary of my weird relationship with anime in general and why I’m so reluctant to get into new series’.
John Carter
None
Tyler White
The obvious answer. Eva aired on late night TV when I was a teen and the show dealt with a lot of issues a standard depressed teen goes through, so it hit me like a sack of bricks and changed my world view and way of thinking forever. Though not necessarily for the better
Connor Butler
Made me better aware of what's important and worth stressing myself over, and what isn't and may as well be entirely ignored because fuck this gay earth and I don't care what happens. Life is too short to be wasted on side shit. I got a very nonchalant attitude from it, indifferent towards most things around me, but focused on what matters.
People that know me appreciate me a lot, people that don't know me think I'm an asshole. Thanks Sunrise.
Anthony King
Oregairu. Realized how shitty many irl friendships can be and made me cut off relations with most people in HS. Far happier ever since
Nathan Barnes
I tend to annunciate my words more now and swear less. Before it was just lazy mumbling
Joshua Moore
well if you haven't found anyone to replace them then you'll have to think twice about that
Christian Gray
How did it fuck you up mentally?
Luke Taylor
Brought me out of self-inflicted misery. Made me realize that everyone has their own problems. Me, my friends and family, the strongest person I know, the most reliable person I know - everyone is dealing with problems that are complicated to them and won't go away. I can't necessarily solve their problem and vice versa but at the very least, I can try to stand beside them, make their present a little bit better. Opening up to each other without any platitude or underlying motive is the strongest connection humans can make and it's one of the ways to not wallow in self-pity all the time.
This show has made me more considerate of others, and even more so of myself. It made me realize why despite being an honors student, everything felt so monotonous and suffocating. It made me question what I truly want for myself, and whatever it is, I should always try to pursue it.
Well, not much has changed in the past 2 years since I decided to act on what I acquired from this show. I'm still strongly antisocial, and the people around me are far, far more complex than any of the characters in this show (duh) which makes it difficult and time consuming to connect with them - things which are the total antithesis of my being. Besides, technology and smartphones are a much bigger part of social interaction than it is portrayed in the show and they cause more problems than I imagined.
Julian Myers
However, things have certainly changed. For starters, I am trying. Trying to understand where people are coming from based on the information I have about them (only if I've known them for a while). If they're a stranger, I still try to give them the benefit of the doubt. In the past, I just acted like an entitled brat. I was the only one who was hurt and the world always seemed to be against me. Anyway, these past two years I tried to change my perception to people who were kind enough to give me their time. It seemed like everyone thought I as an academically smart student, I was in a distant world from them. In the past, I thought of that as a positive and maintained that appearance. But now, I showed them genuine flaws I have like not being able to tie my shoelaces properly or being completely inexperienced in tech - things unbecoming of their perception of me. I went to parties when invited and showed my genuine appreciation for them whenever I could. I had to break my own walls down and be open about my vulnerabilities so that other people could trust me enough to feel safe confiding in me. Maybe it's not the best approach and needs a lot more refinement, which is true, but hey, at least one guy I thought hated me and who I also treated pretty terribly at times told me straight to my face that I was the coolest honors student and it's fun to be friends with me. That's enough to keep me alive.
Am I craving attention? Not at all. I've just made it my goal in life to have a select few people who I have a zero platitude, heart-to-heart, selfless connection with. Just like the Kawamoto sisters and Rei's few shōgi companions in the show. I believe it's a possible goal and so I'm trying to make good use of the opportunities life gives me to reach it. Still pretty passive, but I'm trying to become more active.
Levi Turner
It helped me realize that there's wonder and beauty and humor to be found everywhere, even in suffering, and that even when we're in pain, we're never really alone. It improved my outlook tremendously and I value my friends and my life a lot more now.
Ayden Butler
GLT user here. I also watched Lain at an early age and I think it predisposed me towards taking things in stride and not attempting to overanalyze. Life doesn't give a damn if you understand it or come away with the correct interpretation, so being frustrated or disappointed with your own lack of understanding is absurd. Put the pieces together as best you can and accept that it's not going to be the same way everyone else does it.
Ganbatte, 3-gatsu-kun.
Nathan Torres
There were two. First one was Haruhi like , more specifically soushitsu. I read the novel way before the movie was a thing when I was like 12. It send me into a spiral of depression and
disapointment with life after realising the world we live is boring and will never, ever have anything as interesting as the stuff Haruhi came up with. When Kyon figured out his hypocrisy and realised the interesting world he lives in is much better than a normal one, it fucking mind broke me.
Second one was picrelated. I watched it at the perfect time, at the exact age the protagonist was and going through the exact thing he did (minus the loop stuff). I hate tattoos, but if I ever decide to have one it'll be the phrase the old woman repeats every episode. Everytime I feel like my life is getting stuck, I remember that passage from the novel.
Jayden Martinez
>Brought me out of self-inflicted misery.
Obviously not, you're still here.
Joseph Martin
Thankfully I played footie with my friends during my formative years and thought anime was gay shit for girls.
Brayden Jones
one time an anime girl said uguuuu~~~ at me and i immediately went to write a reddit tier essay about how it changed my perception of the world around me. true story.
Nicholas Green
>When Kyon figured out his hypocrisy and realised the interesting world he lives in is much better than a normal one, it fucking mind broke me
sounds like you missed the point
Ethan Green
Tokyo Mew Mew and Naruto.
Colton Moore