Mental Health | Animated Observations

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

After taking a month off, I am back with another OWLS post. This month’s theme is “Legacy.”

We have mentors, teachers, coaches, and role models whose stories inspired us in some way. Even when these role models are gone, their stories will live on from generation to generation. For this month, we will be exploring stories that have inspired or taught us some important lessons about life.

After reading this post, be sure to also check out posts from Ange and Crimson.

For this month, I am taking it back to my favorite, “March Comes in Like a Lion,” a show that has helped significantly in the realm of mental health. Please enjoy.

In an era of increased economic and political stability, issues of health care, specifically mental health care, have become much more prominent in mainstream dialogue. Those that were previously ignored, such as those with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are now getting the help that they need. Not only that, increased discussion of these conditions has lead to better representation in popular media, including in anime.

I have talked a number of times, and will continue to do so, about the impact that “March Comes in Like a Lion” has had on me personally, and the way that it helped me coup with my depression and suicidal thoughts. I want to do so again, because its legacy on my own life is an important one.

For those who are unaware, my senior year of high school was the year in which all of my mental fortitude that kept me going in the previous year collapsed. All of my motivation as it related to school and work vanished. I dreaded having to wake up every day, and sometimes wished I could just pass away in my sleep.

However, that same year I stumbled upon “March Comes in Like a Lion,” which ended up being a almost literally a lifesaver. I mentioned it recently in one of my columns on The Daily Beacon, but “March” does an incredible job at displaying and dealing with different aspects of mental health, specifically depression as it relates to Rei.

In the wake of his identity crisis at the beginning of the show, Rei leans on shogi because it is all he has known since being a little kid. Not only is it the only connection he had with his father, despite not enjoying it that much, it also becomes his work. Rei realized the potential he had, and became one of the shogi world’s greatest prodigies, and at the ripe old age of 17, is paying the bills with it.

As Rei continues into the world of shogi, and meets new people like the Kawamoto sisters and Shimada, his perspective begins to change. What was once at best ambivalence towards his profession soon becomes something he loves doing, and works hard at getting better towards.

Watching Rei’s transformation in the story really made me want to achieve something myself. It became the wake-up call that I knew I needed but just couldn’t get from anywhere else, especially since it was hard to talk to anyone about my mental health.

Now, I want to be perfectly clear. I am not saying that watching anime is instantly going to fix your mental health, if at all. In fact, it didn’t even really fix mine. Still, at a time in my life where I felt numb to almost everything, the story of a teenage kid rediscovering his passion for something he’s known almost half his life was touching, to say the least.

“Legacy” Blog Tour Schedule
(February 2020)

2/6: Megan from Nerd Rambles

2/8: Takuto from Takuto’s Anime Cafe

2/11: Aria from The AniManga Spellbook
2/12: Hikari from Hikari Otaku Station

2/16: Ange from Just Being Otaku

2/17: Ashley from The Review Heap

2/22: Crimson from Cute Boys Central

2/24: YumDeku from MyAnime2go

2/27: Mel from Mel in Animeland

2/28: Lita from Lita Kino Anime Corner

2/29: Scott from Mechanical Anime Reviews

What kind of legacy has anime left on you? Let me know in the comments.

If you are interested in reading more from me, check under blog to read my most recent stuff, or look below for some related posts. Also, if you would like to support Animated Observations, consider donating on Ko-fi or through paypal, or pledging on Patreon. You can even support by just liking and sharing this post.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

The Importance of Mental Health

In any advanced nation, whether we are talking about the U.S., most of Europe, and parts of East Asia, standard of living is generally higher than most other developing nation. People in these developed nations generally do not have to worry about whether or not they will have access to food or drinking water or housing. This is not to say they these problems do not exist in the countries, but simply that less people face them. However, as this standard of living increases, so to does our focus on mental health. Because problems of external survival are largely swept under the rug, problems of internal struggle have more room to shine.

This is also true of different populations within one country. It is true, for example, that people of higher incomes are more likely to commit suicide, suggesting that mental health is a more central problem in those people’s lives people other problems are not. However, this does not mean that addressing mental health should be seen as some privilege enjoyed only by elites. Ordinary people, even those struggling to meet basic needs, deal with these problems, but do not get the chance to talk about them.

I recently read Lina’s post about her situation and struggle with mental health, and what it shows chiefly is that people can be in dire situations of mental health struggle. Mental Health, whether we want to talk about it or not, is important.

Falling Back into a Hole

It is often difficult describe to someone what it feels like to be depressed or stricken by any such similar feelings, but I would say the best way that I can think of, as someone who spent almost a year in such a state, is that it becomes hard to care about the world around you.

For some reason, a recent incident at my work reminded me a lot of this state that I was in, and how it was hard to even care about finishing school. I want to say, to anyone feeling this way, I probably cannot say that I have been in that specific situation, or that I could even relate to those feelings in the same way, but that there is probably a point in which you will have an experience that makes this whole living thing worth it.

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