The Art of Philosophy in the Animation World

Anime. Something that I've watched ever since my early childhood. I've grown up with anime, starting with my first time watching an animated series called Naruto when I was in the 5th grade. I vividly remember when I would stay up late on Saturday nights to watch these shows that weren't quite your average cartoons on a platform called Toonami. They had a different feel to them than something like SpongeBob or The Misadventures of Flapjack, a sort of maturity. I think the shows gave me this feeling primarily because of the quality of the animation, realism, fighting (on more than one occasion), and the snippets of gore. However, the footage of these animated tv series and movies weren't solely comprised of hardcore action. They were also filled with moments of comedy, friendship, love, happiness, and, as you may have guessed, philosophical thoughts. Now, granted that the target audience of these shows aren't stereotypical deep thinkers. At least, while they’re watching their favorite anime they’re not mainly thinking of how intellectual, philosophical, or deep one of the characters is or says, or at least that's the case when I watch. But every now and then there will be a moment where a character in the show will begin talking about a topic that either sounds intellectual, insightful, or philosophical. 

Now you may be thinking “Bullshit since when have cartoons become philosophical let alone hint at something insightful or meaningful”, however, some cartons have always done this. Take for example SpongeBob. From a personal standpoint, I’ve always felt like the show sits at the pinnacle of meaningless entertainment. However, the show makers have been known to drop little Easter eggs in the episodes and sometimes even adult jokes. Check this link to see what I mean https://youtu.be/Dq9wkkkIv0s. Boondocks, an animated series you can watch on the TV network Adult Swim, takes it a bit further and even has a character who submits himself to a deeper way of thinking than those around him. Now I guess I should start off by saying that there are many different types of anime. The main categories include: Shounen, Shoujo, Seinen, and Josei. Each of these categories has their story archetypes. Like Shonen (my favorite) has a lot of action themed series. For some particular reason a lot of anime fanatics don’t consider Boondocks to be anime. However, I do. Which is why I’ve decided to use one of the stories MC’s or main characters to represent the attempts of philosophy in anime. The story primarily follows a family of three, a grandpa, Robert “Grandpa” Freeman, and his two grandsons, Huey and Riley Freeman. Grandpa and Riley serve as the main comedic acts of the show while Huey is our center of reason.

                                                                                                                                                                   

One example of a tangent that Huey goes on is in this YouTube link here https://youtu.be/_jTxDg5pbOo. This favors more of a conspiracy theory on how our reality is false and is one projected onto us by those part of a higher power intending to manipulate the masses. However, he does touch on the idea that my reality is one that only I can experience , which is Solipsism, the idea that my mind is the only one to truly exist. Solipsism, as you may know, is a concept adapted by Descartes who was dubbed the father of modern western philosophy. Of course, this video is only one example of Huey thinking philosophically out of hundreds of episodes. I can guarantee you that there are more.