I want to connect (but I can’t express it)

{I wish I was the one to think of this title completely by myself; the words are from one of Sarazanmai’s ending cards (episode 9), also one of my main inspirations for the post}
Spoilers for Kill la kill! Very minor ones for Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteru and Kimi no suizou wo tabetai!

Even if one of my latest posts was about social anxiety and (being) Hitori Bocchi, this time I decided to follow up with a similar theme-human connections. While Sarazanmai is the perfect anime for this topic, I have decided to stay away from it and from spoilers completely or just talk about different connections from various different anime, only technically (not really?) spoiling some minor aspects of the plots.

One of the reasons why I love anime (manga, light novels; you get the point) as a medium, is the countless stories it can tell, using different characters that the audience can relate and/or connect to (if it’s that important or not, is a whole other post for another time).
Various characters of various ages and backgrounds all form bonds of one kind or another and, if they are more of a loner type, one might say they create a bond with themselves or in other, more normal terms, get to know themselves better at the end of their adventure.

• Parents and their importance in anime

One of the most important connections in life are the ones we have with our families and relatives. While in most anime the parents are usually absent or barely noticeable, when they do play a role, it’s usually a huge one. A parent can be both a role model and an inspiration to be the best version of you.

Examples of wonderful anime parents come in the form of Akio and Sanae Furukawa from Clannad and Inko Midoriya from My Hero Academia. Both of these parents are nothing but supporting of and there for their children, Nagisa and Midoriya, respectfully; and are all-round loving and caring parents.
Love, attention and support is key for any child’s growth, let alone the formation of personality and resilience, useful to any good anime protagonist.

Even the opposite is possible, if your family life wan’t great, it can push you to break the cycle and be a better person.
An example of this would be Satsuki Kiryuin, who at the start of the series seems nothing but a hellish dictator and a serious antagonist for our protagonist Ryuko to face. Working with the cruel, manipulative and power crazy mother of hers, Ragyo, she seems like the henchman of an evil boss.
Despite this, she isn’t a heartless monster and in the end even shows genuine care and compassion towards others. Going as far as overcoming her manipulative mother, Satsuki returns to being her true self.

• Friends, bandmates and fellow club members

Friends are pretty important, anime protagonists are not an exception. We all know that moment of almost every shounen anime out there: the battle seems hopeless, the evil guy is already saying his speech of throwing the protagonist into even further pits of despair… But suddenly! The battle music starts playing as Protag-kun slowly stands up, remembering and saying how much his friends believe in him and support him, posing yet another challenge for the already exhausted shounen anime villain (come on, Protag-kun, this is like the 3rd time this week).

To showcase the power of anime friendships I chose my latest anime obsession- Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru, which follows the unlikely friendship between a group of people who have one way or the other been tricked into joining their university’s track and field club. Despite the hardships and differences between the members, some of the members have never been in any running related clubs or even like running, they get through them as a team, lifting each other’s spirits up.

Of course, there are many great anime friendships! From the K-on girls, Mikado and Kida from Durarara, Taiga and Minori from Toradora to characters as iconic as Spike and Jet from Cowboy Bebop!

• Connections with strangers

This one is the obvious part of the post, but to have connections you to make them first! You can’t really just grab a bunch of strangers and proclaim that they’re your friends or, better yet, family members.
It’s a scary thought, but what if you never talked to the people that you are now friends with? You might have never even met them, even later on in life! Or on the contrary, you might have ran into them one way or the other, nevertheless. If the main character from Kimi no Suizou wo tabetai never picked up his classmate’s diary, we never would have had the wonderful heartfelt movie that we did get.

As I’ve mentioned before, it can be hard to express the feelings of wanting to connect or understand the feelings of others who want to connect with you. You might even not be on the same page! Even though a coward myself, I’m a firm believer in the worth of connecting with others and connections between people as a whole.
Just look at all of the wonderful stories we got, just because one character decided to speak to the other!

What are your thoughts on connections and the connections that we see in anime? What are your favorite connected anime characters? Let me know in the comments below!