A muse~
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| Credits to artist Mo • ̀ω•́ )っon Pixiv |
A muse over being an anime lover.
I was at a volunteer event along with some other friends of
mine, and we were grouped with another bunch of people from another
organisation. On the first day, I noticed a teenage boy among the other group, whose
average age range was probably about 40-50. Strange I was thinking, but later I found out that
he was just tagging along with his parents for this event. But that’s not the
point.
First impressions was that this teen was a solemn dude.
Aloof, and pretty disenchanted with the world, probably didn’t like school very
much either. (Not that I blame him for being like that…really… education
systems these days don’t leave much room for creativity…again I digress.)
As fate would have it though, my assigned duties, ended with
me being paired along with this teen. And so, we just went along about our
business. After all, he probably didn’t want to get too close to this ‘older
sister’ that he had to work with right? What kind of conversation topic would
he have in common with such a figure he must have thought…
To be honest, about halfway, just merely smiling at him and
him smiling back awkwardly was getting decidedly tiring even for me. So, being
me…I broke the ice… you know the basics…like what’s your name, where are you
studying…
Then…there was awkward silence.
…
That was when, he went to get his mobile phone from his bag,
a bag…which I noticed… had a Shana (from Shakugan no Shana) print on it! Though
he was quick to hide the bag away after he noticed me looking. Since perhaps it
didn’t sit well with him, flaunting anime character bags at random people.
Now, it was kinda untactful of me to just exclaim, "Hey! That’s
Shana!" right when he came back. But that’s exactly…what I did.
And he stared at me (in unbelief (?))…"YOU know her?" he asked. And there
I was thinking to myself…Yea kid…Shana was an obsession of mine at one point…duh
I know her.
Anyway, in that instant, there was a sort of mutual
bond/understanding. A now comfortable silence since we figured… we weren’t that
different after all. The instant ‘click’… ran even to the point where he asked
me to call him by his ‘Japanese’ name.
Shortly after though, I was called away to another duty
elsewhere, but the small marvel that I felt in just that brief instant of
connection brought about by the shared interest in anime stayed with me for a
while.
What I’m trying to get at, is merely, that, anime…manga…being
an otaku…bonds~ It breaks down that initial wall of prejudice that we initially
had of each other. And in that sense, I think, being an otaku is a wonderful
thing.
Step out of the otaku closet~! Making friends has never been
easier.
Muse over.
Written by Neko
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