Philosophy in Anime

[Kionon]

I have to say that there are a few anime that touch on philosophy but the vast majority are purely for entertainment. And most anime that do touch on this subject do not even present original arguments but rather reuse tired old ones.

Then you are not watching critically enough. Aside from Eva jokes, I look at my source wall, and I see KOR (shown above), Utena, (wow, so many places to go with this one), Maison Ikkoku (philosophy in there, really), Genshiken (oooh, Philosophy OF Fandom, dew eet), Trigun (really now, do I need to mention it), TokiKake (philosophy is at the heart of the entire movie!), BGC (is Priss a Replicant?)... Dude, seriously. Try again.

Now if this was about psychology I could go on and on and on... but my personal philosophy is ridiculously simple and I don't care to analyze the philosophies of others.

This is an improper use of the word philosophy, at least as it relates to the topic at hand. The mundane, common everyday word we toss around (much to the moaning and gnashing of teeth by philosophers, or even serious students of philosophy) does not reflect the meaning of philosophy. Philosophy is not a point of view, rather it is a collection of differing views on a subject or all subjects in the pursuit of knowledge. It literally means the love of knowledge. You may have a particular belief set, and you may even have a reasoned system of arguments for defending your belief set, but you do not "have a philosophy" and nor does anyone else. In fact, I would argue, as would many philosophers, that unless you do have a reasoned system of arguments for defending your belief set, merely having a belief set would not warrant a claim by you that you are participating in philosophy.

tl,dr version- you're using the word wrong, stop that.

[hasteroth]

I have to say that there are a few anime that touch on philosophy but the vast majority are purely for entertainment. And most anime that do touch on this subject do not even present original arguments but rather reuse tired old ones.

Then you are not watching critically enough. Aside from Eva jokes, I look at my source wall, and I see KOR (shown above), Utena, (wow, so many places to go with this one), Maison Ikkoku (philosophy in there, really), Genshiken (oooh, Philosophy OF Fandom, dew eet), Trigun (really now, do I need to mention it), TokiKake (philosophy is at the heart of the entire movie!), BGC (is Priss a Replicant?)... Dude, seriously. Try again.

Listen I don't really watch older anime... except Genshiken. I was referring to newer anime.

[Kionon]

Listen I don't really watch older anime... except Genshiken. I was referring to newer anime.

And it doesn't matter. Media doesn't stop having philosophical relevence because its new. Try harder.

[Otohiko]

wtf is a madoka

Do you not know, or are you making a point about personal identity: "Just who is this character we call Madoka?"

Just failing at being a sly post-modernist. Or something.

I think most of what you said about the character still falls under the realm of psychology rather than philosophy - predestination and causality are interesting to toy around with but, imho, are philosophical dead ends. In anime, it's probably fair to consider - coming from Japan you generally will see a lot more allusions to, if not outright beliefs in, predestination - but imho it's increasingly just becoming a plot device. Japanese pop culture is quickly heading to the same way as most of the rest of the (post-)modern world. Why is (capitalized) "Free Will" important in this case, anyway? Is this not just about looking at her history and seeing how her history gives her certain motivations and choices? That right there is the realm of psychoanalysis, not philosophy as such.

I've not yet really seen anime that's been all that interesting philosophically - anime is good at headfuck. Philosophy probably not so much.

[Sukunai]

I am thinking I am likely failing to realize the 'point' of the thread, but I will say, nice post OP.

I watch anime for a variety of reasons, and the lowest on the list is because I get to see teenage schoolgirls flash their panties
I do NOT watch it because their ample sized breasts bounce around enthusiastically. Nope, I do NOT watch it for the occasional detail lacking nude shot of a teenage schoolgirl.

I don't hate those scenes, but I'd still enjoy anime if none of that was ever present.

I watch it for the complicated romances, the struggles to find love. I watch it to share the joys and the heart aches with the characters. To laugh at the things that make them laugh and to cry with them over the things that bring them sorrow.

I watch anime to escape the real world's all too often overwhelming ugliness. Because sadly I am too familiar with some of humanity's ugliest moments. And even when anime attempts to portray the real world, I can still know, it's just a video and not actually the actual real world.

I've been able to watch all manner of anime series that even when they normally focus on the idiotic, the socially questionable in content, they still manage to occasionally make a decent statement during one or more shows that redeems them in the end all for that small moment when they spoke to me of something useful.

Anime attempts to speak to me, as opposed to the norm of North American cartoons which really is rarely interested in acknowledging me at all.

We all have 'issues' and anime possesses openly so many series that don't shy away from the socially challenging issues.
We like to pretend that we are not homophobic in society, and yet only anime is willing to admit, yes, some people DO like to seek intimate relations with the same gender. Death does happen, and yes, people DO die in anime shows. Anime is not afraid to confront religion.

Anime to me is more than just a form of art that separates it from 'cartoons'.
I have yet to see much if any at all of mainstream cartoons that accomplish even a fraction of what is the norm of anime. It's only been the last few years that feature animated non anime films have even made the effort to break out of the Bugs Bunny Wile coyote slapstick comedy mold.

[8bit_samurai]

Is it worth hundreds or even thousands of lives to solve your own personal problems? Or who is it to decide the fate of said lives?

If you found a document that discloses a cheaper, more efficient cure to a deadly disease than the one that is already available, and nothing is being done about it or no one knows about it other those mentioned in the document, what do you do?

What if God was one of us?

[Kionon]

Is it worth hundreds or even thousands of lives to solve your own personal problems? Or who is it to decide the fate of said lives?

If you found a document that discloses a cheaper, more efficient cure to a deadly disease than the one that is already available, and nothing is being done about it or no one knows about it other those mentioned in the document, what do you do?

What if God was one of us?

These are excellent questions. What anime series do they show up in, and how are the questions demonstrated?

[8bit_samurai]

Actually, when I first saw this thread title, I instantly thought of GitS and FMA. I was tryna find how those would relate to this thread with all the mindfuck and such from anything GitS and the Philosopher's Stone from FMA. I was tryna reword the second question or come up with something different from the series but I ran outta time during lunch. The third question kinda came to me at the spur of the moment and it stuck with me during work. But the more I thought about it, the more pointless it seemed to me :/ Which is also true for most posts I make, actually.

But yeah, first one's FMA (plot device, probably), second one's GitS:SAC (Laughing Man's motivation for blackmailing) and third one's Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Haruhi), although they (or more like the first one) can probably be applied to others.

[Knowname]

And if I might point someone towards an anime that could make for interesting discussion (or not, depends on how you see it)

see Welcome to the NHK

Golden Boy xD 'A different side of me' really touched upon it, The show isn't all about T&A and all. It may not be 'Philosophical' like Gantz or Lain, but it has it's morales. I hate (all other) Golden Boy AMVs cuz it's really HARD to do that show justice.

What I really like is when a show dives into religious philosophy/ folklore (but keeps it fun as well!) like Angel Sanctuary (not so much EVA... I said KEEPS IT FUN, that's too deep... though the filler episodes are fun), or even X, Soultaker (not sure about this one... soul something, the one with the flying cat! not Totorro style) and Ayashi No Ceres.

I have to say that there are a few anime that touch on philosophy but the vast majority are purely for entertainment. And most anime that do touch on this subject do not even present original arguments but rather reuse tired old ones.

Then you are not watching critically enough. Aside from Eva jokes, I look at my source wall, and I see KOR (shown above), Utena, (wow, so many places to go with this one), Maison Ikkoku (philosophy in there, really), Genshiken (oooh, Philosophy OF Fandom, dew eet), Trigun (really now, do I need to mention it), TokiKake (philosophy is at the heart of the entire movie!), BGC (is Priss a Replicant?)... Dude, seriously. Try again.

Now if this was about psychology I could go on and on and on... but my personal philosophy is ridiculously simple and I don't care to analyze the philosophies of others.

This is an improper use of the word philosophy, at least as it relates to the topic at hand. The mundane, common everyday word we toss around (much to the moaning and gnashing of teeth by philosophers, or even serious students of philosophy) does not reflect the meaning of philosophy. Philosophy is not a point of view, rather it is a collection of differing views on a subject or all subjects in the pursuit of knowledge. It literally means the love of knowledge. You may have a particular belief set, and you may even have a reasoned system of arguments for defending your belief set, but you do not "have a philosophy" and nor does anyone else. In fact, I would argue, as would many philosophers, that unless you do have a reasoned system of arguments for defending your belief set, merely having a belief set would not warrant a claim by you that you are participating in philosophy.

tl,dr version- you're using the word wrong, stop that.

sorry to say but I agree with Hasteroth... maybe not too the point, I think anime is 50/50, but c'mon!! lol

BGC (is Priss a Replicant?)

that's not philosophy lol, it's psychology!! lol Philosophy (as I understand it, you obviously overrate me on this subject, but jmo) deals with a bunch of ppl. How does that reality deal with anybody other than her and her little anime group. I don't know, I'm probably nit picking in places I don't belong lol (jmo) and I'm no BGC fan, only seen a few episodes if that, I'm imagining it's like asking 'can androids like Ghost in the Shell really love?? Who F@!%!ing CARES?? Shows like Birdy (the original), KOR, Macross, or Golden Boy and more recently Clannad, Toradora, Aishiteru Ze Baby have morales and personal significance. Not Philosophy. It's hard to really display the difference but... would your life really change if you had seen Love Hina rather than Trigun? No.

[Kionon]

that's not philosophy lol, it's psychology!! lol Philosophy (as I understand it, you obviously overrate me on this subject, but jmo) deals with a bunch of ppl. How does that reality deal with anybody other than her and her little anime group. I don't know, I'm probably nit picking in places I don't belong lol (jmo) and I'm no BGC fan, only seen a few episodes if that, I'm imagining it's like asking 'can androids like Ghost in the Shell really love?? Who F@!%!ing CARES?? Shows like Birdy (the original), KOR, Macross, or Golden Boy and more recently Clannad, Toradora, Aishiteru Ze Baby have morales and personal significance. Not Philosophy. It's hard to really display the difference but... would your life really change if you had seen Love Hina rather than Trigun? No.

Moral Philosophy, also known as Ethics, is one of the oldest areas of philosophy, going all the way back to the ancient Greeks, and possibly further, since what we have from the Greeks was actually written down. What you're talking about when you talk about how these shows have something to say about this issue of morality, that is philosophy.

As for questions like what is love, could artificial lifeforms love, etc. Who cares? Well, I imagine a wide range of people do, not just philosophers. Science fiction writers, cyberneticists, neurologists... Before they could be who they are, they all had to ask philosophical questions. Is Priss a Replicant (or Boomer, in actual BGC terms) is not merely psychology. The questions of whether she is a person regardless of her physical makeup once again is philosophy.