We are in a good time of anime. The slice of life genre flourishes, there is a newly-found appreciation for animation and love of sakuga, independant studios and kickstarters can produce unique and interesting works, and the possibilities of legal streaming have opened the doors for a whole new set of fans.

One could say that all seems fine and dandy in this age of japanese animation. But I see a worrying trend in the choice of stories that get anime adaptations.

I call them “The Anime of Second Chances”.

They are things the audience “wants”, but not necessarily “needs”. More on that later.

Let us start by looking at them first: They can be broadly split into two groups: “The Change of Setting” and “The Past Redone”.

The Change of Setting

Mostly a trend with light novels, this type of genre takes a protagonist and throws him into a new world. As a blank slate ha can start a new life, make his own adventure, and have many girls fall for him. No ties to the real world will hold him back, he is the protagonist. Maybe he even gets plot armour, that protects him from all harm. The nerd is victorious.

“Sword Art Online” may be the crowning jewel and starting point for this genre – as most setting changes involve “getting trapped into an MMORPG” in some form.

The more recent adaptations try to show faults and mistakes of the protagonists, making them a bit more grounded, but one thing never changes: They get a second chance at life. Without any merit, rhyme or reason, a person who has failed at life gets a new start.

Wouldn’t it be so much more fun to press the reset button and start anew, with your knowledge intact? With a whole new world to explore, far away from the shackles of reality? To use your nerdy wisdom, that is practically useless in the real world, in order to succeed? And have all the girls fall for you, just because you are you?

No matter how you twist and turn it: It is pure wish-fulfillment.

Is that bad? Well, we humans do love escapism! Switch your life off, and switch another one’s life on. Imagine yourself as the self-insert protagonist and come back refeshed. And as I have gathered from most discussion forums, it is a guilty pleasure for a lot of people. The genre tropes are obvious and play by the numbers, although with some variation. It is easily digested entertainment. Blazing action, juicy fanservice, intersting story, and a familiar, yet newly done setting of MMORPGs. Of course a lot of anime fans will watch that. It appeals to the “nerd” demographic.

These animes are the equivalent of Hollywood entertainment, and they will always exist. One can easily avoid these series if you don’t like them. (You will just run into a Kirito and Asuna couple-cosplay in every convention. That is unavoidable. It is a rule of the universe that you will run into them! It must happen!)

But those are obvious “wish-fulfillment” series. The next one is more subtle.

The Past Redone

This is another form of “Second Chance”, but this time, the setting stays the same. Through to some plot convinience and supernatural/technical/medicinal help, the protagonist gets a chance to change the past, in order to succeed in the future. Go back to the past and fix the mistakes.

But I have this odd feeling that these kinds of anime series are not there to show growth or understanding for one’s current situation. They just give a second chance, in real life, and that is even more wish-fulfillment than the first case. It still has an element of video games: Are you stuck in that visual novel we call “Real Life”? Just reload one of your saves and make some other decisions! Maybe you’ll get the “good ending” this time! Haha!

Instead of dealing with the consequences of the choices the protagonist has taken, he or she can redo all of the past! It is escapism done wrong: running away from your problems and the decisions that led up to it. Smash it all, do it again.

I was tricked twice by the current season of anime, Summer 2016. I rarely read any of the descriptions for upcoming anime, maybe I’ll watch the first PV but nothing more, I want to jump in as blind as possible. And I was taken aback by two series: “Orange” and “ReLife”.

“ReLife” was obvious, right from the title. Our failed twenty-something protagonist gets a second chance at high school, he takes a pill from the government, gets younger, and gets to relive the glorious days of high school, hopefully getting a job at the end. Am I interested in this? No. For me personally, going back to high school would be hell on Earth. I am happy being in university and doing the things that I like. This is not my dream, nor my kind of show.

“Orange” was the one that made me want to write this article. I only knew that this was going to be a character drama with a group of friends. Having enjoyed “Kiznaiver” just a season earlier, I was on board to give it a shot. And it threw me off within the first minutes.

I was terribly excited to see 26 year old protagonists, digging out a time capsule, with letters from their 16 year old selves. Would it show the rift between the ages? Would it have clashing world views and futures? How are these friends doing now? What happend in the past and how does it look now? I want to know!

Finally! Some characters that are not … in … high … school. Oh.

It was a flash forward. The series actually plays in high school, with the female protagonist getting letters on how she can improve her future life by taking different decisions.

That was not nice, “Orange”. Not nice. Now I am stuck with an high school anime again. I know, you are probably a good series, I will probably continue you, but don’t throw a curveball at me like that!

Maybe if you like high school, this show is for you. But this setting has been done to death for me. Most series are fueled by this nostalgia that high school was the greatest time of your life – romanticising the setting through the heavens and beyond. And if you have no nostalgia for it, just experience it again as somebody else! Get the first love you never had, meet with your group of friends or join the club that you never dared to go to.

Go back, reload the old save file! Come on!

But there are no secondary save files in the “Real Life” VN.

The Twenty-Somethings and Consequences

One vital part of growing up is taking responsibility and facing the results of personal decisions. Understand consequences and learn from them. Yes, you will fail in life sometimes, but you will learn from these experiences.

And there is anime about exactly that. Two series that are very close to my heart for this very reason are She and Her Cat: Everything Flows and Kaiji.

“She and Her Cat: Everything Flows” is a short format 4-part OVA series that ran in March 2016. It’s the story of a young woman, living with her cat that she had since childhood. She is struggling with life, going from job interview to job interview, being alone, finding a new appartment to live in, and having arguments about her future with her single mother. And it is all told from the perspective of the cat.

The cat understands her emotions, but not the reasons, as he cannot understand human speech. It is a reduced story with a small focus, but it will aim straight at you and your position in life. A soft, emotional, heartwarming series, that will move you to tears.

“Kaiji” is the story of eponymous Kaiji Itoh, a young man being a failure at life. He is in his early twenties and lives alone in a tiny apartment. With huge gambling debts and no job, he is suddenly forced by loan sharks to take care of his life. And he does so by entering the underground gambling world of the yakuza. He finally wants to take his life into his own hands. But this world is not beautiful. Every decision he takes will have consequences, ranging from “very good” to “hellishly gruesome”. He portrays life struggle like no other protagonist. He must take every step on his own responsibility, and the result will be even more emotional, as it was all his personal decision, consciously taken and planned.

Combine this intense concept with an overly emotional, possibly depressed, underdog protagonist, that you will root for and suffer with, and you have a series full of hype and melancholy. It will hit you hard, reminding you of the real world through a mirror of visual and narrative expressionism.

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Both series were intensely supportive and have taught me something about myself. They had relateble protagonists without being self-inserts and they were both in insecure positions in their lives. But they fight, onwards, no matter what the future may hold. I don’t want to go back into the past, I have already learned from it. I want to look into the future. I am not a teenager anymore. I am 24. Life goes on and so do you. And you are not alone.

Maybe I am just getting older. Or maybe I just need more Seinen and Josei in my life.

I still haven’t seen “The Tatami Galaxy” and “Welcome to the NHK” yet. From what I’ve read, I’m already sure that I will love them. And they will give me something in return.

Conclusion – “Want” and “Need”

If “The Anime of Second Chances” help you in your life, that’s great. But the “teenage fulfillment” and “high school nostalgia” may just not be enough – without the audience noticing. And as the anime fanbase gets bigger and, consequently, older, I see an upcoming niche that nobody notices was there before.

In the end, it all boils down to a question of “Want” and “Need”.

What do you want in an anime? Action, fanservice, high schools, violence, splatter, romance, mechas, idols, moe, tsunderes, danderes, yanderes, harems, manservice…

What do you need from anime? Emotional catharsis, support, help, understanding, advice,  happyness, companionship, courage, sympathy…

Knowing what you “want” is easy. You know the genres and tropes you love. But you have to know yourself well in order to figure out your “need”. Be honest to yourself. Outside of that pool of same genres lies something that you didn’t know you needed. Once you are ready for it, you will be happier and learn something about yourself.

Watching a series that you “want” is not wrong, absolutely not! For godness’ sake, I am watching “Baki: The Grappler” right now, because I “want” more manly men, as Jojo Part 4 once a week does not fill the quota of manly manlyness. I don’t “need” it, but I sure as hell “want” to watch it.

But right now, most new anime only give the audience what it “wants”. More light novel adaptations, more manga that redoes the past, more shows that tick all the popular genre boxes.

My opinion on the matter? Maybe, what we need in anime is a bit less “wish-fulfillment” and tiny bit more “confrontation”. For example, this season’s “Sweetness and Lightning” came to my surprise. A story about a single father raising his daughter, struggling after his wife’s passing, but giving his best. He deals with the consequences life has thrown at him – and the portrayal is realisticly melancholic, yet intensely heartwarming. It was not a show I wanted, but once I started watching it – I knew that it was a show I needed.

…

That “Real Life” VN is going on right now.

You only have one save file. Use it well.