In my high school, there were no “otaku kids” – at least none that I knew of. I was about two years away from discovering the goodness of Card Captor Sakura, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Tenchi Muyo! Some of my friends were addicted to Dragonball Z, but were certainly better classified as DBZ fans than as anime fans. And because of lack of experience (and having experienced just a little bullying myself), I don’t understand the difficulties many young anime fans and cosplayers go through these days.
But I do know what it takes to stop bullying in its tracks.
Kotoura-san, besides being very funny, has some depth to it. The first two episodes emphasize bullying a lot, as Kotoura is bullied relentlessly by old classmates and then by new because of her gift (or curse). It becomes particularly tough for her after she vomits following a fortune-telling session with Hiyori, and the entire school it seems, led by Hiyori and her friends, make school life as miserable for Kotoura as it’s ever been.
But as it is in any case where someone is being victimized – from bullying to genocide – the power to make change lies with the individual. Manabe doesn’t hesitate to stand up and defend Kotoura. He is an upstander – a person who stands up and fights for what is right – the opposite of a bystander.
Manabe has much to lose – he could be ostracized by his classmates, he could lose an important friendship, and he could even be doing this for a girl that doesn’t feel the same way he does. And yet, without apparently much thought of self, he marches right up to Hiyori and chastises her. Mifune plays the role of upstander, too – she is just behind Manabe, and would have no doubt told the class her similar feelings if she had arrived first.
When you’re an adolescent, it may be much to expect you to stand up for what’s right – but still, it’s what you should do. I didn’t do it very often in high school, and I regret missing those opportunities. For those of us who are older, we have no excuse. It’s time for us to look around and stand up when injustice occurs or when someone is being victimized – even when it costs us something (or everything).
After all, being an upstander reflects the one word most of us hold dear. Being an upstander is being love.
[…] but at that time we’ve been caught in that spell of manipulation. Which is why some of us can feel exultant when Manabe sticks up for Haruka, or why some of us can let Yoriko’s manipulation slide […]
TWWK… I notice there are so much unbelievable, and horrible bullying, especially in mangas. It makes me think it’s in Japanese and Korean cultures.
Maybe. Certainly, there’s a hyper masculism expected from a lot of Asian men. I’m Korean-American, and a lot of my friends’ fathers were basically bullies toward their children, and thus it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the same from their kids toward other children.
On the other hand, I do believe childhood bullying is as bad (or worse) in America as anywhere. I work with some bullying initiatives, and it’s plain to see that a lot of kids are facing tremendous pressures from bullies consisting of classmates and even friends and family.
[…] which bloggers’ articles have led me to watch: Charles of Beneath the Tangles recommended Kotoura-san, and John Samuel of Pirates of the Burley Griffin’s series of articles on Bodacious Space […]
From media reports, bullying can be extremely bad in Japan, driving people to the point of suicide.
As a victim of bullying in America I certainly would not claim that it doesn’t happen here.
I would say that there does seem to be a significant difference in who is targeted. In America it’s primarily a dynamic of a powerful but insecure person attacking a weak and vulnerable person to make themselves feel powerful.
I suspect that Japan probably has that too, but most depictions of bullying in Japan are about the “normal” people targeting the unusual people for bullying to force them back into line with everyone else.
Thus in Japan a target of bullying is likely to be someone that stands out as different. In America the target of bullying is targeted because they are vulnerable. These categories sometimes overlap, but not always.
There definitely might be some truth to that!
The idea of Japan being a collectivist culture definitely has some backing to it, particularly historically, though I think that conclusion can lead to massively inaccurate stereotyping. “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down” is a collectivistic phrase that more or less describes the type of bullying to which you are referring, though I would contend that Japanese victims are the overlap of difference and vulnerability.
Something interesting to think about, anyway! ^_^