I’m in the midst of watching Suzuka for the third time. It’s one of those shows that I know it’s kind of terrible, but which I enjoy anyway. And this time around, I’ve found that I’ve been motivated to write a number of posts on the series, so you’ll see several in the next few weeks, starting with this one.
One of the real negative aspects of Suzuka is that the male lead, who we’re supposed to root for, is a creep. He’s a naive creep, but a creep nonetheless. And I feel horrible to say it, but Yamato reminds me precisely of a friend I had in high school.
Just like Yamato, this friend was obsessed with just one girl. Just like him, he was in effect, a stalker. Just like him, he went out of bounds all the time in trying to establish a relationship. And just like Suzuka, the object of his affection was a track athlete.
This non-relationship culminated in the guy asking the girl to marry him, apparently in front of a large group of people. She said “no,” and he eventually moved on.
That’s right – even this guy who, like Yamato, seemed to spend every waking moment thinking about one girl, eventually let her go. I don’t know if he thinks of her anymore, but I met with him recently, and he’s in a good relationship. That girl from long ago does indeed seem like a distant memory.
Sometimes in an anime, a romantic relationship seems like an end-all-be-all. Its significance is overstated, and viewers like me can’t help but fall for the drama of it all. In this way, anime can resemble real life, where we put too much emphasis on fleeting emotion.
Seasons change. Feelings change. We change. And even an obsession is bound to die, especially if there aren’t certain elements that keep one bonded to another. So in all the irrationality of falling in love (and it is an irrational thing – a heart-thumping, exciting, irrational thing), it’s important that we not lose ourselves – that we keep focused on what’s important, remembering what anchors our lives. And I think when we do that, we can avoid being so singularly-minded like Yamato. And that can only be a good thing.