Kenny West
Veteran
HxH kinda popped my cherry for fictional gore in middle school. i remember being in a Barnes n Noble reading the page in the manga when Killua ripped out the dude's heart, looking over my shoulder like I was reading a porno mag or something.
After that I couldn't watch American cartoons anymore. No blood, no death, everything felt so shallow and low stakes. nikkas would be like "Damn you see how darkseid beat up supes on justice League?
"and im just like "did he die tho?
". Forever changed lol.Another on is when I finally understood One Piece/Monkey D luffy in regards to grit and manliness.
As a kid I saw OP just another anime and wanted to blank the story sections to get to fights. I only cared about power levels & matchups and was vexed at the seemingly random reasons characters broke out into tears all the time. The only thing that rubbed off on me was that Luffy-ish delusional self confidence but I never thought much into how or why he was like that.
I began my first OP re-read when I was on break from college held back for financial aid. I was in a tough period in my life. I was working 2 jobs just to seem busy and be out the house. No real support from my parents at the time. I was on of the few in college from my family so people was talking down when I came home. I felt real low and alone. I wanted to re-read east blue to just have some nostalgia for my simpler childhood.
During that reread something clicked. The themes about pursuing your dreams were super relevant to my life. Luffy's confidence being a byproduct of living life to the fullest, the weight zoro's of resolve, the grit displayed in the fights, usopp's struggle to overcome himself to become a real man all started hitting me like a ton of bricks. It was like my nuts dropped a 2nd time.
As a black man we don't have enough media in America that could help a boy come of age with the right values, nothing to challenge narratives in our media about what a real man is. I can honestly say OP helped me in that area.
Naruto>
