an open letter to kyoto animation
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An anime once said that sometimes the best way to convey our feelings is through a letter.
Dear Kyoto Animation,
You are halfway around the world. We speak different native languages. You are a place of business with many employees, and I am a single person. You have no reason to know me. Yet, I want you to know what you have done for my life.
You showed me over and over again that anime is supposed to be fun. Never have I felt such childish glee than watching the Principal vs. Deer prize fight, Bonta-kun raid the yakuza, or seeing Mugi’s eyebrows turn into pickles. I named my puppy after Nichijou‘s Hakase because of how you depicted Hakase’s playful nature (and addiction to snacks) fit well with my puppy’s personality. There is some sort of magic that you put into your anime that only manifests when someone really loves what they are doing. I can picture you at your desks, as your grade school personas leak out, doodling away on silly jokes with a smile on your faces. Thank you for showcasing that glee not just in Lucky Star, Free, and Maid Dragon but also in Clannad (BEST CHOICE), Violet Evergarden, Beyond the Boundary, and more serious shows. The fun and silliness of anime is something you gleefully remind us 15,532 times over and over again.
You taught me how to write. This blog and my style of writing came from watching Haruhi forcing Mikuru into a maid outfit, Tomoya breaking down as he sees Nagisa again, Konata eating a chocolate cornet, Chitanda bring curious, and Mio being Mio. Thin slicing started to peculate after watching the Mikuru-run special. I stopped writing about anime and started to write with anime. Your shows made me want to write to celebrate and revel and enjoy it not just by myself but with my readers as well. Even now, I think about how the stories you told with Violet, Nishimiya, and Yuuichi impact how I think about sadness, grief, and loss yet also joy, perseverance, and hope. Your shows made me want to write silly pieces, serious pieces, and everything in between. Your shows gave me the inspiration to write. Thank you.
You should know Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya changed my life. I have watched hundreds of anime in my decades of life, and none of them impacted my life the way a God, an Esper, an Alien, a Time Traveler, and Kyon did. I can say for certainty that you made my life better, and I cannot thank you enough. There was one crucial, seemingly throwaway element that you added in your production: The casual outfit changes. It was maybe first time an anime studio gave fashionable changes of clothing to characters. It must have been tough to draw and coordinate the different clothing, but I suspect you might have had fun thinking of cute outfits for Yuki, Haruhi, and Mikuri. I wrote about those fashionable clothes, and one of my readers kept telling me that I was a doing a terrible job at it, and she should do the fashion commentary for this blog instead. She become the Fashion Czar and many years later became my spouse.
It is thanks to you, half a world away and not even knowing who I am, that I’m surrounded today by my Hakase-like puppy, my spouse who enjoys your shows as much as I do, and my daughter, whom I can’t wait to watch your past and future creations with. It is with my sincerest thanks and appreciation that I write to you today.
Sincerely,
jason
