Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped/Anime and Manga

Examples of Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped in Anime and Manga include:

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• Aho Girl: You just CAN'T fix stupidity.
• Attack on Titan: With great victory comes great sacrifice. Those who cannot make sacrifices will never be able to change anything.
• Code Geass: Lelouch sums up the main anvil perfectly: "The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed". Basically, if you commit evil acts, regardless of your intentions, you had best be prepared to face the consequences.
  • It's always important to know who you can rely on. While you can't be too trusting, those who don't trust anyone have few friends when they need them most.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
  • "The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection, and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow." — Washington Irving
  • The main anvil of the story: believe in your friends, who believe in you. Believe in you, who believes in yourself. Kick reason to the curb, and go do the impossible! There's basically nothing you can't accomplish if you set your mind to it and have the will and courage to back it up! In a world of pessimistic stories, belief that Good Is Dumb, and Anti Heroes, TTGL's anvils feel really refreshing to see out of a mecha series.
  • Another important one is that you can't run away from your problems. All of the antagonists are simply people that are dead scared of something — the Anti-Spiral for Lordgenome and Rossiu, and the Spiral Nemesis for the Anti-Spiral, and think that locking people away will prevent the problem. Also, Simon's first reaction to danger at the beginning of the story is to dig a hole and hide. All of this never works, and it usually causes a lot of unnecessary(?) pain and suffering. As Kamina first, and Simon later, demonstrates, the best way to deal with your problems is to face them.
• G Gundam did the same.
  • Coming right after the depressing Victory Gundam, it showed that even in a Crapsack World where world peace is maintained only through a deathmatch tournament that one could fight to defend that which is close to you, win the respect of those you fight, and still come out on top in the end.
  • Possibly the purest expression of optimism in the series: "Humans aren't that foolish; there truly is NOT anyone stupid enough to do what they know will cause the destruction of everything."
  • There is another lesson that's pretty clear, even though Master Asia learned it the hard way. Try to justify your motives all you want, but siding with a genocidal monster is rarely ever a good idea.
• Gundam Wing: "War Is Hell, no matter for what reason you fight."
  • Endless Waltz: "Don't hold out for a hero", if you want peace you have to do something about it yourself."
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 War in The Pocket: "War is not a game, and good people on both sides of it can be forced to kill each other."
• Gundam 00: "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
  • Another one, by Setsuna F Seiei, from the opposite direction, but something that still needs to be said; yes, war is bad, but there are moments where it's necessary if there's no way of getting rid of a corrupt, irredeemable regime.
• Gundam SEED: The show's messages about racism and conflict escalation just wouldn't hit as hard if they didn't show the effects of Cyclops and Genesis on the human body. And even if one group of people were innately more capable than the rest, racism still wouldn't be okay.
• Gundam X: There is no fate, but what we make for ourselves.
• Turn a Gundam: Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them.
• Inuyasha: Throughout the series, half-demons are shown to hated by absolutely everyone, by demons for being weak and tarnishing bloodlines and by humans simply for being part-demon. This is especially shown whenever the group visits a village where a half-demon lives; whenever something goes wrong, the villagers automatically assume it's the half-demon's fault. And yet, of all the half-demons seen in the entirety of the series (fillers and movies included), the only truly evil one is Naraku (Izumo could count as well, but he's more of an Anti-Villain). The series states pretty clearly that a person's race does not dictate who they are, and that it never pays to judge someone before you even know them.
  • It isn't just an anti-racism message either. For most of the series, Kagome's modern-day friends Eri, Yuka and, to a lesser extent, Ayumi, can't understand what Kagome sees in Inuyasha, believing him to be some kind of delinquent. However, these beliefs have one crucial flaw- they haven't even met the guy yet. When they finally do meet him in episode 160, they realise that he's not such a bad person at all when you get to know him, and before you can say 'Jewel of Four Souls', InuKag has three more Shippers on Deck.
• Fate/Zero has several lessons:
  • Despite Kiritsugu and Saber having almost polar opposite views on war (Saber believes wars should be clean and honourable while KIritsugu believes wars simply shouldn't be fought in the first place), neither of them are completely right nor completely wrong. While what Kiritsugu says does make a lot of sense, the way he describes the world is how it is. Saber, on the other hand, describes the world as it should be. Basically, the world can't survive without realists or idealists. You need both in the world. Otherwise, you just get chaos of two different extremes.
  • Another lesson is that sometimes, you just have to accept that enough is enough. Kiritsugu consistently tells himself that he has to do what he's doing, but it's shown clearly that he's not fine with it at all and that it's too much on his soul. Kiritsugu had lived a happy life with Irisviel and Illya for nine years and he chose to throw all that away in pursuit of a goal that, as he learns the hard way, is impossible. No matter how great the cause may be, sacrificing your loved ones isn't worth it and is a decision you will come to regret.
  • There comes a time for all of us when we have to accept the past and move on. Letting a single event of your life define you can and will mess you up. This is shown by several characters, from Kiritsugu, who's based all the actions of his life on a mistake he made when he was too young to know any better, and Saber, who desires to undo the destruction of her kingdom, essentially ensuring that her legend never comes to fruition (though in Saber's case, this ends up being an Ignored Epiphany that doesn't truly sink in until Fate/stay night). By contrast, Rider, while certainly sad about how his reign ended, nevertheless believes undoing it would be an insult to all those who died in his name, which is why his wish focuses on the present. Similarly, Waver ends up entering the Grail War on a whim with a desire to be acknowledged for his talents. but eventually comes to realise he never needed the Grail and, as a result, is the only Master to come out of the war better off than he was before it.
• Digimon Adventure: If you and other people have ended up in a very dangerous place, miles away from the nearest civilization, you all have to quickly learn how to work together as one and put all grievances aside in order to survive, or all of you are gonna get fucked. It's even more important if half of your group have some psychological issues and There Are No Therapists around.
• Digimon Adventure 02: Sometimes, you have to use lethal force for the greater good, and to save innocent lives. The "If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him" mentality is just suicidal naivety at best and suicidal naivety with genocidal consequences at worst, and your enemies will gladly take advantage of it anytime they can if you don't grow up and see the reality.
• Digimon Tamers: Life is life, regardless of whether it's organic or virtual.
  • And internet censorship is stupid and wrong.
• With the Light all but screams to the world, "Autistics are not sick! They can become honest, hardworking members of society, and they will! They don't need a cure, they need to be encouraged and loved!" It took an entire society (one classroom of students, several teachers, a few social workers, and a big family) to get Hikari into middle school, and it certainly wasn't easy, but it had nothing if not a positive impact on those near him.
• Paranoia Agent, a series about accepting reality as it is, features in its final episode an unspeakably creepy town made of cardboard cutouts that one of the characters smashes to nothing in six swings of a baseball bat. The absolute unambiguity of it makes the anti-escapist message feel clear, clean, and right.
• Great Teacher Onizuka: Do your Best, Be Independent, Be A Man (even if you're a woman...) And it's better to try and fail than to refuse to try because of uncertainty.
• Little Witch Academia:
  • Like Shiny Chariot said, "A believing heart is your magic!"
  • While it's not wrong to admire your role model and/or idol and aspired to become like him/her, it's even wiser to carve your own path instead of living in his/her shadows since your role model is not as perfect as he/she seemed to be. The four-parter second cour finale sees Akko understanding this message through discovering Ursula/Chariot made a Tragic Mistake which handicapped her (Akko) and the rest of her audience's magic due to a friend's betrayal, yet the dream Ursula/Chariot instilled to her and bonds they made were never a lie}}. Similarly, Ursula/Chariot learned Woodward's detached nature and role in Croix's descent into villainy from start. In both cases, a loyal fan and role model became humbled and earned their own happy ending.
  • Keeping others in the dark about information they need to know is a bad idea which led to dire ramifications; things won't be too ugly for Ursula had she revealed to Holbrooke about Croix's true intentions, let alone revealing Akko the truth about her true identity along with unwitting part in paving a difficult path for the latter to achieve her dreams. To be fair however, Ursula knew this but couldn't get through it without risking of indirectly reveal her true identity as Shiny Chariot who had a bad reputation in magic community, history with Croix, and part in moon incident, implications which regrettably easily overlooked at best by many and dismissed as, for a lack of better word, 'fucking bullshit' by some.
  • You won't always get rewarded for doing what is right, as you might ended up punished for it if it conflicted with rules. Akko, Lotte, and Sucy got disqualified from Samhain Festival for allowing Vajarois' restless spirit to pass on for real as they did so by violating its tradition in Episode 13.
  • It's unwise to make assumptions about people you don't know as you would likely be proven wrong, particularly those who either made a bad impression to you, often had their own personal struggles that you might not be aware of, or both. Akko learned this in hard way upon learning that Diana's background and accomplishment being motivated by her uneventful past and issues revolving her family's well-being.
• Pet Shop of Horrors drops Anvils about animals in general. In general, there were a number of heavy-handed Aesops about human/pet relationships and how people need to see their pets as companions to be loved rather than stupid animals to be exploited or abused, as any animal rescue show can attest.
  • A particularly roundabout one was dropped with the chapter "Dreizehn".
    
    A young woman named Karen goes to Count D's shop for a seeing-eye dog with experience in protection as well, after a fire that killed her parents and traumatized her so much she went blind. The titular Doberman chosen for this purpose not only looks human, but feels human, too — to Karen's shock. After she gets used to it, a slightly awkward conversation ensues in which he agrees to let her "see" him by touching his face; after several panels, she comes across his ears. Prior to this, Dreizehn had not been shown as a dog, and as a human, his hair covered his ears — which had been cut into sharp points.
    
    Horrified, Karen questions this and brings to light the practice of cropping dogs' ears from a dog's perspective, made even more disturbing when Dreizehn assures her that since it was done when he was young (a puppy!), "It doesn't hurt anymore."
    
    To drive home the Anvil, there is a short passage in the back reflecting upon the fact that some people refuse to acknowledge Dobermans with natural ears because they don't look like real Dobermans.
  • Pet Shop also has a lot to say about humanity, particularly in the final volume of the first series, at the end of which Leon manages to make his way onto the Count's ship only to be told that "humans have not yet earned the right to be on this ship" before being pushed off the side, only to wake up unharmed.
• The Macross franchise; The Power of Love and the beauty of human culture shall overcome all, even the unstoppable marauding alien death fleets that were designed only for war, or at the very least distract them long enough to give humanity an opening to use reaction weapons.
• Fullmetal Alchemist.
  • There are numerous scenes in the anime where characters pause mid-battle or delay combat in order to stand around preaching their own philosophies at each other — notably Ed and his pro-science stance. And, somehow, not only does it work, but the story would fail without it. The manga does this with more subtlety, but the tone and stories of the two are quite different. It helps that the morality is not especially anvilicious, as the characters struggle to figure out what morality is right at all.
  • There are three major themes in the manga: tolerance, the Cycle of Hatred, and the fact that the military is for the protection of the people. The basic aesop is "Genocide is bad". All the more powerful because much of the traumatic scenes are based on testimony from Japanese veterans and the persecuted Ainu.
  • Also, ordinary people are capable of doing horrible things in the right circumstances, but can also redeem themselves and make up for their mistakes.
  • And "redemption is not death": you can always do the right thing, no matter what wrongs you've committed in the past. Scar lives through the series, even though any other series would have killed off a death seeking serial killer out for revenge. Hohenheim's offer to sacrifice his life for Al is turned down, and he gets to die a (more or less) natural death. Mustang both wants to change the country and wants to be tried for war crimes.
  • Another big anvil was the lesson that Scar and Winry learned, and that's the difference between enduring evil deeds and forgiving evil deeds.
  • "Keeping moving forward."
• Sailor Moon S is essentially one long Aesop on expedience vs. morality: Doing what is easy, and possibly justifiable, versus doing what's right.
  • Sailor Moon R's one long Aesop: Your family bonds are important (obviously this lesson does not apply to people who actually have parents who abuse them or something, it's just a general Aesop). Trust your family even when there's a conflict; Diamond didn't trust Sapphire until it was too late, and lost his brother as a result. Chibi-Usa resented her parents both for not helping her up when she fell as a child and in general not being around sometimes and leaving her lonely; unfortunately she let this fester instead of directly asking her parents what motivated them to act as they did, and Wiseman turned that to his advantage to brainwash Chibi-Usa into Black Lady. Mamoru didn't trust Usagi to be able to protect herself after Mamoru was shown a vision of Usagi's death, and Mamoru chose to handle it by breaking up with Usagi without trusting her with the truth about why he was doing it. This almost made Usagi vulnerable to being brainwashed by Wiseman when he tried to trick her into thinking Mamoru loved Black Lady instead, but Usagi's own ease to trust her loved ones overcame the brainwashing and it didn't work.
• Mushishi delivers a striking overall theme: all life is fundamentally equal. There is no 'evil' in nature, only living things doing what they have to do to survive. The whole message of Grey and Grey Morality and naturalistic beauty is sent with surprising subtlety. Even creatures that seem horrible (invasive fungi, scavengers, parasites, etc.,) are still living things, and should be respected as such. There's no evil in nature, only a collection of organisms doing what they were born to do.
• The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance pre-emptively drops quite a few anvils in favor of granting sentient machines civil rights. Comparisons are made to other civil rights struggles, like the Amistad, Those Wacky Nazis, the Chinese democracy movement, and even Exodus.
• Mirai Nikki: Some people just aren't fit to be parents.
  • Just because you're desperate for friends doesn't mean you should try to befriend anyone.
• Toradora!: Love isn't what everyone says it is. While the concept of soulmates can happen, you're just as likely to find love that been sitting next to you the whole time.
  • Ami drops another one during the Summer House arc; "Adoration never leads to a balanced relationship." Basically, going out with someone you put on a pedestal is asking for some problems.
• A Certain Magical Index: Having a Dark and Troubled Past isn't a reason for you to lash out at the world in anger. It's a reason for you to try and make the world a better place so nobody will ever suffer the same pain you did.
  • You don't need a reason to help someone. Staying out of matters just because they don't concern you is a selfish thing to do, as people could very well die as a result of your inaction.
• D.Gray-man: Getting past the loss of loved ones can be a long and painful struggle, but it's one that's necessary if you don't want to hurt those who are still there for you.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has one really good anvil that it keeps dropping consistently: it doesn't matter what someone's background is, it doesn't matter how they were born, it doesn't matter where they came from, it doesn't matter what they're fighting for, and hell, it doesn't even matter if they're not technically classifiable as human. Everyone is a person, with just as much potential to be good as anyone else, and no matter what else, they deserve to be treated with compassion and love.
• Grenadier has the message that one should always try to find a peaceful solution to conflicts, whenever possible. The series is largely about Rushuna's inner struggle to find out where the line should be drawn.
• Grave of the Fireflies:
  • War has awful consequences, even on those not actually fighting it.
  • Honor Before Reason is a bad idea when you're in a city with no infrastructure that almost burned to the ground.
• Legend of Galactic Heroes:
  • Nationalism and religious extremism are not legitimate ideologies, they are cheap propaganda ploys used by demagogues to gain and retain control over the people. While most of the show retains a Grey and Gray Morality, the smug snakes are either nationalist leaders or fundamentalist leaders who do not believe a word of what they say and feel nothing but scorn toward their followers.
  • The story shows us how a young republic who managed to fight toe to toe with its much older, bigger, dictatorial neighbour ultimately collapses because its citizens elected nationalist politicians. On top of that, the narrator, and sometimes even Poplan, of all people, spend some time to hammer it again and again and again.
  • In the case of Nationalism, it's not so much love of country that is rebuked; indeed, many characters on both sides show patriotism to their respective countries and ideologies. Rather, it's on the more hardline, destructive forms which formed part of the reason why the war began in the first place.
• One Piece has three for the price of one:
  • "The "Justice" is defined by the winners", iterated by one of the villains, Donquixote Doflamingo.
  • "The dreams of men will never die!", again literally said word-for-word by future Big Bad Blackbeard.
  • One especially for the shippers, "There is NO way that the innocent, naive hero will EVER take an incredibly hot Amazonian empress as his lover... but it's sure as hell funny to see her try!"
  • Also, take care of your friends. One of those things that just cannot be repeated enough, especially in the shallowness of the modern world.
  • The "Fishman Island" arc shows the consequences of letting hatred fester in society.
• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
  • In Tsumihoroboshi-hen: Everyone has embarrassing secrets that they want to hide, and that's okay. In fact, there's nothing to accomplish by confessing some of them.
  • Also, trust your friends, talk to them, and don't take all your problems onto yourself, or things will quickly spiral out of control.
  • And, like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, no matter how hopeless things seem, determination can get you through them.
• Cowboy Bebop:
  • "Don't leave things in the fridge."
  • "Bruce Lee is the baddest mother that ever lived."
  • Don't give up your new home to chase the ghost of your old home.
• Samurai Champloo uses the character Isaac to address both weaboo idealization of Japan, as well as Japan's own tendency to gloss over the past. Isaac is a Dutch ambassador who loves Japanese culture, and as a Straight Gay, he can practice his sexuality there, which during this time would be punishable by death in Europe. However, Issac needs to disguise himself when out in public in Japan, as this was a period where foreigners were prohibited outside of a small "safe zone" (note the series's related discussion of the persecution of Japanese Christians during this era). Isaac ultimately comments that both Japan and the West have screwed up features, albeit in different ways.
• Irresponsible Captain Tylor: "Life is too short to live by someone else's rules. Do what you want to the way that you want to."
• Bigger than and encompassing its more famous Green Aesop, Tokyo Mew Mew has "Even if it isn't your fault and it isn't fair that you're involved in the first place, don't ignore or write off the injustice that you see; take responsibility for fixing it, because no one else will."
• The Mahou Sensei Negima series as a whole seems to have the message "Don't dwell on the past; keep moving forward".
  • The Mahorafest arc ultimately boils down to "You can't always be sure that you're doing the right thing, but you need to give it your all anyway or you'll never accomplish anything, good or bad." Alternately, "Sometimes, you just have to stick to your guns even if you aren't sure you're right."
  • "I will... continue to step forward!"
• Tokyo Babylon: The manga drops more than a few anvils directed at Japan (at the time the manga was written) specifically, relating to how Japanese society handles bullying, the mentally ill, rape victims, and immigrants. They don't really propose solutions all of the time, but the idea is put out there.
• School Days: Sleeping with someone under the guise of a relationship and then proceeding to ditch them without any warning for another person is not cool at all.
• School Rumble. The first person you fall in love with will not be your last. Hell, the person you fall in love with now might lead you to the one you will love for the rest of your life.
• Ah! My Goddess:
  • Emotional maturity is awesome. Two people who trust each other will have no problem finding happiness.
  • Also, Urd's line: "My sister's not a doll, Keiichi. She has emotions, including that one."
• Trigun. Killing is wrong. Even when it's necessary, its still wrong. You just have to accept the stain on your soul.
  • It's never too late to learn from your mistakes and redeem yourself.
• Now and Then Here and There: War Is Hell for civilians and children. Especially when the children are the ones fighting the war. There is a very good reason why this series is listed right up there with Grave of the Fireflies in terms of tear jerkers and gut-wrenching child cruelty.
• You can pretty much sum Death Note up with two words: "Power corrupts". Or four: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely".
• Future War 198X can be summed up with "War and nukes are bad." It also completely broke the Nuclear Weapons Taboo, and its distribution in East and West Germany was all the more fitting back in the tensest times of the eighties.
• Naruto: Under its Fantastic Aesop about not creating a Laser Guided Tykebomb, there is a very strong message about the need for parental figures in a child's life.
  • And the Cycle of Hatred, particularly in Sasuke's story.
  • And there's also the fact that you have to always believe in yourself. If the world says you're stupid, don't stop studying; if the world says you're weak, never stop getting stronger; if the world says you're a monster, become a hero. There is a constant dichotomy between Naruto and those he inspires, and those who give in to the hatred, loathing and darkness... And a truly inspiring message that, no matter how far you may have fallen, if you're willing to try you can still find the light again.
  • And that it's an extremely scary thing that the generation that has seen the horrors of WMDs being used against people is dying off, because humanity may forget how terrible they really are and use them in the next war.
• Tanaka Yutaka's stories show how communication, honesty and trust in a relationship works, and the lack thereof doesn't.
• Elfen Lied: To sum it up: "Love your neighbor as yourself".
• After it's Genre Shift, Kinnikuman continually attempts to burn in the message that "Friendship is a really good thing." Even the villains value friendship in the series.
• Monster teaches that Forgiveness is always important, even in the face of someone as unspeakably evil as Johan Liebert. It also makes clear that it is never too late to start anew, which is displayed by the number of people attempting to atone for past sins, or people like Nina, who has been through such horrible trauma, yet puts the pieces of her life back together and attempts to live a normal life.
• Dragon Ball:
  • No matter how things may change, never forget who you are. Throughout Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT, Goku stayed true to himself. No matter what foe he was up against, his innocence and pureness never faltered. His love for life, friends and family, strengthened him against whomever he faced. There were times where he could have thrown it all away. It would have been easy to do, but he refused. Goku kept a firm grasp on who he was and refused to let them go. At times in life, it may be easier to change who we are to overcome challenges but if you lose yourself on your road to achieving your goals, have you truly achieved anything at all?
  • You can be more than what society or the system expects from you; Goku's overall progression in strength is a great example of that. Goku was born with a power level of just two, which even by Saiyan standards, was disappointing. As a result of this, people who were a part of Freeza's Planet Trade Organisation, and even Goku's own father, considered him an afterthought on the day he was born. Because of his underwhelming power level he was sent to Earth, which was one of the weaker planets in the Galaxy, in order to destroy its inhabitants and clear the planet for its future sale. However, one day Goku fell down a deep ravine and hit his head, suffering severe head trauma that sent him into a coma and very nearly killed him. After he woke up, he had lost all of his Saiyan aggression, becoming a kind and mild-mannered young boy. The rest is history...
  • Never forget who you're fighting for. Goku’s victories would not have been possible if it weren't for the love of his family and friends. The strong bonds between the Z fighters drove them to give everything that they had in order to save each other and their loved ones. Their friendship is truly inspirational. There is no stronger friendship than willing to do anything and everything in one’s power to protect the other. You can give nothing more than everything you have to protect your friends and family. In return, their strength becomes your own and the impossible becomes a reality.
  • Nothing is more powerful than a group coming together and uniting under one common goal. The power of numbers can be seen anywhere you look in Dragon Ball Z. This lesson however was mainly inspired by the use of the Spirit Bomb against Kid Buu. While Vegeta was forming his plan, he understood the strength a united group of people would provide. The power he and Goku possessed in comparison to a single person on Earth was far greater, but the combination of each and every individual on the planet was astounding. Each and every person is capable of achieving great things, but when everyone comes together as one in order to succeed, that is true greatness.
  • Never be content with what you have and always strive to become better at everything you do. There were a number of times throughout Dragon Ball Z where any single one of the Z fighters could have just said that they gave up because it was too tough or that they didn’t feel like it but they didn’t. They strived to become stronger, to achieve what their dreams and to protect the ones that they love. If you wish to see perseverance demonstrated in one character in particular, look at Vegeta. He spent the majority of his young life ruled and enslaved. Never did he let that stop him. He continued to train knowing that one day, his opportunity would come and that he would be successful. When Goku ascended to a Super Saiyan before him, he did not give up. It motivated him even more to achieve what he believed was his birthright.
  • You can't fight fate. Both Bardock's and Freeza's stories exemplify this, both of their stories mirrors many Greek tragedies, incorporating the message that one cannot escape from his own fate or destiny no matter what one does to avoid it or prevent it. Despite being given the gift of seeing the future, Bardock failed to prevent the destruction of Planet Vegeta and the near extinction of his race. This was after seeing several visions of Planet Vegeta being destroyed and failing to convince other Saiyans that Freeza was going to destroy all of them. In Freeza's case, he was in fear of the Legend of the Super Saiyan, so Freeza killed the Saiyans to prevent the legend ever happening, inadvertently created the catalyst necessary for a Saiyan to become what he had feared. Needless to say, Freeza ended up being defeated by the last known pure blooded Saiyan in existence, Goku, and even though Freeza miraculously survived planet Namek exploding and arrived on Earth before Goku, he ended up being brutally killed, along with his soldiers and his father King Cold, by another Saiyan, Trunks.
  • Never rely on numbers to determine or judge the content of a person's character. The reliance on scouters, a device which measures the ki on any sentient being and then outputs it as a 'combat rating', was more of hindrance to person using the scouter than an actual advantage. Guys like Raditz, Nappa, Zarbon, The Ginyu Force, Cui, Dodoria, hell, pretty much everybody who worked under Freeza, put way too much stock in the readings that scouters would provide them. Because of this they would often underestimate their opponent's abilities, and their arrogance would naturally come back to bite them in the ass. Vegeta was the only one smart enough to realize that scouters are pretty much useless and impractical in battle and he even mocked Jeice and Cui for putting too much reliance in them, before he executed them with great ease. Probably the most poignant example was when Trunks took on Freeza's soldiers on Earth, his power level was just five when one of Freeza's soldiers took a reading from the scouter and because of this, immediately dismissed Trunks as a threat. Read the spoiler in the second example to know how that fight turned out.
    • It should also be noted that Trunks power reading was last reading officially provided in the history of Dragon Ball, and it's justified when you take into consideration that many of the main cast had gotten so strong that scouters pretty much became redundant in measuring a power level because it would just be way too high for the scouter to even comprehend.
    • Similarly, physical appearance is no indicator of a person's true worth. There are countless characters who aren't considered threatening due to their short stature or harmless visage, yet they've all displayed incredible strength. Inversely, plenty of fighters who are huge or menacing are often shown to be deeply insecure when confronted by someone who might be better than themselves.
  • Pride comes before a fall. Vegeta gets his ass handed to him so many times for his stubborn pride, you start to wonder if he likes it. Few are the characters who have done more stupid things for the sake of their pride. You'd think he would learn to never underestimate his opponents after being beaten by a low class Saiyan warrior (Goku), his five year old son (Gohan), a bald midget (Krillin) and fat samurai (Yajirobe)... but nope! Vegeta's huge ego and immeasurable pride always get the best of him, which lead to him getting his ass kicked by Zarbon, Recoome, Freeza, Android 18, Cell and Majin Buu. In Cell's case he deliberately aided Cell in becoming stronger because his ego wasn't satisfied with how easy the fight was. Let this be a lesson folks, don't be like Vegeta, because it's a case of going one step forward and then ten steps back.
    • Freeza is probably an even more appropriate example. He could have killed Goku at any point during their battle but decided to drag out the fight because, like Vegeta, his ego wasn't satisfied with how easy the fight had become and he wanted to make Goku suffer more. His hesitance to finish comes back to bite him as Goku eventually becomes a Super Saiyan and defeats Freeza. And even after that battle and reaching Earth before Goku, he decides not to just destroy the Earth when he has the chance because his pride wouldn't be satisfied with that, he instead wanted to make everyone on the planet suffer; cue another Saiyan, Trunks, who makes quick work of Freeza, his father King Cold and Freeza's soldiers.
  • The secret to success is to be ready for when your opportunity comes. Each person has his or her own belief of why Goku is as successful as he is. Most common of course is natural talent, or the love that he has for his family and friends. Both are true, and both are key factors but in many of the battles that Goku is in he outlasts his opponent. Whether this is because of his endurance, motivation, or something else. He always bides his time until he knows he has a chance for victory. When that opportunity does come, it does not go to waste.
  • Without defeat there is no victory. Through Dragon Ball Z, you see nearly every single character get knocked down. Some immediately get back up and face their opponent while others cower. In the end, the struggles that they underwent resulted in them becoming successful. Each time you fall is not for nothing. Only through our failures are we able to become better. Do not look at defeat as something that is permanent; it isn’t. It is a minor roadblock on your journey to becoming who you are meant to be.
  • Often in life, our closer friends were once our hated enemy. Throughout all of Dragon Ball, the theme of mercy towards those who have wronged us is everywhere. Goku could have finished both Piccolo and Vegeta off, and yet he didn’t. Whether this was because of his Saiyan blood and his desire to always become a better warrior by fighting people at their caliber, or if it was because of his pure heart, we will never know. But think about it, do you have those few friends that you started out on the wrong foot with them but now you’re inseparable? I sure can. It kind of makes you want to forget about first impressions all together…
  • For all people talk of Goku's Aesop of "you can surpass any limitation you put your mind to", Vegeta's entire character arc offers a far more realistic and poignant one: there's always going to be someone better than you, no matter how badly you want to be the best or how hard you try, but you shouldn't allow yourself to be consumed by envy. It's only in the late Buu saga when Vegeta accepts that he will never match Goku's power that he becomes at peace with himself.
• Shugo Chara. Love and compassion are very much important, and it acknowledges this too. (Especially within the second season, particularly near — by the end.) However, having fun and doing what you want to do, are equally important, rather than just doing as others say, or proving their judgements of you and what they tell you you can do. Also, afore — said loving other people should not be done just because it's accepted within general, but because you actually want to help and believe within them, and because it just isn't right to make harm towards personages.
  • Also, within the second season, it is 'not' a good piece to keep your problems from others, even if you think it's better for them, due towards the fact that doing so is never going to help 'any — thing', let alone them. Amu, Ikuto and gozen become the prime targets towards this, within ascending order of severity. Although, if it's really, 'really' probable that going some — where involved within as such is going to potentially harm them/some — one other involved as said as such, and not due towards some annoying fear, then it may be best to not do so.
• Barefoot Gen: Nuclear weapons and war are bad. To get the point across, allow us to traumatize you for life. There is more in the manga about the following occupation and the treatment of the nuclear attack survivors, too. And all of this is based on the author's own life. All of this horrifying shit really happened.
• Fairy Tail: The end of the Tower of Heaven arc emphasises that just because a Heroic Sacrifice saves your friends' lives doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be happy to be alive at your expense.
  • Happens quite often with Natsu:
    • Much of Natsu's fight with Gildarts in the S-Class Exam was a big anvil drop on his tendency to Leeroy it up. Considering that Gildarts had just come back from fighting the black dragon, it was probably also dropped the anvil that if Natsu couldn't beat Gildarts on his own, he has no chance against the black dragon.
    • A later extension to keep Natsu from reaching God Mode Sue status comes along when Future Rogue curb-stomps him in their first fight to the point of Ultear having to save his life from Future Rogue's shadow magic. A skirmish that takes place only a day after Natsu's last battle where he utterly embarrassed Sabertooth's Sting and Rogue in a two-on-one fight in which he didn't even have to resort to using his Lightning Fire abilities.
    • Tartarus member, Silver, 1 hit KOing Natsu with his ice-magic when the later decided to go Leeroy Jenkins on the Tartarus hide-out. This coming moments after people started making claims that Natsu had officially obtained God Mode Sue status.
    • Basically what happened to Laxus at the start of the Tartarus arc; being taken out nearly right away. Some believed this occurred due to his character showing glimpses of God Mode Sue as the Grand Magic Games moved along, and that this incident brought him back down to normal level.
  • The series has another major lesson, and it is arguably the most important; whether or not someone can be considered your family ultimately has very little to do with blood or DNA. All members of the titular guild view each other as family, and yet apart from Makarov and Laxus, Gildarts and Cana and the Strauss siblings, almost none of them are actually related. As Erza once puts it, just like flowers can't choose where they bloom, children can't choose their parents. Speaking of Erza, out of all the many characters (and it's a huge number), she arguably drops the anvil the hardest. She never knew her real parents (her mother Irene appears MUCH later, in VBERY complicated circumstances), so Makarov is the closest thing to a father she's ever known, and yet they are just as close and loving to each other as a real father and daughter. Contrast that with Minerva, Erza's Evil Counterpart in Sabertooth, whose Guild Master Jiemma is her real father, but is abusive towards her to the point that she doesn't care when one of her guild mates blows a hole through him. And then there's Lucy and her VERY sour relationship with her father Jude, which ultimately leads to her fully rejecting him. Though she's NOT happy either when, years later, she finds out that he died and had repented of the way he treated her.

Lucy: (to Jude) I'm not lucky Lucy Heartfilia anymore. I'm Lucy of Fairy Tail. The people there treat me like family, something you never did.

• Kyo Kara Maoh: No matter how different two groups are or how much bad history they have between them, it is possible for them to live together peacefully.
• Uchuu Senkan Yamato/Star Blazers: No matter how necessary a war may be, people are going to suffer. Turnabout isn't fair play; killing is and always will be wrong. There often isn't a clear difference between the good guys and bad guys, in the end. Revenge is a slippery slope that will never, under any circumstances, make you happy.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Everyone desperately needs to be loved and accepted, from their families, their friends, and the people around them. Otherwise they'll end up as screwed up as these people.
  • If you know yourself you can take care of yourself. The uploader of the video says this specifically: You are the one who writes the story of your life. If you run away from doing so and immerse yourself in something else to avoid thinking about it — to the point that it consumes you (excessive gaming, anime binging, alcohol, sex, becoming a workaholic, etc.), you will have wasted your life instead of doing something meaningful with it. Life is worth living, but only if you choose to live it rather than run from it.
  • Communication and interaction with other people is extremely important. Even when it's to avoid pain, sacrificing intimacy is not worth it and will make your life worse.
  • Don't kill yourself. The series makes more sense if you think about the Instrumentality Project as an allegory for suicide.
  • The third Rebuild of Evangelion film has the basic message that in life, everyone screw up, and sometimes, obsessing over your mistakes and trying to undo them only makes things much worse. Much much MUCH worse.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Making other people happy often requires a person to sacrifice their own happiness in exchange and doing selfless acts for selfish reasons will usually backfire. The person must be HONEST to themself about such so-called selflessness, and admit that not everyone can be totally selfless unless they really know what they're doing.
  • Also, it's best to Read the Freaking Manual before attempting to fix something.
• Psycho-Pass: Using a utilitarian system that judges people by what they might do rather than what they've already done, is using evil to fight evil. For every potential criminal put away, many more innocents are killed or have their lives ruined.
  • If you turn away from the people you love because you don't understand them, you will regret it when you lose them forever.
  • The law doesn't protect people, people protect the law. The law is not the system and it's not the provisions of the system. The law is the accumulation of everyone's wishes for a better society. And the worst thing you can do to these laws that should be sacred is to create a law that is unworthy of protection.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena:
  • Assigned roles suck in general. Especially gender roles. People must start building their own destiny through their own actions rather than others'.
  • It's best to stop judging women for their looks, their beliefs, etc. ESPECIALLY if a woman does this, because women who hate other women will never be able to love themselves.
  • When one projects their hopes and ideals onto other people, it just ends with everyone getting hurt. Especially if the person expects the other/others to live up to those hopes.
  • No one can save the world by themselves. Those who try will be overwhelmed, crash down over the pressure, fall into anger and despair, be liable to betrayal from those they saved, and probably end up becoming selfish assholes who hurt those who DO need them.
  • Family is important, yes. But if someone is mistreated by theirs and can't get them to change, they must save themselves first. In such cases, their safety come first.
  • Abuse victims are NOT "purse puppies" that their "saviors" can sweep off their feet and show off as "living accomplishments". They have their own needs and personalities, they react differently to the world around them, they often can be huge assholes out of resentment and pain (rather than being sweet and sad 'children' to dote on and mollycoddle), and at their very worst they can either become massive narcissists or even victimise other people.
  • People in bad situations cannot just be 'rescued' and 'saved' by others. They must first give the first step to their own salvation. Giving support and encouragement isn't a magic solution: if the person in trouble doesn't take the chance to save themself, no one can do it for them.
• Candy Candy:
  • "People must work hard for their own success and independence, and if done right, they'll be greatly rewarded. No one can expect to have anything just handed to them."
  • "Romance is not the end and be-all of a person's life, and especially women. It's important, yes, and there's no sin on being a woman or a man in love, but it shouldn't be someone's only priority. And sometimes, if the lovers aren't ready or aren't making each other happy, it's time to break off and say goodbye"

• Blue Comet SPT Layzner: Discrimination is bad. Racism is bad. War is bad. Conquering and oppressing other people IS BAD.. This is especially obvious regarding the second part of the series, all but stated to be inspired in the Japanese Empire's war crimes during World War Two and especially the cruel treatment of the Korean Peninsula.
• Sasurai no Taiyou:
  • Yes, rich people can be snooty. Yes, poor people can be kind. But that does NOT automatically happen because of their birth: what makes the trick is the person's specific environment. i.e, Nozomi is a sweetheart and Miki's a snot, but their moms are huge influences in them. Plus Michiko is NOT exactly swimming in riches, but she's a huge asshole and not even her Dark and Troubled Past justifies her revenge on two innocent families, one rich and one poor, and their just as innocent children..
  • There's also quite the criticism to the capitalistic post-WWII Japanese society and its cut-throat entertainement industry. Which turned out to be... prophetic.
• Oshi no Ko: If you're new to the music industry, avoid starting relationships while you are still involved with your job, as your reputation—and potentially both your future and your life—could be at risk if the truth comes out, regardless of your manager's efforts to conceal it.
  • Entertainers. Are. People. They can be good. They can be bad. But essentially, they're humans like you. Do NOT treat them like they're characters in your life. Do not harass them if they behave in ways you don't like. And DON'T hurt them if you don't approve of their decisions.

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