The Chakra Allegory (for anime)
About 3 years ago, I had this allegory of how the Hindu chakras can be seen as different kinds of shows and how they define the taste of a fan. It’s time to expand on that by showing a more positive side for each one, instead of seeing them in a linear fashion from bottom to top.
Let’s start with the navel chakra, which is located at the stomach. Every new viewer who just began consuming anime, doesn’t have a developed sense of taste in this medium. He needs to start from simple and easily digestible series that will not strain his mind or creep him out. That means nothing too extreme, or subtle, or gross. The navel chakra is usually the one everybody activates first, since they need entry level shows to get used to the style and terminology of the medium. It is vital because without it nobody would ever be interested in anime, and without audience the medium would die out. And what do you know, this chakra is responsible for willpower as well. And which shows are all about that? Fighting shonen, and sports, what most people begin with.
All these shows tend to be very similar in story structure, since the industry jumps on fads and clones them to the death in its greedy desire to cash in on anything that sells. Before you know it, what used to be fresh becomes redundant. From a point on you need a reason to keep watching something which appears to be the same thing again and again. That something is usually the sex appeal. It’s one thing to be watching a show as a time waster and a whole other if it makes you horny. This brings us to the genitalia chakra, which regulates erotic desires and includes anything that has fan service. Harems, ecchi, hentai, and all discussions about “my waifu” or “best girl”. It is vital for maintaining interest and occasionally even explores gender roles and sexual liberation.
But that is rare and eventually gets old, so people want something more substantial. It’s one thing to be watching a show as fap material and a whole other if you actually care about its characters instead of objectifying them. This is where the heart chakra comes in, which regulates emotions, also known as THE FEELS! Romance, moe, rule of cool, anything that makes your blood boil and your heart to beat fast. It’s also where the negative side of EDGE resides in. Many people mistake emotions for reality, the more they feel, the more realistic the show feels to them. Which of course it’s not true, it’s just SHOCK FACTOR. Gore, torture, and suffering are just explicit content which has nothing to do with realism.
If there is one good thing about edge, it’s how it usually motivates people to write long essays about thematic exploration, or subversion of tropes, or anything that elevates a show above average for not being predictable. Predictability does not make something bad; it makes it uninteresting for following a formula everybody knows of. When a show does not follow the formula it becomes more memorable, or makes you think about stuff. Thus we get the throat chakra, which regulates spiritual drive, as well as a lot of talking and a lot of text. Most of it ends up being pretentious overthinking over series which are not as smart as they seem on paper, but it’s still vital in improving one’s critical thinking.
When overthinking reaches ridiculous levels, you end up with huge circlejerks praising really badly written series as masterpieces. This is the purpose of the ass chakra, it involves anything that is shit, and self-indulgent, meaning sticking its head up in its own ass, and then stating its own farts smell nice. It involves stuff like light novels and visual novels that are stuffed with technobabbling and mention a thousand different themes, but otherwise play out as mindless violence, excessive sexuality, and complete lack of subtlety or reasoning. It is schlock that keeps trying to convince you it’s smart and thought provoking, before being about beta males fucking their sisters and beating up one-dimensional rapists by breaking the laws of physics for the sake of empowerment fantasy. It is about complete train wrecks that are praised for being unpredictable, when in reality they are just random asspulls. It is about shows that are defended as “so bad, it is good” and use that to excuse why so many people are loving garbage. It comes down to “bad publicity is still publicity” where you get money and popularity out of what is essentially pure cringe.
It’s only when you realize the aforementioned when they brain chakra kicks in. It’s all about self-realization, introspection, and wisdom, which shows on screen when a series is mostly showing that saying what it’s all about, being subtle and simple, yet down to earth and cathartic. That is what true critical thinkers should aim for. As before, there is also the halo chakra which is beyond earthly desires and is not represented by any type of series. You don’t watch anime to obtain it, it’s a culmination of life experiences. Obtaining enlightment is something above everything we do or are obsessed with, which happens to be what hobbies are all about. This topic is meant to help you see things from a certain perspective. What you plan to do with it, is a different story.