Ikigai, and anime that goes under this concept [Philosophy N' Martial Arts]

Jan 3, 2018 6:24 PM

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Nov 2013

2667

First of all, I would like to know if anyone here is familiar with the Ikigai concept. Particularly I'm not that knowledgeable, so I'm open to discuss and learn more. Came across it along with my Ninjutsu and Krav Maga training, and lately I've been more into studying eastern philosophy, alongside with my studies on Eudaimonia in Aristotle and Affection in Spinoza. Anyway, what do you guys think of it? And do anyone knows any anime that works more profoundly with this kind of concept? Like Eudaimonia and Ikigai...

Jan 3, 2018 6:33 PM

Short_Circut

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Jul 2017

8316

lol you spelled isekai wrong fggt

I don't know how a specific show could fit within all 4 elements. Technically speaking, the world doesn't really need anime to continue unless you look at the economic viewpoint of japan

Maybe if you looked at the points that combine 3 elements, there could be some examples. Like for instance Acchi Kocchi gave immense satisfaction but it didn't really feel impacting or 'useful' at all

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Jan 3, 2018 6:41 PM

blankflat

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Nov 2013

2667

Short_Circut said:
lol you spelled isekai wrong fggt

I don't know how a specific show could fit within all 4 elements. Technically speaking, the world doesn't really need anime to continue unless you look at the economic viewpoint of japan

Maybe if you looked at the points that combine 3 elements, there could be some examples. Like for instance Acchi Kocchi gave immense satisfaction but it didn't really feel impacting or 'useful' at all

Actually, I'm searching for something that discuss the concept itself. Ikigai is basically your reason of being. Nowdays is mostly used for coaching in the entrepreneur world, that's where the diagram came from, probably. But the concept holds interesting ontological basis and probably can teach us how to know more properly the being itself and how it works on actual existence. Would be a nice concept to discuss in popular arts as well, like anime, I guess.

blankflatJan 3, 2018 6:44 PM

Jan 3, 2018 9:43 PM

holysauron

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Dec 2015

2420

Never heard of it so can't tell if I've seen one, but I think one of those anime who frequently mention the raison d'être like Ergo Proxy can be quite close.

Jan 4, 2018 12:46 AM

Zeando

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Feb 2011

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Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu may fit into that, the main characters in the first season could be seen as having a conflict over work-good-needs-love and good-love.

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Jan 4, 2018 1:28 AM

EratiK

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Apr 2012

4896

Hmm, ikigai is a very broad term, in a way it's a general quest for meaning. And thus, a lot of anime discuss it obviously.

For example typical shounen find meaning in effort and being part of a group (nakama).
Lots of anime focus on work as meaningful to life (Silver Spoon, Hoozuki no reitetsu).
Some anime focus on the transient nature of things (Samurai Champloo, Saraiya goyou, Gintama).
And for course most anime vilains have a certain worldview/ideology/raison d'être (Gurren Lagann, Death Note, etc) that is different from the hero's.

So it's never central, but it's always there. An anime where they just sit down and talk about raison d'être would be boring, the concept is only interesting in the way it relates to a practice (revenge, work, love, etc). I guess more existential anime like NGE, Utena... is what you're looking for.

EratiKJan 4, 2018 1:32 AM

Jan 4, 2018 3:16 AM

blankflat

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Nov 2013

2667

holysauron said:
Never heard of it so can't tell if I've seen one, but I think one of those anime who frequently mention the raison d'être like Ergo Proxy can be quite close.

Gotta check it out. I've been procrastinating on Ergo Proxy a long time...

Zeando said:
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu may fit into that, the main characters in the first season could be seen as having a conflict over work-good-needs-love and good-love.

That's nice, probably would be a good fit to what I'm looking for. It's a wide concept so I have to keep searching.

EratiK said:
Hmm, ikigai is a very broad term, in a way it's a general quest for meaning. And thus, a lot of anime discuss it obviously.

For example typical shounen find meaning in effort and being part of a group (nakama).
Lots of anime focus on work as meaningful to life (Silver Spoon, Hoozuki no reitetsu).
Some anime focus on the transient nature of things (Samurai Champloo, Saraiya goyou, Gintama).
And for course most anime vilains have a certain worldview/ideology/raison d'être (Gurren Lagann, Death Note, etc) that is different from the hero's.

So it's never central, but it's always there. An anime where they just sit down and talk about raison d'être would be boring, the concept is only interesting in the way it relates to a practice (revenge, work, love, etc). I guess more existential anime like NGE, Utena... is what you're looking for.

That's right man, you're mostly correct. But discuss the concept, in eastern philosophy at least, already implies the practice all along. There's no split into mind and body.

Thank you for the contribution, for some reason never saw Utena, think is time now. And you're right about the term being there, sparse...

I came across with Kaguya recently and that was pretty much it. Of course the story depict it in a manner that is more profoundly tragic, like Evangelion, but that's outstanding. Came to be one of my favs.

Jan 4, 2018 1:33 PM

Azeew

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Jan 2013

727

Hmmm, definitely an interesting concept. I think this would belong better in off-topic tho.

From my first impressions, I can already totally disagree with it. I just heard about it for the first time, so most likely my opinion would change after actually researching about it. Anyways, I think it's a pretty wrong way to view the world. What you can be paid for? That's absolutely meaningless. I would definitely just remove it from the concept. What the world needs? That's even worse. It should be a matter of self satisfaction more than anything else. We're left with what you're good at and what you love. Maybe that's the sweet spot for me. But at the same time I think I would also remove the what you're good at part. Why do you need to be good at something that you love? First of all, there are things that can be loved that you can't even be good or bad at. And still, why do you need to be good at it if you already love it in the first place? This would only bring unnecessary ego and pride. So yeah, I would narrow it down to "what you love".

I get that this is supposed to be a more to the ground approach, considering modern society. Hence why you need to get paid for it - you obviously need money to survive. Hence why the world should need it - this way you help society along the way. And hence why you need to be good at it - you'll get nowhere being bad at something. Making it the "best" thing you can possibly do. But I still like more emotional and aerial approaches to these types of philosophies.

Upon further thoughts, I think this would fit better as a "choose your carreer" helper type of thing more than anything. I assumed it was supposed to be a philosophical teaching on meaning, and maybe I was wrong.

AzeewJan 4, 2018 1:49 PM

Jan 6, 2018 3:37 AM

blankflat

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Nov 2013

2667

That`s a valid point, even though the diagram is relatively shallow, considering the focus. It's obvious that they aimed entrepreneur coaching with all those conections, and I decided to use this image so I could be more elucidative.

Anyway, the concept itself holds more profound ontological meaning. What the world needs? That`s mostly political, and doesn`t have to contradict self satisfaction. If it does, it`s invalid.

Being good or not, this question doesn`t make sense you see. If you think about Ikigai, it`s just one concept, so it concerns unity. If you think and practice Ikigai you clearly love, you clearly are good, you clearly have critical political view, and you clearly get paid for it, and it doesn`t need to be necessarily money, you can not divide all those things because you have a mind and a body, and you exist, so everything is one, which makes Ikigai a complete concept along with the being itself. What differs are probably the means to get to it, but the ends are one and the same.

Ikagai goes along with happiness, so it concerns the full activity of your being. Happiness is not pleasure, but pleasure can be one of the proprieties of Happiness. Happiness is activity, and as an activity, it depict the being as it is. The same goes for Ikigai.

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Ikigai, and anime that goes under this concept [Philosophy N' Martial Arts]

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