Anime Wisdom

There have been times when I’ve been watching something and there will be a piece of dialogue that strikes me as unexpectedly wise. It makes me pause for a moment and think, “Wow, that’s actually pretty true.” It may even be something that is very common sense, but is not really stated enough in real life day-to-day to be remembered most of the time. Here is where I’ll catalogue the bits of wisdom I’ve come across in anime.

This idea is closely adapted from a thread I started on a message board I used to frequent. I like the idea too much to simply let it languish there, so I decided to move it over here. In addition to simply stating the quotes, I’ll expound a bit on what I think they have to offer us.

The quotes are listed under the anime they come from, and the anime are listed alphabetically. To keep this page from becoming too cluttered, my expanded thoughts on each quote are linked to from the quote they cover. Additionally, for quotes that are between two or more characters or for lengthy quotes, I will only have the first sentence or two on this page. However, the quote’s individual page will contain the whole thing.

Bleach:

• “I feel sorry about your confusion, but this world’s never really been about truth or lies.” ~Sousuke Aizen

Durarara!!:

• “You think you’re special? You’re not. Everyone’s the same. Everyone lies, everyone hides things; no one makes it through this life being completely honest.” ~Izaya Orihara

Fullmetal Alchemist:

• Rose: “You should never have come here. Father Cornello gave us hope. What right did you have to take that away? With him we believed we could do anything, even bring back the dead. We’re a desert village! We had nothing before that!” ~Edward Elric and Rose

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood:

• “There’s no such thing as a painless lesson. They just don’t exist. Sacrifices are necessary. You can’t gain anything without losing something first. Although, if you can endure that pain, and walk away from it, you’ll find that you now have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle. Yeah, a heart made full metal.” ~Edward Elric

Kill la Kill:

• Satsuki: “A castle that vanishes at the first gust of wind is worthless. Don’t you agree, Nonon?” ~Satsuki Kiryuuin and Nonon Jakuzure

Spice and Wolf:

• “When a person lies, what is important is not the lie itself. No, it is their reason, their “why”.” ~Holo

Yu Yu Hakusho:

• “Any prize worth having usually requires risk.” ~Kurama

• “It’s time you bit the bullet and started caring about something with all your heart and energy! But you can’t do that if you’re always holding yourself back in case it doesn’t work out!” ~Genkai