Eva>Gurren Lagann> Haruhi : Explained in Contemporary Philosophy
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I had a very interesting Japanese Studies lecture today. I spent half the time laughing, but it was serious business indeed. Today was a special lesson, for it had 3 guest lecturers rather than my usual prof.
The first was a woman professor who had studied the local cosplay scene, I think she’s an anthropologist. She presented her work and I laughed all the way. Why? I saw way too many familiar faces in her interviews, videos and pictures. Singapore is just way too small. One website she took some pictures from was Zer0’s, and I resisted the urge to stand up and shout "THAT’S MY FRIEND!!" Besides him, several other of the usual cosplayers were also featured and the answers they gave with regards to the interview were so ludicrous and retarded that the whole thing was funnier than an episode of School Rumble season 2 (but not season 1). Although I’m secretly jealous she didn’t use my site and pictures as material for her research. Bah.
The funniest bit of info she showed was the cosplay hierachy of the world. Japan is number 1 as "they are authentic", HK, Taiwan, Macau and China are tier 2, and Singapore is tier 3. America is dead last because they are "too fat, too lazy, out of character" and all that. But one thing apparently Singapore has an edge over Japan in is its moral sanitation. With all our law-abiding citizens and censorship, Singapore does not have the same cosplay sleazy baggage that Japan has at times, which apparently is a good thing for some. I don’t know, I like my cosplayers sleazy and showing skin.
The 2nd was a very enlightening lecture on Gyaru (Gal) culture in Japan. I realised this is one area I know little about. Stuff like Oyajigyaru, Ganguro, Amuraa and other sub types of gyaru. The lecturer mainly focused on her recent trip to Japan to see a Ayumi concert (for free, for research purposes!) and I saw a live performance DVD of her Arena tour. I have to admit before this, "Ayumi" was basically just some pop mainstream girly loser shit that only 12 year olds liked. But the pure awesomeness of the concert production values and her ability to entertain are quite unrivalled in the region or the world, I have to admit. And whisper it, but her songs are superior to the crap that most otaku like, such as Mizuki Nana and gang.
The 3rd and most academic lecture was by an obvious otaku. He looks an otaku and is a graduate student from the JS department. In his slides, I saw Eva, Haruhi and other anime pictures. The lecture was on a certain Azuma Hiroki, a Japanese scholar and cultural critic, using contemporary philosophy to analyse subcultures (otaku subcultures mainly). My nonotaku friends found this section boring but it was quite applicable to me.
It does explain why Evangelion will never be regarded as inferior to Gurren Lagann and especially Haruhi.
Simply put, Evangelion in 1995 spearheaded the coming of the Total Post Modern Age, where plots and coherencies started giving way to meaninglessness, with a huge shift towards characters. Consumers no longer look for constructed meaning in the media they consume, instead seeking an immediate satisfaction and desire fulfillment through characters. Gurren Lagann and Haruhi are essentially the same thing, they both are aimed at the consumer’s needs, rather than conveying a message. For GL, it’s the need for action and manliness, while Haruhi is just girls. In other words, the two series are merely following the path which Evangelion set 12 years ago. Eva was a gateway to a new age. GL and Haruhi are just walking through that gate.
To understand this fully, we have to look at what is the modern age and what comes after that. From 1970s to 1995, this was an age of transition for anime, where stories like Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam ruled. Anime was not character-driven, by still had semblances of a grand narrative. The writing of this time period differs a fair bit from what we get now.
As Alexander Kojève’s favourite "End of History" suggests, "When humans cease to be humans, and no meaning is left in the world, leaving only the snobs, who know there is no meaning but pretend there is; and the animal, who wants only simple and immediate desires, without seeking meaning." Interestingly, the Russian was inspired into these two classes of people by Japan and Americans respectively. Japan’s Seppuku and American burgers I would expect.
How this can be applied to otaku culture is as follows: Audiences are becoming more animalistic, and with content creators following suit (or perhaps it’s the latter leading the former), the otaku culture is in a stage of total post- modernism. More and more shows, manga, and other products are made via databases, constructed of elements which individually emotionally excite (nekomimi, zettai ryouiki, upskirts, maid, harem, tsundere, mecha). Audiences no longer seek a meaning in the shows, but watch them to gain pleasures in the form of immediate emotional releases via these elements.
It is not up to us to state whether this era is good or bad, but I personally do like my women hot and my mecha transformable. And no, I’m not an Eva fanboy. There are several ways of judging a series and one of them is through its historical impact, and that is where the likes of Eva, Dragonball, Sailormoon, Yuyu Hakusho and Pokemon are unrivalled in the modern age. But Gurren Lagann is far more entertaining than Eva of course. What do you think?
WOAH WOAH FIGHT THE POWA!
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I gotta agree.. GL is way way way more entertaining.
Overtly nihilistic, but that’s post-modernism for you. I don’t really subscribe to this point of view, namely because I can and have found meaning in otherwise “meaningless” anime that people have dismissed as such, but that’s just me. While I can say that a majority of otaku don’t really care about meaning and prefer to be entertained, there will always remain a core minority that demand more than just moe archetypes or flat chests.
Regarding meaning in Haruhi, though, I’m not exactly the best judge since it’s been about a year since I saw it. Haven’t seen GL, so can’t really offer an opinion on that either.
I’m wondering about your last paragraph: by saying “But Gurren Lagann is far more entertaining than Eva of course”, are you saying in turn that “entertainment and meaning are mutually exclusive”? i.e. Entertaining anime is meaningless, and vice versa?
Owen: Of course there are the exceptions, but we’re talking about majority here. I’m pretty sure the likes of Blue Sub 6, Ghost in the Shell and Planetes have much meaning in them.
Entertainment index is different from historical value index, is what I’m saying. They are different scales through which one can use to appreciate anime.
It probably runs in a cycle. Like with American TV, there was that phase a year or two ago when those reality TV shows were all the rage. That’s like what you’re saying here about satisfying that base desires and instant gratification. But that phased passed in America, and the reality shows have given way to much better written shows like Heroes and Prison Break, which are, if not meaningful, then at least they make you use your head and think about all the mysteries they present.
Hopefully the same thing will happen with anime and we’ll start getting more shows that are meaningful instead of the ‘moe’ or ‘gar’ saturated shows that have been ruling the market for the last few seasons.
I don’t see how this can be classified as philosophy.
Wouldn’t happen in Japan.
The customer base for the likes of Eva, GL and Haa Roo Hay are too much into their dream worlds and fatasies to snap out of it.
If Eva has taught companies one thing, it’s this: Who cares if it sucks? The fans eat this shit up. And will most likely eat this shit for a long time to come, because they are too stupid to think properly. A tactic Bandai knows all too well but was jealous to share.
The idea that a cycle for this brings up a number of questions.
Does it suggest that people generally will eventually get bored of both “entertainment-based” and “meaning-based” writing styles? If this is the case, what about either type of writing would cause a resurgence in its popularity?
What keeps “meaning” shows and “entertainment” shows from coexisting in both production and popularity? Of course, Owen seems to suggest that they do, in fact, coexist, but there does seem to be a sort of cycle when one looks at trends in production and popularity.
Could this all be explained as a case of “X style is popular, so I’m going to be different and say I like style Y?”
I am drawn to this statement;
“Audiences no longer seek a meaning in the shows, but watch them to gain pleasures in the form of immediate emotional releases via these elements.”
These immediate emotional releases are key selling points. Anime is, after all has been said and done, a business. It runs on and generates money. Sure, anime and manga started out as a medium to transmit messages, but thanks [or no thanks] to market research, it has been capitalised and the result we see now is the amount of shows that are more or less driven by these elements that induce immediate emotional release.
I think it’s not wrong to shorten that mouthful phrase into the simpler equivalent term, moe.
Meaning and entertainment value huh. While I like to think that they’re mutually exclusive, you have to admit that that idea doesn’t really apply in a general case. Mushishi and Kino’s Journey are anything but exciting, but they’re very meaningful and because of that they’re extremely entertaining to watch.
As far as the comparison between the three shows you mentioned, I didn’t watch GL because I don’t fancy gattai mecha. I thoroughly enjoyed Eva, and I couldn’t give two shits about Haruhi. I don’t really know if GL is more entertaining than GL, but my bias against gattai mecha will naturally place Eva over GL. Eva can easily entertain me, while GL [or any other recent gattai shows] easily annoy me with the gattai scenes. Haruhi, well… I still don’t get the rage. Which means I probably never will.
I agree with Lupus’s idea of these events running in a cycle. I’m quite happy that Fall 2007 will see a bit more shows that aren’t so ‘moe’ and ‘gar’ inclined.
Oh and for the record, I *have* seen Haruhi, and tried very hard to understand why some of my friends are so crazy over it.
.
this is still based upon opinion.
haruhi>gurren>eva for me.
you cannot justify ones tastes through logic. its just a preference.
Korosaora: Sociology is a field which aims to profile people. Preferences are not intangible, but rather a result of many factors, which can be looked into.
Silencers: I hate your taste as much as I hate the new season. I’ve seen 5 shows and they all suck more than Shining Tears. Anyway, it is noted that in the periods prior to 1995, these elements were present in far fewer quantities. It was also the time when Marxism was rampant and Japanese students were demonstrating, also an example of grand narratives. Nowadays, the general pop culture is also one of animalistic desires.
Kok: Anything is philosophy. You just have to say it is, for it to be.
I’d say it has the same kind of impact I received when watching EVA’s OVA.
Notice the Jikuukan Bakufu in first episode wasn’t related to in the last episode. Expect a spin-off, I know I am.
Well, I have a lot of qualms about post-modern philosophy in general anyway, so I’d probably have to vote GL over Eva as well. Thanks for being a scapegoat, Eva.
Great post. I think the basic idea is very interesting and has merit, but as is typical in academe, is blown out of proportion and fixed too firmly. I find the “meaning” in plot-driven anime to be pretty shallow, generally. I am more interested in the depth of feeling from the characters — which puts me in the post-modern camp, I guess. I could also say the change was from dry and childish adventure to rich and mature interpersonal emotion. Both categories are entertainment, and both have about equal amounts of meaning, it seems to me.
I do think this is the kind of theory that could only be created by someone who “doesn’t get” the depth of Haruhi. Haruhi is deep in the way it conveys its characters’ feelings, and in its themes of the insubstantiality of time and space, and frustration with life’s pettiness. We all create theories to justify and give value to our own instinctive preferences, lol.
*applause* awesome post, i wish i sat through the lecture too! Especially the third one.
Sorry to double post. Another main theme of Haruhi is our powerlessness in the face of fate and power. And I want to add an idea I’ve had that there are two kinds of anime for guys: shounen adventure for 8-12-year-olds whose egos are just being developed, and sex comedy for sexually frustrated 14-18-year-olds. It seems that most people, no matter what their age, get their anime entertainment by regressing to one of these genres.
Hashihime: Man, I really dig Hanazawa Kana so yeah, I’m post-modernist as well. But I’m not sure about the depth of Haruhi actually. Looking at the source material, a series of mediocre light novels, I’m not convinced about its supposed depth. Is it not what people want to see in it, rather than what actually is there to see?
Having themes does not make it any more deep. There are quite a few more genres of anime for guys, such as science fiction and sports (might be classified under shounen). I agree that people tend to have a growth plateau after the age of 18, and stagnate in terms of what they read/watch, but that only just reaffirms that puberty, the phase of most rapid growth, is over. I don’t see a problem with stagnating or regressing.
Since anime is unarguably part of the entertainment industry, is it any wonder that it primarily seeks to entertain? However, I would disagree that entertaining shows can’t be meaningful and thought provoking. Think about William Shakespeare, who was, like all other entertainers, rushing to meet deadlines and finishing plays which were going 2 be put on stage in a few days’ time. Can we seriously say that he was thinking about showing his audience the vast diversity of human lives, and through that transcend their souls? Course not, yet that was exactly what his plays did, and this was why he was regarded as one of the best playwrights in history.
Take evangelion, yes it may be the first work to employ the idea of school boys in macha, school girls in plug suits and moe lolicon in general. But is that enough for it to be rated the best anime ever? To have numerous introductions of it beginning with “this is no normal anime…” To get so many prominent figures in film making - which is an entirely different industry - working towards making an adaptation of their own? Course not. EVA’s popularity was able to stnad against the tide of time because it, through the depiction of characters and the use of symbolism, accurately presented humans’ relationships with each other, which for me, once understood, led to a train of thoughts which simply couldn’t seem to stop.
I’m not saying that this was what attracted people in the first place. Just Shakespeare’s plays, EVA’s audience are not initially interested because of the philosophy of it. Most people (including me) were in for the entertainment, the girls and the mecha. But nude girls and the mecha were not what kept it from dropping into the back of people’s minds or to be replaced by the next show of the same genre.
Last, on Haruhi, I agree that it will never surpass EVA, but then again it was never meant to. Its strength was in that it successfully mixed a number of genres - , girls, losts of comedy, bit of harem, bit of action, slice of life, great music (God knows…=Kami!!), some small, harmless issues which everyone can more or less relate to, and all of these r superbly executed. This alone takes skills, experience and inspiration and even if the other shows can copy the genres, they may nt have the competence to excel in them. This plus the ingenuity of its unconventional presentation (again, hard to copy) why Haruhi manages to stand out for so long even in the face of heavy presentation.
Having said tat, Haruhi Kyon = Win!!!
Go read Significant of Film Form by Bordwell and Thompson and you’ll seek your answers there.
Eva; post modern? How exactly did Eva invent the moe stereotype anyway? Eva had constructed meaning all right… it was implicit. Pure and immediate satisfaction? How do you explain the last few episodes where everything basically goes to hell and we get 2 episodes which don’t really satisfy anything in particular?
Hmm I really should be able to edit my past comment. All I want to say is, if you’re looking to Eva as the grandfather of ‘moe moe’ anime or Black Lagoon or this Gurenn Lagann, whatever it may be about, look elsewhere. It sure as heck isn’t focused around the action, and definitely not around the Rei’s ‘moe’ness, or whatever feeling you might be getting as you watch Rei wheeled in on a stretcher in the first episode.
GL is entertaining to point of absolute irritation; I felt like I have the need to kill every character by episode 3.
Hahaha, I kinda realised a long while back that my tastes are quite eccentric. I’ll admit it’s just me being anal about liking anime, I guess. Don’t you think it’s a bit sad though, that media trends now lean towards animalistic desires [regardless of what they are]?
Or is it just me being bitter…
The world is different now from 10 years ago. People change, mindsets change, social norms change. Especially in a place like Japan where change is so fast and absurd yet so subtle that we’ll always think of them as weird people no matter which era.
20 years ago, I’d say that Galaxy Express was awesome.
10 years ago, I’d say that Eva was awesome and looking back at Galaxy Express, I’d think it’s kinda meh.
And now, I’d say that GL is pretty good, Eva was “ok for a 10 year old anime” and Galaxy Express is “one of those ancient classic animes I’ll watch just once”
It’s all about the trends, man. If it’s animalistic appeal now, so be it. Who knows what will happen to anime 10 years later?
I tend to disagree, from NGE I still haven´t understood everything. Haruhi was more random and had multiple “endings” to say and would be rather fun to watch again. I must lurk more for my DVDs or just watch the one I just ordered when it arrives.
But regarding this subject I would place GL last of the three since most of all, for me it was to predictable, when you saw certain points you knew what would happen, there was only one single thing that suprised me with Guren Lagan, which is episode 08. Otherwise it was quite obvious for me.
When watching NGE I never knew if the episode would be all talk, fight against an angel or what would happen. In Haruhi, most because of how the placed the order of the episodes you never knew what was going to happen, but still there were some cues to what would happen.
What GL goes over these two in is the animation, Kyoani does great work, and NGE looked really good when it first came out, but GL takes a step over that.
Right now it feels like I´m only mumbling and can´t get my point trough
But for a try: I find Haruhi and NGE more entertaining that GL because in those two shows I would be suprised here and there and maybe even a lot, repeated times, which didn´t happen in GL.
But yes, time doesn´t stand still, which is why animators need to think of new ways to entertain us. For me, give me a good story where I can´t predict what´s going to happen along with some nice women and a male lead that isn´t a vibrator but does have some stuff going on in his head and I might like it. Add in the real nice animation and designs for everything and you´re one step closer.
Enough from me. Thanks for your time.
I am theorizing that all who claim that Haruhi is better than EVA did not watch EVA in 1995,or at least not before 2000.
I watched Evangelion just last year,and Haruhi this year, but I think that Evangelion is far better than Haruhi.
For Gurren Lagann, I would compare it to The End Of Evangelion, and say that they are both as epic.
LianYL: Actually, I watched Eva for the first time many months AFTER I watched Haruhi. And I still think Eva is more entertaining than Haruhi. Though I don’t really think that’s the issue here.
@Silencers Do note that I said “all who claim Haruhi is better than EVA” watched it before 2000 and NOT “all who watched EVA after 2000 thinks Haruhi is better”.
It plays a major role for one to decide which is the better, in case you were wondering.
Whoops, my bad.
@LianYL:
I watched Evangelion before year 2000. I don´t remember the exact year though, but I´m guessing 1995-1997.
If I had to choose one of them to be better than the other, really don´t know which one I´d think is better. I love the way Haruhi was done and hasn´t fully understood NGE yet since back then I was just a little kid who watched NGE because it was supposed to be “epic” even back then.
At the moments whim I´d have to say Haruhi is better, because the grand story with Haruhi getting whatever she wants, otherwise the universe will be destroyed is better than “insert random speak only episode which you can´t understand shit about if you haven´t read the bible and understand the whole thing with Tree of life and all such stuff”.
But that´s just me. Give me some time and hopefully I´ll rewatch NGE now when I´m older and understand more and maybe the opinion will change.
Shinji Ikari=Haruhi Suzumiya.
Both are immature and self-centred people. Duh.
I haven’t read the Haruhi novels, but I suspect I think that the anime is “deeper,” because I’m looking for human beings and the seiyuus give a human voice to what’s written. Be that as it may, Haruhi gave me a feeling of “Art” with a capital A right from the beginning. Comedy can be serious, too. I watched about six eps of Gurren-Laggan, but it was too chaotic and shounen for me. Seemed shallow, lol. I definitely recognized its quality, however.
I just watched NGE a month ago for the first time. LianYL’s theory holds true: I found it clearly less interesting than Haruhi, much as I enjoyed seeing the origins of some memes. I’m looking forward to “ef-a tale of memories” in part because the preview had what seemed to me an excellent example of “bandaged girl.” Like NGE, it seemed to be something like the Western “wounded king” myth: a powerful person debilitated. Thanks to Tsubaki for recommending Bordwell & Thompson. I never did take a film course.
Yes, I guess I have to agree that entertainment in general — not just anime — is fastening on our more physical desires these days. Not that it didn’t always. It’s just getting better at it as time goes by. But as I said, I hardly think that older anime are very deep. I think one difference is that most anime used to habitually include moral pedagogy for children, and now that “educational” component is not so present. I think that’s because the industry is slowly realizing that anime are not just for little kids.
omg postmodernism begone! Out, demons of stupidity! I like my anime narratives alive kkthnxbye!
Some basic rundowns:
End of History: After massive criticism, the author Francis Fukuyama took back some of his own claims.
“Fukuyama himself later conceded that his thesis was incomplete, but for a different reason: “there can be no end of history without an end of modern natural science and technology” (quoted from Our Posthuman Future). Fukuyama predicts that humanity’s control of its own evolution will have a great and possibly terrible effect on the liberal democracy.” Source: Wiki
Our defense minister Teo Chee Hean once told me that Clash of Civilisations refutes many of Fukuyama’s arguments. Perhaps you should read it too.
RE:”Gurren Lagann and Haruhi are essentially the same thing, they both are aimed at the consumer’s needs, rather than conveying a message.”
Do you have any proof of this claim? It’s isn’t even possible to quantify such aims. -_-
RE:”Audiences no longer seek a meaning in the shows, but watch them to gain pleasures in the form of immediate emotional releases via these elements.”
Same as above. A claim with no proof.
Totally unrelated point: Damn, don’t people watch anime for Aesthetic Pleasure anymore?
Exalt: Your claims have no proof! Considering Teo Chee Hean is my dad… :0
Amazing. someone is able to string things together like the theory of superstrings. I dont need to use pseudo-intellelligence to troll blogs, but just using simple sarcasm.
Actually, tj_han, I disagree with you on one thing: not everything can be philosophy, and philosophy isn’t as simple as saying it is simply because it is.
~
I’m no lover of Eva. I recognize it’s importance in some respects, but I won’t really wuite ‘love’ it. For GL… I haven’t seen it yet, so I won’t make comments.
And postmodernism, well, pardon me for saying this, but, postmodernism is one thing I’m sort of fighting against as a philosopher student on intent.
As for Francis Fukuyama’s statement, he was making it in reference to the philosopher Hegel, who proposed that we would know THE TRUTH once we merged democracy with CHristian ideals and make it secular (which is what the Enlightenment was about). WHy do you think ever philosopher after Hegel tried to prove him wrong ? Lebnin himself said that you can’t read Marx without knowing Hegel…. Communism was the only government system more free than democracy, but it was a failure, a reaon why FUkuyama made his statement, that history ‘ended’.
~
As for why I love Haruhi more then Eva… let me put it this way. I have a slight problem with Eva, and then, Gainax. But Gainax first… Abenobashi, FLCL and Eva, the three Gainax productiosn I can cite off well, all that I was rather disappoitned with, mainly in terms with animation. And as for Eva itself… it was the ending, and it’s treatment of theology, that bothered me.
Let me put it another way, for some,E va may be better than Haruhi, but for me, Eva can only make its true impact if ever amde it as a live-action film.
~
Btw, I’d love to talk about this in more detail, elsewhere.
I feel that as someone who normally gets obsessed with slow-moving ‘weird shit’ with multiple interpretations that’s designed to make me feel really smart if I spot the references, I should post in defense of Gurren Lagann
Gurren Lagann had a much better ending than Haruhi or Eva.
If we’re talking in terms of characters over plot, this has to be taken into account..
Also in defense of Gurren, in spite of being a female way out of puberty with no anatomical/psychological penis/drill analogy, and no evidence so far of Manly Fighting Spirit (although when that chance comes to save the universe from non-spiral beings/ save myself when the zombies take over, who knows?), and liable to lose my voice if I scream too much, the person who found it more entertaining than eva HAD IT RIGHT.
I would rather some fantasy/stoner/trippy-spirals philosophy backed up by the power of perfect colour and layouts was referenced throughout a series than some knowing christian pseudo-philosophy, or fantastic non-linear storytelling and surreally good characters suddenly let down by girl-needs-boy ending any day.
Gurren lagann is meant to be ridiculous rainbow psychedelic robot battle madness for drunk people and little kids to laugh their asses off at until they cry. The fact that it expands by a few universes every few episodes or unexpectedly kills off its best characters is irrelevant. Its not trying to be clever, its just the best entertainment Ive seen for years.
The fact that even the most hardcore Bl*ch fan watching it knows that in many other series the same storyline wouldve been dragged in the dirt for 100 episodes also serves it well..
also prettier by far than Haruhi or Eva, in spite of blatant budget-saving tactics.
I am indeed impressed that your uni/whatever course is analysing anime btw; enjoy it while the world lasts..
X
Actually Gurren Lagann does have a message it puts across strongly. I couldn’t be bothered reading all the comments, look at em, but it’s to do with evolution and crap and uses the spiral theory.
Im really lazy so I won’t explain it all, but yeah it does.
In my opinion, Gurren-Lagann is superior to Evangelion, not just in terms of entertainment but also in terms of meaningfulness. In fact, I would even say Gurren-Lagann is probably the most meaningful anime I’ve ever seen.
Evangelion is certainly more complex than Gurren-Lagann, but being more complex does not make it more meaningful or superior. Gurren-Lagann was never meant to follow in Evangelion’s footsteps, and if anything, Gurren-Lagann is the anti-Evangelion, as it was created in response to the increasingly cynical, nihilistic and dystopian views of humanity commonly found in Evangelion and various other science fiction. Gurren-Lagann responds to these negative views on humanity within the plot itself with a simple yet powerful message: hope. Gurren-Lagann doesn’t need large amounts of religious symbolism to get its point across either, but it does so using just one symbol: a spiral.
You should read the following article for a detailed analysis on Gurren-Lagann’s themes and symbnolism:
http://wtf.animeblogger.net/?p=140
In summary: What lies underneath the flamboyant surface of Gurren-Lagann is a vast amount of thematic depth and meaning that goes beyond the confines of the plot itself. I’m sure there may be more articles in the future discussing Gurren-Lagann’s themes and symbols, and I get the feeling this anime may even inspire more anti-Evangelion anime in the future.
I think you’re an idiot and it’s unfortunate this many people have been misinformed with your opinions on eva and laggan. I’m sorry meaning’s lost on you. Laggan wasnt as good as eva just more fun to watch if you’re high and i cant imagine how awesome itd be tripping haha but i mean man open your eyes, go out and do experience some shit obviously your perception’s lacking through some experience you clearly dont have in life.