I've heard a lot of complaining about how many main characters are orphans, and I don't understand those complains either. It's common and quite accepted that stories that are supposed to make the main character grow start by the main character being cut loose from most ties of the past. Whether by them breaking lose, family dying or disappearing - or lack of a parent to begin with. I think it's important since those stories really throw the character right into a determination that makes it grow.
And it can symbolise being thrown out into a large and very unforgiving world.
What I think is most important though, is that most series (I don't count ecchi, since I very much dislike this genre) have a very clear sensmorale; love and acceptance will find a way, and it will change the world and how we think. It's so easy to hate, but very hard to accept things we don't understand, and it can feel impossible to love everyone.
But I think that a large step on the way is trying to understand why someone acted a certain way. What shaped that person into being who they were? Look underneath the underneath as Kakashi once said (a character from the popular series Naruto).
I mean... We can take something all of us can relate to as example: the local drunk. A person who sits on a bench drinking, seemingly doing nothing at all. What do people do? They avoid, and speak ill of this person when it can't hear. And when it seeks contact we shy away, with strained politeness and rush on.
We don't stop and wonder: Why did this person resort to drinking in the first place?
People very seldom do things without a reason - no matter how petty it may seem - so there must be something.
There was this man I used to see every day as I walked to the bus. Every day, he sat on the same bench, alone. So one day, when I had a couple of lollipops, I went up to him and gave him a lollipop. I don't think the happiness on his face can be described with words. He looked so relieved not to have to sit there alone. So I sat down and talked to him, and learned that he'd been thrown out by his wife, but he loved her. So he came here every day, and sat on the bench near her house, hoping that she would change her mind some day. He was very sad and lonely, and thanked me for listening to his story.
I never saw him again.
I don't know if somehow me listening to his story made him able to go on, or if something happened to him. Maybe he summoned to courage to ring the doorbell, maybe his wife took him back I don't know. But it was one of those things I will not easily forget.
I don't think that I would have bothered trying to make contact if I hadn't learned to accept people the way they are - no matter what they look like or where they come from - and accept the fact that every person have their own past that shaped their here and now. Sure, some people may just be very bad at making choices in their lives, but most people don't just end up in that position. They all have stories of their own.
I also know how hard it is to be that person who is pushed away, left out, ignored, badmouthed behind your back...the person who's always out of luck, who always loses everything that means something.
That unlucky person who always end up lonely and sad.
I know how that feels, and I know how it feels when nobody - not even family - bothers to try to help, listen to your story and understand you. When your very existence is being questioned, and you wonder why you were put down on this earth in the first place since nobody seems to need you.
It's the hardest thing. To not have a place or a reason to exist. And when you finally find it, you hold onto it so desperately. You care for it, nurture it as if every day was the last - because you know it is so fragile. Trust comes hard, and is easily damaged.
I think that if I hadn't started watching anime I'd probably still be that bitter, lonely person. But I'm not. I changed because I had to. There was no other choice. And hearing all those stories, all those reasons to fight... I learned that it's okay to be me. And once I accepted that there was no reason to it all, that children are simply cruel to each other - and most people who are mean don't realise how much what they do hurt, neither do they really mean to hurt - then I was able to create my first bonds.
And I will always treasure them, since I know how important it is to have people you can trust and love - and who knows they can depend on you as well.
If you never watched any anime at all, you should try it. :) Pick some series that are very popular (and that isn't 'ecchi' - they're easily recognised because there's always pantyshots and large, bouncing breasts in them) and watch some of it to see what I mean.
I would personally recommend reading the Naruto manga (the anime is good as well, but it has a lot of filler episodes so it's much longer) and read Full Metal Alchemist or watch the Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood-series (not the one without 'Brotherhood' because it's...really...weird and only loosely follow the manga) and Rurouni Kenshin.
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