When my depression recurred back in February this year, I took steps towards prevention – meaning be proactive so I won’t be in its clutches for a long time. I turned to watching anime, having seen Hayao Miyazaki’s movies – Spirited Away, Tokyo Godfathers, Howl’s Moving Castle – the last being my all time favourite! After watching all three, at least twice, I looked for other films. I combed the Internet but was disappointed. Found other fun ones like Say I Love You and Hana Yori Dango. My search led to the discovery of two sites that I now visit often, Kissasian.com and MyDramaList.com.

I recently finished watching Hero, (2001, 2006, 2014, and 2015). They were fun to watch, I’m sure I’ll look at those again in the next few months. All the episodes have substance to them (Congratulations to the writers!), and the ensemble acting was superb! My only regret is that I have to watch the series with the subtitles; I’m not a native speaker but I totally got the funny parts, cried at the sad ones, and felt a bit of disappointment that Kuryuu-san didn’t even hold Amamiya-san’s hand when they said good bye.

The 29-year old Kimura Takuya in Hero, 2001 was, and still is, pleasant to the eyes. His facial expressions communicates a lot but that’s what a good actor is about, isn’t it? Perhaps he’s gotten to the pinnacle of his acting career, a goal that actors would love to achieve. I look forward to seeing him in other roles as well. The cast was well chosen; more than that, the directors had a vision, created the success it was (2001) and 16 years later, I saw all four and was touched by the timeless words in the show. I must admit that the series and the movies slowly pulled me out of a darkness and inspired me to write again. Thank you!

We go to see the performing arts to be entertained, to forget the challenges we face. There, we can see our wishes for beautiful, fulfilling lives coming true. Thank goodness for films, we get that vicarious experience of solving problems, of joy, for an hour or two. Thank you to the actors who make those wishes come to life; thank you to Kimura Takuya whose acting shows what it might be like to be present in the moment, to be a participant in life.

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