The paper plane and the wind

If I’m ever watching an anime series I’m destined to love, there is always that one moment, typically unexpected, of almost transcendental catharsis that pushes me over the edge. It’s what happens when a story goes from being just another mecha anime I might enjoy, like Gundam 00, to a story that’s suddenly exploding with life, ambition, emotion. If you hadn’t guessed already, I’m talking about Macross Frontier, episode the third.

Looking out over hazy-blue clouds, Alto throws his paper plane into the sky above. The flimsy wings falter against the wind, but it’s flying, gliding high and swooping low. It’s a metaphorical moment we can grasp because, after all, most of us dream of doing something important with our lives, but for all those grand intentions, we’re still just paper planes relying on the wind; weak, fragile, hanging by a thread of hope, waiting for that breeze to carry us away. Sometimes it’s best to take a risk and jump, to chase what you desire with every ounce of your being. Rise or fall, that’s a really inspiring sentiment, right? And that’s why I watch anime. Also, as my blogging is a transient sequence of ‘wrongs’ and ‘rights’, I was wrong, on this evidence, to slightly criticize Yoko Kanno’s musical efforts for Frontier because Ranka’s heart-felt accapella turn in this episode was, in a word, beautiful. High up on a hill, singing to yourself, it’s kind of like blogging, really.