銀河鉄道の夜

Ginga Tetsudou no yoru - Night on the Galactic Railroad is a beautiful story. Written by Miyazawa Kenji - it tells of a young boy named Giovanni who was often bullied by his friends because his father was not around and his mother was ill. Giovanni only had a friend - Campanella who understood him. On the night of the festival of stars, Giovanni wanted to join in the fun but was rejected by his classmates. Feeling upset, he ran to the fields and looked up into the sky where the stars shone brightly. Suddenly a train came and picked Giovanni up. Within the train was his best friend - Campanella and thus their mysterious journey begin...........

To me the story is beautiful - because it was permated with a sense of mystic, loss and foreshadowing....throughout the journey, Giovanni saw many things - symbolism of things and lessons - some of which I do not quite understand. It also weaved in many Christian symbols - which is strange in a way because Miyazawa himself is a Buddhist. Nevertheless, the symbols do mean something and they actually foreshadow the central theme of the story - one of letting go and scarifice and the meaning of true happiness.

I guess sometimes no matter how much we long to be on a journey - we will reach our destination one day. And no matter how much I want to share some part of my life with people, eventually some roads are meant to be travelled alone. Letting go, nostalgia, moving on are all part and parcel of living. The imaginary world is not real - but the lessons behind them are. Fiction has the power to overcome barriers that logic created and open our eyes to the truths we never see. If we bother to look deeper, there's a whole new world of meaning waiting for us to explore.....one lesson which I learn from anime is striving - never give up, no matter how tough things get going. I'm really thankful for the optimistic view of life that anime has given me..^_^