{To Little Kaito}

Thank you for the Opl Lorida.

#LetterToMyself

#GrandNakama

Hello, younger self. I hope you don't mind me describing the events you've gone through. It's truly been a long time since 2020—it's about five years now. Time flies fast, but I wanted to tell you something. All those thoughts about the past have been roaming around continuously in my head. I still feel a bit of uncertainty about bringing up the past, due to it not being the strongest point in my life to drag along, I like to take this time to reflect on the experiences that you and I had.

You must be wondering why I'm bringing up the past. It's because I'm curious to tell you how much you've achieved. One virtue you and I still have is that we are competitive. It's the main motive that brought me the courage to write this letter to you.

It could have been better days if you had stayed obedient to your school life. You should have been sitting in the library, invested in a book that you found around there, and hanging around your friends. Instead, you got consumed by your social life and squandered some valuable time that could have changed your approach to life sooner.

Trust me, this letter concisely isn't just about bringing up regrets, nor appreciating the good moments. I'm just here to challenge you and confess whatever is on my mind~

We've both been introduced to our childhood anime, one of our purest days involved the anime "Legendary Brave Swordsman Yaiba". We have many beautiful memories that we similarly enjoyed and appreciated throughout life, because we saw Yaiba who's a child that had those fiery eyes clearing up the pathway to achieve his goal while being young. You wanted to replicate him since you assumed that your future would be predetermined and clear.

Legendary brave Swordsman Yaiba

Yaiba was a boy who viewed the world as a forest where you have to hunt. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to survive. Although he got engaged in a couple of traumatic experiences, it only led to him evolving and perceiving the forest to overcome it eventually. When the time arrived to visit the actual world, Yaiba was astonished because of the architecture and how developed the world seemed. The center of attention in Yaiba's life was about defeating animals with a kendo stick, yet now he's been introduced to many fun activities that he found amusing, one of them being the Dojo, a place where a lot of Kendo stick s train. Yaiba was perplexed by the environment that he started living in, but it didn't take long until he set another goal in his life. Yaiba found his greatest rival in a highschool Dojo and his name was Onimaru.

You were incredibly observant. You did not miss a single sudden change in the show. You paid attention to countless details that have slipped from my memory, perhaps because they seemed insignificant; nonetheless, we still cherish this show as a nostalgic memory.

I find old shows really amusing as well. It was only a matter of time until I sat down and started watching this again. Perhaps I wanted the same sensation as before. I knew I wouldn't have the identical reaction nowadays compared to when I was a child, but I imagined, to some extent, that I would enjoy the nostalgic factor…

After that, we went our separate ways, which aren’t inherently right or wrong.

We both wanted to experience something different; one thought being isolated would be the pinnacle point of their life to achieve a lot, but that was all a facade that you’d created, younger self. While I thought having more social interactions and memorable moments around people would separate me from you. Recalling that time, you must have had a tough time. It must have been cold inside the hut that you’d created—black hair, creamy pallor—eyes with the depths and darkness of the night. You looked duller than anyone. However, we were just experiencing different ways of navigating life’s complexities.

You’ve always been the curious kind. The one who seeks many opportunities to rest assured in the future. Reminding me a lot of an anime you loved and bragged about watching. We are both acquainted with this anime, but you felt captivated enough to blog about it beforehand, and it’s none other than Detective Conan.

Detective Conan

Detective Conan is an anime about a highschool student named Kudo Shinichi. He was an incredible detective who had solved many unique cases and mysteries around Japan. Unfortunately, he transformed into a child after being poisoned by a certain drug, yet he was still able to carry out his weight by deducing and solving cases with an eight-year-old body. You were drawn to his unwavering determination in unraveling the truth. You were perhaps also inspired by multiple writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Ranpo. Just like all those stories with a protagonist who is very strong-minded and aware of his surroundings, you seek to hold your desirous mind and observation skills, especially if it revolves around simplifying the way to navigate life’s complications. The query was rational for most humans to aim for, but was the source reliable enough, were you able to maintain a peaceful life without having to endure any pain?

The path ahead of you wasn’t as simple as you had envisioned. Listen here, my younger self, I appreciate your attempt to simplify things, but you can’t really skip any route to achieve your purpose. What I’m trying to say is finding the balance between your wisdom and soulfulness is required to thrive in life; otherwise, your attempt is considered pointless.

”It’s always the little things that we overlook that are most important.” ~Kudo Shinichi

You were fascinated by a mere character flourishing throughout his risky journey, you ired his ability to control his emotions, you enjoyed his precise deduction skills that eliminated the impossible and unraveled the truth no matter how improbable. However, you failed to recognize that Kudo Shinichi had gained great and authority after creating his tranquil image that differentiated him from other humans throughout the show. That’s exactly why you should have confronted life instead of seeking validation about your immature route that you’ve created. I’m glad I was able to convey my feelings after such a long journey, that you led me up to, and after all this time, I want to say thank you for sharing these memories with me. If I had to go back and advise you with a couple of words, I’d say “trust the process younger self, because it holds more wisdom than you can ever imagine.”

Despite all the challenges that had occurred, I’m grateful we’ve had anime around us to bring the joy. I recall how exciting it was to watch our favorite anime scenes that had major plot twists to other beautiful moments where we simply kept analyzing characters, those truly were some of the happiest days I was introduced to. Even now, I find comfort embracing every anime that influenced me and kept me intrigued, therefore I revisit the anime world we once immersed ourselves in. Anime shows are like our old friends, they created wholesome memories that neither you and I can deny, so how about we dive into my section, where I’m going to describe one of my old friends, that were a source of entertainment and wisdom. You weren’t able to experience it younger self, but I know if you had, we’d feel pretty mutual about it~

Gintama

Gintama is an incalculable show, that you can never seem to get a hold of, yet you end up laughing and wanting to gather up more from the show, it’s ridiculous to say, but the plot wasn’t that fascinating, what I enjoyed was the journeys that I was able to be a part of. Captivating interactions between one-of-a-kind personalities is what created a happy smile on my face, while the intense combat scenarios made me crave for it more. The show kept on providing us with crucial content about the importance of friendship, determination, and finding purpose in unfavourable situations.

Gintama is an anime that contains a number of mishaps to captivate its audience. A show where characters have bonds that change the entire flow of how a show is going, this is the specific reason I chose Gintama. The protagonist is Gintoki, he’s living in an era where aliens have successfully taken control of the world, but Gintoki likes to play into his own delusions some might say, he still holds a Katana when that era has diminished already, initially I thought his purpose was to save the world from those aliens, but it wasn’t that, Gintoki wanted to protect the environment he is living. They had already lost the war. There is only a small bit of land which Gintoki wishes to protect, because it summarizes his love for the land.

While wandering around, Gintoki finds precious people that devote their time to encourage Gintoki while assisting him on his dream, the journey evolves and more characters emerge to the scene, which made Sakata Gintoki realize that not only he wishes to protect this land. They hold their hands seeking for freedom-Gintoki and his group of unlikely allies, each with their own unique personalities and struggles, cooperate to rescue their beautiful land. My description makes this show sound more emotional and heartwarming, but in reality this series masterfully blends action, comedy, and drama into it. What made this show memorable to me?

The characters’ humor and the relationships that they make along the way, with the show’s capability to transition between comedy into serious bloodstained wars. Gintama is an incalculable show, that you can never seem to get a hold of, yet you end up laughing and wanting to gather up more from the show, it’s ridiculous to say, but the plot wasn’t that fascinating, what I enjoyed was the journeys that I was able to be a part of. Captivating interactions between one-of-a-kind personalities is what created a happy smile on my face, while the intense combat scenarios made me crave for it more. The show kept on providing us with crucial content about the importance of friendship, determination, and finding purpose in unfavourable situations. Therefore I can gladly say this show was one of the greatest friends I made on the way.

”We cannot go back to the past, no matter how hard we try. No matter how wonderful it was. The past is nothing but the past.” – Eikichi Onizuka

I’m not ashamed to know you, hence why you are still a part of me. Everyone has regrets that they wish they could go back and change, and everyone had some beautiful memories that you’d summarize your past with, yet unfortunately we cannot go back to the past. I’m just glad that we have the present moment to cherish and the future to look forward to. As I said before, the past holds intelligence beyond our comprehension, and it’s up to us to learn from it. Finally, I wanted to end this blog with another small letter written inside this Letter of a blog.

My dear Little Kaito,

You have always been one of the most faithful and kind people out there, but it must have hurt to receive words of criticism revolving around your lifestyle. Maybe if you had taken a different approach everyone would have felt pleased to stick around, you complained and endured a lot, you yearned for a more balanced and positive life, but deep down you stayed determined to achieve your goal, the results may have not been convincing, but it created valuable lessons for us to understand!

So this is your special blog—written for you. I hope it may please.

                              Your future self,

                                                          Kaito.

Lastly, this is your special blog—written for you. It's something for your future-self to come back to see how you have changed compared to me.

Like Yaiba, you faced your forests.

Like Conan, you solved your mysteries.

Like Gintoki, you found your people worth protecting.

For Readers: Above forms a pyramid - the base represents my current self, the middle where past and present meets, and the peak my past self.

The journey was not how you imaged it to be. It was messy, painful, and more beautiful that any anime can ever capture. However, these stories helped you stand when you didn't have strength, helped you walk when you didn't have motivation, and lifted you to go beyond.

But know that the power and strength you had was not taken from any fictional character. They were a stepping stone to help you discover your self and find what you already had within you. That fiery determination, that analytical mind, that capacity to find joy and purpose amidst chaos—it was always you, Little Kaito. The anime just helped you find it.