Anime to Holden and Hamlet

ANIME COMPARISONS TO Catcher in The Rye and Hamlet

Holden and Hamlet remind me a lot of certain anime and manga characters because of their actions and just behavior overall. It’s pretty tragic some of the stuff they go through. I wouldn’t consider them heroes or antiheroes, they’re sort of like the in-between of it all. Like Hamlet, he isn’t really a villain because he killed Claudius even though a lot of people would disagree. He was doing what he thought was right. They’re heroes to their own mind in a way. It’s similar to most anime and manga series too. There's always the main character who struggles with internal and external conflict a lot. So why not compare them? Here are my top 10 comparisons:

Kaneki Ken

Kaneki Ken is a well-known character from Tokyo Ghoul throughout the anime fandom. Notorious for his “hello sir” to “your daughter calls me daddy now”, he is a lot like Hamlet more than Holden. His love interest Touka doesn’t mean much to him in the beginning, but near the end, he does actually start to be more careful and cautious with her. As Hamlet with Ophelia, they both didn’t realize they had something until they lost it. Whether that's suicide or seeing your love interest literally disappear off a bridge, both sound pretty terrible. Also how Claudius killed Hamlet's father, Rize was Kaneki's originally love interest but ended up screwing him over and turning him into a ghoul. Interesting how love works.

Osamu Dazai

` Ah yes, Dazai Osamu. The third season of Bungou Stray Dogs has already come out, by the way, my anime fans ;). It’s really hot. The first episode Kunikade is like really hot, and then Dazai with his cute little depressed self. Anyway, much like Holden and Hamlet, Dazai has many suicidal thoughts and actions. No, really. At the beginning of the first episode he was seen trying to throw himself off of the bridge and throughout the series, Atsushi and Kunkiade constantly have to drag him back from his attempts. Though it's for a more comedic effect than with Hamlet and Holden. Still, with his history, you could see why he would want to. Having seen his own father figure murdered in front of him by a close friend, and then forced to work with a colleague who would become his future enemy, the dude has it pretty rough. Along with his ability called ‘No Longer Human,’ it is pretty much near impossible for him to die. Like Hamlet and Holden he still has things to live for, such as the port mafia and the members of it who he considers his family.

Yuliy Jirov

Sirius Jaeger was a new anime release on Netflix I decided to try out. It wasn’t too intense but then again it was. Yuliy belonged to a small isolated tribe that hid in the mountains. Growing up without a father, it left only his mother and an older brother named Mikhail. One day dogsville was attacked by the vampires in search of the Arc of the Sirius they slaughtered everyone in his village. He had to suffer through years of not knowing whether his brother was alive or not ever since Mikhail pushed him off of a cliff to save him from the vampires. Growing up with Willard he was trained to become a Jaegear to hunt vampires. Having to experience such trauma, he resembles Holden more for his lack of sincerity and believing everyone is not who they say they are. He still has that one person who he depends on and sort of guides him throughout the series, which is his older brother. Like Hamlet, his role model would be Horatio or his father, and for Holden, that would be his younger sister Phoebe. After all the pain and things, he had to deal with he still managed to find the Jaeger and save his older brother from the vampires, much how Hamlet still succeeded in killing his uncle and bringing the other characters with him. Still, that's better than just disappearing for like two years and leaving your colleagues to worry but you do you, Yuri.

Kaede/ Lucy

Next up is Yuu or Lucy from Elfen Lied. Her story is pretty tragic. Being kept up for years in a heavily guarded facility and being experimented on ever since she was younger, her mental state definitely took a toll. She suffers from various types of personality disorders as seen throughout the anime. She has two personalities: Yuu who is very gullible and innocent, and then Lucy who is a pathological serial killer. These two sides are like Hamlet’s insanity and Holden’s depression and loneliness. The main character Kouta is forced to battle with these two sides which kind of represents us readers trying to figure out what the heck is going on in these two novels. Lucy suffering from mental illness and just anxiety overall, she is on the run from the facility while Kouta is attempting to protect her and figure out who she is. Turns out it's the same girl who had murdered not only this, put like 20 other families. It's pretty tragic to watch, but it is a good example of how Hamlet got the job done but really suffered along the way. Also, don’t watch this if you are very emotional it's kinda really sad.

Shoya Ishida

       A Silent Voice is an anime film that shows the lighter side of situations. The main character is a transfer student who is deaf, and she gets picked on really bad. Like to the point where she actually tried to jump off her balcony level bad. Anyway, Shoya contributes to this bullying in his elementary years, and his mom ends up explaining the situation to him. So he leaves the school that dramatic stuff, goes to a new high school and surprise surprise the girl is there. His attitude sort of shifts the more he gets to know her, realizing she had always tried hard to fit in but her disability always held her back. Like Holden near the end of the book, he had sort of let it all spill out. And he was writing from a mental facility of some sort, and it was clear that he was changing. So the girl ends up making friends eventually and living that normal life. As Holden is doing, they both experience their own hero's journey just to themselves. This movie made me cry a lot though :(( really sad but I’d recommend it.

Kobayashi Yoshio

Kobayashi from TRICKSTER is another one of those stereotypical “I'll only help you if you help me” deals. The big thing about this one that got me was how at the end on the Ferris wheel Kobayashi has a mental breakdown. He didn’t want to be forgotten. He realized he actually had started caring about things and had somewhat of a reason to live. He didn't want to lose what he had gained. Similar to Holden on the sidewalk, he kept asking Allie to forgive him, his younger brother who had died of leukemia. He just wanted something to make him feel alive again. Kobayashi has the same mindset of being that hypocritical person who always avoided everyone and was always dragged along by other people. That’s the only part that stood out to me with this one otherwise it's just another basic anime with some debatable animation...

Oreki Hyouka

Hyouka is about as adorable as it gets. Oreki is an indifferent antisocial kid with a talent of wits. He gets involved with this group of investigators at school and basically a newspaper club. A sweet girl starts to expand his mind and get him to try things out more and overall become more social. This appeals to Hamlet and Ophelia and Holden with Sally and other girls. A love interest in most cases but not all (don't attack me) contributes to a plot and story overall. For support or rivalry, these side characters influence the main ones a lot. How Ophelia in general impacts Hamlets mindset and makes him go mad and Holden goes a little bit insane for Sally, these ladies (or males) we also have to thank for driving our main characters to complete madness. Or just making them happy. It all depends but hopefully not like Ophelia and Hamlet cause that was just… tragic.  

Gin

Now, THIS short film was actually really sad. It fits in perfectly with Holden and Hamlet. Hotarubi no Mori e is not a young girl who visits her grandfather every summer wanders off into the woods to play with the spirit Gin. Though Gin isn't allowed to touch humans he continues to adventure with the little girl each year. On her 17 year, she takes him to a human festival. A human boy trips, he prevents him from falling any further, and then bam. They run off to the lake, he takes his mask off and spreads his arms to hug her. The girl cries and hugs him as he dissolves. Hamlet never had gotten the chance to say goodbye to his father nor did Holden get the answer to his tedious duck question. This could represent both of them letting go of the pain and trauma that they experience. Hamlet had managed to bring the truth to life and the wrongdoings of everyone in the play including himself. Holden reflects on his past behaviors and decisions and sort of decides that he is okay with it. Sometimes all it takes is a little reflection and letting go. For better or worse, the good times will always outlive the bad ones.

Nine

Nine from Zankyou no Terror has one major similarity to Holden and Hamlet: his personality. He is the narcissistic sly puppet master. It hints somewhat at him being depressed but mostly he is snarky and cold-hearted. Towards the girl who Twelve sorts of falls in love with, he resents her and is only focused on the task at hand. How Holden fools around with women hearts and isn't sure what he wants, Nine has to debate about saving the girl in his friend Twelves best interest, and just doing what he needs to do. His character is pretty hot though. And Hamlet is rumored to be hot but I don't know.

Yuri Nakamura

Lastly, we have Angel Beats. This one hurt. A lot. Basically, it’s a sort of alternative universe for the lost souls who have died and need to let go of their revenge to make it to heaven to be reincarnated. So Yuri was murdered in her house and was forced to watch her three other siblings die before she was killed. Harboring these feelings it was a real struggle for her to let go of these emotions. Like Hamlet, he kept harboring that hate, and King Hamlet who could t let go of the fact that his brother killed him. Along with with this, Holden's inability to stop feeling that he is going to be forgotten and struggling with oneself and his own mindset, these relate by showing us just how much mental health contributes to a character's development. It led to their actions and decisions, and even the relationships that they’ve formed. In the end, she had made it to heaven after letting it go. She had been there for a long time though. Yet she managed to make it out how our characters Holden and Hamlet did. There was a lit of other stories too that were pretty sad in this one. It is pretty high up there actually so if you want you should definitely check it out.

Overall guys anime is pretty good just like Catcher in The Rye and Hamlet. There are a lot of similarities and lesson to gain from both of them and they're both really interesting. I recommend if you guys have to give it a look and check it out ;)