LaaF…Culture!

Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto, is a Japanese comic series that has gained worldwide popularity¹ – from the young adults that I work with in the urban working class context to celebrities that have sighted its influence.  The fictional story follows a young orphan ninja named Naruto, in a world of warfare,² who finds himself an outcast of his village because sealed inside of him is a dangerous fox spirit.  

A core desire this story presumes is the desire for connection with others.  This desire for connection to others can lead to happiness but there are also allusions to Buddhist thought (as well as explicit references to Buddhist images) in which this very desire for connection can form unhealthy attachments that, when threatened, can lead to suffering.  That is why a key question that comes up in this story is if one should detach themselves from relationships that can lead to more conflict or if one should still attach themselves to others even with the risk of conflict? Or to put it another way that plays out more of its ethical implications (seen in the wars of Naruto’s world), whether peace is something that can ever be achieved cooperatively or if peace is something that must be produced by the powerful?    

The solution for this desire for connection is embodied in the main character, Naruto, who strives to be accepted and endearingly makes his way into the hearts of even the worst villains by relating to their pain and offering connection.  Because Naruto himself is familiar with rejection he ends up being the best one to relate to those who, in their pain, have gone down a destructive path. The story urges us to place our faith in working hard to be a good friend no matter what obstacles come up, since with friends one can achieve more than by themselves.³  Thus, the telos (the ends) of this desire for connection is to form bonds of love that can overcome any hardship.  

I think Naruto is a story that appeals to many, not only because an underdog story is often more interesting, but it presses into the experience of anyone who has ever felt like they were on the outside… an outcast.  This is something that resonates for me as a Japanese American who has often felt on the margins of America.  Regarding the core conflicts of the story, I think where I agree with Buddhism is how it sees that desires for connection can lead us down destructive paths but, along with Naruto, I don’t agree that we ought to then seek to rid ourselves of desires for connection.  But where I think Naruto falls short is that I don’t think true connection and peace can be achieved by hard work and humans alone.  I believe we are meant for an even greater connection, a connection that even friendships fall short of, a connection to our Creator, the one we were made to be connected with.  As a Christian, I believe that because of our human tendency to selfishness, we can not make this connection on our own so our Creator came in the human form of Jesus to bridge that divide.  It is only in relationship with our Creator that we can find true and lasting peace not only for ourselves but with one another.

*this piece was adapted from a piece originally written on April 24th, 2022 for my Discipleship in a Secular Society class for Fuller Seminary

1. With 250 million copies circulating world wide, and the English translations of the work having appeared on the New York Times bestseller list many times) 
2. Mirroring the sen-goku period of Japan (literally the thousand year war period), marked by years of warring states before the Shogunate period.
3. I say friend as a key way to express this desire for connection because the Japanese word, nakama, is repeated throughout the series.  Nakama, translated as “friend” in English, is not a simple correspondence but a word that captures the bonds of a social group as it can also mean “comrade” and part of the word naka connotes “inside”…those that are connected to your inner circle of trust. 

Tags: anime, attachments, buddhism, connection, manga, Naruto, Naruto Shippuden