When I was, I think, 6?
I was in a school about an hour walk from home
For a kid, that's a long way
At the time, my parents were busy people
And my father, especially, was very absent
So, whenever the day was over
It was my grandfather who would pick me up In those memories
It was always sunset
Rays of warm sunlight pierced through gaps of the giant banyan trees
There were always a few street vendors outside our school
Selling snacks
And everyday, before I climb up to his bike
My grandpa would ask me
"Which snack do you want today?"
My teenage years were the most depressing period of my life
For my first couple of years in Canada
I didn't speak English nor French
As a result, I struggled hard in school
Worse yet, at one point in time, I had no one to talk to
My relationship at the time ended with me being cheated on
And after that, my friend count hit zero
Which is kinda impressive, now that I think about it.
I was in a dark place, alone
Unable to see the future
And so, I reclused
Often found myself alone in my apartment
Clinging to any and everything that has a connection to my past
Such as Crayon Shin-chan
A sit-com anime series I grew up with
Created by manga artist Yoshito Usui
Crayon Shin-chan centers around the daily adventure of a 5-year-old brat
And the stories of his family and friends
Started in 1992
The anime series is still going on to this very day
Spawning feature films on a yearly basis
28 films and counting
Among them, is the film I'd like to share with you today
Crayon Shin-chan:
Fierceness That Invites Storm!
The Adult Empire Strikes Back
And no, it is not about pornography
It's about Shin-chan and his family
Visiting an Expo about 20th-century Japanese culture
A place where people can relive their childhood
Old Toys
Old snacks
Old TV shows
What appears to be an innocent family trip turns sinister
When all the adults in town begin to act like children
Their desire to relive their childhood grows stronger
To a point where they all head for the 20th Century Expo and stay
Believing it'd be better to live in the past
Leaving the children behind to fend for themselves
I'm sure from that description
You already understand why I have such a strong emotional connection with this movie
And why I open this video on a personal note
I once drowned myself in toxic nostalgia
Longing for a home that no longer existed for me
I was in the same mindset as the adults inthis film
And in some way, I still am
To this day, I can't look at this film
Without being intensely emotional
But unlike many modern films that exploit audience nostalgia
Crayon Shin-chan tries to liberate me from it
In my darkest times, this film helped me
And as we'll see
It probably helped a lot of others, too
2020 has been an incredibly difficult year
So, if you are struggling
Trust me, I understand
This is my video for you
Let me introduce you, to Crayon Shin-chan
And let's talk about nostalgia
The film opens with Shin-chan already at the expo
And then, a kaiju attacks
Thus beginning a rather impressive parody sequence of Ultraman
Turns out, it was just a movie set
In which adults pay to experience
Being part of their favorite childhood TV shows
The adults enjoy this so much
They eventually leave their children in the playroom
While they themselves continue to enjoy the nostalgic trip
And here, we have our first question asked by the film
"Are old memories really that great?"
What IS nostalgia?
It's the feeling of sentimentality towards the past
Usually, with the implication that the past is happier
Or better
For example, average viewers of this channel are probably old enough
To remember the OG Lion King animation
And most of us, myself included, find it baffling that
Today's children enjoy the remake more than the OG
Even though the animation seems objectively better
In this movie
We see adults get excited about their childhood show
While their children yawn
Shin-chan shows some interest in being Ultraman on set
His interest is very different from his father's passion
And that is what the movie is suggesting
That you are passionate about the old Lion King
Not because it's better (even though it is)
It is because you have an emotional attachment to it
It lives in your past
The children, having no such attachment
Can only appreciate the goodness
But can't find themselves invested in it
"Are old memories really that great" is a very SPECIFIC question
The children know that the past isn't great by itself
"Why are they showing such old programs?"
And thus, they come to the natural conclusion that
What is great must be old memories
Something that they don't have
So, are old memories really that great?
Not long after they return from the Expo
The adults begin to enter a hypnotic state
They begin acting like children
"Change your clothes, go shave and get to work!!!!"
"No"
Turns out, the entire town has been brainwashed
By an organization called "Yesterday Once More"
An organization that wants to bring Japan back to the glory days
The 20th century
"The stench from the 21st Century"
"Is just too much for me"
They believe modern Japan is too materialistic
And has lost its human touch
Through the leaders of this organization
The film points out an often overlooked aspect of nostalgia:
We feel nostalgic not because the past is good
But because we are discontent with the present
Father refuses to work
"Who made the rules that adults HAVE to go to work?"
Mother refuses to cook
"Mom, why aren't you making food for us"
"Why should I?"
The adults' desire to return to their carefree childhood
Are driven mainly by their distastes for responsibilities
Toxic nostalgia isn't about chasing the past
It is about escaping the present
Running away from the future
As such, the brainwashed adults don't act like real children
"Shut up, I'm hungry"
Real children, like Shin-chan, still has their responsibilities
He feeds his little sister
He puts on his own uniform, and bikes his way to kindergarten
Even when the organization is hunting them down
Shin-chan doesn't forget to brush his teeth
That's the thing about toxic nostalgia
We only remember the good part
And so, we only want the benefits
Without the responsibilities
Instead of acting like children
The adults act like spoiled bullies
Soon enough, the adults all head for the expo
To live in the 20th century without their children
After some struggle, and a lot of hijinks
The children decide to head for the expo
To rescue their parents
Some more shenanigans later
Shin-chan finds his father
"No... I wanna see my moon rocks!"
"Hiroshi, you are so unreasonable!"
The father, by this point, has not only forgotten his son
But forgotten he's an adult
"Let go of me! I'm not your dad!"
To wake him up
Shin-chan forces him to smell his... obviously adult and stinky shoes
(It makes more sense in context)
And so begins one of the greatest montage sequences in animation history
Hiroshi no Kaisou
Because of YouTube
I cannot show you the entire thing uninterrupted
And, really, I think you should look it up first
Or better yet, go watch the film
We are talking about a montage on the same level
As the famous sequence in Pixar's Up
We are talking about the 4th best anime film of all time
As ranked by Japan's oldest film magazine
Kinema Junpo
It's worth your time
So, you ready?
Spoilers
The smell releases all of the father's memory
Not just nostalgia, but ALL of his memories
The happy memory of him on a fishing trip with his father
The sweet memory of his first love
The sad memory of his first break up
The important memory of him moving to the city
Meeting his future wife
The birth of Shin-chan
The mundane memories of moving to a new home
Of working
Of falling asleep on the train
Of returning home every night
Every bit of it, happy or not, is precious
The montage ends the same way it begins
Now a father himself It is his time, to bring his family to a fishing trip
To break free from toxic nostalgia, you have to remember
That, nostalgia... is not memory
The very first line of dialogue in this film
Shows that being a child isn't as carefree as you remember
"No! No!"
"I wanna go see the moon rocks!"
You don't always get what you want
Shin-chan is a child
And Shin-chan knows his responsibilities
He takes it, because he loves his little sister
As an adult, we have a lot more responsibilities
But we also have a lot more control over our lives
And that is scary
I know, I really do
But that also means
You now have the ability to create your own happiness
To do what you always wanted
Don't just indulge in your nostalgia
Because your memory is much greater than only the good parts
The happiness, the sadness, the mundane
They are all important parts of your life
What was once beautiful in your childhood has never left
Maybe no one can bring you there
But you can bring others there
You can go there, together
The father breaks down
Holds onto Shin-chan
He returns to the present
Old memories are indeed, great
"I want to live in the future with my family"
After breaking free from the past
Shin-chan and his family foil the plans of Yesterday Once More
"After looking at them"
"The others want to live in the 21st century as well"
Having nothing left to live for
The leaders decide to... end it all
The film was released in 2001
Japan had only just stepped out of the Lost Decade
And has yet to recover
The Lost Decade was a time of economic stagnation
Caused by the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble
Many people lost their livelihood
And many people lost their lives
The future of Japan in the 21st century must have seemed so grim
Staying in the past... must have been a tempting fantasy
"You cheater!"
Throughout the film
Even when they surround themselves with the past
The leaders of Yesterday Once More are never happy
"Just like a movie setting"
"No matter how good it looks. It's still a fake"
But at this moment
When they finally decide to move on
For the first time, they show emotions
"I don't wanna die"
Instead of wrapping themselves in the fake happiness
They embrace
Lose themselves, for a moment, to fear and sadness
So they may find themselves again
And move on to the future
The creator of Crayon Shin-chan, Yoshito Usui
Tragically died in a hiking accident in 2009
For the past 10 years, I have not had the courage to look at this series
I sealed my memory of it deep inside the back of my mind
Never to touch it again
But then, in April of 2020
Keji Fujiwara, the voice actor of the father character in this series
Passed away from cancer
And the news hit me harder than I could've ever imagined
Instead of processing the loss back in 2009
I let it sit idle next to my darkest memories
And it brooded
It became part of my trauma
So when the 2020 news unearthed my deeply buried memory
It broke me
It became too great for me to process
I sat there, with no emotions on my face
And no thoughts in my mind
There was nothing but tears
Lots and lots of tears
A part of the reason for making this video
Is that, Keji Fujiwara's death reminded me to move on
It's tempting to look at only the good memories
But memories, they come as a whole
It may be unpleasant to have busy parents
But I still built sweet memories with my grandfather
It may be traumatic to be so alone in my teenager years
But in my lone time, I built myself up
I watched movies, films like this one
And I became a filmmaker
Making and talking about films for a living
These memories made me who I am
And I am doing fine
Thank you, Yoshito Usui
Thank you, Keji Fujiwara
And thank you, Shin-chan
For accompanying me through my darkest times
There are many more people out there who need help right now
I hope this video, and this film can help you, too