Back when I was 13, I used to watch a lot of shit on TV.
There were two shows in particular that would always land me into a lot of trouble. That’s when I decided that I’d be extra cautious while watching Fashion TV (post 10 PM) and Shinchan.
I had expressed my love for FTV in an article, earlier. Here, we talk about the other tabooed word during my childhood days, Shinchan.
A Japanese cartoon series, this was based on probably the naughtiest kid in the world who indulged in cheap thrills, the level of which would take a giant leap with every single episode. If trouble had a face, it would look like Shinchan.
And somewhere in Shinchan‘s quest of indulging in cheap thrills, we found ours.
Shinchan was nothing like any other cartoon that we had seen. The kid was low on morals, but certainly high on life.
Shinchan found his fan base in kids who purposely avoided sitting on the first three rows in class. As far as the front-benchers were concerned, we knew that they were watching Shinchan too, just that they would never discuss it. Pretty close to what it feels like when you watch porn for the first time.
Anyway, Shinchan was soon banned because according to Indian parents, it promoted misbehavior, nudity and profanities. We weren’t over the drastic fall of Cartoon Network, yet and now, Shinchan was gone too. This was when kids from my generation gave up on cartoons.
Even though Shinchan got his kicks out of some extremely weird antics, he was one kid who did whatever the fuck he wanted to. He would go around irritating his friends, but never gave up on them. He would annoy his mother at the first chance that he got, but would never mean any harm. He would never take his dog out for a walk, but that didn’t mean he loved him any less.
Shinchan did everything that a kid his age would do, like running around half-naked in his house. Come on, don’t roll your eyes. We all have those embarrassing half-naked pictures of ours from childhood.
For once, try keeping his mischief aside and you’ll see how imaginative the kid was. He knew how to get his shit done. From getting Action Kamen choco-chips in return for every good deed to somehow managing to escape every tricky situation, Shinchan‘s ways of life was organic and completely original.
And when things went out of hand, Shinchan‘s mom taught him a lesson, which would lead to an oddly-fascinating outgrowth on his head.
Remember how Shinchan‘s friend Kazama was always trying to do a hundred things at once? From taking language classes to learning ballet, Kazama was all over the place. But, not our man Chan.
Shinchan had mastered the art of living in the moment, something we all have forgotten in this day and age.
You know how people keep telling you to be yourself, even if the real version of you is not something many would appreciate?
That’s Shinchan for you. He is what he is and has changed for no one. Why don’t you try it too?