Childhood Memories

Last night my friend and I spoke of our childhood. We talked about the books we grew up with written by local or international writers such as Enid Blyton, Astrid Lindgren, Alfred Hitchock. We talked about detective stories, adventure tales and our childhood dreams of becoming pirates, kid detective solving crimes, a girl who lands on a foreign land. We also spoke of Japanese cartoon (that was it was called back then, animation was not part of our vocabulary)we grew up with. Robots and race cars and inter galactic travels, before we landed on my most favourite anime series Voltus V.

As children our minds absorb everything around us like a sponge, very little filtering was done and at the same time, our simple minds miss plenty of subtexts. Voltes V tells a story about inter galactical imperialism, racism, team work, solidarity and independence. It was not just about Voltes V defeating alien robots and saving the earth once again. It told a tale of broken families and redemption. It talks of "real stuff".



I never realised how much I missed out on, until I started watching the series again about a year ago. Suddenly Voltus V was not just about identifying myself with Megumi (who's the only girl in the group) who's a super cool ninja, but also about a universal struggle in holding on to certain ideals. Many of these issues are still very much alive to this very day. We still have to deal with modern day racism and discrimination. We fight fear and terror on a daily basis, and yet we no longer have a recent day Voltus V to remind us.