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[How] Anime Wixoss Implements And Expresses Mental Illnesses
Posted on Saturday, March 5, 2016 @ 10:44 AM | 0 comment(s)

The anime Wixoss aired in mid 2014 and was created to advertise a new TCG by the same name. Every character in the TCG is female and hundreds of different artists have been drafted to illustrate the growing card rooster.

Wixoss is a very emotional anime and has pulled the heartstrings of fans all over the world. I am no exception. But the thing about Wixoss, is that when you take away the supernatural elements of the story, you get multiple characters who clearly have mental issues and struggle with pasts made up of abandonment and ridicule. The 'hidden' mental issues I'm talking about are mainly depression, social anxiety and a couple different types of psychotic disorders. What's more is that all these illness are expressed only through the main characters. No side characters are excessively moody or violently obsessive. To make my examples more easy to follow, I will brake them up into sections....


Akira:
Akira is the bipolar one. And I don't mean she's just moody or unpredictable. I mean she acts cutsey and innocent but when her switch is flipped she becomes dangerously psychotic and violent. Now taking into account that her cutsey act is actually voluntary and her violent side is her real personality, I know it'd probably wouldn't be fair to compare her to an actually ill person diagnosed with something as involuntary as bipolar. But hear me out. Akira at the very least loosely represents said illness, because as the series progresses she becomes more and more mentally unstable, so much so it's pitiful and frightening at the same time. Akira's 'symptoms' range from violent behavior, yandere-level obsessiveness, and infantile-like dependence upon others. As someone who has witnessed a bipolar person on both their good and bad days, I can say that Akira fits the bill.

Ulith:
Ulith is the blatantly psychotic/evil one. She lives for conflict and loves to incite it. She even had her own little speech scene where she expressed the joy she feels when watching others experience absolute despair. She wants to see others fail and grieve, so much so that when she doesn't get her way, she becomes violent and erratic, her normally steady and smug demeanor completely out the window.

Mayu
Mayu is the most complicated character in the series, as she plays a huge role in the plot's bigger picture and represents the effects of deep depression and neglect one can develop. I chose depression for Mayu, because she suffers from multiple mental illnesses that are considered elements of depression. These include; social and general anxiety, hallucinations, despair, erratic mood-swings, and isolation. Because of her neglected childhood, Mayu grows to accept and even encourage isolation and develops social anxiety in the form of acting inappropriately or not accordingly among other people. Her hallucinations were Tama and Yuki, and when you take the supernatural away from the whole 'them getting a mind of their own and becoming actual people' bit, Tama and Yuki were nothing more than mere figments of Mayu's imagination created to curb her intense loneliness. They were created by Mayu for Mayu, and when Tama turned on Mayu for Ruko's sake, Mayu couldn't handle being rejected by her own creation and snapped, which lead to her world literally crumbling apart.

Hitoe/Chiyori:
Hitoe and Chiyori are the two characters who show signs of social anxiety. Up until meeting Yuzuki and Ruko, the anime made it very clear Hitoe had much trouble making and keeping friends. Chiyori as well, had few friends and resorted to changing her entire personality and wardrobe in hopes of becoming more approachable. The anime goes further with Hitoe in making it so she literally can't make friends, solidifying her fate and bluntly expressing the greatest fear of any viewers who struggle with social anxiety too. Chiyori's social anxiety it a bit different. Although she's just as desperate to form relationships with other people, the anime shows her running off in serious moments that could potentially serve to deepen her friendships with Ruko and the others.

.....................................................

Wixoss made me cry and it also made me cringe, but not because the story was sad or overly dramatic. It struck a cord with me because it was, oddly enough and maybe even indirectly, very realistic. I've observed people diagnosed with all the illnesses I listed above in real life, so the more I sat and thought about this anime and it's cast, the more I was shocked. Now, in all likelyhood, the creators of this anime probably didn't think as deeply into the characters as I've done here. But realize it or not, they created an anime with a frighteningly internally damaged cast and with the Wixoss movie just around the corner, I'm dreading but also looking forward to how these girls behave when thrown into drastic situations once again.


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