SHY

SHY is a super hero series that follows, Teru an introvert middle school student but wherever there is any accident or issue she has to transform into SHY to solve it. Superheroes theme that is often associated with western comics but not so much in Japan until My Hero Academia which found a with it in Japan and the world at large, so you might be asking whats so special about this other Japanese super hero series? One of the most important notable things for SHY is that the series is structured around the theme of the 'kokoro'. 

What is Kokoro? though it means heart is a direct translation but the word culturally holds a lot more meaning than a direct translation would suggest. The kokoro has a symbolic meaning in Japan in that it a term that refers to the embodied self of the individual, it is something that covers the whole of what of what an individual is composed of. 

This theme is explored firstly through the characters, first of SHY due to her age and various events is very anxious and the attention and public perception of her as the hero is a burden on her. The importance of this is that the series sets out early on that its an era of peace at the time but that does not include the conflicts of the kokoro. This is referencing to the emotional conflicts of individuals.

These emotional conflicts can be seen through a Freudian lenses in that they are subconscious conflicts held within the kokoro of each individual. The heroes are not immune to these and early on the series establishes it they drive the story. The reason for this is that Stigma the 'villain' appears and he seeks to exploit these unresolved inner conflicts through his power. He is the catalyst of the series since he wants to free people from these emotional conflicts but not by solving them but by having people instead accept the negative feelings emerging out of these conflicts.

This stands out in this setting because in a sense there is ambivalence about Stigma and his group. Their group seems to be closely linked to the underlying emotional frailty of the heroes. In a sense they feel like a mirror that reflects the weakness of the heroes themselves. This add a layer of complexity to every conflict between the heroes and stigma since the fight is not just against an enemy but against their own weakness. This is interesting because there is a sense of vulnerability to the heroes that builds tension.

However, if the kokoro can be source of weakness with negative feelings, it can also be a one for strength instead after the power of the heroes As well. Heroes that unconsciously hold weakness in their kokoro have shown to be powerful but once this weakness is exploited their frailty is exposed, but once this knot is resolved, the hero becomes stronger. SHY grows stronger through this way as she has overcome some of her own doubts of herself throughout the series.

The 'kokoro' of the individual is a theme that allows the series to cleverly explore emotional conflicts and at the same time by solving them it can develop characters and justify strength gains. The strength of SHY appears in these moments because the author knows exactly what the series is and the themes and setting all play together in fine tuning because of that.