I found this speech given on being an adult (not an exact quote) taken from "Jujutsu Kaisen". What do you think?

I think you can take this empty, pseudophilosophical platitude and throw in the box with all the other ones, like Forrest Gump’s “life is like a box of chocolates”.

So this central part of the philosophy is a load of crap: ”...about accumulating many little sorrows along the way”.

If that were true, we’d all be so damn depressed we’d all be slitting our own throats. I am not going to have a sorrowful moment finding crumbs on my desk. And I don’t get upset by such little things because I am an adult.

It would be more apt if you added the positives, too. Life is neither negative or positive in totality, for me anyway.

Many little sorrows for me would be more like seeing classmates and relatives die, not crumbs on my desk. But to each their own.

This is a very Japanese thing to say.

I lived there for 4 years and worked for a Japanese company for a further 6. I speak the language and fully understand the culture.

Sounds too negative, but I guess in a way it’s true.

As you get older, as an adult, you learn to live through little sorrows and deal with them much easier than as a child. You learn the rhythm of life. You gain perspective and less sweating the small stuff to the point that some small sorrows are barely a sorrow. I think it’s partly lowering expectations maybe. Studies of the brain show as we age we feel less emotional pain on average and enjoy life more.

Not to be confused with life or death situations and major losses and heartbreaks. That is a completely separate category.

@Hawaii_Jake This is a very Japanese thing to say.

Care to explain why so? Most of us don’t have that much contact with Japanese culture so it would be enlightening to get to know why.

@luigirovatti I think we need a bit on context for this. Who said this and why? I’m not sure how life-and-death situation and the little thing are relevant to the talk of being an adult. Since this quote comes from an anime, I would bet it would make a lot of difference if the quote is said by different people. And already a lot of people here are disagreeing with the quote.

Yes, I have studied Japanese culture a little bit, but I have no idea what this is supposed to mean, so I don’t really know what it or whatever the larger expression is about, but I think I get a partial sense of it…

And that leads me to believe that framing it as if it were an American truism or saying that used the words “Being an adult is [...] about…” is probably a misleading translation, particularly in the connotations of the word “about”. My guess is maybe it’s saying (in part) something where that part might be slightly better translated as “The experience of being an adult more often involves…”.

That is, an American-style truism that claims “Being an adult is about…” implies a freight train of American baggage that I don’t expect is in the context of this, even though I’m only speculating.

@Zaku and seeing that people are disagreeing with the quote, I have a feeling that this quote is said by a character who the readers are supposed to disagree with I haven’t watched the anime myself but I notice a trend in some popular animes that there is at least one character who is rather negative and is supposed to be guided to positivity by the main character. That’s why I asked for more context.

@Mimishu1995 Thank you for asking me to give a bit more explanation.

In Japanese culture, the mundane is revered. They have made an entire philosophy out of making a cup of tea. Housewives try to find meditation in the smallest chores like sweeping. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me at all to hear a character talk about crumbs.

@Hawaii_Jake so you mean that the “little sorrows” philosophy in the quote reflects Japanese culture well, or just that detail about crumbs? Personally though, I don’t see any “sorrow” in finding crumbs of food on a desk.

^Yes, the idea of little sorrows in mundane things is very Japanese.

@everyone: I think the character who said this in “Jujutsu Kaisen” is a teacher… maybe? :/ And, to be honest, he’s a fairly good character.

@Hawaii_Jake thanks so much for clarifying. It makes a lot of sense thinking about it. I’m an Asian too so I can relate to it a bit.

Still, I find that particular detail about crumbs a bit too over-melancholic, unless there’s something else going on here that I miss.

@luigirovatti still not enough context. A good teacher doesn’t guarantee that he is meant to be liked by the audience. He could be a good teacher but his attitude is too depressing and he is supposed to be disagree with by the main character, who is definitely the standard for other characters.