Eliezer Yudkowsky has once again mentioned anime at Overcoming Bias, and even mentions how the differences between Japanese fiction and western fiction may reflect on culture and “real life”:
The way it works in Western superhero comics is that the good guy gets bitten by a radioactive spider; and then he needs something to do with his powers, to keep him busy, so he decides to fight crime. And then Western superheroes are always whining about how much time their superhero duties take up, and how they’d rather be ordinary mortals so they could go fishing or something.
Similarly, in Western real life, unhappy people are told that they need a “purpose in life”, so they should pick out an altruistic cause that goes well with their personality, like picking out nice living-room drapes, and this will brighten up their days by adding some color, like nice living-room drapes. You should be careful not to pick something too expensive, though.
I have to admit, this puts some of the advice I’ve gotten over the years in perspective.