Diary of an anime lived: Ocean Waves and my high school rebellion (part 1)

This post is part of ‘Diary of an anime lived’ series created by Digiboy and apparently everyone has done this at some point in the past. After reading this, you will understand why Ocean Waves sways me so much and earns the highest rating from me. What’s more, you will also learn another aspect of me that you probably never know. In the end, you will be the one who decide whether I am selfish, stubborn, immature, rebellious, liberal or simply normal.

High school life governed by ancient tradition

Here are the basics about my high school; it was the most famous high school in the region, it was hard to get into and there were traditions that the students held on to religiously. I am talking about the SOTUS system and the tyranny student council.

SOTUS stands for

S = seniority which means if your senior tell you to put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger, you will have to do just that. Putting the gun anywhere else will also be punishable even though you end up dead all the same.

O = order which means you have to stay in line and be exactly like everyone else

T = tradition which means you have do exactly the same as what’s been done in the past no matter how ridiculously stupid it may seem

U = unity which means you can die but the institution must not

S = spirit which means putting the benefits of the group before your own. You must be ashamed when you are enjoying yourself because all those time spent for you could have been given to the group. In fact, you are supposed to be most happy and honored when working for the group.

In short, these were rules that would ultimately turn my school into bee hives full of brainless worker bees. I did some research and found that SOTUS system originated from English boarding schools and made its way into South East Asia through Philippines. At some point in the past, some universities in my country adopted the system and my high school, for some reason, did the same about forty years ago. What were they thinking? Oh, maybe they weren’t.

My high school employed this system religiously. And my schoolmates were mostly bright, self-centered and very serious. They never listened to anyone and we were so young, too young.

One of the many complex equipments is the plate with multiple layers of painted paper. Just a note; they are very heavy!

Back then, student activity took priority over anything else. There was this regional sport event that all high school in the region participated. My school always took home the top price for outstanding cheering team. Do note that my school was never good at actual sports and thus, never won anything substantial. We were quite nerdy and we excelled in creating complex codes in transforming our cheering team into letters and pictures. We also used many hand-made equipments such as painted boards, colored flags, custom made shirts, gloves and hats to help create spectacular giant images on our cheering stand. It was epic, according to them. Everyone was expected to participate in the activity. And by participating, I mean spending all day AND NIGHT painting, cutting, tiding, sewing and practicing all the codes into perfection. It took months. The freshmen would perform the code while the seniors were responsible for the creation of all performance and making of all equipments.

This is how things woud turn out if the code is executed perfectly.

I was one of the elite students when it came to studying; I always got good, if not the best, grades and I was generally responsible and reliable. Thus, in my senior year, everyone expected me to play major part in this activity. The honor of the entire school was at stake here! This was where things started to get really rotten. I dared said NO. I chose ME. After that, I was the enemy. But you all know me. I did not fade away quietly or hid in the corner crying. I fought back with the weapon and skill that I knew best and no one could rival me; I started writing.

The story continues in part 2 which will eventually reveal the connection between this experience and the anime Ocean Waves. Part 2 will be published in 2 days.