He's 10 Times Cooler Than You,Takagi-kun.

Have you ever watched a show and fell in love with a minor character that no one except you cares about?

            I have. His name is Takagi.

            A young policeman in the anime* "Detective Conan," Takagi often accompanies his superior to crime scenes. Once there, he recites facts, checks suspects’ alibis, and hunts for various clues. 

 If I looked up insecure in a thesaurus, Takagi would be a synonym.  Although a capable officer, he often lacks confidence concerning his reasoning abilities and appearance (people tend to remind him of his lack of "coolness" ).

            Perhaps one reason for Takagi’s anxiety is that his appearance never stays the same. You can see how much he’s changed; politically-correct people are probably mystified by his skin tone (I figure that he tans a lot). Originating as a nameless “throw-away” anime character, he stuck around long enough to be added to the manga** that inspired the show.  

You’re probably wondering, “So what?”

Sometimes, I feel like Takagi, playing the game of compare and contrast: “Todd runs better than me” or “Julie looks better than me.”  Society often tells us that if we lose weight or buy a certain item we will become people who can run and look better. We need to be reminded that we don’t need the world’s approval, that we are special in the eyes of the One who created us.

And now if you’ll excuse me, I need to see if Takagi survives the next episode.

 *Anime: Japanese animation.

**Manga: Japanese comic book/graphic novel.  

(I don't own Takagi or "Detective Conan" - Gosho Aoyama does.)