Over the years, Megan Thee Stallion has made no secret of her love for Japanese animation, or anime. Her music is littered with countless references to shows like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, My Hero Academia, and Attack On Titan, while she’s been known to cosplay (short for “costume play”) as her favorite characters in videos, performances, and on social media.
But while Megan often talks about her love of anime, she’s rarely gone in-depth about just why she relates to it so much. In a new interview with Billboard, however, she does just that, explaining how the medium inspires her and informs her own artistic expression.
“I really like the storytelling in anime,” she explains. “The thing that resonates with me while watching a lot of the anime I like is watching the character development — seeing the character go from nothing to everything. When I feel like I’m getting beat up in life, I remember some of my favorite characters. I see that they had to go from literally zero and getting their ass whooped in their training. Even when they start popping and getting their muscles — because you know they be skinny as hell, then they start getting a little ripped — even when you start seeing the character getting a little swole, you like, ‘All right, he’s going to defeat all you motherf–kers. It’s over with’.”
“I resonate with that,” she continues. “No matter how many times I get knocked down, I never feel like, ‘F–k it, Imma quit.’ I just need to get better. I need to get back, try again, train harder and go harder, so I can keep evolving into my best self.”
She’s not alone in that respect among rappers; several have talked about how their love for anime — specifically, heroic anime like Dragon Ball — helped them push to become their best selves.