Shikamaru Nara

If you don’t know him already, let me introduce you to my favorite character from my favorite anime, Shikamaru Nara. One of the main characters from the very popular manga and anime, Naruto. He’s a deep thinker, always at least 10 steps ahead of everyone else, usually level-headed, chooses shadows as his weapon of choice, and really balances out the unpredictable, loud, bull headed main character, Naruto. Shikamaru’s family tends to a forest and the deer that live there, an appropriate past time for people that live in “the village hidden in the leaves.”

Image of Shikamaru (right) playing shogi with his sensei. Image obtained from https://www.quora.com/What-game-does-Shikamaru-play-Asuma.

The world they live in is full of ninjas, chakra, supernatural powers, and beasts. In the show, Naruto is relentlessly bullied by the adults in the village, who pass this behavior down to their children. Shikamaru’s excellent father encourages him to make his own judgment about Naruto. Since he can see no good reason for distrusting his classmate, Shikamaru becomes one of the only characters willing to interact with and listen to Naruto from the beginning.

If I had the opportunity to hang out with this guy, his catch phrase “What a drag.” would almost definitely get old after a while but I could overlook it for the chance to watch the clouds pass by with him and learn how to play shogi.

What’s shogi?

It’s kind of like Japanese chess. Shogi (shō-ghee) is also sometimes called the Game of Generals. It plays a huge role in Shikamaru’s life. He learns to play from his sensei, who gives him a metaphorical puzzle of figuring out who the real life “king” is that he needs to protect. He bonds with both his father and son while playing shogi, and often uses it as a setting for discussions with other characters in the show.

If you’re also a Naruto fan, I’d love to hear about your faves!