One piece of wisdom that I've learned from my years on Earth is that the moral of the story is reserved for one without self awareness. There's always more to learn but in terms of being the butt of the joke or having to learn the moral of the story one can avoid such if they practice self awareness. Know thyself and irony, or karma; will be on your side. The moral of the story is only reserved for one who is ignorant of themselves.

One thing that annoys me is when you try to discuss the "depth" of a story, and other people (npc) get offended by it. They'll say shit like "ugh why can't you just enjoy it without reading extra shit into it?"
All worthwhile stories are a call to something deeper. All worthwhile stories are full of what statements about what good and evil means, what creates a hero and a villain, how should problems be solved, etc. I don't know if that's your point OP, but I hang out in quite a bit of manga and anime circles where people resist very fullheartedly the idea that they should ask themselves "why exactly does this appeal to me? Is the story trying to tell me something?"

>>40731106 (OP)
Where is this "self" you speak of?

>>40731163
All is made into self and self is made into nothing, so "where" is only applicable part of the time. It's an inane question.

>>40731163
You say that as if "self" and "non self" are disconnected and mutually exclusive. Why would they not be two sides of the same coin? Isn't the conscious act of negating the self not the product of self consciousness to begin with?

>>40731136
One thing I can say about anime and manga is that one point in time there was a story to tell but as corporate consolidation and the media empire increases in power these mediums seem to reflect a subjective reality than a greater truth. Many modern stories in these mediums feel like a therapy session with the author venting to the audience than reflective of a greater wisdom. I guess that goes to show that life must be experienced before a good story can be written.