Yuri’s History and a Love Suicide that Raised Awareness

Yuri's History and a Love Suicide that Raised Awareness

Yuri is a branch of manga that deals with girl romance. The genre was originally targeted toward girls, but there is a male-targeted branch as well.

Yuri (which literally translates to “lily”)  encompasses everything from hardcore sex to school girl crushes where hand-holding is as far as it goes. The genre traces its roots to the early 1900s with the works of Yoshiya Nobuko. Nobuko wrote the first Japanese lesbian literature just as interest in same-sex attraction began being studied in Japan. At the same time, the first all-girls school was founded. One event brought same-sex female relationships to Japanese attention: in 1911 two Niigata Prefecture school girls killed themselves because their love for each other was forbidden. It was the first recorded case of lesbian love suicide in Japan.  Five years later, Nobuko wrote her best selling girls fiction, Flower Tales, that focused on girl romance.

The first manga to feature ...

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Kesagake the Man Eater

Kesagake the Man Eater

A statue of Kesagake, the brown bear responsible for the worst bear attacks in Japanese history.

Sometimes humans get a bit cocky. After all, our big brains and ability to produce advanced technology put us head and shoulders above other animals, especially when it comes to killing power. Nobody can contest the fact that humans are the apex predator on planet Earth, but now and then nature reminds us that, when you strip away all our technology, we are nothing more than week, naked apes.

One such event occurred in Sankebetsu, Japan, between December 9 and 14, 1915, when a brown bear awoke early from hibernation and proceeded to terrorize the local population for five days.

The incident began when Kesagake, a huge Ussuri brown bear, appeared near the Ikeda homestead, in mid November, and spooked the family horse. When the bear reappeared, the Ikeda men went after it and managed to ...

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Naruto and Confucius in the Hidden Shonen Village

Naruto and Confucius in the Hidden Shonen Village

There are many little aspects in manga and anime that we Westerners miss because we have a different education system than the Japanese. One aspect we miss is just how strong Confucian values are present in some manga and anime.

Naruto and Confucius spend a lot of time sitting under the same roof eating cup-o-ramen.

First, I need give you a bit of a refresher. Confucius was a Chinese philosopher that lived 551-479 BCE. His ideas, contained in his Analects, profoundly shaped how both the Chinese and Japanese govern themselves and view their world. His ideas are divided into 2 sections: social and political. His social values centered upon compassion and loving others. This meant avoiding speech and actions that can mislead people and live by the Confucian Golden Rule:

“What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.”

Politically, Confucius thought rulers should be rooted in the Golden Rule and ...

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It is All About the Hair: The Color of Normal

It is All About the Hair: The Color of Normal

In our last look at hair color and character personality archetypes, we look at brown. Brown is pretty much the color of normal. Brown haired characters tend to be stable, consistent, and predictable. They tend to be the most likeable of the archetypes.

Brown haired characters are fine with just being themselves and accept their place in life.  They are as earthy as their follicles. However, browns can mix traits of other archetypes. They run from honey-brown (which mixes brown with traits from yellow) to ruddy brown (which mixes brown with traits from redheads). As browns darken, they start to pick up traits from the black archetype.

Fuu from Samurai Champloo is an example of a brown. Fuu is likeable and consistent. She is always after food and landing into trouble.  Compared to her companions Jin and Mugen, she is stable and generally fine with herself. Although, in the series she does ...

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Kimi no Iru Machi: A Town Where You Live

Kimi no Iru Machi: A Town Where You Live

Kimi no Iru Machi is a shonen slice of life manga wrote by Seo Kouji. To be honest, I thought it was a shojo from the way it read. The series follows Haruto Kirishima, Yuzuki Eba, Akari Kaga, and other friends as they grow up.

The story centers around Haruto and Yuzuki’s turbulent romance. Yuzuki ends up staying with Haruto during their high school years upon request by her family. Yuzuki and Haruto’s parents were friends. Haruto doesn’t really care for Yuzuki at first; he only has eyes for Nanami Kanazaki. The story focuses on Haruto’s changing love interests as he grows older and how it creates an on-off relationship with Yuzuki. Thankfully, Yuzuki isn’t another tsundere character.

Being shonen, it is no surprise the manga has plenty of eye candy and hot spring scenes. As the character age, more nudity and related scenes creep into the story. Their concerns also change. ...

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It is All About the Hair: Black as Night

It is All About the Hair: Black as Night

Black embraces all colors. Characters with this hair color can feature the characteristics of any of the other types (except, perhaps, white). Black has several characteristics of its own. Black hair is associated with power and accomplishment. Often, black haired characters will have latent powers or hidden natures.  Men wear blacks suits to work and weddings to denote their power or accomplishments.

Black has some sexual connotations. As a color it feels mysterious and dangerous, which can be exciting and seductive.

Black hair is also very common hair color in both anime and reality. It is probably the most flexible of all colors since there are few hard characteristics that define it. Audiences have few expectations when it comes to this hair color archetype. Black hair sometimes has natural blue highlights. Because of this, many anime characters use dark blue colors instead of pure black.

Kagome Higurashi from Inuyasha is a classic example. ...

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