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Nisekoi

Nisekoi

Nisekoi is a romantic comedy manga wrote by Naoshi Komi. The name literally means “Fake Love.” The manga follows the romantic misadventures of Raku Ichijou and Chitoge Kirisaki. Raku is the son of the yakuza faction Shuei-Gumi. Chitoge is the daughter of a rival gang called Beehive. The two are forced to “fake date” for 3 years by their fathers to end the feuds between their gangs. The only problem: they can’t stand each other.

Raku carries a locked pendant from childhood. Ten years ago, he gave a key and a promise to his childhood sweetheart. Raku hopes his crush, Kosaki Onodera, is the one with the key. If only it was that simple!

The high school romance has about 12 love triangles that wrap around Raku. The manga features the usual caste of archetypes. Chitoge is the foreigner and tsundere. The glasses sporting support character (and Kosaki’s best friend) is Ruri ...

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Rosario + Vampire Season 2

Rosario + Vampire Season 2

A new semester beings at Yokai Academy! Rosario + Vampire Season 2 starts over from the beginning with Tsukune meeting a new vampire (The driver of many of the season’s conflicts) the same way he met Moko in the first season. The story for season 2 is almost a completely fresh start. There are a  few references to events in the previous season. It keeps the monster-of-the-week format, but the monsters are much weaker than those that ended the first season.

The characters are their old selves. Moka is still shy and, in her “true” form, overpowered. Kurumu still forces Tsukune to motorboat her bust every episode while Yukari frets over her small chest.  Mizore returns with even more stalking and skulking. In this season, the four continue vying for Tsukune’s love even more overtly. Even their mothers get into the act! The ante is ramped up to the point where ...

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The Historical Origin of Panty Fan Service

The Historical Origin of Panty Fan Service

Up-skirt shots dominate good portions of anime. This fan service is used for comedic effect and, of course, titillation. Have you ever wondered where this odd fixation originated?

Well, it turns out that the West is primarily the reason why Japan has a panty obsession. It is also fairly new. It started in the Meiji era (1868-1912) when western clothing started becoming popular with the wealthy. Common people still wore kimono and koshimaki, a traditional waist wrapped undergarment.

During World War II, women were encouraged to wear loose pants with ankle drawstrings called monpe. Because they no longer could wear koshimaki, women started wearing western style undergarments called drawers. After the war, Japan suffered from extreme poverty and the only women who could afford to wear the more expensive Western underclothes were the high-class prostitutes that serviced American and Ally soldiers. Western style underclothes quickly become associated with sexual promiscuity.

After the economy ...

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El Cazador de la Bruja

El Cazador de la Bruja

I stumbled across El Cazador de la Bruja late one night while perusing Netflix. The description sounded interesting despite only rating 2.5 stars. I was nicely surprised!

El Cazador de la Bruja is said to be the spiritual successor of Noir and Madlax. Since I haven’t watched either anime yet, I have to take the ‘net on its word. The animation was handled by Bee Train. It is decent quality for the most part; the action doesn’t reduce to speed lines and other short cuts at least. This anime is said to be the last of Bee Train’s “girls-with-guns” trilogy.

The story follows the bounty hunter Nadie and a mysterious girl called Ellis. Bruja is a road anime so most of it consists of episodic events as Nadie and Ellis travel south. Their journey is guided by Ellis’ intuition and a strange stone that is her sole possession. Nadie is hired to ...

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Emaki Fart Battle – Yeah, You Read that Right

Emaki Fart Battle - Yeah, You Read that Right

Back in the Edo period of Japan (between 1603 and 1868), an artist had a genius and hilarious idea: a Fart Battle. The scroll depicts a flatulent fight between, uh, “warriors”.  We are not talking your average after dinner gas. No, this is the gas of the gods! Mighty men who can fart down walls like titans. Only a stiff wind or a fan can resist their airs.

I should drop in a warning. There is a far bit of exposed privates in this (f)artwork. So it may not be safe for work. Anyway, you can also see the entire scroll here.

Not even horses or trees can stand against the firts of fury. It gives you a completely different view of the word kamikaze, divine “wind.”

Yes they are bagging farts to unleash on their enemies!

Fans defeat the flatulence!

Poor Horse…

Ready…Aim!

I am more amazed the guy can fart ...

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My Love/Hate Relationship With Tite Kubo’s Bleach

My Love/Hate Relationship With Tite Kubo's Bleach

I don’t typically write about anime on here, as I don’t know a whole lot about it and frankly most of it just leaves me cold, if it isn’t just outright annoying.  There are some that I like, however.  When I came across Bleach one night on Adult Swim, it had me hooked from the beginning.  It had a cool concept and likable characters. There were flaws, sure, but I could overlook those.  At the start I could, anyway.

Now?  I watch more out of habit than anything else.  There are so many problems with the show that I’m not even certain where to begin.  Let’s start with the characters.  There are some really cool characters in Bleach.  Ichigo, for starters. Rukia, and of course Kiske.  The problems is that there are TOO many characters!  Way, way too many.  I get that Tite Kubo doesn’t like to kill off his characters, ...

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