Yaoi, also known as Boy’s Love or 801, is an offshoot of shojo manga. Shojo is categorized by the primary audience: women and girls. Yaoi is focused on male homosexual relationships; however, it isn’t targeted toward a homosexual audience. That type of manga is called bara. Yaoi is different from more traditional shojo storylines since…
Year: 2013
Kamaitachi–The Sickle Weasel
Night has fallen. You’ve had a hard day at work, and you’re walking home, cutting across a grassy field to save time. All of a sudden, a huge gust of wind knocks you to the ground. When you stand, you happen to look down and notice that your pants have been sliced open at the…
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…
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 …
It is All About the Hair: The Color of Purity
White is the purest of colors. White haired characters have an aura of strangeness and other-worldliness. Their purity isn’t associated with cuteness or moe. Cute is the color of Yellow, Pink, and Orange. White is the color of the the spiritual who lack any connect to the physical world. These colors reject everything because white…
The Way of the Gods: Shinto and its Impact on Japan’s Strange Folklore
Delving into the world of folklore as much as I have, I’ve come across a lot of very strange beliefs. While weird beliefs aren’t limited to Japan, not by a long shot, the Japanese certainly don’t disappoint when it comes to bizarre critters. I’ve often found myself wondering why and how so much weirdness came…