Villains move stories. They motivate and challenge the hero. Strong villains require the hero to grow in fortitude and strength in order to confront them. Most stories require the hero to grown in power. Think of how Goku must train to get stronger in Dragonball Z. But villains can also challenge the hero to grow…
Year: 2016
Anime’s Breast Obsession Explained
Boobs, headlights, breasts, jugs, chichi. Modern American culture worships the breast. But American culture isn’t alone. Anime too has a special fixation on the breast. While I’ve already addressed breast symbolism in anime, I haven’t discussed why anime obsesses over breasts. At first blush, this seems like a simple answer: guys. Guys like boobs, and…
Musings VI: On the ghost of O’iwa, and why she’s still scary.
The Season of Horrors It may seem strange at first that summer is the prime time for ghost stories in Japan. We tend to associate summer with pleasant things… but imagine you’re living in early modern Japan. You have no iced drinks, no electric fans, no convenient water taps. There’s basically no way to keep…
Fanfiction Review: The Heart of the Ocean. Chapter 1.
Fanfiction sits in an important fandom niche. Fanfiction can encompass anime or, as in this case, Western stories. Alex reviews a fanfiction based on BBC’s Sherlock. While you may wonder what this has to do with Japan, Japanese culture has inspired modern fanfiction of all types. This story, “The Heart of the Ocean,” involves a…
Japanese Public Baths – Anime’s Staple for Awkward Humor
The hot spring scene, a staple for any romantic-comedy anime. So predictable and so traditional. Baths are an important part of Japanese cultural identity. Until the mid-1960s, 60% of Japanese homes had bathtubs. Everyone else went to communal bathhouses. Japan’s oldest text, the Kojiki — written in the 8th century–mentions public baths (Wynn, 2014). Anime’s…
Anime Undermines American Manhood
Anime is a threat to American values. It injects foreign ideas into the veins of American culture, particularly American masculinity. But then, American masculinity needs the medicine. Click-bait title and introduction aside, let’s look at American values. The United States contains several core values: freedom of speech, rights of the individual, equality, achievement, social mobility,…