Hentai. Yep, I am going there! Some information here may be considered graphic. You’ve been warned! Hentai is as valid a branch of manga and anime as shonen and shojo. Hentai has a long history and conflicted definitions. The word hentai is a compound word that describes a person, action, or state of being sexually abnormal….
Category: Understanding Anime
Yaoi: Hate for Boys’ Love
As a librarian, I firmly believe people should have access to information and literature of all types. Yaoi isn’t a genre I have any interest in reading, but many of you will say the same about my beloved Roman history books. It is okay to like and not like something; that is what makes each…
Reality Virtual. Sword Art Online and the Subjectivity of Reality.
Anime, despite the Western view of cartoons as being childish, addresses difficult and looming concepts. Beneath the virtual facade and wonder of the anime Sword Art Online, there dwells many heavy concepts. For those who haven’t watched SAO, it deals with concepts of reality with depth rivaled by Ghost in the Shell. Unlike Ghost, SAO…
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…
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….
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…