To answer the title’s question in two words: parasocial relationships. Okay, you can return to your regularly scheduled livestream! Parasocial relationships (PSR) are a common part of media consumption for many, so much that few of us stop and think about it. These types of relations extend to celebrities, politicians, livestreamers, and even fictional characters…
Category: Understanding Anime
Beheneko: The Elf-Girl’s Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster!
Beheneko: The Elf-Girl’s Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster! beyond being a mouthful is also an ecchi, uh, handful. For the longest time I’ve avoided ecchi stories. They weren’t my thing, and they remain not my thing. But as an anime writer and armchair academic, this genre has been a blindspot for me. I’ve watched…
The Art of Love and War | Kaguya-sama: Love is War
Kaguya-sama: Love is War is a romantic comedy that I’ve already covered in a few other articles. However, the story deserves a deeper look. Beneath its comedy is a male-aimed romantic message that shows how romantic notions are for men too. Akasaka Aka approaches the romance with using the “slow boil” method as we will…
Anime and Body Boundaries
Anime has a problem with body boundaries, and the problem extends to both men and women. Fan-service centers on seeing breasts, abs, pecs, panties, and other parts, often without a character’s consent. It involves women pressing up against flustered men (and the reverse and every other combination) as they struggle to get away while expressing…
Golden Time: How Insecurity Splits Oneself
Golden Time is an anime adaptation of a light novel series. The anime released back in 2013. I will spoil the story in this discussion. Golden Time is one of the rare anime that doesn’t take place in high-school. The characters are all college age, but, for the most part, this acts as window dressing…
Is Anime Woke?
Woke has become a buzzword throughout US media. People use the word to label all sorts of people and ideas: woke companies, woke video games, woke chicken nuggets. Beyond being bad English grammar, “I am woke” (grammatically it should be “I woke up” or “I have awakened” or even “I’m awake.” Woke is the past…