This high school fantasy anime had some interesting RPG-like moments, but 11 Eyes ultimately fell on its face. The story revolves around 6 high school students who are drawn into the “Red Night,” an alternate realm populated by larvae like creatures and Black Knights. The Black Knights are bent on killing the high-school students. The…
Author: Chris
Kappa – Dangerous, Vicious, yet Polite
The kappa is one of the most famous of Japan’s mythological creatures. It is sometimes called an imp in the West. This scaly water creature is a mix of a turtle, a monkey, and a frog. About the size of a child, the kappa is said to wait in water for a hapless victim to…
Kimono in a Mono Cultural World
The kimono is Japan. At least it is one part of Japan the West instantly recognizes. The kimono is mostly relegated to special occasions like weddings, funerals, coming-of-age days, and tea ceremonies. Kimono provides a contrast to the sharply westernized modern lifestyle of women and men. Originally the word kimono meant “a thing to wear.”…
Love, Chunibyou, & Other Delusions
Love, Chunibyou & Other Delusions, Japanese title Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai!, is the romantic-comedy story of first year high schooler Yūta Togashi, and his misadventures with a girl named Rikka Takanashi, a strange girl with chūnibyō, or “junior high second grade illness.” Those “afflicted” with chūnibyō suffer from delusions of a fantasy world where…
Samurai Harem
The title of this anime pretty much explains the show. As anime goes, Samurai Harem is junk food. It isn’t very filling and actually doesn’t taste all that great, but I watched it anyway. Samurai Harem starts with Yoichi Karasuma being sent out of the mountains by his father to train at a dojo owned…
Onbashira, the deadly log-riding festival of Japan
When I first saw videos like the one posted above, I took it as a given that Japanese men would ride gigantic logs down steep slopes at the risk of death and maiming, because OF COURSE Japanese men would ride gigantic logs down steep slopes at the risk of death and maiming. Japan is pretty…