People have a built-in resistance to killing, but this resistance can be overcome through various methods. During World War II, only 15-20% of American riflemen fired at the enemy. This included men faced with Japanese banzai charges and other situations. Most people would rather die than kill someone else (Grossman, 1995). People often bluster about…
Category: Otaku Culture
Anime is Not Japanese Culture
The other day I stumbled across various YouTube videos of people who felt like they were “becoming Japanese” because of their increasing love for sushi, anime, manga, and “other things Japanese.” At first, I thought it was just attention grabbing, but as I dug deeper, many weeaboo of all different ages seemed to follow this…
Eating Your Own Tail: Self-Publishing Websites
Are you interested in publishing your own book? Many anime bloggers aspire toward it, but when you start researching, it seems books about self publishing dominate self publishing. Self-publishing websites all parrot each other. They all sell their own books full of secrets and tips. While there’s nothing wrong with this, you have to wonder…
What Does Neckbeard Mean?
Neckbeard (and the lesser-used Legbeard) is a label used online across many different communities, including the otaku community. Academia tends to ignore terms like weeaboo and waifu and neckbeard, at least as I write this article. So I visit the best source of information for an Internet term: the Internet. This article will also have…
What Does Cringe Mean?
Cringe has become a popular word online. But do we know what cringe really is? Cringe remains closely related to awkward. Awkward is a catchall word for any situation that makes us feel uneasy, no matter how serious or trivial the situation is. After all, most of what we find online is ultimately trivial. Cringe…
Considering Anime’s Moe Trend
Moe designs dominate anime nowadays. The designs focus on cute girls with overly large eyes–even by anime standards–rounded faces, and pastel colors in hair and clothing. I’ve defined what moe is, but for a brief review: moe is a feeling of affection and fondness someone has toward a fictional character. Character designers have hit on…