Tag Archives: japan

Otaku Social Pariahs Within Japan

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Ellen Pilot

In anime, otaku are used as kind-spirited comedy founder or take up the role of the sadly misunderstood misfit. Their obsessive traits are endearing to their audience, since it is a mirror of them. It could be seen as a kind of reassurance to the audience that are neither scary nor threatening, despite what the majority of Japanese people think. This brings us back to the question that this essay will address, why are otaku social pariahs in Japan? READ MORE

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I Just Didn’t Do It – Review

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Miguel Douglas

Kaneko Teppei catches the commuter train one day on his way to a job interview. With the train being over capacity, he is unwillingly forced into a crowded spot. As he gets off the crowded train, a high school girl runs up to him and accuses him of sexual harassment, in which the police apprehend him. At the police station, the police and his court-appointed attorney advise him to simply confess, in which then he would be released after settling compensation with the victim. Teppei rejects this offer stating he is entirely innocent of the crime he’s accused of, therein beginning a battle within the court system to prove his innocence. READ MORE

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Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Review

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Miguel Douglas

It’s been roughly 30 years since Yoshiyama Kazuko, the heroine of the original novel, had her time traveling adventure. She has since grown up to become a researcher, still looking for a formula that will enable her to travel back in time. However, a tragic car accident sends her into a coma. Hearing a story about her mother’s first love in 1972, Kazuko’s daughter Akari believes that discovering and bringing back her mother’s first love will make her awake from her coma. Following the formula prescribe by her mother, Akari accidentally time travels back to the year 1974, a full two years after her mother’s first love. READ MORE

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Homosexuality, Manga, and the Land of the Rising Sun

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Ellen Pilot

I know it might be presumptuous, but I believe that most Western anime viewers really don’t know much, if anything, about Japanese people and culture besides what is presented to them in anime and manga. Sure, it’s easy enough to look up why Japanese people write wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on trees for Tanabata, or what a tree leaf standing up in a cup signifies, but does anime and manga really give the average Western otaku an informed and accurate picture of Japan? READ MORE

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Kirsten Dunst in Akihabara Majokko Princess video

Posted on February 20, 2010 by Miguel Douglas

The final video for the cover song “Turning Japanese” has arrived from director McG (Terminator Salvation) and Takashi Murakami (advocate for the Superflat Japanese art style). The original song was released in 1980 by the band “The Vapors”, but what’s so unique about this cover song/video is that is has American actress Kirsten Dunst (Spiderman, Marie Antoinette) in a sailor-suit costume and a blue wig in Tokyo’s Akihabara otaku shopping district! While I’ll restrain from commenting on Dunst’s singing (you can be the judge), it’s a wonderfully creative and colorful video that really brings to life the atmosphere of Akihabara! READ MORE

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