Denpa Onna is Shinbo’s Take on a Key Romance
Whether you choose to describe Shinbo Akiyuki‘s career as “distinguished” or merely “prolific” depends on your opinion of his success rate. With that said, I don’t think there are many anime fans who haven’t seen at least one Shinbo anime they liked, just on the count of the fact that he’s made so many, and [...]
Moe Archetypes and the Organizational Man
Archetypes dominate anime— so much that when critics find shows and characters which defy classification, they are hailed as revolutionary. The focus of today’s article is not on those revolutionary shows. It’s about everything else— the vast majority of anime which seeks to articulate themselves within a tired niche.
Fractale and the Myth of Post-Scarcity Utopia
There’s been much discussion surrounding Fractale and its setting. 2DT over at 2D-Teleidoscope has postulated that Fractale falls into the sub-genre of science fiction that concerns itself with post-scarcity dystopia, and TIF proposed a Marxist reading of the show. Let’s take a look at these claims in more detail.
On Exploitation
During my recent trip, I noticed that not much has changed in Japan since I came last summer, but one can see the commercialization of moe progressing rapidly. The new rage in Japan is what my friends and I have facetiously dubbed “life goods” (after Kyoto Animation’s booth at ‘ket, which sold K-On character “life [...]
Now, Why am I Watching This Again?
During the past days, I’ve been having some fairly intricate conversations with my partners in crime (mostly whilst waiting in line for goods at Comiket.) One of our more interesting conversations dealt with the root purpose of anime, which my friend claims is escapism. He posited one simple question to me: If I am living [...]
