11.16.09
More on anime as commercialism or art
This is a followup of my previous post, “Anime – a product of commercialism or art?“…
11.14.09
Anime – a product of commercialism or art?
As much as anime fans love praising their favorite series for artistic values, many will still acknowledge that anime is, in the end, a commercial product that is precisely tailored to what fans want, and whose main goal is to increase ratings and merchandise sales…
11.03.09
The strangeness and ambiguity of love in anime
From what I’ve observed in the many anime titles I’ve watched over the years, the concept of love, especially compared to most Western TV shows and movies, is much more ambiguous, and sometimes downright strange…
10.12.09
Your “inner child” and indulgence in fantasy
I wasn’t sure how to start this relatively personal post. I figured the below quote would be a good way (and yes, I will relate it to anime)…
10.03.09
Remembering the old days of anime fan sites
Over the past few days I’ve been going through my 7+ year-old, but still active, anime fan site, Anime Yume, updating information pages and saving copies of important files. Going through sections of my old site made me reminiscent of the days before blogs, when anime fan sites flourished…
09.30.09
Nine reasons why anime is superior to Western animation
This is the title of a recent and rather controversial article by the founder of Anime on DVD, Christ Beveridge. On the media web site Mania, he lists nine qualities that he feels anime possesses and Western Animation lacks…
09.21.09
The true definition of “shojo” and “shonen”
This is a topic I have never given much thought to, but it recently came up during a conversation I had with a friend. I always assumed that a more-or-less singular definition of shojo and shonen anime/manga was agreed upon by everyone involved in anime. But I can see now that that’s not entirely so…
09.13.09
The meaning behind the otaku
I recently came across a post about a book called “Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals” by Prof. Hiroki Azuma. Although I’ve never read the book myself, Mike over at Anime Diet had some very interesting comments about how Prof. Azuma describes the mentality of Japanese otaku…
09.07.09
Why do we buy anime collectibles?
The title of this post is a question that I’m confronted with fairly often. Why do hardcore fans spend so much money buying anime collectibles, such as figures, plushies, and trading cards, when such things are relatively expensive, take up space, and all they do is “sit around and collect dust?”…
08.26.09
Rebelling against corrupt authority in One Piece
As I’m making my way through the concluding episodes of the Enies Lobby arc of One Piece, I’m continually intrigued by the series’ reoccurring theme of “rebelling against authority,” particularly how the heroes of the show are pirates, and the villains are often the Marines or other authoritative figures…
