Normally I avoid anime like this, but I thought to give it a watch to figure out what makes this sort of anime appealing to some fans. I still don’t understand the appeal. Maybe it is because I am an old fogey as the anime viewership goes. Kids these days! The Comic Artist and His…
Category: Anime
Bleach: Unforgiven
Despite Bleach’s many story telling problems, I enjoy its world. When I opened a review package from Viz Media, I was surprised to see Bleach: Unforgiven nestled among the books and manga. Bleach: Unforgiven is a double movie pack that includes Fade to Black and Hell Verse. As Bleach movies go, both movies are side…
Musings IV: Japanese Idioms, and why it is a good idea to know some.
Perhaps you’ve been so lucky never to have prayed into a horse’s ear (uma no mimi ni nenbutsu), but I bet someone has once looked at you with white eyes (shiroi me de miru) until you felt like your stomach was boiling (hara ga nie-kurikaeru yō). Yes, those are Japanese Idioms. I’ve had a class…
Manga Sound Effect Guide
Japanese has around 1,200 onomatopoeia divided into 3 families (Kadooka, 2009.; Inose,n.d. ). That’s around 3x more than English has. Onomatopoeia are words used to represent calls of animals, sounds of nature, sounds of people, and other sounds (Alilyeh & Zeinolabedin, 2014). Luckily, manga doesn’t use all of these sound words. However, it’s common for manga…
Symbols of Summer: Power Lines and Cicadas in Anime
Have you wondered why anime shows power lines with cicada chirping in the background? Power lines and cicadas seem to be a strange association, but for many, overhead power lines are a part of home. They are a common sight in Japanese towns and cities . Unlike many countries where power grids are underground, the…
10 Anime Essay Topic Ideas
People often ask me for help with choosing topics for essays and thesis assignments. Anime gives us many, many topics to write about. Sometimes too many. So here is a list of ideas and links to articles I’ve written that have sources you may find useful. 1. Manga and American Comics Contrast the different themes…