Author: Chris Kincaid
Oreimo – Abuse as Comedy
Abuse is apparently okay between siblings, at least according to Oreimo. This anime follows the usual teen antics and awkward relationships anime tends to focus upon, but a sister-brother complex and rampant verbal and physical abuse mars what is a basic story. First, I’ll start with the good. Oreimo, which is short for Ore no…
The Role of Satire: Crayon Shin Chan as an Example
As Shin drops his drawers and does another “ass dance” to delight his kindergarten classmates and horrify his teachers, I’m struck by the show’s sophistication. How can an “ass dance” be sophisticated? It’s not, but the satire of Crayon Shin Chan is. Satire cuts at ideas we often fail to see, and it is, perhaps,…
Good Stories. Not-so-Good People Behind Them: Morality and the Viewer’s Dilemma
A few months ago police charged the creator of Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki, with possessing child pornography. This past week, various anime news outlets pegged the director of Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Kazuyoshi Yaginuma, as an antisemite and Holocaust denier. His antisemitic views appear on his Twitter account. This creates a dilemma for viewers:…