Social media has become such a part of our lives that we can barely remember what the Internet was like before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and the rest. However, research has linked social media with all kinds of problems, from bullying to depression. The photo sharing and the ubiquitous profile photo has a large influence…
Category: Otaku Culture
What is Best for Anime: Streaming or Physical Media?
When I first began brainstorming this post, I considered visiting the old Blu-Ray versus DVD debate. It shares similarities with the older Betamax versus VHS battle. Only Blu-Ray and DVD are not mutually exclusive. Combo players are inexpensive, unlike during the videotape war. Blu-Ray is only slightly more expensive than DVD nowadays too. The true…
You Are What You Watch. The Effect of Anime on the Mind
You’ve likely heard the saying “you are what you eat.” Well, the stories you consume influence who you are as well. Your body uses the nutrients you put into it to rebuild itself. If you eat poorly, your body will build with poor materials. We build our character in the same way. The messages we…
What is a NEET?
Anime and manga fans are often accused of being NEETs. In Internet parlance: neck-beards, otaku, slacker, hobo. But what is a NEET? NEET is an acronym for an English (as in British, the acronym started in the UK) expression: Not in Education, Employment, or Training. The acronym started in July 1999 in the report “Bridging…
Cat Idols in Japan
The Angry Cat isn’t the only famous cat on the Internet. Cats have overtaken dogs as the most popular pet in Japan within the last few years (Yamamura, 2016). Each year, Yokohama features Neko-Break, an exhibition of cat-themed photography and merchandise. As Japan often does, there’s a market for cat-otaku. Otaku, in the Japanese sense…
Naked! Understanding Anime Nudity and Fan Service
I get it, some of you like fan-service, but fan-service has become a blight on anime as a whole. It’s fine when it appears in genres you fully expect to see it in: ecchi and hentai. Let it remain there. However, the mentality behind fan-service has leeched most categories of anime. Breast jokes have no…