We see them all over social media and across websites: memes. They come in all flavors, from sarcastic and funny to downright painful. Some are stills. Others are animated scenes like the one above; however, many people don’t consider these memes. I will explain why they are in a bit. But what exactly are memes?…
Category: Otaku Culture
What does “Please Notice Me, Senpai” Mean?
Few Japanese words dominate otaku lingo as the word senpai. Senpai, also spelled as sempai, sometimes appears more as punctuation to speech than a proper honorific. It also has a distinctive submissive flavor. Senpai (せんぱい or 先輩) is an honorific used to address someone who is superior to you in status. Honorifics are parts of speech…
Organizing and Presenting Manga and Anime
The best way to get to know someone isn’t in conversation. Instead, look at their bookshelves. Your books and DVDs reveal much about your personality, interests, and tastes. My bookshelves are a little messy and eclectic. You will find everything from history to religion, from science fiction novels to video games on them. As books…
What is a Postmodern Anime? What Does Postmodernism Mean, anyway?
Postmodernism is one of those stuffy words you see thrown around the Internet. It’s slapped on architecture, education, movies, and even anime. But what really is postmodernism? How can an anime be postmodern? Despite it’s name, postmodernism has nothing to do with being modern. I rather dislike the word modern because every age thinks itself…
The History of Cosplay
Cosplay sits as the best-known expressions of anime and manga fandom. Each year, fans spend countless hours designing and sewing their costumes and perfecting their impersonations. Many view cosplay, a contraction of costume play, as a Japanese import. However, like anime, cosplay comes from the interplay of American and Japanese culture. What Exactly is Cosplay?…
Musings VI: On the ghost of O’iwa, and why she’s still scary.
The Season of Horrors It may seem strange at first that summer is the prime time for ghost stories in Japan. We tend to associate summer with pleasant things… but imagine you’re living in early modern Japan. You have no iced drinks, no electric fans, no convenient water taps. There’s basically no way to keep…