I am not normally the anime guy here on JapanPowered, as long time readers know. My brother normally takes on the analysis of anime/manga. My preference leans more toward history and folklore, with a little dabbling in the social sciences. This probably is in part due to my love/hate relationship with anime. While I enjoy…
Shigeru Miyamoto: A Sketch
Most Americans don’t consider Mario to be Japanese. His plumber’s (construction worker) overalls look all American. Yet, behind the famous mustache is a Japanese man. Shigeru Miyamoto created three of the most well known video game franchises: Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. You’d think he would be a video game player,…
Kidnapping, Extortion, and Cyanide-laced Candy: The Strange Case of the Monster With 21 Faces
The anime and manga Ghost in the Shell is highly regarded as one of the finest ever produced. The show (I will focus on the anime because it is what I am personally familiar with) focuses on the exploits of Section 9, an elite cyber crime unit that is part of Japan’s public security apparatus….
Nurikabe–The Ghostly Wall Yokai
Japan is a land haunted by many strange monsters and ghosts. Known collectively as Yokai (and Yurei. The two words are often used interchangeably, but for our purposes we will say that Yurei refer to human ghosts and Yokai to magical creatures of all sorts), these beings can range from the mischievous to the malevolent…
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia
Do you believe in ghosts? Seikyou Private Academy is odd for a school. It’s winding halls end in abrupt dead ends. There are stairs that go no where. One wing of the school, the oldest, is used for storage and is seldom visited. Ghost stories abound about that wing. The stories all share a name:…
Kill la Kill: A Masterful Subversion of Fan Service
Kill la Kill, at first glance, looks like one of those shows designed for horny teen boys by a horny teen boy. Nearly naked women battle each other for the pleasure of male onlookers. Only Kill la Kill has far more to it than that. I will be honest. At first watch, this anime made…