After I resigned from my library position (I had moral and ethical problems with how I was expected to police policy), I started hunting for remote work. I enjoy writing, so I started hunting there. When I’m drafting a novel, I will write at least 1,000 words Monday through Friday. Weekends are left for…
Revisiting Shuffle!
I had watched Shuffle! back at the beginning of my anime-watching career, and it was my first exposure to harem anime. For perspective, the anime released back in 2005. The story is based on a visual novel. I will include spoilers. Enter Rin, a typical droll harem protagonist defined by his “niceness” and his, ahem,…
Men Live in Despair. What Can Be Done?
It’s no secret that many men struggle with depression and despair. This desperation has many factors, such as lacking a sense of purpose. The problem also isn’t new. History likes to move in rhyming cycles. Each era stands unique yet still follows a cyclical pattern that Romans called the saeculum. This includes the current troubles…
Revisiting Omamori Himari
Omamori Himari was my first exposure to ecchi harem anime. It’s been over a decade since I last watched it, so I thought I’d give it a revisit. I’ve enjoyed some harem comedy in the past (the few that are fairly well-thought out), so I can, sometimes, appreciate the appeal the genre has. Even a…
Revisiting Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions
Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions explores the psychology of avoidance, coping with change, and seeing magic in everyday things. And it is a love story. The story centers around Rikka and Yuta, a pair of high school students (because life ends after high school, or because most people never leave high school). Rikka has…
JP Heads to YouTube…Kinda
Actually, JP isn’t going to be on YouTube, but my new channel, which starts today, is called “Tales from Old Japan”. The idea is to release video-book readings of Japanese folktales along with video essays about Japanese history, the lessons and importance of folklore, and other stories about and from old Japan. Expect to eventually…