Welcome to the NHK is one of the oddest anime series I’ve watched. This head trip follows Tatsuhiro Sato, a hikikomori, and Misaki Nakahara, a strange girl who decides to help cure Sato of his hikikomori. Sato is convinced that the NHK (which is a public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai) is actually a sinister…
Sake, Fire, and Mayhem: the Nozawa Onsen Dosojin Matsuri
Nozawaonsen is a village of about five thousand people about an hours drive from Nagano City. It is famed for its hot springs, which according to legend were discovered when an injured bear led a hunter to them, its skiing, and for hosting part of the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998. It is also famous…
11 Eyes
This high school fantasy anime had some interesting RPG-like moments, but 11 Eyes ultimately fell on its face. The story revolves around 6 high school students who are drawn into the “Red Night,” an alternate realm populated by larvae like creatures and Black Knights. The Black Knights are bent on killing the high-school students. The…
Kappa – Dangerous, Vicious, yet Polite
The kappa is one of the most famous of Japan’s mythological creatures. It is sometimes called an imp in the West. This scaly water creature is a mix of a turtle, a monkey, and a frog. About the size of a child, the kappa is said to wait in water for a hapless victim to…
Kimono in a Mono Cultural World
The kimono is Japan. At least it is one part of Japan the West instantly recognizes. The kimono is mostly relegated to special occasions like weddings, funerals, coming-of-age days, and tea ceremonies. Kimono provides a contrast to the sharply westernized modern lifestyle of women and men. Originally the word kimono meant “a thing to wear.”…
Love, Chunibyou, & Other Delusions
Love, Chunibyou & Other Delusions, Japanese title Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai!, is the romantic-comedy story of first year high schooler Yūta Togashi, and his misadventures with a girl named Rikka Takanashi, a strange girl with chūnibyō, or “junior high second grade illness.” Those “afflicted” with chūnibyō suffer from delusions of a fantasy world where…