Let’s talk about men and eating disorders and, of course this being JP, anime/manga. Eating disorders result from what’s called body image disturbance, a fancy term that means you don’t like how you look. It’s well known that women struggle the most with this: 60% of American women suffer from body dissatisfaction. But 30% of…
Chasing Nightmares – Kanashibari
The Dark Presser. The Old Hag. The Ghost Presser. Alien Abduction. No matter what cultural form it takes, kanashibari excites and terrifies. Between 40-50% of people will have at least one experience of kanashibari in their lifetimes (Schegoleva, 2002). In the West, we know it as sleep paralysis. Nightmares and sleep paralysis happen together during…
The Legacy of 4Kids Entertainment
4Kids Entertainment. I’ll wait while you hug the porcelain and bring up your last meal. Feeling a little better? Anime fans detest 4Kids for how they localized and censored and cut series like Pokemon, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and others. However, the company is behind successful children’s shows that didn’t suffer the same fate: Cabbage Patch Kids and Teenage Mutant…
How Anticipation Helps the Enjoyment of Anime
I enjoy a good Netflix binge, but in our age of on-demand content, we lost the value of anticipation. When we can watch anime whenever we want, for as long as we want, we lose the slow build of excitement waiting can bring. Unfortunately, American society disdains patience. Sure, we say patience is a virtue,…
Jiraiya and the Magic Frog: The Story Behind Naruto’s Characters
“Jiraiya and the Magic Frog” provides the inspiration for three of Naruto’s characters: Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru. In this story, Jiraiya doesn’t become a sage until the end, but he summons giant frogs and matches the rough character from Naruto. As in Naruto, the Jiraiyo of folklore chases Tsunade. Both struggle against Orochimaru. Many of…
What Naruto Gets Wrong: The Real Shinobi
For many anime fans, Naruto introduced the world of the shinobi, or the more familiar word ninja. Sadly, Naruto plays fast and loose with the history of the shinobi. It gets some things right, but it gets far more wrong. This isn’t to beat up on the series. It’s fiction, and fiction makes reality its…