What Makes Anime, Anime? - Japan Powered
It used to be anime was animation from Japan. That was why in the old, pre-Internet days it was often called Japanimation. It was known for being stiff,| Japan Powered
It used to be anime was animation from Japan. That was why in the old, pre-Internet days it was often called Japanimation. It was known for being stiff,| Japan Powered
For the past decade or so, moe has dominated. Moe designs seek to create a feeling of attachment with the audience, eliciting desires to protect a| Japan Powered
As I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion again, I wondered what more I could say about it. After all, it is perhaps the most analyzed anime. I've written| Japan Powered
When you hear the word anime, you likely think of today's current styles: moe. But anime offers more diversity than that. Moe is a design that seeks to| Japan Powered
My Dress Up Darling‘s second season continues the slice-of-life romance among Wakana Gojo, Marin Kitagawa, and their love for cosplay. The season divides into various arcs that develops Wakana’s character and goes into Marin’s realization that she loves him in addition to the stories of several of the supporting cast. This discussion will spoil the...| Japan Powered
I always have many different writing projects going at once. And I’m please to reveal that Bloomsbury Publishing now has my latest book Be Kind; Rewind! (Re)Introducing Fun Retro Media and Vintage Technology to Libraries available for pre-order! This professional development book aims at librarians, but unlike most prof-dev books, I avoid stuffy writing. Throughout the...| Japan Powered
Welcome to Earth’s premier defense and industrial team! As a mecha pilot, you’ve proven to have the character, flexibility, and capabilities to serve your fellow citizens in this exciting and challenging career. This handbook offers an overview of what you, as a new mecha pilot, need to know about the history and policies of this...| Japan Powered
What do you think of when you read "anime tourist?" Anime tourist can refer to two quite different meanings. The first, and most obvious for older anime| Japan Powered
How far would you go for your beliefs? If your faith called for it, would you give up your life? What if, to get to heaven, you were called upon to take| Japan Powered
Taoism, or Daoism depending on which transliteration system you want to use, like many Chinese imports, mixed with Japan’s culture and the native religion| Japan Powered
Dharma Delight reveals the key tenets of Buddhism with bright, vibrant illustrations. I received a review copy from Tuttle Publishing. The author's| Japan Powered
You likely haven’t heard of Hakuin Ekaku, but you’ve no doubt heard of his most famous question: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” This question| Japan Powered
Japanese comedy is a little…weird whether it is anime or a game show.| Japan Powered
This romantic comedy centers around the antics of a high school club (of course, it take place in a high school!) called Otogi Bank. The club is hired to| Japan Powered
We love to hate 'em. They come from a family with more money than the entire nation of Japan. Usually blonde, they are stuck up, prissy, and yet deep down| Japan Powered
I already griped about anime and high school. It's time I look at exactly why so many anime use high school as the main focus...other than letting the| Japan Powered
As I wrote in my first impression, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai surprised me. Instead of the schlock I expected, the story had one of the| Japan Powered
Long time anime fans have their favorite couples. I enjoy couples with dynamic dialogue. It doesn't matter if they get together by the end of the series| Japan Powered
In this article, I'll attempt to show you an exercise I used to do when I was working on my animation undergraduate degree. The exercise has you take an| Japan Powered
During one scene in My Dress-up Darling, Marin stands in a bikini while Wakana takes her measurements so he can make her cosplay outfits. At one point,| Japan Powered
Isekai has developed a shojo villainess subgenre where the protagonist is reincarnated or otherwise become the villain in an otome, or female-targeted| Japan Powered
I’m not one for comedies, anime or otherwise. They usually strike me as dumb and trying too hard. My sense of humor leans toward satire and slap stick like Takeshi’s Castle (if you haven’t seen it, go watch an episode on YouTube right now!). When I saw Kaguya-sama come out in Crunchyroll, I decided to…| Japan Powered
I’m not one for comedies, anime or otherwise. They usually strike me as dumb and trying too hard. My sense of humor leans toward satire and slap stick like Takeshi’s Castle (if you haven’t seen it, go watch an episode on YouTube right now!). When I saw Kaguya-sama come out in Crunchyroll, I decided to…| Japan Powered
I’m not one for comedies, anime or otherwise. They usually strike me as dumb and trying too hard. My sense of humor leans toward satire and slap stick like Takeshi’s Castle (if you haven’t seen it, go watch an episode on YouTube right now!). When I saw Kaguya-sama come out in Crunchyroll, I decided to…| Japan Powered
Someone HAD to have been hurt on this game show. Takeshi's Castle was a Japanese game show that ran between 1986 and 1989. A volunteer "army" of 100 and| Japan Powered
Love, Chunibyou & Other Delusions, Japanese title Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai!, is the romantic-comedy story of first year high schooler Yūta Togashi,| Japan Powered
I rarely find a comedy anime that strikes me as funny. Most have amusing moments amid the tired, over-trod comedy tropes (nude jokes, breast jokes, and| Japan Powered
Anime humor itself isn't annoying (often weird, but not annoying). It is the when and what that makes anime humor annoying. Anime has the bad habit of| Japan Powered
I have a bad habit. A sin, if you will, to confess. I envy people from "old" countries. As a history nerd, I read about Europe, China, Japan (of course!),| Japan Powered
The other day I stumbled across various YouTube videos of people who felt like they were "becoming Japanese" because of their increasing love for sushi,| Japan Powered
Sometimes I struggle to keep a large picture view of history. When I'm researching or reading about a time period, I don't think about what was happening| Japan Powered
Ramen is considered one of the icons of Japanese culture, but it is actually from China. Ramen appeared in Japan in 1910 when some Chinese cooks in Tokyo| Japan Powered
Journals help with mental health, self-development, and, for the purposes of this essay, understanding history. Few people start a journal with the belief| Japan Powered
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide focuses on a childless couple who is adopted by the neighbor's cat. The novella offers a detailed slice of life set in| Japan Powered
My work Tales from Old Japan: Folktales and Legends from the Land of the Rising Sun proved to be a 4-year writing challenge. It's my most ambition project| Japan Powered
More than a century ago, the West had little contact with Japan. The fabled Asia, distant and strange to Westerners, was a land of mystical stories, of| Japan Powered
The following list of books are must reads for those who are interested in Japanese culture, anime, and manga. This list focuses on important events and| Japan Powered
A discussion of progressive and sexists elements of Magical Girl anime on the example of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Vivid.| Japan Powered
Anime girls are horny because they are written by men who want to fulfill male fantasies. /EndTopic. See references below. Nah, there's a lot more to the| Japan Powered
Too Many Losing Heroines!, also known as Makeine takes a different perspective on the usual romantic-comedy story. In a normal shonen romantic-comedy| Japan Powered
Revolutionary Girl Utena is a game changer on the order of Evangelion. Like Sailor Moon, Utena is a magical girl story. The story is stuffed with| Japan Powered
It came to my attention that JP is biased. We often focus on shonen and more male oriented topics. When I initially planned this series of anime/manga| Japan Powered
I'm not a fan of magical girl anime. I've watched a little Sailor Moon and read a few issues of the manga a few years ago so I could write about it. I| Japan Powered
Kokuhaku, or love confession, isn’t easy to research. People take contemporary cultural practices for granted; such practices aren’t studied until they| Japan Powered
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie addresses interesting themes. Let’s get to them! But first, the summary for those who haven’t seen the anime yet. Not Just a| Japan Powered
Take Inuyasha and cross it with a horny 13 year old's dreams and you get Omamori Himari. I will go ahead with the disclaimer: this anime is full of anime| Japan Powered
Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? is a romantic comedy with the usual love triangle set in high school. But this story has a few twists that are sadly| Japan Powered
Manga is increasingly being translated by large-language models (LLMs), or artificial intelligence as most people call LLMs. The Ancient Magus' Bride| Japan Powered
“In all things, do not have preferences.” Miyamoto Musashi wrote this in his work Dokkodo: The Way to be Followed Alone. His work is a collection of| Japan Powered
The wisdom of Japan and China remains valuable for us today. Like the wisdom of Stoicism, we can look toward the past for lessons on how to live in the| Japan Powered
The spiritual cousin of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo mixes hip hop with Japan's Edo period. Surprisingly this mix with a dash of punk and graffiti| Japan Powered
Texas's state senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 20 which aims at AI-generated child pornography but can also end up banning many anime and| Japan Powered
When it comes to ecchi anime, the characters all need to be having fun. Although I dislike ecchi, even I know this. Too often the genre falls into| Japan Powered
Beheneko: The Elf-Girl's Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster! beyond being a mouthful is also an ecchi, uh, handful. For the longest time I've avoided| Japan Powered
If I was in Texas, I would (possibly) be going to prison for watching Please Put Them On, Takamine-san. In my quest to expand my exposure to stories I| Japan Powered
As the heat of summer wears on, winter haiku gives us a chance to think on cold days and all the pleasures of winter. Hot tea. Hot chocolate. Blankets.| Japan Powered
Haiku is a traditional Japanese poem consisting of three lines and 17 syllables. Unlike Western poetry, haiku rarely rhymes. This poetry conveys layers of| Japan Powered
I love winter. The cold may be uncomfortable, but it is the night of the year. It calls us to stop and rest and reflect. Although, as the climate shifts,| Japan Powered
Anyone who knows anything about Japan has heard of seppuku or seen it in a samurai film. Seppuku was a ritualized form of suicide and a judicial sentence| Japan Powered
John Allyn's version of Japan's classic story shows some of its age. Originally published in 1970, Allyn's writing has some jarring elements common to| Japan Powered
the pillows is an iconic Japanese rock band for many anime fans. They've been around since 1989 and introduced many to Japanese music.| Japan Powered
Yuri is a branch of manga that deals with girl romance. The genre was originally targeted toward girls, but there is a male-targeted branch as well. Yuri| Japan Powered
I enjoyed watching Iron Chef back in the day, but when I first saw a Food Wars preview on Crunchyroll, I had little interest in it. As you likely know (if| Japan Powered
I was hesitant toward Kill la Kill when I first started watching it. First, the style of the humor tends to turn me off. The obsession with frantic humor| Japan Powered
Sakuga is a term within the anime community used to describe animated scenes with fluid, detailed animations. Sakuga usually highlights important fights| Japan Powered
Bocchi the Rock! teems with experimental animation that captures the social anxiety and catastrophizing the anime’s namesake character experiences. It’s a| Japan Powered
Rock is a Lady's Modesty sits in the girl-band subgenre of the greater yuri genre. The anime has overt lesbian tones to it, but with a twist. In order to| Japan Powered
I love writing informative essays. I never know what goodies I will find when I set out to research for an informative essay. Informative essays involve| Japan Powered
The fall school season has started for many. That means a return to essay writing. Sometimes it's hard to come up with essay ideas that match an| Japan Powered
As you may have noticed, JP was down for few days. My webhost migrated to a new, faster server and broke a bunch of things. I think they are fixed. If you| Japan Powered
The Unfettered Mind contains essays and letters written by the Zen monk Takuan Soho, who was a friend and a teacher of Miyamoto Musashi. As Takuan neared| Japan Powered
If you haven’t seen Takopi’s Original Sin, stop reading this and go watch this anime–unless you struggle with mental health and suicidal thoughts. Takopi’s Original Sin is a rough watch with beautifully ugly, deceptively difficult animation. It has 6 episodes on Crunchyroll. I will have to spoil the story to discuss the many layers...| Japan Powered
Robotech is a classic mashup anime, dating well before moe became the dominate style. The anime is actually a combination of several anime spliced into a| Japan Powered
So I've started a Substack to post all my other random essays and short stories that I spare you from here. Most of the essays languishing on my file| Japan Powered
Explore the intersection of Western culture and Japanese culture through anime, history, and more.| Japan Powered
I get it, some of you like fan-service, but fan-service has become a blight on anime as a whole. It's fine when it appears in genres you fully expect to| Japan Powered
What would happen if only women could pilot the most advanced weapon system in the world? They would all attend a school where they use high yield| Japan Powered
If you are brokenhearted, anime can offer some reprieve. Relationships can be rough, and they often end. If you are like me, when I'm brokenhearted I want| Japan Powered
Yaoi, also known as Boy's Love or 801, is an offshoot of shojo manga. Shojo is categorized by the primary audience: women and girls. Yaoi is focused on| Japan Powered
Anime has its own vocabulary that's confusing for beginners. Tsundere is one such word. The word describes a type of character common to anime.| Japan Powered
We Never Learn: Bokuben follows Nariyuki Yuigi as he tutors three female geniuses in their weaknesses. Of course, this is a harem anime, so they all| Japan Powered
When Horimiya: Pieces released, I decided to revisit the original season. My original observations still hold. The series offers a heartfelt, nostalgic| Japan Powered
Anime has a problem with body boundaries, and the problem extends to both men and women. Fan-service centers on seeing breasts, abs, pecs, panties, and| Japan Powered
Back in the 11th century, a Japanese woman wrote the world's first modern novel. The novel remained unknown in the West until after the Meiji Restoration| Japan Powered
By the title you may be expecting me to write about the patriarchy in history. You’re right to a degree. After all, the patriarchy has hurt women, but it| Japan Powered
Tales of Ise is referenced throughout early Japanese literature. If you hadn't read it, you won't catch some of the meaning Sei Shonagon, Lady Nijo,| Japan Powered
Most people think of Basho and haiku when they think about Japanese poems. Japanese poetry encompasses more than lovely nature images. The word literature| Japan Powered
Miyamato Musashi's work "The Way to be Followed Alone," or Dokkodo, is the samurai's lesser known work next to The Book of Five Rings (Gorin no| Japan Powered
Teahouse Mysteries Kanzashi Mameko never thought she’d witness a murder.Her life consists of songs, stories, lessons, and the other social demands| Japan Powered
There are a lot of ghouls, ghosts, and other nasty critters spooking around Japan. From bathrooms to cemeteries to the deep woods and everywhere in| Japan Powered
The Book of Bushido by Antony Cummins summarizes the landscape of bushido history and thought. Cummins touches on the contradictions found in the various| Japan Powered
Okakura wrote The Book of Tea in 1906. The books seeks to bridge and explain the Eastern perspective to the West. At the time, most people weren't| Japan Powered
Do you know what happens to a tool when it becomes 100 years old? What about a tree when it sees its 1,000th birthday? What does it matter if a dinner| Japan Powered
Geishas and the Floating World by Stephen and Ethel Longstreet examines the history and development of Tokyo’s red-light district of Yoshiwara. The name| Japan Powered
