As many of my readers know, I enjoy watching shows with strong nationalistic leanings. The main reason being that I think nationalism is:

A. One of the most destructive ideologies in human history;
B. Fascinating, as are all human belief systems;
C. Something I once fell for; and
D. Fucking stupid.

Some of the anime I enjoyed watching the most include such nationalistic classics as Gasaraki, Gigantic Formula, Gunbuster, and even shows as subtle with their nationalist messaging as Gate and Mahouka. The other day I was discussing the nationalism in Seikaisuru Kado with Marina, and she encouraged me to write a blog post. So here we are. Continue reading Thoughts on Nationalism in Anime (Inspired by Seikaisuru Kado) →

I’ll be at Sakuracon in Seattle on Friday and Saturday. Who’s going? I don’t particularly give a crap about the convention, but I would like to meet up with people, so let me know if you’ll be there! I haven’t researched anything that’s happening, but I’ll probably follow Marina and her husband around most of the time. Or maybe her husband and I will ditch Marina and try to see a panel about some quality anime like Twintails, which she doesn’t have the good taste to appreciate. Anyway, the best way to contact me is on twitter!

I’ve been loving the latest arc of Re: Zero. No, not that Rem episode (too much crying) or the epic battles of lolis, butlers and wolves vs. flying whales. What I’ve loved the most is seeing Subaru’s descent into despair and madness.

Hatred and Revenge

The best anime are able to elicit strong emotions in the viewer. And boy has Re: Zero. To see Subaru broken over and over again, tortured and forced to watch his friends die. Or to be killed by his friends. Or both. It’s made me more pissed than I’ve felt watching anime for a long time.

And the people who made me the most angry weren’t the ones who actually killed him. I can’t really get mad at the whale— it’s a whale— or at the witch’s cult— they’re fucking nuts. It’s the people who washed their hands of the whole matter, who should have helped Subaru when he asked them for help but chose not to. Especially Green, Purple and friends. Episode 16, where he went and visited all of them, was my favorite.

Subaru may have forgiven them now and made friends, but I sure as hell haven’t. He knows who his real friends are now.

And let me be honest: I want to see them all suffer. I know that Subaru felt the same way.

This arc reminds me of one of my favorite psalms, number 137: Continue reading Thoughts on Re: Zero →

No, I was not a cute loli shrine maiden. Yes, I did spend most of my time talking to a bear. His name was Teddy. We even went to the bathroom together. (So sorry about that time I dropped you in the toilet, Teddy…)

Community

Kuma Miko has made me realize something that’s missing from most anime. A community. Here is the entire social circle of your typical school anime main character:

• A couple of classmates.
• One or two teachers.
• Four or five clubmates.
• The immediate family (often limited to a single imouto, the parents are mysteriously absent).
• The immediate next-door neighbors (but not the family two doors down).

And that’s it. Do anime characters never get out? For comparison, here’s a subset of the people I interacted with regularly in high school: Continue reading Reliving my Childhood with Kuma Miko →