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Author Archives: J Sensei
Quantum Physics and Gundam
Depiction: The Gundam 00 qan[t], shortly after entering the quantum portal in the Gundam 00 movie. No spoilers – watch the movie if you want to see where the destination is. Pretty, isn’t it? This just underlines how Gundam 00 … Continue reading
Why Newtype Awakening Won’t Save Mankind
A Naive Idea, Often Repeated An idea advanced by Japanese writers, directors, and thinkers in general, goes something like this: if we only understood what was in each others’ hearts, war would cease and we would become a better, more … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Art, Culture, Japan
Tagged anime, art, culture, Cyborg 009-1, Gundam, Gundam 00, Japan, newtype, psychic, thoughtcrime
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Japanese Idioms: O-tsukaresama desu
Thank You For Your Hard Work Usually, when お疲れ様です (o-tsukaresama desu) rolls off the Japanese tongue, it can be safely understood as “Thank you for your hard work.” The “o” part means that this applies to someone else. The “tsukare” part … Continue reading
Early Anime Impression: Gosick (Pronounced “Gothic”)
ゴシック (“Gothic”) Gosick is animated by Bones, which I have lauded in the past; I liked Heroman, but at any rate they tend to do far out and artsy stuff which I respect. Pronounced “gothic” (and you see this clearly in … Continue reading
The Fractale Scandal And Its Implications
A Sad, Infuriating Spectacle My experiences with the new anime Fractale began innocently enough with this article in the Asahi Shimbun (official romanization; ‘shinbun’ in text but ‘shimbun’ as spoken in Tokyo dialect). Long story short, director Yutaka Yamamoto sees … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Art, Culture, Japan
Tagged A-1 Pictures, anime, art, controversy, culture, fansubbing, Fractale, Japan, piracy, scandal, Yutaka Yamamoto
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Hitotsu! Japanese in Karate
一つ The easiest reading of 一つ (ひとつ、hitotsu) is one. So how can we explain something like this? Behold:
Anime Industry Revival, Outside Japan?
An Interesting Perspective Nothing much from me here, just the fact you might want to look over this article over at Asahi.com (in English). It’s about one anime creator’s feeling that the Japanese anime industry has grown too insular and … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Art, Culture, Japan
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The Sohei
Warrior Monks Although the word sohei is usually translated as warrior monks, the hei part fits “soldier” much better. These are monk-soldiers, but as English has no such term, warrior monks will generally do. The image above is a procession … Continue reading
A Japanese Spin On Thor
An Imagining of a Western Icon This is an artist’s impression of Thor used as a representation of the mythological figure in the Playstation 2 game, Persona 3. As opposed to other games in the “Shin Megami Tensei” franchise, also … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Japan, video games
Tagged culture, Japan, Megaten, Mjlonir, Persona 3, Shin Megami Tensei, SMT, Thor, video games
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No Spoiler Anime Review, Ore no Imouto
Highly Recommended. Ore No Imouto Ga Konna Ni Kawaii Wake Ga Nai OK, the basics: this is not Yosuga no Sora. This is not porn. The relationship at the heart of the show usually translated as “My Little Sister Isn’t … Continue reading