Category Archives: manga

The Fujoshi Files 7: Asano Yukina

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Name:Asano, Yukina (浅野 ゆきな)
Alias: N/A
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Midori Days

Information:
Asano Yukina is a soft-spoken girl who has been drawing manga since she was little. As a child, she had formed a friendship with one Sawamura Seiji, who would later grow up to be feared by men and women alike for being one of the toughest delinquents around. Asano is well aware that Sawamura had a tremendous crush on her, but it appears to not have affected their friendship in any negative way.

Asano’s favorite manga character is Amagasaki Iori, whom Asano refers to as “Iori-sama.” Her favorite pairing is Iori x Fuyuki. So strong is Asano’s love of Iori that she can ramble on endlessly about his wonderful qualities both as a character and as a person.

Fujoshi Level:
Asano Yukina is a fearsome fujoshi who has rejected the realm of 3-D men. In her eyes, none living or dead, fictional or non-fictional are greater than her Iori-sama. She generally considers real men to be selfish and unkind, and seeks comfort in the purely 2-D arms of Amagasaki Iori. Even when her feelings are stirred by a brave display from her friend Sawamura, Asano’s first instinct is to turn him into a manga character, as if to say she prefers to like the fictional Sawamura over the real one.

A Maiden’s Virginity: Is it as “Necessary” as We Believe?

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Recently there’s been some controversy among otaku on both 2ch and 4chan regarding Nagi from Kannagi. A recent manga chapter, or perhaps the minds of the otaku reading it, have posited the idea that Nagi is not a virgin. And this is apparently tainting Nagi in the eyes of some of her fans. However silly you think this to be (in my case very), it brings up the question of how valued “virginity” is for idols, fictional or otherwise.

Idols in Japan are not supposed to have boyfriends to give the illusion that any fan has a “chance.” Is this the same ideal that surrounds wanting an anime character to be pure and virginal? Both the real-life idol and the anime character are for all intents and purposes unattainable by the fans, but notion that a female idol will retain her virginity for her fans is futile at best. Maybe that’s part of the appeal of the anime-character-as-virgin, they can maintain the status forever.

(Actually, in some cases, I don’t think the fans mind. Momoi had a concert where she was already pregnant, and she was still loved by her fans.)

I was in contact with Ogiue fans in Japan back when Ogiue first lost her virginity in the manga. What’s odd, relative to this whole Nagi thing, is that Ogiue entering a clearly sexual relationship did not turn off her fans. It did not push them away, or cause them to call Ogiue a “slut.” It only made them love Ogiue more, not because she had sex but because it was a result of her finding happiness. Perhaps the place where it differs is that Ogiue’s sexual relationship was pretty much the resolution to a story while Nagi’s is background information?

I-it’s not like I want to be tsundere, okay?!

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Yes, this is another post about Aisaka Taiga. Let’s call this a Taiga Weekend Carnival.

Previously, I’ve established my belief that moe is tied to empathy, it is the connection of viewer to character in regards to some type of weakness, though the character may not necessarily be weak, physically, mentally, or emotionally. Think of it as a character having relatable character traits-which-may-be-interpreted as flaws. In this regard, Aisaka Taiga, the tora in Toradora, is one of the most effectively moe tsundere characters I have ever seen, a tsundere moe on the level of Ogiue. Tsundere has become a very common trope in otaku-oriented media, so to describe what makes Taiga a very moe character is to explain why she stands out from her peers. And to explain that is to explain why Taiga is tsundere.

Taiga is a girl who has difficulty expressing her own emotions. When Taiga speaks, her words are the culmination of 1001 battles fought inside of her mind. It’s a violent battle, and the victor emerges not without a few scars. The result is that Taiga comes across as rude, blunt, perhaps even shy. Unlike many of her contemporaries at Tsundere Academy, who use their brash attitudes to actively hide how they feel, or Ogiue, whose tsundere is caused by years of deep-seated self-loathing, Taiga’s outward attitude is the consequence of falling short of a greater goal, that of being able to accurately express one’s feelings through words. Taiga is tsundere, but only because she can’t help it.

Clumsy, socially awkward, unable to convey the proper meaning in words when talking to others, this describes more than just Taiga, this describes a feeling that hits close to home for me and I’m sure many others. Even if we’ve gotten better over time, we can still remember the days when talking was one of the most difficult things we’ve ever had to do, and are reminded constantly that for us introverted folk, being social is not a natural talent but one that has to be learned and built upon. It is from the people watching that Taiga truly generates her moe.

Tsundere characters, be they the traditional type which slowly turn from tsun to dere, or the modern type which switch back and forth constantly, are generally girls to be sought, to be pursued. They are the goal. Taiga is not the goal. Taiga is us.

Have a Mega Chain Combo Halloween

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Analyzing the Hokuto Zankai Ken

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I was thinking about one of Kenshiro’s most famous moves, the Hokuto Zankai Ken, i.e. The One Where He Sticks his Fingers in Your Head and a Counter Appears And You Die When it Gets to Zero, and the scene in which he used it on Souther to no effect. Souther’s secret is that his heart is on the right side of his body so all of his pressure points are reversed, and this is why he is, under normal circumstances, immune to Hokuto Shinken. But if that’s the case, that must mean one of a few things.

1) The two pressure points Kenshiro hits are not the same ones on each side.

2) Kenshiro IS pressing the same left and right points on the side of the head, but uses a different amount of pressure on each side.

3) The human head’s pressure points aren’t symmetrical.

4) Souther simply can’t be affected by Hokuto Zankai Ken even if Kenshiro knows his secret.

Yes, I thought too much about this

This is a Hokuto no Ken Joke

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1.

2.

Girls, are you having trouble coming up with a Halloween costume?

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Might I recommend the “Ogiue” costume.

Ogiue wears plenty of outfits throughout the series, so clothing-wise there shouldn’t be too much trouble. You can go with the classic hoodie from her first appearance, but make sure to wrap your arm in bandages to go with it. Alternately you can go for Ogiue incognito at Comic Festival. Wearing men-sized shirts is also Ogiue-appropriate. And there’s always the Renko cosplay option.

The hair of course is the difficult part and seeing as my hair is not long I can’t give any real tips. Perhaps you could construct a fude out of a spare large paint brush, or create some sort of fude clip to add to your existing hair. If this is too much trouble, don’t forget that Ogiue has other hairstyles, such as the high school hairstyle (perfect in conjunction with incognito Ogi), the junior high style, or even the heavy side bangs from volume 9.

And to top it off, secretly carry some yaoi.

Spandex of Future Past Dreams

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I wouldn’t really call myself a sentai or tokusatsu fan. Of course I grew up with the Power Rangers on TV, though I didn’t keep up with it too well, and even remember denying even watching it (and Sailor Moon). I’m enough of a nerd that I will say “3 3 5” in the middle of a conversation, and I watched episodes of Magiranger when I lived in Japan, but I do not self-identify as a sentai fan. So it’s with that history and mindset that I started watching videos of Super Sentai crossovers.

Having little nostalgia for Super Sentai, I find the almost familiar effect these crossovers had on me to be amazing. It doesn’t matter if I didn’t grow up eagerly awaiting the latest crossover every year. The acting and presentation tell me that it doesn’t matter, and that something can feel nostalgic without actually being so.

I think the main reason why Super Sentai and other such shows manage to garner their fanbases among even adults has nothing to do with people being unable to grow up, or that they’re using it to live in the past however temporarily. The actors in Super Sentai, be they the actors behind the masks or with the masks off, always show respect for their roles. Respect and talent. Can’t forget that second part, as no matter how much you respect it your Japanese 101 video with you speaking broken Japanese while dressed like a samurai won’t ever amount to much. But respect for the role is more important than talent, just by a little.

Being convinced that the characters take whatever it is they do seriously is a recurring theme in anime and manga, and it’s something I’ve found difficult to use as a reason to convince others to watch a show. While fighting anime such as Hokuto no Ken are the most common grounds for this sort of thing, you’ll even see it in shows like Maria-sama ga Miteru.

So I hold much respect for Super Sentai, for being what it is. They’re kids’ shows, but that’s no reason not to try. Try to watch it, try to make it, try again.

BIIIIIIIIIIIIG OOOOOOOOOOOOONE

I Would Like to See Artistic Use of Dithering

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Dither is, according to Wikipedia, “a technique used in computer graphics to create the illusion of color depth in images with a limited color palette.” In terms of otakudom, it’s a visual technique used in many early to mid-90s h-games when the maximum number of colors was 256, and is basically a way to make an image more detailed with limited resources. If you play the Phoenix Wright games, you might notice some of the backgrounds have significant dithering, at least the ones that were adapted from GBA titles. You’ll also see it if you enlarge any gif.

These days, with 16-bit, 32-bit, and “true” colors available, dithering has fallen by the way-side. Games as far back as To Heart and Kanon didn’t use dithering, and really there’s no practical reason to keep it up. People who want to get off on these games would undoubtedly prefer better colors, and those who play for the story and characters, it doesn’t make much difference. But where practicality falters, artistry thrives.

We’ve seen a “return to form” in anime and other media with varying degrees of quality. Megaman 9 showed the world what it meant to look 8-bit because your gameplay was suited to it. Bihada Ichizoku shows the world what it’s like when you make a show just to throw in super 70s shoujo designs.

So I want to see dithering used not as a substitute for better things, like a pirate attaching a pegleg, but as an intentional part of design, like a pirate carving his pegleg into an intricate horse shape.

Personal History of Drawing

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Something I put together because a friend did it a while back.

1995

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008