Christopher Kincaid's Blog, page 38

Seneca, Anime, and Time

In recent months, I’ve been thinking about time and reading Seneca and other Roman thinkers. We treat time as something of little value. If someone broke into our home and stole a television or anime collection, we’d feel violated and angry. Yet, we often allow advertisements, bad anime, and other people to steal our time. […]

You Must Watch…

Recently, I attempted to read The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner because I’ve heard that I must read Faulkner as a writer. People herald him as a great American writer. Frankly, I couldn’t stand the book. It’s nonsensical and drove me crazy with its purposefully bad grammar. Faulkner attempted to write the American […]

My Favorite Teas

I debated what to write for my 600th article. Teas play a critical role in Japanese culture and in my personal life, which captures what JP is about–the intersection of anime, Japanese culture, international culture, and our lives. I’ve become a bit of a tea snob. Lipton tea doesn’t cut it anymore. I fell into […]

African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke

Thomas Lockley and Geoffrey Girard’s book African Samurai tries to mesh nonfiction with historical fiction. The result is a patchwork that felt more fiction than historical. The seams quickly appear when they switch from the narrative of Yasuke’s life to a more objective historical tone. Their sources are solid, but their experiment made the book feel […]

Anime Visual Language Guide

Anime has a visual language that shorthands character emotions and states of mind. The visual language comes from manga and its efforts to clarify the inner world of characters without resorting to words. Visual language can be thought of as a vocabulary of adverbs and adjectives. They add more detail to a character’s behavior. To […]

Summer Anime 2019 Breakdown

Until this summer season, I’ve been in an anime rut. Then, Carole and Tuesday and Dr. Stone came along. I’ve watch several anime that I count as decent, but not much beyond that. Most anime lately have been mediocre and tired. Isekei, I’m looking at you. I’ve been watching Demon Slayer, which was good up […]

Examining Pokemon’s Animation Changes

Pokemon’s animation style has changed since the first episode of the anime debuted in 1997. The  changes often spark controversy among fans. The design changes seen in Sun and Moon has certainly riled many fans. But in order for any franchise to remain strong, it has to reinvent itself time-to-time. Sensibilities change with each decade. […]

Anime Offers Diversity, More than We Think

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 make you feel a warm protectiveness. Typically, this involves large eyes, small noses, small mouths, and oval faces. A few of you may think about anime designs […]

Considering Bias

  I’m a biased writer. There isn’t any other kind, but bias is something we often don’t think about. As part of information literacy, the ability to discover, judge, and use information, awareness of bias plays an important role. Without this awareness, you are blind. Let’s examine the role of bias in how we watch […]

Anime isn’t Niche Anymore. It is Mainstream.

Perhaps I’m a bit late to this realization, but anime has become mainstream.  Over the last few years, I’ve noticed how common anime has become. From Walmart to Hot Topic, from Netflix to libraries, anime has become a part of American mainstream culture. Of course, anime’s been working on becoming mainstream since the 1990s with […]