Christopher Kincaid's Blog, page 40

Seiken Densetsu 3: A Review

Video games, like anime, have become a product of international exchange. And video games have become one of our most important story-telling mediums. They reflect the interests, concerns, and commercialization practices of their respective time periods. As many of you go, I’m a classic gamer. While I play newer games (I love me some Switch […]

What Does Tsundere Mean?

  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. When we meet these characters, they are initially harsh and even violent. Other times they are just cold and aloof on the outside, but either type eventually warms to be […]

I’m Switching to Linux

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of advertising. Well, when I learned that Microsoft has added several advertising-focused systems into Windows 10 (unlike Linux), I wasn’t pleased. I also learned that Microsoft acts as a hyper-user, which lets them undo anything you set up. So blocking and removing those advertising systems is a […]

Gender Roles of Women in Modern Japan

I wrote this article on June 22, 2014. Since then, Japanese women have seen some changes in their status in Japanese society. Their efforts to break through traditional gender roles has taken several decades to get to their current point. In fact, more Japanese women work today than American women. But Japan’s traditional female roles […]

Is Being an Otaku Cultural Appropriation?

  Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate borrowing from another culture. Usually, it happens with a culture that has been oppressed in some way. Think about the Native American cultures in North America as an example. But cultural appropriation has a soft line. It’s hard to know when the line of admiration and appropriation is crossed […]

The Problem with Today’s Hype and Spoiler Culture

I’m an old school gamer, the type that grew up making maps for myself. The habit stays with me today. I prefer to go into anime, movies, and video games blind. But it’s terribly hard to do that now. The Internet has made hype and spoilers almost unavoidable. As many of you know, I’m a […]

The Man Behind the Legend: Prince Shotoku

Prince Shotoku stand out in Japanese history. During his lifetime, he was even seen as a Bodhisattva, a Buddhist saint, and he was eventually deified in a cult that flourished during the Heian period. Ironically, if Prince Shotoku had lived in China, he would’ve been a normal nobleman for the period. He wouldn’t have stood […]

Download the Hunted Trilogy Books for Free

From May 11 – May 15, you can download the entire Hunted Trilogy for free from Amazon. Click each image below to download the book. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a review on Amazon for each one, even if you didn’t like the books.    

Haruki Murakami’s Portrayal of Women

Haruki Murakami writes bestselling postmodern surrealist fiction. His work often focuses on loneliness and alienation. I’m writing this article in response to a reader’s question about how he writes about women. I’ll focus on two books Kafka on the Shore and 1Q84.  This article will focus on sexuality and will quote explicit passages from Murakami’s […]

Kaguya-sama: Love is War Actually Made Me Laugh

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 […]