Christopher Kincaid's Blog, page 50

Felice Beato and Kimbei Kusakabe, Photographers of 1800s Japan

The mid-to-late 1800s marked a shift in Japanese history: the Meiji Restoration. The old guard, the Tokugawa Shogunate, with their isolationist attitudes were overthrown, and Japan began a miraculous modernization movement. When you consider the shift, it is amazing. Japan went from being primarily agriculturally-based in 1853 when Commodore Matthew Perry of the US forced […]

Cherry Flower Street at Shiba Tokio

Why Does Anime Portray Men as Perverts?

Fans of anime often ask me why anime has so many perverted men. On the surface, we can say its because of the fans or because of Japan’s sexual culture, but as usual, the true answer involves more complexity. Perverted comedy is a niche despite its proliferation online. The Internet has a tendency to take […]

A River Picnic in Spring – Under the Plum Blossom

Death Threats, Waifu Wars: the Anime Community’s Poisonous and Childish Behavior

I tend to keep to my little corner of the anime community, but time to time I hear about something that troubles me. I watch Joey, also known as the Anime Man, on Youtube every so often. He’s plugged into the community in a way that I’m not. Well, recently he posted a rant about […]

Manga and Your Mind: Manga, Autism, and the Benefits of Reading

Manga is good for your brain. Yep. You’ve read that right. In fact, reading manga may give you an advantage over those, like me, who grew up reading only traditional books. Manga benefits those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) too. The medium requires a different set of skills than reading traditional books. Not to say […]

Armor and Weapons of Ancient Warriors

Kakegurui’s Similarities to Moby Dick

Call me Ryōta. As I watched Kakegurui, it struck me how similar it felt to Herman Melville’s book Moby Dick. Let me summarize each and then we’ll jump into how an anime about a compulsive gambler feels similar to a story about a man obsessed with a white whale. Kakegurui follows Yumeko as she gambles through […]

Serving Tea in the Garden

Citrus: Lesbianism at All-Girls Schools

Citrus is the first yuri anime I’ve watched from start to finish. The story follows the fraught romance between two step-sisters Yuzu and Mei. As you can expect from anime, they share little in common. Yuzu is a fun-loving city girl while Mei is cold and by-the-books. Yuzu feels conflicted about her feelings. After all, […]